FY12 General Operating Support/Expansion Grant Program PANEL ORIENTATION April 26, 2011 – May 6, 2011 Houston Arts Allia

1. FY12 General Operating Support/Expansion Grant Program PANEL ORIENTATION April 26, 2011 – May 6, 2011 Houston Arts Alliance’s Offices

2. PANEL PROFILE HAA recognizes that serving on a panel requires a commitment. We understand the time obligation it takes to be a panelist. Your unique insight and contributions help shape the fair and equitable distribution of grant funds to many Houston artists, which makes a genuine impact on Houston’s nonprofit arts community while also culturally enriching the city’s vitality through the arts.

3. PANELIST PROFILE • Nominated experts in the arts community are selected from their chosen discipline of expertise. • Peer panels consists of objective and knowledgeable local and regional artists, arts professionals, arts educators and community volunteers representing diverse constituencies. • Panelists also reflect management professionals chosen from creative industries, museum professionals, academic professionals, along with veteran arts administrators. • Nominations for panelists are accepted throughout the year. Please visit our website [www.houstonartsalliance.com] to download the nomination form.

4. PANELIST REQUIREMENTS • Time – Panelists must be willing to spend the time required to make good decisions about grant applications. Typically 15 minutes per application is required to review materials at home and the full panel day should be set aside in case the process runs later than scheduled. • Objectivity – Panelists must be able to put aside personal bias and be fair in their assessments and decisions. The nominee must be dedicated to the highest professional standards in his/her artistic discipline(s). • Knowledge – The individual should be a recognized expert in a given arts discipline(s) or field. The nominee should demonstrate a history of involvement in the arts either as an arts practitioner, manager or educator. If the applicant is not an artist, the applicant should demonstrate knowledge through experience as an arts scholar, board member or other position in arts administration. The applicant should also demonstrate an appreciation for the cultural, ethnic, aesthetic and artistic plurality in Houston.

5. CONFLICT OF INTEREST • HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE HAS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY FOR PANELISTS. • Panelists must declare their conflicts of interest regarding the artists being reviewed by the time of their specific panel. • Panelists may not review applications from organizations and/or individuals with which they are associated and must disclose all conflicts with the Houston Arts Alliance. • Conflicts of interest include fiduciary, personal, professional or adversarial relationships of the panelist and his/her family.

6. CONFLICT OF INTEREST FORM • Panelists will be ask to submit their Conflict of Interest form to HAA upon the day of Panels. • Please make sure to bring your Conflict of Interest form which is enclosed in your Panel Book.

7. HONORARIUM • HAA recognizes that serving on a panel requires a commitment. Therefore, panelists will receive a small honorarium of $50 for serving a half day and $100 for serving a full day. • To ensure that you receive your honorarium within a timely fashion, please make sure that you have submitted a W-9 form to HAA.

8. PARKING HAA Office Location: 3201 Allen Parkway, Suite 250 Houston, TX 77019 • To better assist you, HAA will be providing each panelist with parking passes for the Rosine Parking Lot. • This will be emailed to you, please make sure to bring your parking pass with you on the day of Panels. • Without the parking pass, parking is $3.

9. PANEL REVIEW DAY

10. PANEL ASSIGNMENTS • Your responsibility as the PRIMARY REVIEWER • Although you are expected to read through ALL applications in your selected discipline, each panelist was assigned certain applications to lead the panel discussion. • Each panelist will be ask to provide a 2-5 minute, objective, introductory overview of your selected application(s).

11. THE PANEL REVIEW & PROCESS • Moderator begins by instructing applicants of the Panel Process. • Lead panelist will briefly report strengths, weakness, recommendations based on the Criteria. • Panelists present any questions or request clarifications from the Moderator and Grants Staff. • Each application will be reviewed between 15-20 minutes. • Panelists comments are then recorded by Grants Staff during the review (comments are made visible).

12. SCORING & RATING PROCESS • Applications are scored on a 1,000 -point system. Applicants should note that applications that receive an average score lower than 700 are rarely approved for funding. The scores are totaled and averaged for each application following the panel meetings. • Panelist will evaluate each application using the published funding criteria referred to in the GOS/E guidelines. Panelists will score each eligible application. • GOS peer review panels are open to the public; the public applicants are permitted to address panel members and answer their questions in the last 5 minutes of each application review time.

