Neighborhood Expressions (NE), Arts & Social Wellness (ASW), and International Festivals & Intercultural Foods (IFIF) proposals are accepted online by the First Thursday of each month through July 2024. PAF proposals are accepted on a rolling basis, but proposals must be submitted at least three (3) months in advance of a proposed event date to allow sufficient time for review and evaluation.
During first-level review, eligibility and competitiveness are determined by panelists from DCA’s Senior Staff and community experts. Proposals will be scored based on four criteria valued at five points each (total of 20 points):
- Community relevant topics or themes and proposed impact in terms of number and type of persons served – 5 pts
- Projects ideas and/or innovation – 5 pts
- Feasible timeline and realistic budget – 5pts
- Community partnerships and/or alliances demonstrated with letters of support – 5 pts
International Participation And Promotion Projects (IPAPP) proposals will be reviewed quarterly, on the following planned deadlines: October 5, 2023, January 4, 2024, and April 4, 2024.
Because DCA aims to identify up to three project proposals in 2023-24 per each inhabited region of the world (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania), DCA may choose to defer review of proposals until multiple proposals are received per region to facilitate diverse and equitable project selections across regions.
Additionally, in some instances all proposals will be declined because the peer-panelist jurors may find that local expertise is spread out evenly between multiple proposals. DCA would rather extend a deadline and notify top-ranking applicants to reapply with increased collaborations that combine the best assets of two or three local groups.
The first-level review of International Participation And Promotion Projects (IPAPP) will be scored across the following three criteria:
- Artist Resumes/ Project Relativity to Los Angeles / Proposal Readiness – 50 pts
- All applicants must submit an artistic resume detailing the experience and background of the artistic team that is being sent overseas, as well as resumes from artists/ensembles from the foreign collaborating agency
- Resumes will be assessed by artistic creativity/achievement and cultural relevance.
- Projects will also be assessed based on cultural relevance to Los Angeles. High scoring proposals will illustrate projects that artistically reflect the cultures and diversity of Los Angeles.
- Immediacy of project readiness will be taken into consideration for evaluation. High scoring projects will show an immediate readiness to either send an artistic team overseas or host an international team in Los Angeles.
- Collaboration / Planning Strategy / Letters of Support – 30 pts
- Applicants must submit a project planning strategy that outlines all the steps taken to prepare for their artistic proposal. A timeline must be prepared that spans between project measures taken before application submission to the final days of the second term project (Team assembly, travel and lodging plans, acquiring project materials, hosting plans, budgeting). Planning strategies will be evaluated based on feasibility and practicality.
- Local-Foreign Mission Alignment / International Affairs Manager – 20 pts
- Extent to which mission of applying nonprofit is aligned to the mission of the proposed hosting/collaborating agency
- Each applicant must assign an International Affairs Manager within their organization to oversee the operations between the applicant organization and their collaborative partners. Applicants must describe who this person is and what their relative experience is to this position. No resume is required, evaluation will be made based on the description of the chosen person.
City of LA Cultural Affairs Commission Presentation
ASW, IFIF, and IPAPP proposals that receive first-level approval, will be invited and scheduled to provide the same facts as written in your proposal in the form of a 5-minute “pitch” presentation to the Cultural Affairs Commission, a DCA advisory council appointed by the Mayor which meets on the second Wednesday afternoon of every month (unless a quorum of voting members is unable to attend). The Commission will ask questions about community intentions, connectivity, and quality.
At the conclusion of this second-stage of review the Commission will recommend funding (100% funding is not guaranteed) to DCA’s General Manager, at whose sole discretion final decisions will be made. If the applicant is unprepared to answer questions or scale back the budget of the project, then the Commission may ask the applicant to return to the following Commission meeting (usually one month later) and re-present the project with greater clarity.
If your proposal is deemed ineligible or incomplete in first-level review, you will be given constructive feedback and offered an opportunity to reapply for a modified project. Projects which are deemed uncompetitive will also be given brief feedback as to the reasons that the project is not compatible with this program.
Applicants should note that acceptance for support from the PAF does not mean their project is waived for required fees, permitting, or approval from other city processes such as: public works approval of permanently sited objects, DCA mural permitting, street closure approval by street services, official city festival designations, etc. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ask for advice and pursue these separate approval processes independently while support is being determined by the DCA.
Contracting, Reporting, & Payments
Approximately 15 days after General Manager approval, applicants may begin PAF contracting through a DCA-appointed local business incubator agency that will outline their “umbrella” services to: a) collect data, receipts, invoices, and reports, b) provide financial oversight and bookkeeping, c) guarantee event insurance, and d) act as a enterprise adviser if the applicant is proposing an endeavor intended to become the mission of a sustainable business entity. This process will be initiated by DCA staff.