[0:09] Uh, we've got the minutes.
[0:13] I'll accept a motion to approve the minutes. Hey,  
[0:15] that'll work. Great job. 
Second. Oh, any discussion?
[0:24] Um, all approved say I. All the pals the same sign 
minutes are approved. Yay. Wow. Nice. Uh you're  
[0:38] doing great. Okay. Thanks. You're doing great. 
Uh okay. So uh as you guys have uh uh heard as  
[0:46] we're chatting as everybody's coming in um we did 
uh receive a healthy number of applicants for the  
[0:54] operational grants for this year. To remind 
Uh those who have been here before, we have  
[1:01] um about no not about exactly 13 organizations 
already under contract for this year. So the  
[1:09] number is lower than usual. Um uh I gave uh one 
organization an extension based on their request  
[1:18] because they had a crisis. Um and so hopefully 
next Monday I'll have that from them. Uh, if I do  
[1:24] receive that one, we will be at 21 applicants. Um, 
I think Naen, you might be the only person that's  
[1:32] been here as long as me. You, maybe longer than 
me at this point. Um, we have not had Last time  
[1:38] we had this few was in 2023. We had 23 operational 
grant applicants. So, this is even below that. So,  
[1:46] which is great. This is on purpose. This is on 
purpose. A good sign. It's working. Um I mean if  
[1:52] we give if we award um if we award 21 uh grants 
will still be at our usual number of recipients  
[2:03] which sits in the low30s at this point usually. 
Um so by by your own discussions you helped lower  
[2:11] the amount. Is that how how it happened? I don't 
you may recall that we discussed a few meetings  
[2:19] ago that we changed the structure of the the 
the grant opportunity. We added those tiers,  
[2:25] right? So the the highest tier, they never their 
contract never ends as long as they keep meeting  
[2:31] their performance measures, right? So they never 
have to reapply. The middle tier, our anchors,  
[2:37] they apply uh they they get three-year contracts. 
And so next year will be year two of their  
[2:44] contract. So they do not have to apply for another 
couple years yet. That's 13 of our most common  
[2:50] applicants. That's the reason they're in the 
tiers that they're in. So pulling those 13 out,  
[2:57] uh we have what hopefully will be 21 applications 
remaining. So, we've we've pulled out a solid  
[3:06] third of what you guys would be reading normally. 
Um, and they're on just continue they're on other  
[3:13] contracts. Now, obviously, when the anchors come 
up for renewal, that number will be higher because  
[3:19] the anchors will need to be renewed. Um, but 
as you'll see this year, we've got a couple who  
[3:24] could be considered for anchor status. And so it 
it might start ending up being very uh staggered  
[3:32] to where it's more of a consistent number as 
we go from year to year. Uh so hopefully that  
[3:38] makes sense. Um so uh this year we did have a few 
new applicants. Um we had two who uh one who has  
[3:50] told me they've chosen not to reapply. That's the 
Metropolitan Ballet. they they're not in a place  
[3:55] right now where they felt like doing it. I did 
tell them about the activation grant, so hopefully  
[4:01] we'll see them in a couple months. Um, and then 
the other one, I have not heard from the Witchah  
[4:07] Community Children's Choir. Um, I don't know why. 
Um, I was talking with them a few months ago,  
[4:15] uh, but I haven't heard from them in a while. So, 
I those two we not have not gotten applications  
[4:21] from. to go over this really really quickly with 
you. We got a new application from Ponder this,  
[4:27] they're a poetry spoken word organization here 
in town. The cultural association of India from  
[4:34] Witchah is uh new to us. Uh Envision and Forum 
are repeats. Friends of the Witchita pioneers,  
[4:42] they do a lot of century clean uh cemetery 
cleanup. Century cemetery, here we go. Cemetery  
[4:48] cleanup specifically in one one uh organization. 
And there are a couple of these where I don't  
[4:52] know if they're going to end up being funded, 
but I'm just letting you know where they are.  
[4:58] Great Plains Transportation Museum, this is their 
second application with us. Juniper Arts is back.  
[5:03] Kansas Bluegrass is back. Um, and they're doing 
not to not to uh talk up too many people, but we  
[5:10] had a site visit with them recently and they're 
doing very well. Um, KW is back as a applying  
[5:16] for partner. McCormick School uh is applying. 
They're getting pretty close to anchor. Um,  
[5:22] Music Youth Partnership is back. Oreium is back. 
Orefume, I would love for you guys to consider for  
[5:28] anchor status for next year. PBS can and this will 
all be in an email, so don't worry. PBS Kansas is  
[5:35] back. Sense Community Band uh is new to us. Um, 
and they're one of the two uh they're one of the  
[5:43] smallest organizations currently that has ever 
applied for our uh funding. Storytime Village is  
[5:50] back, the Witchaw Agent Association is back after 
a year away. Uh, Chamber Corral is back, Grand  
[5:56] Opera is back, Jazz Festival is back, and then, 
uh, ICT Rep is usually how we refer to them. Uh,  
[6:03] which Repatory Theater is back as well. So, um, 
Waw Grand Opera and Oreium Performing Arts Center,  
[6:12] uh, I will request that you guys consider them 
for anchor. Uh, and I will write this all out  
[6:17] in an email so that you have it. You don't have to 
remember this, but um, they were held back for one  
[6:23] reason or another last year at this time and we'd 
like to reconsider them this year. Uh, let's see.  
