California Creative Corps Pilot Program Development Update
Yes. I waded through the 217 page document for the Sept 22 California
Arts Council meeting and sat through the delayed agenda item for the California
Creative Corps Pilot Program (scheduled time 1:30 pm actually time 2:50 pm. Time
spent on this item about 9 minutes. I
have included the relevant information below but what you need to know is that in
October 2021 CAC staff will begins recruitment of California Creative Corps Program Development
Community Panel via a survey shared via social media, etc; Council and staff
will be invited to reach out through their networks to encourage
self-nominations. So watch for that announcement if you want to be involved.
Here is your summary but read the whole
section starting on page 155: California Creative Corps Pilot
Program Development
The 2021 State Budget included $60 million one-time General
Fund for the California Arts Council to implement the California Creative Corps
Pilot Program, a media, outreach and engagement campaign designed to increase:
(1) public health awareness messages to stop the spread of COVID-19; (2) public
awareness related to water and energy conservation, and emergency preparedness,
relief, and recovery; (3) civic engagement, including election participation;
and (4) social justice and community engagement.
Using all art forms artists will create public messaging to positively
advance local community work. Projects will cultivate trust, belonging,
community cohesion, and interdependence—particularly in communities that are
most impacted.
These are regional messengers that are culturally rooted to
advance civic communication and bring resources to a sector that has been
disproportionately economically impacted by COVID-19, including artists who are
Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) that have experienced the
highest rates of unemployment in the arts sector (COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on
the Arts, 2021).
Program Design: The CAC will implement a statewide grant
program with an accompanying media, outreach, and engagement campaign.
·
This program will include training and technical
assistance for grantees to apply for the grants.
·
Grants will provide economic support to artists,
ambassadors, and cultural workers.
·
During the pilot, the CAC will welcome
opportunities for private sector collaboration.
·
Looking to the future, the evaluation of the
pilot’s impact may yield a process for future Creative Corps expansion.
·
The CAC Racial Equity Statement and Decision Support
Tool practices will be used publicly for evaluation and data collection.
Grant guideline development will begin with the convening of
a California Creative Corps Program Development Community Panel
("Panel") to include artists, culture bearers, creative individuals,
and/or arts administrators that represent the priority populations to be
engaged; representatives from other state departments and agencies engaged in
public health activities; individual artists that are already working at the
intersection of arts and wellness, the
environment, election participation, and social justice; and potential funding
partners.
CAC staff is drafting a panel application form that
will be distributed to Council before the end of this month. We hope the
Council will use their networks to encourage the self-nomination of applicants
as described above.
Timeline
September - October 2021: CAC staff begins
recruitment of Panel via a survey shared via social media, etc; Council and
staff will be invited to reach out through their networks to encourage
self-nominations.
November - December 2021: Community Program Development
Panel convenes to draft program guidelines and to discuss marketing and
outreach.
January 15, 2022: Program guidelines and applications are
released to the field.
January 15 - February 28, 2022: CAC staff markets the
funding opportunity and provides technical assistance to potential applicants.
Staff recruits panelists to adjudicate applications.
March 1, 2022: Deadline for all applications.
March - April 2022: CAC staff screens applications for
eligibility. Staff facilitates the panel process, including applicant
interviews and/or site visits, and identifies administering organizations.
May 1, 2022: Administering organizations are announced and
contracts are awarded.
June 1, 2022 - May 31, 2024: Grant activity period. CAC
provides ongoing support to administering organizations, particularly through
marketing and media engagement of project activities.
May 31, 2023: Interim progress report due from administering
organizations.
June - September 2023: Staff conducts interim program
evaluation.
June 30, 2024: Final report due from the administering
organizations.
July 1, 2024 - October 31, 2024: Staff conducts full pilot
program evaluation.
The CAC is in the process of hiring a permanent, full-time
researcher to lead a Program Evaluation, Outcomes, and Metrics as noted in the
timeline above.
While the Panel will be engaged in articulating specific,
community-based metrics of success, the CAC has already identified the
following as measurable outcomes for this program:
Qualitative Outcomes:
● Successful engagement of cross-sector partnerships at the state and municipal
levels, and with community-based and grassroots organizations.
● Establishment of ongoing relationships with intergenerational
community-recognized leaders to define needs and opportunities, and to develop
strategies and infrastructure to respond to them.
Quantitative Outcomes:
● Total number of new communities served (counties and cities not strongly
represented in prior CAC grantmaking).
● Total number of administering organizations engaged.
● Total number of artists employed.
● Total number of artists employed who identify as representing systemically
marginalized communities (including but not limited to Arab, MENASA (Middle
Eastern, North African, South Asian); Asian; Black, African American;
California Native American, Indigenous, Tribal; Currently Experiencing
Incarceration; Disabled; Elders, Seniors; Latinx, Chicanx; LGBTQIA+; Low
Income; Neuro-Divergent; Pacific Islander; People of Color; Rural; Returned
Residents, Formerly Incarcerated; Students of Color; Trans and/or Non-Binary
People; Immigrants (Documented and/or Undocumented), Refugees, Asylum Seekers,
Migrants; Unhoused, Transient; Veterans; or Youth.
● Total number of workforce hours.
● Total number of permanent positions created for artists in state and
municipal government departments. 4
● Shift in attitude and readiness of community members to engage in healthy
behaviors related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
● Shift in attitude and readiness of community members to engage in behaviors
that support water and energy conservation.
● Shift in attitude and readiness of community members to participate in
election activities.
● Shift in attitude and readiness of community members to engage in activities
that support social justice outcomes.
● Total number of community listening sessions conducted.
● Total number of community listening sessions conducted in languages other
than English.
● Total number of marketing and outreach collateral developed and distributed.
● Total number of marketing and outreach collateral developed and distributed
in languages other than English.
P.S. While waiting for this topic to come up there was some
discussion of the grants that were approved for individual artists. They funded
95 Emerging Applicants (2-4 years) that ranked 5.2+ ($475,000 allocation) 66 Established
Applicants (5 to 10 year) that ranked 5.4+ ($660,000 allocation) and 21 Legacy
Applicants (over 10 years) that ranked 5.2+ ($1,050,000 allocation) for a
total of $2,185,000. This was out of 3108 applications received or only about
6% of the applicants got funding. For future funding they will look into
raising the number of years spent by a legacy artist. There is a formal process
of appeal online but all appeals and complaints are researched and could be found
to be valid or not and then resolved by admin. All of the recipients and even
the applicants were listed in this document
starting on page 61.
