Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

Date: CC:	January 9, 2014 Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager
RE:	Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission Grant Opportunity

Background:

The City with the Lawrence Arts Center and Callahan Creek requests the approval to submit a letter of interest to the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission (KCAIC) for its Creative Economy Project Support program by February 7, 2014.

KCAIC’s Creative Economy Project Support provides funding to programs that encourage dynamic partnerships between public, private, and cultural sectors that create jobs, generate real income, promote economic development, revitalize communities, and draw cultural tourists. Applications to be considered for this program should have a strong commitment to inter-sector collaboration that seeks to strengthen the creative assets of their community. A maximum of $75,000 may be requested. The City is required to be the main applicant, but the application must include a non-profit arts organization and a business partner.

Last year, the City Commission authorized the submittal of a grant application from the City, the Arts Center and Callahan Creek for the completion of a cultural plan and related promotional materials. The application was not funded. However, staff believes that the application would be much stronger this year with the completion of the Cultural District Task Force report and its recommendations.

Program Details:

In 2013, the City Commission created a Cultural District in Lawrence and also established a Cultural District Task Force. The Task Force presented its final report to the City Commission on December 10, 2013. The two top recommendations of the Task Force are the creation of a City Director of Arts & Culture position and the creation of a city-wide cultural plan. Neither of these items are included in the 2014 budget.

The proposal is for the City to request $75,000 from KCAIC’s program. KCAIC’s program requires a one-to-one match, of which 80% must be from cash sources and the remainder can be in-kind. While the initial application deadline is February 7, qualified proposals will be invited to submit a full application by May 2, 2014. Grant awards will likely be made in June 2014.

Staff has visited with the Arts Center and with Callahan Creek regarding this opportunity. The proposal is to apply to the program to seek support for a Director of Arts and Culture and the completion of a city-wide Cultural Plan, the two top recommendations of the Cultural District Task Force. KCAI funding for the project can begin in July 2014 and must end in June 2015. The Director of Arts & Culture would be hired to bring a consultant on board to assist with the development of a city-wide cultural plan and would oversee the implementation of the cultural plan’s recommendations regarding a regional marketing campaign, along with other responsibilities outlined in the draft position description created by the Cultural District Task Force and included in the report accepted by the City Commission. The administrator of the KCAIC program has indicated that the position, along with the associated planning and marketing activities would be grant-eligible.

KCAIC Project
July 2014 thru June 2015		Sources of Funds
	Total Project	Grant	Cash Match and Source	In-Kind match and source
Director of Arts & Culture (salary plus benefits)	$75,000	$25,000	$50,000 City 2014-2015 budget
Cultural Plan	$25,000	$25,000	$10,000 City 2014-2015 budget
Cultural District marketing material production and implementation of regional marketing campaign	$125,000	$25,000		$100,000 Design and development services from Callahan Creek for marketing campaign
Administration	$10,000			$10,000 Project Administrative Support- City and Arts Center
Total	$235,000	$75,000	$60,000	$110,000

Under this proposal, the City would be committing $60,000 in cash match to the project, which would equate to a $30,000 cash commitment in 2014 and a $30,000 cash commitment in 2015. The City would be making a financial commitment to the Director of Arts & Culture position through June 2015, though the position will be considered to be added as a permanent position beyond that point. The decision to fund the position for the second half of 2015 could be made during the 2015 budget discussions. The $30,000 in funding for 2014 is not included in the City’s 2014 budget and would require spending down cash reserves. Also, it is important that the City Commission note that in order to make this match commitment, new financial resources would need to be identified in the 2015 budget. Should the City Commission decide to fund the position for the second half of 2015, the budget impact would be an additional $37,500.

Callahan Creek has pledged a significant amount of in-kind services for the design and development of a marketing campaign associated with the recommendations that come out of the cultural plan and has agreed to be the business partner for the project. The project will also fund $25,000 in marketing materials and initiate a regional marketing campaign that will help publicize all of the arts and cultural opportunities available in Lawrence. This campaign would be done in coordination with the Convention & Visitors Bureau with a goal of increasing visitors associated with arts and culture events and destinations.

The Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission (LCAC) discussed this grant program at its December meeting. The LCAC made a unanimous request that the grant application for the City be for a city-wide cultural plan. By including both the cultural planning element and the position, there would be expertise to guide the planning work and the subsequent marketing materials along with the other coordination activities envisioned for the Director of Arts & Culture position. The LCAC also discussed this item again at its meeting on January 8, 2014 and unanimously supported the grant application as proposed to include funding for both the position and the cultural plan.

Staff recommends that this position, if authorized, be a City reporting position with the position reporting to the City Manager with staff support. The position would, in addition to overseeing the development of a cultural plan, serve as the city staff liaison to the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission and other arts organizations and coordinate Final Friday’s activities. The Cultural District Task Force had included a draft job description for the position in its final report to the City Commission.

Action Requested:

Authorize staff to finalize and submit an initial application to the Kansas Arts Industries Commission Creative Economy Support program.