HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSD-10-009 - Prosperity Council Task Force on Creative Enterprise Funding UpdateREPORT
REPORT TO:
Community Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING:
January 25, 2010
SUBMITTED BY:
Pauline Houston, General Manager, Community Services
PREPARED BY:
Ingrid Pregel, Manager, Cultural Development (Ext. 3383)
WARD(S) INVOLVED:
N/A
DATE OF REPORT: January 12, 2010
REPORT NO.:
CSD-10-009
SUBJECT:
PROSPERITY COUNCIL TASK FORCE ON CREATIVE
ENTERPRISE FUNDING - UPDATE
RECOMMENDATION:
That an annual grant in the amount of $47,000 be approved for the creation and ongoing
operations of an “Enabling Organization” for the creative sector, to be funded for 2010 as
a one time transfer from the capital fund called Arts and Culture Capacity Building Fund
and in future years from the Community Grants Pool; and
That City staff be requested to provide a progress report to the Arts and Culture Advisory
Committee and to Council in the Fall of 2010 regarding the progress of establishing the
Enabling Organization; and
That the transfer of funds remaining in the Arts and Culture Capacity Building Fund into
an Arts and Culture Sustainability Fund be approved as an initial contribution by the City
of Kitchener to support the commitment to work towards an additional $1 per capita
investment in creative enterprise; and
That consideration of ongoing funding for the Arts and Culture Sustainability Fund
beyond 2011 be referred to the 2012 Operating Budget Process; and further
That funding in the annual amount of $8,757.00 be approved for 2010 for Waterloo
Regional Arts Council (WRAC) from the Community Grants Pool, six months to be paid
initially and subsequent quarters to be paid upon confirmation by staff that the
organization continues to operate.
BACKGROUND:
On November 9, 2008 Council received CSD-08-099 for information purposes. The report
described the progress of the Prosperity Council’s Task Force on Creative Enterprise, provided
a copy of the research commissioned on selected creative cities in North America and Europe
and indicated the role Mayor Zehr, Pauline Houston, General Manager, CSD and Ingrid Pregel,
Manager Cultural Development would play in the continuing work of the Steering Committee,
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Task Forces and Sub Committees established to develop the detailed strategy to support
Creative Enterprise.
On November 8, 2009 Council received a letter from the Prosperity Council and a report of
activities (attached as Appendix A) which summarized the work of the Task Force on Creative
Enterprise and proposed roles for the various levels of government and the private sector in
funding the following:
creation and ongoing administration of an “enabling organization”
an additional $3.0 million annual contribution to sustain arts and culture organizations
On December 3, 2009 members of City Council attended a joint Council meeting and
participated in a discussion of a presentation by the Prosperity Council Task Force on Creative
Enterprise in support of the November funding proposal. The Task Force reported on the work
of its Sub Committees on Vision, Structure and Resources, described two key
recommendations (Establishment of “Barnraisers’ Council of Waterloo Region” and
Establishment of an “enabling organization” for the creative sector) and reviewed its funding
proposal. On January 11, 2010 Community Services Committee received CSD-010-002 which
provided recommendations to respond to the funding proposal. That report was deferred to
permit consultation with the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee and to seek additional
information in response to the Committee’s questions. This report includes this information as
requested.
REPORT:
The Prosperity Council’s initiative on Creative Enterprise continues to be a broad based
opportunity for our community to come together to envision and then enable the building of
creative enterprises that are so vital to the quality of life of our residents and instrumental in
competing globally for the best and brightest talent for our business partners.
The Prosperity Council’s presentation and summary report make a number of points that are
consistent with City of Kitchener goals and strategies, as follows:
the ultimate goal is to generate private sector employment in Creative Age industries.
The basic strategy to accomplish this goal is to provide a catalyst that creates these new
jobs in these new economies.
the catalyst includes building a quality of life second to none for all our citizens and
attracting the best and brightest talent for the new jobs
the process of doing this work draws in leadership from all community sectors as
partners and engages more than just those who participate in the arts, culture and
heritage sectors in Waterloo Region
new resources are needed to sustain the wonderful creative work we already have and
support innovative thinking from new and diverse populations, including focusing
community efforts to gain our “fair share” of provincial and federal resources and to ramp
up contributions from the private sector and local governments
In CSD-08-079 (November 2009 attached as Appendix B) Council approved that funds in the
amount of $267,000 remaining from the original Cultural Capitals of Canada application be
reallocated to create an “Arts and Culture Capacity Building Fund” with the following goals:
Achieve a meaningful contribution to sustainability and capacity building for the arts and
culture sector
Obtain significant leverage of City of Kitchener resources e.g. 10 to 1
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Support collaborative efforts with other funding partners including municipalities, private
and public foundations and businesses
The proposal brought forward by the Prosperity Council is consistent with the goals of the Arts
and Culture Capacity Building Fund:
The objective of the proposed “enabling organization” is to focus on the arts, culture and
heritage sector organizations – to sustain, through increased operating funding and
provision of services, existing organizations and to provide the environment to enable
new creative initiatives.
Although a work in progress, the funding proposal is that the City of Kitchener’s share of
the increased funding to achieve sustainable operating funding for these organizations
should reach $1 per capita of a total increase of $3.0 million, or about $225,000 (based
on 2008 population). This plan meets Council’s goal of significant leverage for the fund.
