DCA uses a peer panel review process to score and rank each eligible proposal. Peer panels of artists, arts administrators, educators, art enthusiasts and other experts are selected from a pool of submitted questionnaires and resumes. Consideration is given to creating teams with demographics appropriate for each category and reflective of the City including artistic expertise, gender, geographic knowledge and cultural understanding. Peer panels are charged with reviewing all eligible proposals, discussing project worthiness, making comments and assigning numerical scores. Individually, each panelist considers the applications in relation to Cultural Affairs’ goals and criteria and in comparison to other applications. Panelists use DCA’s score-sheets for consistency and score each application up to 100 points. After individual review and consideration, the panelists gather for collegial discussion at one or more group meetings, wherein average scores are computed and final rankings determined.
Proposal Scoring Criteria
- Excellence of Career Accomplishments Maximum of 80 points
Scores for excellence reflect the competitiveness of the artistic and community accomplishments as evidenced by resumes, strong reviews and press materials, relevant and compelling letters of support, as well as the quality and content of the artistic work sample. Merit is based upon the quality of submitted material, especially the artistic work sample. Merit is not determined by potential nor by the artist’s reputation, but is evaluated against the merit of works and proposals submitted by other applicants in the same discipline, as well as other works in the field.
- Innovation and Feasibility of the Proposed Project Maximum of 20 points
The creation of new works with new ideas or new methods, or the continuation and advancement of an existing body of work, is evaluated against the other applications as well as other works in the field.
Please start your proposed project description by telling the panelists in one distinct sentence what will be generally produced. For example “I propose to produce”: one (1) set of thematic paintings, or four or five (4-5) chapters of a new novel, or one (1) 20 minutes excerpt from a new movement theater piece, or the performance of four or five (4-5) new musical compositions).
Describe your new work in two paragraphs, remembering that COLA IMAP projects cannot be reprised, recycled, recorded, or redesigned prior works, because this City sponsorship is to “premiere” an exclusively never-before publicly viewed creative output that is entirely by your solo authorship (not a group, collaborative, or community-engagement project).
Role of DCA Grant Program Staff & Approval of Panel Recommendations
The staff conducts informational workshops to review grant-writing basics, communicate timely/new information, and offer contemporary advice. The staff audits and compares incoming applications in accordance with government information and processes such as: the Mayor’s Regional Alliance Marketplace for Procurement (RAMP) , Census data, and DCA administrative review files. The Grants staff coordinates and facilitates panel meetings, wherein the panelists evaluate DCA’s grant process. The Grants Director reviews all grant policies and procedures with the General Manager. Lastly, the staff carries all panel recommendations forward for approval by the Cultural Affairs Commission. Awards are contingent upon the City’s adopted budget and are not official until a legal contract is fully executed.
Determination of Outcomes
Applicants should be advised that the City’s budget for the Department of Cultural Affairs is not determined until the February-March following the submission of proposals. The DCA budget will rise or fall depending upon economic and social factors. Therefore, DCA reserves the right to cancel this RFP at any time. Alternatively, DCA may award larger or smaller grants depending upon its available budget. An artist’s proposed work may be reduced or increased accordingly. Proposals to DCA shall not be considered proprietary to any artist, venue, or source of funding. In the situation where DCA decides not to become the primary or sole funder of an artist’s new COLA IMAP or NEAR project, applicant artists may seek to fully execute their proposed project with any other funding source(s).