[6:30] So, yeah. So, that's our currently our 20. Um, uh, 
our 21st is Malberry Arts. Hopefully, we will get  
[6:36] an an application from them very soon. Uh so it's 
it's very exciting to have all of these and this  
[6:43] is a very zoomed in look look at submittable those 
of you who are new to the program I'll go over  
[6:48] that in a little bit but um to talk very briefly 
to our newer members who haven't gone through this  
[6:59] process um the a lot of these are going to be the 
organizations where you you say to yourself wow  
[7:05] this application might not be that strong or it 
could be Um, and unfortunately the ones that would  
[7:12] be the best are the ones who are on contract 
already, right? The easy ones to understand,  
[7:17] the numbers that are super clear, right? These are 
going to be the ones that where you've got to dig  
[7:22] a little bit to maybe get answers that you want. 
But if you don't, if there is a question that you  
[7:27] don't have an answer to, that is an opportunity 
for the Q&A that's coming up on September 3rd.  
[7:32] Okay? and I'll be scheduling that tomorrow and 
Friday. And I'll send you guys a a list of how  
[7:38] that will look when I've got that schedule ready 
to go. Um, but yeah, I don't want you to just see  
[7:47] these and think like, oh wow, this is such a 
like what's up with all these applicants. It's  
[7:51] these are our ones who are new or are smaller 
and they don't have the capacity, right? So,  
[7:57] um, but al also there's K&W and PBS in there and 
they're going to look just fine. So, it's going to  
[8:03] be a very fascinating range for you guys to jump 
in on. Um, yes. Uh, talking very a little bit more  
[8:13] about the operational grants, just to give you 
some previews. Um uh uh before we do our Q&A,  
[8:20] usually we'll talk very briefly about um how 
much funding we have to give. Um and whether  
[8:28] or not we want to hold any funding back for 
our other grant program, which now is just  
[8:35] the activation grant. Last year, we gave about 56 
what on about $56,650 in activation grant funding.  
[8:43] Um, this is not an official number, so sorry 
anybody watching this back on YouTube later. Um,  
[8:52] based on what I can see in the in the proposed 
budget book, we're looking at a 7.41% increase  
[9:00] from last year. Um, so it's always possible that 
I'm reading that wrong, but I don't think that I  
[9:10] am. Uh, yes. So, uh, I mentioned that we have 
some organizations already under contract. The  
[9:17] five cultural institutions, which is our top 
level, they got $35,000 last year. They will  
[9:25] get that plus the 7.41% increase next year, 
which comes out to, I believe, about 37500.
[9:35] So, they'll get that increase. The anchors 
are locked in at their amount for three years.  
[9:41] they don't get the increase. So that that amount 
does not change. That's currently $176,000. The  
[9:49] institutions it's 187950. Um which leaves you 
between these partners and potential anchors and  
[10:01] the activation grants. uh around $230,000 left to 
uh allocate. Thank you. Um last year we gave out  
[10:16] $146,000 to this tier of applicant that I assume 
will go up a bit this year. But as you think about  
[10:26] that, don't forget that we want to hold back 
X amount of money for the activation grants.  
[10:32] Does that make some sense? So, if everything 
slight slid upward by that 7.41% increase,  
[10:39] these guys would get about 157,000. The 
activation grants would get about 61,000  
[10:45] and but you'd still have 13,000 to figure out 
where it would go. Okay? So, there's a there's  
[10:51] money to play with here because the anchors 
didn't shift up. Does that make some sense  
[10:57] to everybody? I know that I'm getting into math 
and I'm sorry about that. I'll stop now. Um but  
[11:05] uh so so overall our our pot if I'm reading 
the tea leaves correctly will be $595,000.
[11:14] So 500 sorry how much? 595 and 237 if you really 
want you really want all of it. And we'll still  
[11:25] have the budget office come in before Q&A to I 
don't know that it's necessary anymore. like I  
[11:29] can confirm my numbers with them, but I get it 
now. You know, I literally wrote the appendix  
[11:35] on how the mil levy works. So, if you ever want 
to learn how your property tax is calculated,  
[11:42] let me know. I'd be happy to tell you 
all about cereal bowls. Send you a lot  
[11:47] of people. Yes. Yeah. Uh uh Okay. So, do we So, 
hope I have some uh you can't see it from here,  
[11:58] but in my spreadsheet that's just for Jesse, um 
I have a few organizations that I'm still working  
[12:05] on curing some applications. So, there's like 
confusing financial documents or they gave me  
[12:11] two years instead of three years. Like, I'm 
trying to fix those as quickly as possible.  
[12:15] But I'll still be getting you at least I 
would say maybe 15 applications to read at  
[12:22] the at minimum today or tomorrow starting today or 
tomorrow. So we do have a shorter time period by  
[12:29] just like a week or two than we usually do to 
do this. So um you will get an email. It will  
[12:36] come from submittable. We'll say you've been 
assigned these things and you'll just click on  
[12:41] them and they can take you right there. But I'll 
show you all that here in a few minutes. Okay.  
[12:47] It's very easy hopefully. Uh yes. So that's 
operational grants. I think it, you know,  
[12:54] I it it's always happens Sunday afternoon. I'm 
like, why are there only six of them? Oh god, what  
[13:00] did I do wrong? And then there's 20 and I feel 
better, right? Um so uh yeah, it it it went well.  
[13:09] Um, and I'm excited to see people that I 
didn't even reach out to apply for the grant,  
[13:15] which is fabulous because I've had a crazy 
year and haven't didn't do as much cloaking of  
[13:19] organizations as I wanted. And to randomly have 
some of them show up is fabulous. Um, okay. Uh,  
[13:28] if are there any questions about that briefly? 
