2023
Organizational
Support Program
Community
Assessment &
Recommendations
Attachment D
Table of Contents
01 Introduction
02 About the Assessment Process
03 Assessments &
Recommendations
04 Conclusion
Attachment D
Introduction
The Cultural Affairs Division’s Organizational Support Program (OSP) has cemented itself as a key source of funding and continued growth of Santa Monica-based arts organizations. As detailed in the Creative Capital cultural plan adopted by City Council in 2007, OSP grantees are eligible to receive up to ten percent of their overall annual budget as unrestricted funds. In a funding landscape where most grants are awarded for specific programs versus operations, the OSP program is notable in that it understands and responds to the very real and timely needs of the arts community.
Based on the 2021 grant guidelines, OSP grantees are expected to:
Increase and sustain world-class artistic productions and exhibitions in Santa Monica.
Deliver opportunities for creativity, artistic participation, and the understanding of cultural heritage to diverse components of the community.
Promote high standards of organizational management in Santa Monica’ arts and culture ecosystem.
Highlight the city as an international creative center.
Open avenues of discourse to broad topics of human creativity and learning among the general public.
In addition, eligibility is based on compliance with all updated municipal standards, keeping clear fiscal records that are updated in their DataArts Cultural Data Project (CDP) profiles, and more. In the past, selection criteria was based on:
Artistic achievement
Managerial, Governance and Fiscal Performance
Community, Engagement, Collaboration, Partnerships and Future Aspirations.
In recent years, City staff has also been very responsive in ensuring that diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the forefront of OSP’s evolution. The last application was thoroughly updated and amended with DEI as a priority, granting eight new arts organizations that otherwise would not have met previous, often exclusionary, application requirements.
Attachment D
About the
Assessment Process
The assessment process began in early November,
kicking off with a review of past applications
(application structure, questions, and responses),
past DataArts reports, and the most recent
assessments provided by the Aspire Group in 2018
and Jerry Yoshitomi in 2014.
On Tuesday, November 22nd, a 90-minute virtual
feedback session was held with past grantees and
applicants. Local arts leaders discussed their
experiences and views on the OSP application
process and the state of local arts and funding
challenges in general. A total of 17 former grantees
participated, including representatives from the
Santa Monica Conservancy, Santa Monica Youth
Orchestra, Westside Ballet, Highways Performance
Space, and more.
A survey was crafted and sent to past grantees
who could not attend the virtual session, which
garnered an additional six responses. A copy of the
survey, which mirrored the questions asked during
our virtual feedback session, can be found as an
appendix to this report.
This assessment and recommendations document
has been prepared based on information gleaned
during the assessment process described above.
“Emergency
funding helped
us survive- but
what’s next?”
-Donna
Sternberg,
Dancessence
Attachment D
Assessments &
Recommendations
01. The Pandemic Still Looms Large
The Pandemic has deeply damaged the strength and outlook of our arts organizations, and many are still grappling with what to do next.
What we heard:
Not only have audiences not quite returned to prepandemic levels but many organizations find that, with almost three years of irregular business, it’s difficult to predict tickets sales and participation levels.
Organizations are grateful for the one-time grants that they received to keep them afloat during shutdowns. But most of those emergency funding programs have come to an end.
Arts organizations are now returning to traditional forms of fundraising: individual donors, ticket sales, etc., all of which shrank during the pandemic.
Many arts organizations are now severely understaffed
after pandemic-era downsizing. F unding has not been
available to bring them back to capacity.
How OSP can help:
Artistic Excellence has always been a key criterion in juried grant processes. A new lens may be applied this year that pairs artistic excellence with an organization's ability to adapt, innovate, and continue operation in whatever way they could through and post pandemic. This granting cycle,
organizations should be rewarded for their resilience, tenacity, and experimentation— even if at times, the end result was not up to the organization’s regular scale or artistic standards.
The program should prioritize support for those who
strategized and tried new ways to reach audiences,
fundraise and make an impact within their communities.
