City of Alameda - File #: 2024-4094

Title

Continuation of the Evaluation of the Cultural Arts and Arts Programming Request for Proposals

Body

BACKGROUND

In December of 2023, the City Council accepted the Alameda Public Arts Master Plan, a guide for implementing the City of Alameda’s public art program. The Plan includes a Five-Year Action Plan, which outlines actionable tasks associated with seven key recommendations to be taken over the next five years, including the “release [of] a grant application for Cultural Arts and Arts Programming”.

Building off the cultural arts and arts programming Request for Proposal (RFP) issued in 2022, in December 2023 staff presented to the PAC for consideration a draft RFP with proposed publication in January 2024. The PAC approved an RFP to provide eight grants totaling $60,000 of Fund monies for cultural arts and arts programming in Alameda. The RFP was released on January 22, 2024, with all proposals due on March 21, 2024.

On April 15, 2024, the PAC convened to review and evaluate a total of twenty (20) proposals covering an array of artistic disciplines such as dance, theater, and mixed media. Commissioners scored each proposal across seven selection factors listed below:

Selection Factors

1. Proposed Event or Program	5. Equity and Accessibility
2. Experience	6. Leveraged funds
3. Budget	7. Local Preference
4. Schedule

The selection factors were weighted using the following score metric, on a scale from 1 to 100.

Scoring Metric

Proposed Event or Program	An assessment of the proposed event or program and how it will benefit the broader community and engage local arts and culture groups and individuals.	35%
Experience/ Capacity	An assessment of the organization’s experience and/or capacity to implement programs and projects to enhance local arts and culture.	25%
Budget	Inclusion of reasonable cost estimates within desired grant amount.	10%
Schedule	Inclusion of realistic program schedule.	10%
Equity and Accessibility	Proposal is accessible and addresses cultural equity, diversity, and inclusiveness.	10%
Leveraged funds	Use of additional federal, state, philanthropic or other funds for the project.	5%
Local Preference	Artist and/or arts organization based in the City of Alameda.	5%

Proposals were reviewed one by one, and commissioners’ scores were recorded on a tracking sheet in real time. The commissioners voted to award eight grants based on the tracking sheet results shown below, the meeting was closed and adjourned.

Initial Scores

	Proposal Name	Grant Category	AG	LR	PP	RF	JH	Average Score
1	Rising Seas	$10,000		90	77	90	75	86
2	Rhythmix in the Parks	$5,000	68	88	67	60	57	71
3	Together in Motion	$10,000/ $5,000	85	75	57	85	70	76
4	RE-CYCLE	$10,000/ $5,000	74	85	81	80	55	80
5	Fiesta Alameda	$5,000	82	75	60	60	78	69
6	Alameda: Here is Anywhere	$5,000	99	100	97	95	93	98
7	Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Festival	$10,000	85	93	79	85	48	86
8	La Bayadere	$10,000/ $5,000	84	76	83	63	80	77
9	ArtPush Annual Programming	$10,000	48	46		85	56	60
10	Back to the Base	$10,000/$5,000	100	95	97	95	93	97
11	Rogue Cinema	$10,000	58	66	53	52	52	57
12	Words that Made the Difference	$10,000	98	92	90	93	83	93
13	The Foodbank Players	$5,000	81	85	79	70	98	79
14	Radio Day by the Bay	$10,000/ $5,000	84	63	61	66	57	69
15	Pinball Works	$10,000	76	77	65	72	66	73
16	Culinary Bridges	$10,000/ $5,000	100	100	80	80	78	90
17	ACORNS!	$10,000	100	100	97	95	90	98
18	Flight Lessons	$10,000/ $5,000	95	95	82	95	65	92
19	Skyward Seascapes	$10,000/ $5,000	85	85	59	90	49	80
20	Chamaru Language Through Arts	$10,000/ $5,000	58	66	53	52	52	56

DISCUSSION

Following the adjournment of the meeting, it was discovered that the tracking sheet had an error, and the commissioners’ scores were not accurate. The error in question, one score column was not included in the average score calculation. Staff have corrected the tracking sheet, and the following table reflects the average score (Exhibit 1). Note, the top eight proposals are highlighted in the exhibits.