That was a lot that I just threw at you, but I  
[13:33] really like talking about it, so my apologies. 
Okay. So, the activation grant to switch your  
[13:40] brain to the other track for a minute. That's our 
project and professional development grant, right?  
[13:46] It's a smaller one, smaller pot of money. Really 
up to you guys how much we toss in there. Um,  
[13:53] I did make the changes that we discussed from last 
time. So, to uh go over that briefly with you,  
[14:01] and I'm so sorry that there aren't page numbers. 
I never remember page numbers. Um you will see if  
[14:10] you if you start on the very first page it says 
2027 activation grant opportunity the page after  
[14:16] that toward the bottom there's funding request 
limits I did add for 2026 the first year for the  
[14:26] opportunity 17 grants were awarded they average 
$3,300 and range from 900 to 6700 to just give  
[14:34] people an idea of what might happen from this. Um, 
so added that so that because we wanted to start  
[14:44] tossing some history in there. Um, the calendar is 
updated uh for your needs. There will only be one  
[14:51] information session. No one here is required 
to attend that, but you're always welcome.  
[14:56] Um, very very occasionally there will be a 
question that's more directed at the committee,  
[15:02] but it's I've maybe happened once in my four years 
of doing this. Um, see, uh, everything else in  
[15:11] the rubric I believe was pretty much the same. 
Um, it was really just the, uh, the application  
[15:21] itself. Um, I'll come back to this thing that was 
highlighted in two different places. It's just  
[15:26] because it's also in the terms and conditions. 
[clears throat] Um, so the application is the  
[15:31] final few pages of your of your document. 
I moved it to the back. Um, let's see. Uh
[15:41] so for number nine uh which should be number nine 
no matter which app version of the application  
[15:47] you're looking at capacity building or project 
select from the options below that will show  
[15:54] them all at once which I believe was where we 
ended. You still can only select one for now,  
[16:05] but it will show them all at once. So that so um 
the question now says how does your project best  
[16:13] connect? Question 10, please explain how how 
it aligns. Then question 11, does your project  
[16:21] connect in other ways? So they do have question 
nine there to be able to see all those at once  
[16:26] like you guys wanted. So they could reference them 
but maybe not select every single one which was a  
[16:33] fear that came up. Um so uh that should hopefully 
be pretty uh straightforward for the applicant. Um  
[16:46] scribe those uh 12 and 13 are straightforward. Uh, 
no real changes for 14. I just added in again that  
[16:55] history so that people can remember truly remember 
how much they're asking for. Um, 15 describe  
[17:04] how you plan to use it. The next question is is 
added. Can it move forward if you receive partial  
[17:10] funding? And these so either yes or no. there will 
be a text box um that pops up with with a bit of  
[17:18] text that says like please explain how you would 
move forward if you receive partial funding or is  
[17:23] it possible to do a smaller version of this? Um 
just to get them thinking about how to continue  
[17:30] doing their project and then that question 17 
why do you feel it should be selected is the  
[17:34] same. Um and then 18 on project funding under the 
project funding one is that optional video upload.  
[17:43] Um and I've said no more than uh keep it to no 
more than 3 minutes of length. Can use uh you  
[17:49] can talk about any aspect of the project that you 
wish. Um and then you know please don't use this  
[17:54] space to upload your work samples and then work 
samples websites and everything. Um, and then the  
[17:59] relevant versions of those questions were placed 
into the capacity building uh option as well.
[18:09] Yes. I cannot remember if you offer examples to 
folks, but I'm wondering specifically around the  
[18:16] budget. I just really struggled last time and I 
I mean I think your language here and everything  
[18:20] is clear, but can we offer like an example 
budget that like has categories and provides  
[18:24] the appropriate amount of detail that we hope they 
can provide us just so they can like put eyes on  
[18:29] something as an example. I think that could be 
helpful. I should be able to add uh links and  
[18:35] u well I can definitely add links. I just 
to do it in a clean way that I want to I  
[18:40] should be able to. Okay. Um, and to 
uh just going to write really quick  
[18:46] add sample budget. I'm going to do the 
whole parenthesis s things. Um, yes. Uh,
[18:59] even if it's a fake one, I can do that. But 
hopefully I can grab a couple successful  
[19:03] older ones and use them as examples. Um, you 
reminded me uh that first bullet point under  
[19:10] please describe how you plan to use the funds 
for the project. It does say please provide  
[19:15] the project's entire budget if the activation 
grant will only fund a portion of the project.  
[19:19] Please make sure that's clear. Okay. So, that was 
another request that the committee had was to to  
[19:24] know like are we just funding a certain section 
of it? Is the whole thing what's the whole thing  
[19:29] look like? So hopefully get more information for 
you. Yes, I can absolutely add sample budgets.
[19:44] Any other thoughts about the guidelines? I 
know that it's a lot of text. My apologies. Um,  
[19:51] it will present much cleaner to the 
applicant. Um, and I don't think that  
[20:00] many of our applicants last year had feedback 
about it being confusing or anything like that.
[20:18] What I could use from the committee is just a  
[20:20] vote on this being the guidelines and 
application with the suggested changes
[20:29] if you feel comfortable doing 
so today. You don't have to.
[20:35] I know it's a Oh, I didn't even talk about 
the highlighted thing. So, sorry. Let's have  
[20:40] a discussion. Um, so one thing that our older 
grants that this replaced did, I'm speaking more  
[20:52] specifically right now of like the artist access 
grant. You could only get the artist access grant,  
[20:56] I believe, two years in a row before you had 
to take a break. then you can do it again. Um,  
[21:02] and this is a little confusing the way that 
I've worded it. I can't come up with a better  
[21:08] way to word it right now, but essentially I'd 
like it's it's a it's a goal of mine to spread  
[21:15] this out to as many people as possible. 