The pandemic made planning ahead harder—many of
these arts organizations have not had the space and time to think about what they want to achieve over the next 1-3 years. This application can help organizations explore and reopen those questions for their organization. Example
question: “How do you hope your organization evolves and rebuilds over the next 3 years?”
Attachment D
Assessments &
Recommendations
02. There is More to Do, with Less
Arts organizations are struggling to keep up with new state and municipal requirements.
What we heard:
California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), which extends employee classification status to some gig workers, continues to be a very challenging hurdle, especially for the smaller arts organizations. Many have had to reduce programming and services to afford compliance to AB5.
Arts organizations serving youth are now required to obtain Harassment Insurance, which is prohibitively expensive.
Overall, small arts organizations have seen an approx. 30% - 40% increase in fixed, non-negotiable operational costs since 2019. With ticket sale uncertainty, fundraising strains, and dwindling affordable spaces to rehearse and perform in, the challenges have pushed many arts organizations to dramatically reduce or completely close their operations.
The DataArts form is time consuming and sometimes misaligned with how small organizations are able to gather data on their audiences.
Though the DataArts application is an important tool in helping determine the readiness and eligibility of these organizations to take on grants, it’s important to recognize the time- consuming process and heavy lift for many of our smaller organizations to complete the process. Staff should share any resources that could aid in this process.
How OSP can help:
City Staff can help educate decision makers on the full breadth, cost, and impact of these requirements.
We can broaden and loosen requirements around “serving Santa Monica audiences.” Many of these organizations have had to tour their productions around the region, increase their online presence and offerings, and more in order to survive and grow their organizations.
They should be rewarded for representing Santa Monica outside of the city as well as their service to locals within the city.
Attachment D
Assessments &
Recommendations
03. These Organizations Need The OSP
We heard from nearly everyone surveyed that OSP is critical to the health and, in some cases, survival, of the City’s arts organizations.
What we heard:
If the OSP were to be downsized, or worse, taken away, most would have an extremely challenging time making up the funding.
Arts organizations feel that the city staff have been responsive to their needs and care about their well-being. Most expressed deep gratitude for the program.
The OSP is integral to a wide breadth of Santa Monica arts organizations - the application, especially now through its reworked DEI lens, has been able to serve organizations big and small, and serve a variety of communities.
How OSP can help:
In 2019, eight new organizations were awarded grants due to much-needed adjustments that made the selection process more just and equitable. It’ s important that this progress not be seen as a one-time initiative but as an ongoing commitment to the community. If the overall budget for OSP is restricted, these organizations should not be the first to feel it.
It’s clear that if all eligible OSP grantees were to receive funding at an equitable level then the overall OSP budget allocation would need to increase by approximately 25-30 percent. If that is not a reality, the City may find itself either delaying. equitable funding to the smaller organizations for another two years or notifying the historic grantees that they should expect to receive significantly smaller grants. In either scenario, City staff and Council should be prepared for community feedback
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Conclusion
OSP serves as a symbol of the City of Santa
Monica’s commitment to maintaining a healthy arts
ecosystem that serves the community by providing
equitable access for Santa Monicans to experience
art and culture and lead expressive lives.
As we look back on the darkest moments of the
pandemic shutdowns, many of these organizations
showed up to bring light to our community through
their art, making space for residents and visitors
alike to experience joy, catharsis, and most
importantly, togetherness in times of isolation. It’s
important that we honor that work and continue
investing in one of Santa Monica’s greatest
resources: its artist community.
Attachment D
“We’re talking to organizations we’ve
never partnered with before.” Donna
Sternberg, Danceessence
“Visitors who take part in the culture
of the city contribute more to the
economy.” Carol Lemlein,
Santa Monica Conservancy
“[OSP is] one of the very few grants
that support Highways Performance
Space. Project support is much easier
to find, but operational support is
critical.” Leo Garcia,
Highways Performance Space
“Post pandemic, we have a more
engaged audience that wants to
heal-not the same audience/visitors
who wanted to just view. Now they
want to fully engage and come with
the entire family.” Marisa Caichiolo,
Building Bridges Art Exchange
Attachment D