Community Arts Project Support: Community Connections Guidelines
Community Arts Project Support Organizational Development
Community Connections Guidelines
Letter of Intent: December 1
Application Deadline: March 1
Program description
Community Connections is a one- to two-year program designed to help communities develop a community cultural plan, by promoting communication between existing arts organizations, artists, citizens, local governments, businesses, chambers of commerce, tourism bureaus, educators, and others.
Once developed, the community cultural plan will help identify how arts organizations can cooperate with other community resources to develop their cultural and artistic resources, and assist in determining the systems of support from local government, businesses and the public.
For the first year, arts organizations are eligible to apply for up to $5,000 to coordinate a community cultural planning process and for funds to implement the goals outlined in the cultural plan. Second year applicants are eligible to apply for $5,000 to continue furthering the goals developed in the cultural plan.
Who Can Apply
IRS-designated 501c3 non-profit arts organizations or other non-profits with a clearly articulated arts mission are eligible to apply for the grant.
How to Apply
Applications should be submitted on a West Virginia Commission on the Arts Community Arts Project Support application form. Applicants must state “Community Connections” in capitalized type on the Application Cover sheet under Application Summary, Project title and also on Individual Project Application Form under Project Title.
Application Requirements
In addition to the basic application requirements outlined in Community Arts Project Support application and required supplemental materials indicated on the application checklist, other information and support material is required. A separate checklist for this material is attached.
In order to embark on community cultural planning, there must be a strong, stable lead organization which understands the time commitment involved and is willing to provide the resources to complete the process. These resources include staff or volunteer time over an intense six month period (an average estimate of the time involved), copying, phone calls, mailings, and all aspects of coordinating such an effort. The lead organization should have its own well-defined organizational plan.
If a community or organization is interested in cultural planning but is uncertain whether a strong lead organization exists, they are encouraged to look at the WV Commission on the Arts Organizational Development program. This program provides assistance for strengthening arts organizations, and developing organizational plans.
First Year Participants
For the first year, applicants are eligible for up to $5,000 to coordinate a community cultural planning process and for funds to implement the goals outlined in the cultural plan. Specific costs for which arts organizations can apply include:
- up to 50% of a consultant’s fee, for which the organization must provide a 50% cash match;
- up to 50% of administrative costs related to the cultural planning process, for which the organization must provide a 50% cash match;
- and up to $1,000 to support projects which are developed from the cultural planning process to meet the goals outlined in the cultural plan, for which the organization can provide a $1,000 cash match. The organization can re-grant these funds — that is, take the funds and grant them out again to other organizations or arts related projects in its community — using the guidelines for Cultural Planning Project Support Funds provided below. If the organization plans to create a program whereby it can provide stipends, project grants, or other forms of assistance to the artists in its community, additional re-granting guidelines for those programs must be developed. Arts staff can provide examples.
Administrative costs related to the cultural planning process include: printing/copying (public meeting notices, surveys, the finished cultural plan, re-granting and artist stipend guidelines, etc.); mailing; design fees; and phone calls. Go over proposals for all administrative costs with Arts staff before applying.
Second Year Participants
These organizations are eligible to apply for up to $5,000 to meet the following costs:
- up to 50% of the re-granting funds (see definition above) needed to continue to support projects which meet the goals outlined in the cultural plan. This grant must be matched by at least a 50% cash match.
- up to 50% of the administrative costs associated with the second year of the cultural planning project, and must provide at least a 50% cash match. These costs may be associated with evaluating the first year of community planning, the re-granting program, or the artist stipend program, and fall into one of the administrative categories outlined for first year participants.
Second year applications should include a copy of the community’s cultural plan and an outline of what has been accomplished in the community to date through the Community Connections program. The projects and expenses toward which the funds will be applied must be outlined in the narrative and budget portion of the application. Applicants are still required to submit a letter of intent by the December 1 deadline.
Using the Cultural Planning Project Support Funds
Funds are available for the lead organization to re-grant to other arts projects and/or arts organizations in their community. The WVCA guidelines for how you can spend the cultural planning funds are minimal. Community Connections program strives to be flexible in the structure and process of creating and implementing these re-granting programs. However, the following guidelines should be used.
- No individual project should receive more than 50% of the re-granting funds.
- These funds should be used for projects which have relatively broad community impact.
- Re-granting for the following purposes is prohibited: 1) facility-oriented/bricks and mortar projects; 2) fundraisers or 3) endowments.