Average Scores

			Score
	Proposal Name	Grant Category	AG	LR	PP	RF	JH	Average Score
1	Rising Seas	$10,000	99	100	97	95	93	97
2	Rhythmix in the Parks	$5,000	100	100	97	95	90	96
3	Together in Motion	$10,000/ $5,000	100	95	97	95	93	96
4	RE-CYCLE	$10,000/ $5,000	98	92	90	93	83	91
5	Fiesta Alameda	$5,000	100	100	80	80	78	88
6	Alameda: Here is Anywhere	$5,000	95	95	82	95	65	86
7	Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Festival	$10,000		90	77	90	75	83
8	La Bayadere	$10,000/ $5,000	81	85	79	70	98	83
9	ArtPush Annual Programming	$10,000	85	93	79	85	48	78
10	Back to the Base	$10,000/$5,000	84	76	83	63	80	77
11	Rogue Cinema	$10,000	74	85	81	80	55	75
12	Words that Made the Difference	$10,000	85	75	57	85	70	74
13	The Foodbank Players	$5,000	85	85	59	90	49	74
14	Radio Day by the Bay	$10,000/ $5,000	76	77	65	72	66	71
15	Pinball Works	$10,000	82	75	60	60	78	71
16	Culinary Bridges	$10,000/ $5,000	68	88	67	60	57	68
17	ACORNS!	$10,000	67	72	80	57	59	67
18	Flight Lessons	$10,000/ $5,000	84	63	61	66	57	66
19	Skyward Seascapes	$10,000/ $5,000	48	46		85	56	59
20	Chamaru Language Through Arts	$10,000/ $5,000	58	66	53	52	52	56

Note: Commissioner Gillitt recused himself during the review of the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Festival proposal, and Commissioner Platzgummer recused himself during the review of the Skyward Seascapes proposal. These cells are intentionally left blank.

During the staff evaluation, it was noted that the difference between some commissioner scores was great, sometimes varying well beyond 10 points. For example, in the proposal “Alameda: Here is Anywhere,” most scores tended to the 80s and high 90s, yet the lowest score was 65. In these instances, commissioners should discuss the scoring discrepancies and come to an agreement. Due to these scoring discrepancies, staff looked into ranking as a secondary method for reviewing the scores. The following table reflects the scores based on rank (Exhibit 2). Also, the Public Art Master Plan calls for encouraging City grants to support a broad array of arts organizations. The Commission added five (5) additional points to the Equity and Accessibility category, but in its scoring the Commission’s comments mainly referenced accessibility, primarily as the number of attendees who would be served, rather than the contributions applicants were making to diversity and equity. In the spirit of implementing accessibility and equity, Staff recommend that in future rounds of Cultural Arts Grants, the City collect demographic information about applicants, and the PAC ensure scoring is based solely on the information in the applications and not prior knowledge of arts organizations which can create bias against less well known or connected applicants.

Ranked Scores

			Score
	Proposal Name	Grant Category	AG	LR	PP	RF	JH	Ranked Score
1	Rising Seas	$10,000	4	1	1	1	2	1.8
2	Together in Motion	$10,000/5000	1	4	2	2	3	2.4
3	Rhythmix in the Parks	$5,000	3	3	3	3	4	3.2
4	RE-CYCLE	$10,000/5000	5	7	4	5	5	5.2
5	Alameda: Here is Anywhere	$5,000	6	5	6	4	12	6.6
6	Fiesta Alameda	$5,000	2	2	9	12	8	6.6
7	Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Festival	$10,000		8	12	6	9	8.75
8	La Bayadere	$10,000/5000	13	11	11	14	1	10
9	Back to the Base	$10,000/5000	10	14	5	16	6	10.2
10	ArtPush Annual Programming	$10,000	8	6	10	9	20	10.6
11	Words that Made the Difference	$10,000	7	15	18	8	10	11.6
12	Rogue Cinema	$10,000	15	10	7	11	17	12
13	The Foodbank Players	$5,000	9	12	17	7	19	12.8
14	Radio Day by the Bay	$10,000/5000	14	13	14	13	11	13
15	Culinary Bridges	$10,000/5000	16	9	13	17	14	13.8
16	Pinball Works	$10,000	12	16	16	18	7	13.8
17	ACORNS!	$10,000	17	17	8	19	13	14.8
18	Flight Lessons	$10,000/5000	11	19	15	15	15	15
19	Skyward Seascapes	$10,000/5000	19	20		10	16	16.25
20	Chamaru Language Through Arts	$10,000/5000	18	18	19	20	18	18.6

Note: Commissioner Gillitt recused himself during the review of the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Festival proposal, and Commissioner Platzgummer recused himself during the review of the Skyward Seascapes proposal. These cells are intentionally left blank.

The Cultural Art and Arts Programming RFP (Exhibit 3) included two different award levels at the following amounts:

• Four (4) $10,000 awards

• Four (4) $5,000 awards

During the application review, commissioners discussed splitting grant amounts. For example, if a proposal requested a $10,000 grant, the commission considered instead awarding half. Staff are asking PAC to confirm the proposals to be awarded grant funding. Four (4) awards should be provided in each award category ($5,000 award and $10,000 award) based on the parameters provided in the RFP.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends that the commission select a score method, rank or average, and proceed with confirming the top proposals and awarding funding according to the amounts submitted in the proposals.

Respectfully submitted,

Lois Butler, Economic Development Division Manager, Secretary

By,

Jackie Keliiaa, Development Manager

cc: Abby Thorne-Lyman

Exhibits

1) City of Alameda Cultural Arts and Arts Programming Proposal Average Scores

2) City of Alameda Cultural Arts and Arts Programming Proposal Ranked Scores

3) 2024 City of Alameda Cultural Arts and Arts Programming RFP

Legislation Details