FAQS

What is the source of the funding used to provide Community Arts Grants?

The source of funding for these grants is money raised through Culture Works’ annual Campaign for the Arts. Individuals and companies throughout the region participate, with more than 50% of the funding coming from workplace giving campaigns. The annual Campaign allows individuals to support not just one art form or organization, but to invest in the fundamental value of arts and culture to our community.

How are funding decisions made?

In 2014, Culture works implemented an outcomes-based funding model to better evaluate the effectiveness of applicants in aligning with larger community objectives. Under this model, a panel of knowledgeable local citizens evaluates the applications and determines scores based on the following criteria:

• Public Benefit & Access
• Artistic & Cultural Vibrancy
• Organizational Capacity

Panelists also make site visits to applicant organizations—attending a performance, exhibition, or other event—to gain additional insights into the organization beyond the information included in the application. Panelists review and score applications independently from mid-April to mid-May, then discuss the applications as a group and make final scoring decisions at a Public Grant Panel Meeting held at the end of May. Final scores are entered into a funding formula that takes into consideration the total amount of funding available, the number of applicants, and each applicant organization’s budget to determine the grant amounts.*

*Temporary changes for the 2021 funding cycle: In light of COVID-19, Culture Works has temporarily moved to a closed panel process for 2021. Panelists will review applications and provide feedback to applicants; however, they will not discuss applications at a public meeting, and panelist scores will not be used to calculate 2021-2022 award amounts. Our goal is to fund 2021-2022 Community Arts Grantees at their pre-pandemic, 2019-2020 funding levels. To that end, we will use the financial figures and panel scores received during the 2019 application cycle to calculate 2021-2022 grant amounts. Additionally, out of concern for the health and safety of panelists and arts organization staff, we will not be conducting site visits as part of the 2021 application cycle. See the General Operating Support and Community Arts Development Eligibility Criteria for more information about changes to the 2021 application process.

Why does Culture Works use an outcomes-based grantmaking process?

In 2014, Culture Works changed its process to provide more fairness, transparency, and accountability. We also wanted to have more precise outcomes to report back to those who support the annual Campaign for the Arts to show that their gifts are truly making a difference. We take our responsibility to be good stewards of the funding entrusted to us through the annual Campaign for the Arts very seriously.

Is there a precedent for this kind of grantmaking process?

Absolutely! An outcomes-based process with a panel, scoring mechanism, and public grant process is used by the Ohio Arts Council to make funding decisions, and by other state arts councils. The same process is also used by the National Endowment for the Arts and a majority of local area arts agencies across the country. Culture Works is now much more aligned with national standards for best practices through the changes that we have made to our grant making process.

Who serves on the panel?

Culture Works recruits an independent panel of arts administrators, artists, business leaders, and passionate community volunteers to serve on our grant panels.

How are grant applications scored?

Panelists score each application in three areas: Public Benefit & Access, Artistic & Cultural Vibrancy, and Organizational Capacity. A checklist showing the full evaluation criteria is available here. This funding criteria has been developed to align with desired short-term, mid-term, and long-term outcomes that benefit the community. You can view the Logic Model and the desired outcomes here. To determine each organization's final score, Culture Works takes the average score they received from panelists. Organizations must score at least 70/100 points to be eligible for funding.*

*Temporary changes for the 2021 funding cycle: Our goal is to fund 2021-2022 Community Arts Grantees at their pre-pandemic, 2019-2020 funding levels. To that end, this year's panel will review applications and provide feedback to applicants; however, they will not be asked to provide scores. We will use the financial figures and panel scores received during the 2019 application cycle to calculate 2021-2022 grant amounts. See the General Operating Support and Community Arts Development Eligibility Criteria for more information about changes to the 2021 application process.

Why are organizations required to support the annual Campaign for the Arts in order to apply for Community Arts Grant funding?