So, if they have a successful application,  
[21:18] I would like them to take at least a year off 
before reapplying. So, for capacity building,  
[21:26] I um it's it's one year that you have to take off. 
Uh and then uh I may have done this wrong. I'll  
[21:35] make sure that it's one year. Yeah. Fall 2027. 
Yep. I did this. I got I had I might have fixed  
[21:41] it and then I refixed it if that makes sense. It's 
like uh so uh for 2020. Yeah. So if you want to if  
[21:53] you get a capacity building grant this year for 
2027 funding I have right. So you can't apply in  
[22:01] apply27. You can't apply until 2028. Until 2029. 
Yeah. Well or before 2029. Yes. So if you get  
[22:10] programmatic funding so I had um uh you can't 
apply. And this is why our our program gets so  
[22:18] confusing because like I'm living in three years 
at once all the time. Um if you get if you get  
[22:24] programmatic funding, you cannot get more funding 
until 2030. So you get 2027, you have to skip 2829  
[22:31] and then you can get it again in 2030. Does that 
make sense? Does that work for everybody? Yes.  
[22:38] Okay. So it's the the idea is that you know 
because we apply early it gets confusing but  
[22:43] essentially if you get 2027 money your capacity 
you have to skip 28 but you can get 29. If you're  
[22:50] programmatic and you get 2027 you have to skip 
28 and 29 but you can get 30. And this is just  
[22:58] an attempt to again spread it out and not have 
the same Witchaw Public Library Foundation,  
[23:07] right? Getting a large chunk of our money every 
single year. And nothing against the library is  
[23:13] my what came to mind. We love the library. 
Stay right to the camera. Love the library.
[23:23] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We love a lot of 
people and but our pot is limited.
[23:33] So are are there any thoughts about that 
about other aspects of the application  
[23:39] about the guidelines? I've tried to it's 
all in my head and it all makes sense to me  
[23:46] but you know everybody's got a plan so they 
can punch in the mouth that sort of thing.
[23:56] like the budget. I'm wondering if our question on 
describe your project. I just feel like sometimes  
[24:02] last year they just went off real specific 
about things. So if something like include  
[24:06] as much detail as possible, just a little bit 
of prompting like you have sample questions  
[24:10] for them to consider. Yep. But I still felt 
like last year some of them were just like
[24:19] [clears throat] I would have felt better 
supporting if I understood more. I don't  
[24:22] know if that will make would like to see 
describe your project in detail. Okay. In  
[24:28] detail. Yeah. Yep. I can just write in 
detail. Thank you. Um with that said,  
[24:35] yeah, I I'm 95% sure that these questions do 
not have character limits, which is something  
[24:42] that is a holdover from the Arts Thrive grant. 
If you want I can't look at it right now. If  
[24:51] you want as much detail as possible, do you 
also want a character limit? Yeah. I mean,  
[24:59] we could be generous. Yeah. Character or word? I 
prefer word. Well, sure. This makes more sense.  
[25:06] Okay. Uh I mean, even if I just said like a 
thousand words, like I was 2,000. Wow. We're  
[25:14] all over the place. A page. 250 is a page. It's 
considered a page words. Yeah. Oh, not characters.
[25:27] 600, right? Two pages. 250, doesn't I 
know for my text message. Did you say  
[25:32] I'm not saying 250? I'm saying 250 is a 
p. I said a thousand and I meant words.
[25:41] I'm not the one reading. Oh, I have to read them, 
but I'm not. You're not wrong. Like, I think  
[25:46] caution them against writing. We we accidentally 
left we accidentally left one box without a  
[25:52] character limit one time and it was a novel 
a novel. It was a book unstructured novel. It  
[25:58] was like what's the mission of your organization? 
And it was 10 pages and it was like I definitely  
[26:05] missed putting a limit on that one. So we've 
we've learned the power of the limit. Yes.
[26:18] Yeah, like this if you can see it. So, this 
isn't it's not this is two. They told me this  
[26:24] is 208. That's not really very much. No, I would 
say 600. Okay. It's a it's a limit. You know,  
[26:34] these people are not going to write this 
much. Some of them will, but not all of  
[26:39] them would. Like the videos, we thought they 
long and sometimes they were 15 minutes long.  
[26:45] Did I misremember that? I don't think that 
we only had like three or four videos. So,  
[26:49] I mean this this the the the sample 
is not great. But the recall is Yeah,  
[26:56] I Yeah, the long ones were long. I will agree. 
It's why we said no more than three minutes.
[27:06] We We happy with 600 words? Generally that's like  
[27:11] 2500 characters. So that that's great. 
Great. The good writer is happy. Okay.
[27:22] All right.
[27:26] Any other uh questions? Are 
we happy with the change to  
[27:30] the cultural the how does it connect? Um,
[27:39] I know we've talked in the past about 
wanting to give like examples of good  
[27:42] of good applications. I'll try to reach out 
to our successful ones and see who would be  
[27:47] willing to let me upload them. Um, a really 
good idea. I mean, I think I have a full  
[27:53] application with the budget people. Yes, I'll 
just send an I'll try to send an email today.