Beyond the minimal guidelines outlined above, it is up to the lead organization’s re-granting committee to develop guidelines for their own re-granting programs. The Arts Section does have available on request sample re-granting guidelines which have been used successfully in the past.
What Happens After You Submit Your Letter of Intent
The Community Arts Coordinator will work with you as you prepare your application and will also review a draft of your application. Although a draft review does not guarantee funding it does provide advice that can improve your application.
What Happens After You Apply
The review panel for your application will meet at the end of May. Its funding recommendation will be given to the WV Commission on the Arts at their June meeting where the final decision on your application is made. You will be notified of this decision after July 1, whereupon the project can begin.
Community Connections
Supplementary Materials Checklist
In addition to the application materials outlined in the Grants & Services Handbook, your application should document the following affirmations and materials.
We have a space which the cultural planning committee can make its center of operations.
We have contacted our community’s cultural groups, community businesses, arts organizations, artists, and private citizens, as well as other potential partners. We have commitment from all involved to provide:
- enough volunteer leadership to create a cultural planning committee with a minimum of eight members
- time
- financial support.
Letters of support, outlining the part to be played by each participating partner in the planning process, are attached.
We have included a letter of acknowledgment from our full board that we, the lead organization, understand the time and resource commitment involved in leading the cultural planning process for our community; and we have included a board list with names and addresses.
We have included a copy of our organizational plan and/or other documentation that we are capable of administering this project to its completion.
We have included a copy of the consultant’s proposal, contract and resume (if selected at time of application).
If the consultant has not been selected, a timeline indicating date of submission for these materials has been attached.
We have included a letter from our local or county government supporting this project
We have included a plan describing how we will evaluate the success of this project.
We have included a copy of the current long-range plan for the lead organization on this application.
Community Connections
Further notes and advice for applicants
Timelines
By consensus, the planning committee should, with the consultant, develop a timeline and stick to it like glue. Remember that if you try to get it completed too quickly you may lose the sense of ownership you want your community to have for the plan. If you do it too slowly, you may lose momentum. Six months tends to be a good amount... no longer than ten months is suggested.
Lead organization responsibilities
- host all cultural assessment and planning meetings for your community
- garner as much public input as possible during the cultural assessment and planning phases of the project
- ensure that representatives from at least three other culturally oriented community organizations attend all meetings during the cultural assessment and planning phases
- serve as the non-profit fiscal agent of the grant funds which are part of this project. Some organizations have preferred to keep a separate account for these funds to avoid bookkeeping confusion.
Before applying, determine that there is a real community interest in this project. Have representatives from other community organizations commit to being on the cultural planning committee, and participating in the process. The entire board of the sponsoring organization and the cultural planning committee with all of its community representatives should provide letters of support specifying how much time (and other resources when applicable) they will give to the project. Ownership must be there and clearly demonstrated to the review panel.
It’s good to approach the largest community employer at some point in the planning process. This not only informs them of what’s going on in the cultural community, but also makes them a better prospect for becoming a (greater) financial supporter of future projects.
Before you first meet with your consultant, identify the resources in your community. Include civic clubs, artists, churches, senior centers, festival organizations, Parent/Teacher Organizations, service organizations, historic preservation groups and ethnically oriented groups.
Public meeting considerations
Give enough public notice so that attendance will be high (three weeks is generally enough). Quantity as well as quality participation is necessary for this plan to really develop. Use newspapers for publicizing the public meetings, and for giving updates on your progress! After publicizing/mailing for the meeting, follow-up with personal invitation contacts to those organizations that are first noted as good planning partners. Don’t forget social networking as an inexpensive way to contact lots of people.
Involvement of artists is encouraged, not only on the cultural planning committee but also to help develop the re-granting program, they should be included in the drafting of that program’s guidelines and publicity. You can also involve artists by commissioning them to design a logo for your cultural planning effort, or the cover of your cultural plan, once it is finished and ready to be printed.
Re-granting
Require final reports which include financial and narrative information on re-grant funds provided to artists and organizations. You can use our form, develop a form of your own, or simply let them submit the financial and narrative information in their own way.
Please Note
The community cultural plan will be as generic or as specific as the information you collect during the process. The consultant’s job is to coordinate the information and to help you make connections between the information gathered and your future direction as a cultural community. Your job is to provide the information necessary to make those connections.
West Virginia Division of Culture and History/West Virginia Commission on the Arts -- FY2016
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