Art Spaces for Art Places

SDVAN was invited to attend a meeting with Victoria Hamilton, director of the SD Commission for Arts and Culture, to discuss a more successful way to obtain an Art Place grant. The previous year, San Diego organizations submitted a joint grant application which was not successful.

ArtPlace is a collaboration of ten leading national and regional foundations, eight federal agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, and six of the nation’s largest banks to accelerate creative placemaking across the U.S. Participating foundations include Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation and an anonymous donor. Funds committed to ArtPlace are overseen by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, a nonprofit lender and financial consulting organization. ArtPlace is also supported by a $12 million loan fund capitalized by six major financial institutions We have been fortunate to have Carole Colleta, president, Art Place attend meetings in SD. And she will be again a participant at the Culture of Innovation global forum (more info below) Letter of inquiry open on  Sept 4, and close Nov 1. On Jan 2, 2013 finalists are  announced and grants on awarded in June 2013. Applications are due Nov 1

This year it was decided that individual organizations should be encourage to apply separately and the commission would try to supply help in terms of professional editing. The groups applying will also communicate with each other and make sure that any cross over is considered as a collaboration in hopes of making both applications stronger

Art Spaces who might apply include but are not limited to:

 David Malmuth with partner Pete Garcia through  I.D.E.A has placed a flag in the earth by acquiring a space between 13^th and 14^th and F and G for $1 a year for 2 years. This will be a great place for pop up events, art labs and artists installation. David is also behind the Culture of Innovation global forum held in Balboa Park Sept 5/6. Partnering with the Urban Land Institute (SD/TJ branch) and the Aspen Institute, the program will consist of keynote addresses, plenary sessions, in-depth discussions in small groups, workshops, artistic and cultural events, and the showcasing of creative and innovative experiences at the intersection of technology, culture, and business. It will close with a visit to the New Art City Art San Diego Fair for the VIP opening reception.

Lynn Susholtz’s Art Produce Gallery now includes the new garden and stage as she continues her innovative programming.  The gallery is being reconfigured into a larger gallery space adjacent to what will become a new Swoon Dessert Bar at Art Produce. The garden is open every Thursday from 4-6 pm.

Cheryl Nichel and Ruby Cougler from Space4Art  are looking for funding for new classroom in the short term and will be looking for an entire new space eventually. They want to stay in East Village if possible, and so the connection to I.D.E.A might make for a great collaboration.

Leticia Gomez Franco helped us understand more about Front in San Ysidro part of Casa Familiar, where emerging women artists are about to start on a repurposing bus project to use as a traveling art lab. Working with USCD Calit2 and their giant multiple video screens is one of their big advantages, bringing communication into the community and the community into the university.

Justin Hudnall of So Say All of Us is now working on East County rejuvenation and concentrating on programming geared for new population of first time home owners. So Say All of Us is bringing Arab American Film Festival to Santee, working with local historical societies and publishing stories about The Far East AKA El Cajon with the help of the Catalyst grant from the SD Foundation.

There are many other organizations that should be encourage to apply including Alan Ziter from  The NTC Foundation (where are meeting was held) whose goal is to build an art community, David White and Agitprop and Zack Nielsen from Sezio.

For an example of a successful program we were guided to check out Intersection Art Five M in SF Founded in the early 1960’s and incorporated in 1965, Intersection for the Arts cultivates inclusiveness, builds community, and inspires social change through art.

The commission itself does give out grants in this same area Creative Community grants from Commission of Arts and Culture .