Conducting a united arts fund campaign is only one of the programs of Culture Works. Organizations that choose not to support the Culture Works annual Campaign are still eligible to take advantage of the marketing, advocacy, and other support provided to every cultural organization in the Dayton Region by Culture Works. However, if organizations wish to benefit directly from the pool of money gathered through the annual Campaign, we think that it is important that these organizations commit to partnering with us to achieve the best possible outcomes for the annual Campaign by being champions for this effort.

2021-2022 Community Arts Grant Timeline

NOTE: In light of COVID-19, we have made several temporary changes to our Community Arts Grant process for the 2021 funding cycle. Please see our Temporary Eligibility Requirements documents for General Operating Support and Community Arts Development applicants for full details.

Friday, February 5, 2021

Deadline for current grantees to submit an Intent to Apply for 2021-2022 Funding form and a current board roster

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Grant application available through the Culture Works website

Tuesday, March 9,
2021

Grant application info session for applicants via Zoom

Friday, April 9,
2021

Grant application deadline—must be received by 5pm
(This is also the deadline to schedule Culture Works leadership to give a brief presentation to your board about the Campaign for the Arts.)

TBD

Grant panelist orientation via Zoom

Friday, April 16-Friday, May 28,
2021

Closed review of applications by the grant panel
(Note: We have temporarily adjusted our Community Arts Grant panel process in light of COVID-19. An independent panel will review 2021 applications and provide written feedback for applicant organizations. However, panelists will not discuss applications at a public meeting in 2021, and panelist scores will not be used to calculate 2021-2022 grant amounts.)

Thursday, June 17,
2021

Funding amounts reviewed by the Culture Works Board of Trustees
(Note: To calculate grant amounts, Culture Works uses a funding formula that considers the budget size of each applicant, the number of applicants, and the amount of funding raised through the Campaign for the Arts, which ends June 30th. Our goal is to fund 2021-2022 Community Arts Grantees at their pre-pandemic, 2019-2020 funding levels. To that end, we will use the financial figures and panel scores received during the 2019 application cycle to calculate 2021-2022 grant amounts.)

Mid-July 2021

Applicant organizations receive panelist feedback and notification of 2021–2022 grant amounts.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

To be eligible for the Artist Opportunity Grant program, applicants must:

• Be a resident of Montgomery County, Ohio with a valid street address (no P.O. boxes) demonstrated by a driver’s license, utility bill, bank statement, voter registration document, etc.
• Be a United States citizen or a permanent legal resident
• Be at least 18 years old
• Be a professional artist or creative entrepreneur. This is defined as someone who:
  • Has specialized training in the field (not limited to academic training; may be self taught)
  • Is recognized as a “professional” by peers (artists working in the same discipline)
  • Has at least a one-year history of public presentation or publication.

It should be noted that the word “professional” refers to the nature of the artist’s commitment, particularly as it is conveyed on the artist’s resume.

Note: The project or opportunity for which an applicant seeks funding must take place between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. If the grant is to complete a project already in progress, it must culminate with a completed work in 2021. Projects anticipated to not be completed by December 31, 2021 will not be considered.

Before beginning your application, review the complete eligibility criteria in the 2020-2021 Artist Opportunity Grants Guidelines.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

All proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Artistic Merit: The professional capabilities of the applicant; the artistic strength, quality, vision, originality of the applicant’s work as demonstrated in the application, previous, work, and artist’s statement.

• Work is of a compelling artistic vision and singular voice
• Work is inventive, imaginative, substantive in form and content
• Work is self-reflective/critical, demonstrating internal development and willingness to take risks, as appropriate

Potential Impact of the proposed project to advance/further the applicant’s work/career.

• Opportunity is unique and not a repeat of past experiences (i.e. is it juried selectively, time-sensitive, prestigious for the artist’s field, a “first” for the artist?)
• Potential for the opportunity to facilitate subsequent creative work
• Potential impact of the proposed opportunity on the professional development of the applicant, i.e. clearly defined, realistic, attainable goals based on the artist’s level of achievement.