Collaboration on this initiative includes the private sector, all levels of government and
although initially focused on the arts, culture and heritage sectors, there is recognition
that other not for profit organizations may quickly become beneficiaries of the services of
the “enabling organization”.
The funding shortfall targeted as $3.0 million was based on data collected from a survey of 27
arts organizations and 18 funding organizations. The gap suggested by the accumulated debt
reported by some organizations as well as anecdotal information indicates that about $2 million
in additional funding is needed to put these organizations on a sustainable footing. The gap
suggested by the Earned Revenue analysis for the Performing Arts sector shows (ticket sales in
relation to other forms of funding) that municipal and senior government funding should increase
by about $4 million, with additional increases for museums, galleries and festivals. In summary,
the general magnitude of the gap in financial resources for the arts, culture and heritage sector
appears to be between $2.5 million and $5 million. Targeting an increase in total funding at this
level would stabilize existing cultural organizations and provide room for growth. The initial
target of $3.0 million is for stabilization purposes.
Staff completed an extensive analysis of all the sources of City of Kitchener funding for the arts,
culture and heritage sector in 2007. In that year the City of Kitchener provided approximately
$4.0 million in funding (capital and operating funds, both in kind and cash grants) to the arts,
culture and heritage sector, including city owned facilities such as Centre In The Square but
excluding KPL. A similar analysis is not available for previous years. Staff plans to work with
colleagues in the other municipalities to conduct a similar analysis on a comparative basis for
2008 data during 2010.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
The capital fund in the amount of $267,000 was approved by Council as the Arts and Culture
Capacity building fund in 2008. A contribution to the operating expenses of the Enabling
Organization for 2010 would be drawn from this capital account. In subsequent budget years
these operating expenses will be drawn from the Community Grants Program as the two year
commitment to the Magnetic North Theatre Festival will then be complete and the funds
currently allocated to WRAC (Waterloo Regional Arts Council) will be available once WRAC
winds down operations sometime in 2010 as the “enabling organization” begins operations.
The enabling organization has established operating budgets for three years of operations.
These budgets comprise staff salaries and benefits, program costs and administration as
detailed below. Prosperity Council proposes seeking 50% of its operating budget from municipal
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partners, with half of that amount coming from the Cities in proportion to their populations. City
of Kitchener’s proportional share is shown below.
Operating Budget Items Year 1Year 2 Year 3
Salaries and benefits 230,000319,000375,000
Program costs 114,25059,90048,500
Administration 32,20033,10034,100
Capital 20,00010,00010,000
Miscellaneous 2,5004,0005,000
Total $398,950$426,000 $472,600
Other partners $200,000$213,000 $236,300
Municipalities $200,000$213,000 $236,300
City proportion based on 2008
Regional population 47%47% 47%
City of Kitchener $47,000$50,000$56,000
This report recommends approving WRAC funding for 2010 which was discussed by
Community Services Committee on November 16, 2009 (CSD-009-064) and deferred by
Council on November 23, 2009. That report recommended annual funding in the amount of
$8757.00. As discussions by the WRAC Board about timing of winding down the organization
are ongoing, staff recommends approval of the annual amount and release of funds for six
months with release of subsequent quarterly amounts upon confirmation by staff of continuing
operations. Subsequent to Council approval, a Tier 1 grant agreement will be developed with
WRAC to confirm these arrangements.
The remainder of the $267,000 fund ($267,000 less $47,000 = $220,000) would be available to
support Council decisions to increase sustainable operating funding to key arts, culture and
heritage organizations for a period of time, perhaps two years. The eventual goal of the
Prosperity Council proposal is that City of Kitchener funding would reach an incremental amount
annually approximating $1 per capita. Additional funding would need to be allocated in future
budget years likely beginning 2012 to build toward this eventual goal of approximately $225,000
annually (based on 2008 population) and staff recommends consideration of future funding be
referred to the 2012 Operating Budget Process.
COMMUNICATIONS:
Since the beginning of this work the Prosperity Council has periodically engaged members of
the arts, culture and heritage sector as well as business representatives and civic leaders in this
work. In 2008 130 leaders came together to review research and plan next steps. In 2009 over
250 people participated in the Forum to hear proposals. Since that time reports and research
have been posted on Creative Enterprise web sites.
As recently as December 19, 2009 the City of Kitchener under the auspices of Culture Plan II
sponsored a forum for the creative sector to consider communication barriers and Prosperity
Council research documents were among those offered as resource materials.
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Arts and Culture Advisory Committee discussed this report at its meeting January 19, 2010.
After spirited discussion, the Committee recommends as follows:
That City of Kitchener staff and Council, in discussions with the Enabling Organization,
encourage additional arts-related municipal dollars be administered by the Enabling
Organization, with an objective jury, to reduce paperwork for arts organizations. If not feasible,
the fallback plan should be to administer the funding under the existing tier 1, 2, and 3 funding
process, not to introduce another process.
CONCLUSION:
The work of the Prosperity Council has engaged a large cross section of leaders in our
community to tackle the final area of need identified by the Council’s work in 2003 – additional
focus and investment in our cultural sector. The proposal put forward to City of Kitchener
Council is consistent with the goals of Council’s Arts and Culture Capacity Building Fund.
ACKNOWLEDGED BY:
Pauline Houston, General Manager, Community Services
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