[28:02] I mean it's just obviously the ones 
that have a professional grant writer  
[28:07] working on their application they look very 
different than the ones that are you know do  
[28:13] yeah something we can say this is ideal 
try to get like this right based on the  
[28:19] details I think that's helpful like whenever 
I have an example that I can look at it's a  
[28:25] game well and try to pick out some too that 
are from some of these smaller organizations  
[28:31] Oh yeah, sure. I'm going to reach out to 
all 17 and I'll see who I can get. You know,  
[28:36] we've got individuals, we've got big orgs, we 
got small or try to get a good sample, right?
[28:45] Yeah. Otherwise, I think it looks 
good. Should we vote or do people
[28:53] vote? Okay. All in favor of approving the  
[28:57] application as amended. our 
discussion just now. Say I
[29:07] I'll second. There's Oops. Did I skip discussion? 
I'll second. I skipped that part. I just wanted  
[29:13] you to get to it. Okay. Okay. All right. And 
then there was an I. All oppose. Same sign. Okay.  
[29:20] Motion. Great. Somewhere in there. Yes. I'll put 
it on the back of your Jean. I'll put it on the  
[29:27] back of my name. Sorry. Yeah. Oh [ __ ] Second. 
Yeah. Get you a little dungeon master screen. I
[29:41] great.
[29:44] Uh, okay. Great. We have uh uh a little over 
20 minutes. I don't know that I'll need that  
[29:51] much time to go through submittables. So, maybe 
we'll get you guys out of here a little sooner  
[29:55] than usual. Um, those of you who are used to this, 
if you want to go or need to go, that's fine. Um,  
[30:02] Art, I am not sharing my screen. Give me just a 
second. That's very rude of me. There's nothing  
[30:07] there right now, right? Because I checked it 
this morning. I Yes, you have not been assigned  
[30:11] anything. All right. Yes, there's nothing this 
morning. You'll get an email notifying you. You  
[30:17] have a work. Yeah, I mean, but it won't say 
you've got 75 things to look at, right? So,  
[30:27] there's there's that. My god. So, Art, hopefully 
you can see this screen. It says clear filters  
[30:34] and such. I can. Um, so this is uh so zooming out. 
This is my test account. This is John Dudeman. Um,  
[30:42] who's been assigned all of the applications. Uh 
so when you sign in you will uh basically see this  
[30:50] um it'll say assigned like uh multiple people 
over here on to the right. Um but basically to  
[30:58] get into it into an any application if the email 
that you receive lists them individually which I  
[31:04] believe most of the time it does and it may just 
say like dot dot dot for more underneath. Um,  
[31:10] you can click on a name to get directly into it 
or you can come to your your homepage essentially  
[31:17] uh here under submissions and and get into it. 
So, um, just pick like Juniper is usually pretty  
[31:24] solid. So, we'll click Juniper and of course it 
says Artbeat. That doesn't that's wrong. Uh, all  
[31:32] right. Here it comes. So, you see the application 
and I'm sorry it feels like it's a little out of  
[31:39] focus. It feels like I can never get this thing 
fully into focus. Anyway, um the application  
[31:48] over here and it's a bit of scrolling organization 
staff list, right? Trustees, board of directors,  
[31:56] mission statement, what what it does and then they 
go into the proposal narrative and their answers  
[32:01] are all here. Okay. And then as you scroll, and 
I'm sorry, yes, it is it is plenty of reading,  
[32:07] but hopefully it's all very interesting and you're 
learning about big organizations that you didn't  
[32:11] know about. See, I've got to get the I've got 
to get Juniper to update their attendance data  
[32:16] because sometimes Submittable just doesn't hold 
on to it. Well, there should be numbers there. Um,  
[32:23] but you'll get toward the bottom, you'll start 
to see their financial documents. uh uh if uh  
[32:29] Hannah's not here, but if you're a sicko like 
Hannah and you want to dive into them very deeply,  
[32:35] um you know uh you'll just click and you can it'll 
take you right in, right? Uh and you can uh look  
[32:43] at them. You can go back and forth between the 
documents up here. And this window doesn't show  
[32:47] it great uh extremely well. This is what it should 
look like. So you've always got this to the right.  
[32:54] you can exit out, right? You got taxes, you've got 
their current budget, an inind donation list. Um,  
[33:03] so I usually have it. So, I have the complete 
review going while I'm reading it. You are you  
[33:10] are hitting what I was just about to say. Okay. 
Cuz I'm like I never got a submittable overview,  
[33:15] but if that's how we were supposed to be doing. 
No, no, no, no. I'm just showing I just wanted to  
[33:19] talk about [laughter] whatever. So, on the right, 
you'll see this little thing here. Sometimes  
[33:27] when you come in, it'll be on the activity tab, 
right? So, there's three tabs: activity, review,  
[33:32] and messages. You don't really have to worry about 
messages. Um, every once in a while, I will have  
[33:39] to put a document into the activity thing here, 
and I will tell you via email if I have to do  
[33:45] that. This was a couple years ago when we tried to 
do just the taxes instead of the financial all of  
[33:52] the financial things and it did not go well. So we 
switched back. So you'll mostly be in review and  
[33:58] you'll just click complete review and then we'll 
open up right here on the right side so that you  
[34:04] can scroll you can get to you know staff list 
and you can score how you feel about the staff  
[34:10] list. There is a rubric to help you if you want. 
Um, we hope hope that you tack pretty closely to  
[34:18] the some of the thoughts on the rubric and I will 
send that to you. I believe I've sent that to most  
[34:22] of you already, but just in case I'll resend it. 