Quality of Proposed Project: The artistic strength, quality, vision and originality of the proposed project.

• Artist demonstrates an understanding and awareness of professional practice and standards in his/her field
• Artist has demonstrated capacity to be self-directed and is well positioned to take full advantage of the opportunity the grant affords
• Work is well-executed and well-produced, demonstrating control of craft/materials/production values and technique, as appropriate and clear intentionality of purpose
• Work reflects awareness of the history and contemporary practice of its field and its relationship to both

Administrative Capability: The feasibility of the proposed project as determined by the applicant preparing and clearly articulating a logical, well-conceived project plan that can be reasonably executed, clear goals, and an accurate budget.

• Professional resume, including education, artistic training, and level of achievement and/or evidence of commitment to personal artistic development as demonstrated through efforts to attain performances, exhibits, etc.
• Artist has a history of active engagement in creating artwork and presenting it to the public, with a record of professional accomplishment appropriate to career stage
• Completeness and clarity of the application. The reasonable likelihood that the project can be completed based on the itemized budget and proposed timeline. The grant cannot be the sole source of funding for the project. Other funds, regardless of the amount, may come from personal savings or income, other grants, gifts, etc. No specific dollar amount or percentage is required. However, personal investment by the artist demonstrates his/her commitment.

Public Benefit: The applicant seeks to increase access to and direct participation in high-quality arts and cultural resources that celebrate diversity and foster creativity within Montgomery County.

• The applicant is actively involved in the arts and cultural community.
• The applicant has experience sharing his/her work through public exhibition/performances and plans to do the same with this project.
• Applicant has capacity or is actively seeking to share through exhibits, performances, readings, marketing, local artist organizations, personal website, newsletter or advocacy.
• Applicant has identified ways to share about this opportunity with the public.

THE REVIEW PROCESS

All applications will be reviewed by staff for completeness and eligibility before being submitted to an independent grant panel for consideration.

Grant Panel

Culture Works and the MCACD will identify an independent panel consisting of artists, arts administrators, educators, and community leaders who understand and have an appreciation for the careers and professional development of artists. Every effort is made to avoid conflicts of interest.

Panelists are provided online access to eligible applications, supporting materials, and artistic samples. Panelists review the applications independently throughout the month of October and assign scores based on the criteria outlined above. The highest possible score an applicant can receive is 25.

In November, they convene at a public panel meeting to discuss applications and make award recommendations as a group. To facilitate discussion and funding recommendations, applications with the lowest initial scores may be eliminated from consideration prior to the public meeting. Applicants will be notified in advance of whether their application will proceed to the panel meeting.

Public Panel Meeting and Funding Recommendations

The panel meeting will be open to the public and will begin with introductions of everyone in the room. The audience will be given a brief overview of the grant review and scoring process.

Each application will be reviewed using the following process:

• a) The first reader (discussion leader) will lead the panel in a general discussion of the application.
• b) After all panelists have had a chance to comment, the panel facilitator will draw the discussion of the application to a close and each panelist will have an opportunity to adjust their scores if necessary.

When desired, panel members will be given the opportunity to review an artist’s application and/or documentation. This is done for clarification purposes. As a result of the panel discussion or further review of an applicant’s application or documentation, panelists may adjust their scores. Because materials will have been previously reviewed by panelists, they may or may not ask to review the same materials for every applicant.

After all applications have been discussed and final scores have been submitted, the panel will enter a closed session to review a master list of all applicants, ranked from highest to lowest average score. The panel will make funding recommendations based on these rankings and the funding that is available.

Following the panel meeting, all funding recommendations are reviewed for final approval by the MCACD board. Award recipients will then enter into a contract/grant agreement with Culture Works.

RESOURCES FOR APPLICANTS

• Review the Artist Opportunity Grants Guidelines
• Review the Tips for Writing a Great Application
• Review the Work Sample Guidelines
• Download a Sample Application
• Watch the 2020 Artist Opportunity Grant Webinar for Applicants