13. SCORING CRITERIA All General Operating Support and General Operating Support Expansion applications are reviewed using the following criteria weighted on a rating scale: • THE CRITERIA BY WHICH APPLICANTS SHOULD BE EVALUATED: • ARTISTIC MERIT [0 – 400 POINTS] • ADMINISTRATIVE ABILITY (LEADERSHIP ACCOUNTABILTY) [0 – 200 POINTS] • CULTURAL TOURISM [0 – 200 POINTS] • AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNITY OUTREACH [0 – 200 POINTS] TOTAL = 1,000 POINTS • ARTISTIC/CULTURAL MERIT (40%) • Activities that are of high artistic quality or exemplary of the organization’s discipline • Quality of the artists or experts involved in performances, works, and/or activities • Involvement of artists or experts who are knowledgeable of their discipline • Innovative and creative programming • Artistic or curatorial staff that shows vision and leadership • Effective use of artistic resources of the community • Performance/ exhibition based upon actual or submitted materials • Effective use of available resources to produce content of the highest artistic merit

14. SCORING CRITERIA • ADMINISTRATIVE ABILITY (20%) • Evidence of board/staff interaction as demonstrated through working committees • Evidence of leadership and experience of administrative staff • Evidence of short range and/or long range planning • Financial stability; balance of earned and contributed revenue • Accurate record keeping and regular preparation of financial reports • A board of directors, representative of the community, that meets at least quarterly and sets policies for the organization • Ability to deliver services effectively • Established process for board review of financials • The overall quality of the application, including attention to spelling, grammar and clarity • Effective management of past Houston Arts Alliance grant(s) including timely submission of reports and timely completion of grants, events, programs and activities • Diversification of its funding base as evidenced by efforts to secure financial support from the private sector as well as the public sector

15. SCORING CRITERIA • CULTURAL TOURISM IMPACT (20%) • Marketing and public relations efforts to promote activities and programming that may draw tourists and visitors to the region or is directed at conventions or visitors in the City. • Efforts to increase Houston’s competitiveness as a cultural tourism destination. • Programming that contributes to creating a regional identity/image of quality and creativity to attract and retain residents and visitors to Houston. • AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNITY OUTREACH (20%) • Furthering an understanding of and generating interest in the organization’s particular art form or discipline • Efforts to reach and serve visitors and tourists • Efforts to involve individuals of different backgrounds at the artistic, technical, administrative and board levels • Outreach efforts to develop future audiences, to reach and serve new, special and/or diverse audiences • Collaborating with other organizations • Providing programming in venues and through methods that make the programming accessible to people with disabilities

16. RATING FORM Please refer to the preliminary rating sheet enclosed in your panel book.

17. FINAL SCORING • We encourage panelists to make detailed notes when reviewing applications on the enclosed preliminary rating sheet before panel day. Therefore, please make sure to bring your Panel Books on the day of your Panel Review. • Individual scoring remains confidential. • Final scoring sheet will be submitted at the end of each application review. • The average score of each applicant will be reviewed at the end of the Panel Day.

18. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT MATERIALS • Additional support materials are provided to the primary and secondary panelists for each application and are presented again on the day of panels. • This includes digital stills, multimedia videos, and any relevant catalogue materials. • We also encourage panelists to pre-review an organization’s website and any online support materials

19. PURPOSE OF THE GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT PROGRAM • PURPOSE This category is open only to nonprofit arts and cultural 501 (c) 3 pubic charity organizations with prior two year average cash revenues in excess of $50,000 as determined by their IRS 990s. Organizations must have been in existence for minimum of three years prior to application date and have completed two previous consecutive HAA Arts Project grants. The General Operating Support category provides financial support to aid arts and cultural organizations to present or produce arts and cultural programs that serve to: (1) establish a nationally recognized cultural environment that attracts visitors and tourists to the arts presentations and exhibitions to City of Houston; and (2) meet the needs of the culturally diverse residents and visitors of Houston. • SIZE OF GRANT AWARD Because of budget limitations, Houston Arts Alliance rarely fully funds any grant request. Most grants awarded in the General Operating Support and General Operating Support Expansion range between $2,000 and $40,000. The maximum amount awarded for a General Operating Support or General Operating Support Expansion grant is $100,000.

20. PANEL PROCESS: STAFF REVIEW Upon receipt of the applications, staff reviews for completeness, eligibility and residency status. When necessary, applicants are asked to revise the application or supply additional information. Incomplete applications [or those that do not meet eligibility requirements] cannot be considered. Applicants that do not submit all of the Required Support Materials by the appropriate deadlines are not be eligible for consideration. The applications are then presented to panelists for the Panel Review Process.

21. PANEL PROCESS: COMMITTEE & BOARD APPROVAL Once the applications have gone through the Peer Panel Review process, the panelists’ recommendations are forwarded to Houston Arts Alliance’s Grants Committee to finalize and approve funding recommendations which are then forwarded to the HAA Board of Directors for final approval. Notifications are sent to the applicants in August/ September once the final decision by the Board of Directors is made.

22. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT Since HAA’s Individual Artist Grant Program’s inception in 1985, peer panel contributions from experts like yourselves have helped HAA to continue serving the Houston Artists community for over 25 years. Without the contributions of artistic experts, HAA could not perform its function in supporting a wide variety of artistic and cultural programming that is the hallmark of Houston’s art sector. MANY THANKS TO OUR PANELISTS FOR YOUR DEDICATION AND CONTINUED SUPPORT OF THE ARTS IN HOUSTON!