But, uh, essentially, you've got, I believe, 21  
[34:28] questions per organization. Every single question 
has an opportunity for you to write notes. Those  
[34:37] are useful for when you come back to the Q&A and 
you want to remember something that you thought  
[34:43] uh a question you had, you can open this up when 
we're in the Q&A and you can scroll along and see  
[34:48] your question. Or if you've got feedback that you 
want to give the organization, you can write it  
[34:53] there and then I can pull that out when it's time 
to work on the feedback document. I think that's  
[34:58] an important note, Jesse. The notes that we type 
are not viewable by the organization. Yes. None  
[35:05] of this is viewable by the organization. Yeah, 
you'll see this little eyeball. It says it can be  
[35:11] shared. I don't do that. It can be shared. This is 
helpful to your point, Jesse, when we do the Q&A  
[35:17] sessions after you've read all these applications. 
And then weeks later when we sit down with the  
[35:21] organizations to have them sitting in front of 
you, you want to have them there for Q&A. It's  
[35:28] nice to have the questions already kind of teed 
up because you won't necessarily remember them.  
[35:33] Yes. And it looks like I need to fix the 
Looks like I need to fix the review form. So,  
[35:38] I'll fix the review form. It's a little out 
of order. Um, but I'll get that done. Um,
[35:47] go backwards. No, sorry. I was a review for Yeah. 
Oh. Um, so the goals like uh Yeah. So, what are  
[35:57] your organization's goals? So, you got this here. 
So, you can, you know, Okay. Well, that feels like  
[36:01] a four, you know. So, you can see here a little 
bit. We're not very zoomed in. Now, we are we  
[36:07] consider a three successful. Um, and so these 
organizations should know that they're not going  
[36:15] to get a five out of five on everything. It's 
okay to have feelings about how they're doing.  
[36:22] You all are thrown into the same pot. You're all 
average together. If you feel strongly that this  
[36:27] organization isn't as good as you would like it 
to be, that can come out in your reviewing. Okay?
[36:37] And that your score alone is not what 
determines funding for these organizations,  
[36:41] right? So we we do average the scores out when 
we're done so that you can see and our the amounts  
[36:47] that they receive trend usually with the higher 
scoring gets higher amounts of their ask, right?  
[36:55] Um but the discussion is equally as important that 
you all have about organizations. So don't panic.  
[37:06] Just just do your best. Um but again uh you'll 
just go through there's it looks like a bunch.  
[37:17] It is a bunch but it's also just very spread 
out. Um toward the end you'll see a question.  
[37:22] should this organization be funded? And it's yes 
or no. Right? Um and I treat this a little bit  
[37:29] like a vote in the room. So if six of you say an 
organization shouldn't be funded, I will come to  
[37:36] the room and say the majority of you didn't think 
that this should be funded. And then we might  
[37:41] have a you might have a discussion on whether or 
not it should be. Sometimes organizations that  
[37:46] receive multiple do not fund votes, they get 
docked on how much they receive a little bit  
[37:51] because the there's just not a consensus in the 
room, right? So, um it's okay to say no. There's  
[37:57] going to be a couple in here who I think you may 
say they're not a good fit or they're not ready or  
[38:04] just this isn't a good enough application. And so, 
you'll say, "No, my job is to just make sure the  
[38:10] applications are complete. If they're complete, I 
give them to you. And if they're in a gray area,  
[38:15] usually I give them to you. Um, it's got 
to be pretty obviously not us, you know,  
[38:23] uh, for me to say, "No, I'm not going to do it." I 
mean, I'll make the argument that a baseball team  
[38:28] is a cultural organization, right? So, I'm not 
the best person at throwing up a big old gate,
[38:40] right? You have to allocate a percentage but it's 
relative to the others the same time that you're  
[38:45] deciding only on this one right yes it's hard 
how do you go about or you guys have already  
[38:50] done that how do you do this [laughter] and 
you got to almost read all of them first and  
[38:56] then come back or no so go ahead sorry not try 
to do it each on their own individual merit
[39:07] and then we have to then if we end up you're 
funding you're we're overfunding then in the  
[39:12] it comes out in the wash of the meeting. We figure 
out what how it's going to but I I don't I try to  
[39:18] um I don't know a lot of things a lot of 
things come out in the wash. Um I will say  
[39:24] I do I will send to you all an Excel sheet 
that you can use as sort of your own little  
[39:30] note takingaking thing that you can put 
your amounts in and it'll calculate like  
[39:34] where you're at. Not everybody uses 
it. That's fine. I ignore that. I'll  
[39:38] let Jess worry about that when he he does 
numbers. So, I'll probably use my dollars.
[39:50] I get easier. I like that approach. I get 
people who are like, I don't care that  
[39:54] the pot's only that much. We should spend 1.5 
million. I'm like, great. I I agree. You know,  
[40:05] and then I just I just take that and I go right 
and I go, "This is what you meant." Well, and I  
[40:13] think the discussion some some people I think are 
easier graders, some people are upper graders,  
[40:19] you know, they all get blended together. So, if we 
weren't all looking at them all at the same time,  
[40:24] there are things that I would to equalize, but 
since we're all looking at them, generally, it  
[40:30] still figures itself out, right? Um, so yes, uh, 
my life would be a lot easier if everybody said,  
[40:38] "I've only got this much. I'm only going to 
give this much." That's never what happens. Um,  
[40:44] and then of course there are issues with 
like, uh, I'll have to ask you guys if you  
[40:48] have conflicts of interest with any of these. 
And if anybody does, sometimes people forget to  
[40:53] leave money for the group that they have an a 
conflict with. And so, you know, it it just I  
[41:00] have to fix it. Do we abstain from voting if we 
have a conflict? Usually. Okay. So, we abstain  
[41:06] just on that one. You abstain from discussion 
on that one organization and from voting. Well,  
[41:11] from the final thing you you can vote. Oh, okay. 
Yeah. Yeah. But the like as we're sort of figuring  
[41:17] it out as we go down, usually that person will 
leave. Yeah. We don't vote one. Okay. We vote  
[41:22] on the whole thing. Okay. Got it. Okay. Yeah. 
So, you guys are creating recommendations that  
[41:27] we take to city council. And so you create 
a recommendation of you should receive what  
[41:33] funding and then hopefully city council agrees. 
Usually they do. Yeah. Um I have not seen it go  
[41:42] the other way. I've read a report of it happening 
but that was a while ago. Anyway, uh yes. So it's  
[41:50] it's that 20 to 21 times. If you've got additional 
comments, you can toss them down there. Sangita,  
[41:56] you'll be using specific amount probably a lot. 
You'll say, you know, exactly what you want to do,  
[42:02] right? Okay. You know, some people it's just vibes 
based, right? They deserve they deserve half of  
[42:08] what they ask for, you know. So, it it I it used 
to just be how much should they get and it really  
[42:14] just was all over. And so, I gave the percentage 
options in there. Um [clears throat] uh yeah,  
[42:22] so it's it's not so bad. again. This I'll fix 
this. Um, do you know in the 21 applications,  
[42:30] Jesse, how much funding has been requested, what 
the total is? So, yes. Um, I'm going to because I  
[42:36] use the word request, I shouldn't have. Nowadays, 
it's just what they qualify for. We no longer ask  
[42:42] them what they want. We always consider them 
for their maximum according to our guidelines,  
[42:48] which is 15% of last year's actual expenses. Um, 
which is why for like one organization that's  
[42:55] $100 and so it's like so they minimum. We don't 
really we don't really have a minimum like you  
[43:02] know and so we I in I pushed that organization to 
apply because they needed to start setting up the  
[43:12] things that are required for our application. I 
said, "You're going to have a much better time in  
[43:16] the activation grant, but you should do this one 
because two two shots at it is much better than  
[43:22] one." Um, so again, I know that there's going to 
be one or two organizations where you're like,  
[43:28] I don't think this is right and they should be 
in the other one. So, we'll get there. Um so  
[43:34] qualifi uh in terms of qualified um it's about 
without our missing application it's $233,500
[43:47] and I have your funding right now at 231,287
[43:53] again though we want to pull out that activation 
grant funding so it's maybe 23 of what they're  
[44:00] qualified for and not and very few organizations 
for everybody that's new in the room ever get  
[44:06] close to what they qualified for. Now I do still 
for fun calculate what they qualified for in the  
[44:11] old version that was $451,000 and we never got 
close to that with anybody and so that's why we  
[44:20] we started adding maximums. Um so now it looks 
a little bit closer to us actually giving out  
[44:26] what people qualify for. Um, so, uh, yes, it's 
it's there's a wide range because we've got two  
[44:34] that I'd like you to consider for anchor. Those 
go up to 35,000. I don't know that you would  
[44:40] give them 35, but they go up to 35. Um, and 
then we have a cup, we have two, three, four,  
[44:48] five. So, about a quarter of them do hit the 
maximum of 15,000 beyond those two anchors.  
[44:56] like a third overall they're going to hit the 
maximum and be that big one. Um so it's it's  
[45:03] just kind of all over and you know so so to 
move the two up to anchor which has more more  
[45:11] cash what does that do to the availability of 
money to those below? Well, just whatever you  
[45:19] guys end up um averaging out to and then after 
your deliberations deciding to stick with so  
[45:26] maybe maybe it's $20,000 each for three years, 
right? Um uh that would just mean that uh that  
[45:34] $40,000 comes off the top and then you know if 
we pull 60 Yeah. So you've got $131,000 left  
[45:43] for the rest which is still really close. Like 
comparing that to what those two got last year,  
[45:49] it's actually still more money this year for these 
organizations than last year. I'm doing a lot of  
[45:56] math in my head all at once. Please let me know if 
I skipped too many steps. You're going to send us  
[45:59] all these numbers, too, right? All the details. 
No, I mean, you're It'll be in your calculator.  
[46:06] It'll be in your little spreadsheet. I'll tell 
you what their maximum is. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um  
[46:12] you don't necessar Go ahead, Art. Sorry, a quick 
I have a quick question. You were ch treasing
[46:22] I mean the the limitations of how many years you 
can get it in a row. Was that inclusive of the top  
[46:30] tier like music, theater and and and symphony? 
So do they only get paid? No. No. So what's  
[46:40] happening Art? I think you're conflating the two 
grants. So, I skip I skip back to the to the um  
[46:47] operational grants which don't have that feature. 
You're okay. You're okay. No, it's fine. The So,  
[46:54] the activation grant is the one where I'd like 
us to skip some years. The operational grant,  
[46:58] which is our other grant, that one doesn't require 
you to skip. In fact, we don't want you to skip  
[47:02] years, right? Um Yes. So, no one will no one 
currently under contract is under any threat  
[47:09] of losing their funding. Um, and we've got 20 to 
21 organizations to consider for uh new contracts.
[47:21] Okay. Sorry. Yes. No, you're fine. This is 
all great. It's all very helpful. Um, yes. So,  
[47:28] your your your Excel sheet that I will send you 
that you can use uh or not um will list all of  
[47:37] the applicants. It will list what tier that I 
think they should be considered for. And again,  
[47:43] if you look at it and you say, "I don't feel like 
placing this organization into anchor," you don't  
[47:49] have to. Just because they meet the qualifications 
doesn't mean that they get into the queue. But if  
[47:55] you want to give them a three-year contract, you 
can. Um, so there's only two of those. And then,  
[48:02] uh, it will list what they've qualif 
what they qualify for. And I'll have  
[48:06] a little thing at the bottom where you'll have 
a column where you can put how much you think  
[48:10] they should get. It'll add it up. It'll tell 
you how much extra you've got. Okay. Um yeah,  
[48:18] should be hopefully very simple. And 
fewer than 34 to try to keep track of all  
[48:26] at once. We're getting, you know, trying 
to reduce burden on everyone but myself.
[48:34] It's not true. I get 10 less contracts 
is great. Um, so the the goal will be  
[48:42] um so this is hopefully submittable a little less 
daunting. Yes, the task is a lot. You have a month  
[48:49] to read them. Um, and I'm under no illusions that 
they will all be done before the week of Mine  
[48:59] will be done. Yes, Allison's leaving so she's 
Yes, it's okay if you wait. You can do you can  
[49:05] choose to do this project in them all at once. 
I think some of us do them a couple at a time,  
[49:10] you know, just however it works best for you. 
I'll send you the Excel sheet. I'll send you the  
[49:14] rubric and you'll get an email from Submittable 
that has the links to the applications. Um,  
[49:21] and Submittable also has the guidelines if 
you want to double check those things. Uh
[49:29] so we estimate that we will we will we will you're  
[49:33] estimating that we will receive it 
by uh I'm hopeful you'll get hopeful
[49:41] I'm hopeful you'll get the email to start 
reading these uh today so those applications  
[49:49] that aren't due until October 12th those 
we'll just get whenever they come but  
[49:55] I'm so sorry. I'm on the operational grants again. 
Oh lord, I can't keep track of it. I'm sorry.  
[50:01] I know. I'm so sorry. It's so tough being on a 
Zoom meeting. I wish I I wish I was in the room,  
[50:05] but I I can't be. So, it's okay, man. We get it. 
I This will all be clear in the email. I promise.  
[50:12] Okay. Um Sep, that's our September meeting time. 
That's our Q&A. I'm still planning on starting  
[50:19] that at 9:00 a.m. Um, depending on uh how many 
breaks you guys want to take, you should be out  
[50:25] by like two. Is it possible to be on Zoom for 
that? I know it's not the best. It is possible  
[50:31] to be on Zoom for that. Yes. Okay. So, I may 
be out. Okay. Have a zoom in. All right. Yes,  
[50:36] we can make that work. Um, that will be at the 
the Mid-American Allendy Museum. Bring a jacket.
[50:44] Always very cold. It is. It's It's a 
one. It's wonderful. What's the date?  
[50:50] Late temperature. It's great. I could be in 
there all day. Feel so fresh. Uh Thursday,  
[50:58] September 3rd. And then the week after 
that, we will meet roughly the same time,  
[51:05] 9:00 a.m. to do our deliberations. Those should 
be shorter than usual, but there are more of us,  
[51:10] so maybe they will be heated. I don't know. 
They won't be heated. [laughter] uh to do our  
[51:18] deliberations. I get then two weeksish to write 
the document that goes to city council. We'll meet  
[51:25] uh October 3rd to finalize the document. So 
I'll try to write that over the course of a  
[51:31] week to 10 days. You'll have a couple days to 
look over it, but it won't be hugely different  
[51:35] than what you've already given to me. Did you 
say October 3rd? Yes. Did I screw that up? No,  
[51:43] not Saturday. You mean October 1st? I do. That's 
a copy paste error. It's October one. Please don't  
[51:49] show up on Saturday. I'll fix that. So, how do I 
I I'm not going to be able to be there. I mean,  
[51:57] I depending on what time gets done, I could 
be some Zoom, but I fly to Hong Kong that day  
[52:04] on the 3. On the first on the first uh that's 
okay. You'll have you'll have you'll have uh  
[52:12] uh participated in the meat of it. And so that's 
this is just the final like okay this is good to  
[52:17] go to council if there are any minor changes 
it's usually small things if we need to add  
[52:25] sometimes we get the document done and we didn't 
say anything good about a particular organization  
[52:30] we only complained about them the whole time and 
I go maybe we should find some positive [laughter]
[52:40] let's balance it and so we'll we'll we we may 
rush our way through that. Um and I'll come  
[52:47] with suggestions if if that does happen, which 
it occasionally does. Um so yes, and then uh
[52:59] once that's done, we'll be in the thick of uh 
we'll be waiting on the activation grants to come  
[53:04] in and we'll get through those. Those are much 
easier to read and to score, but there are more  
[53:11] of them. So, right, your favorite one is fun. Your 
favorite one is likely not going to get funded.  
[53:19] I'll tell you that right now. It happens to us 
all. I have a favorite and then it's in the middle  
[53:25] of the pack in the scoring and I go, "How did 
that happen? It's the best one." [laughter] And  
[53:30] everybody goes, "What are you talking about?" 
Every time. Yeah. Uh, so he's stole that part.  
[53:36] He is. Uh, yes. Are there any questions? Okay, 
great. Chair, would you mind? Where where is the
[53:52] chamber? Uh, it will be at friends university. 
If you're interested in coming to that,  
[53:57] I will send a I'll send an email about that. Yes,  
[54:02] that's September. That is not 
tomorrow, but the Friday after.
[54:11] commonly known as next Friday. Okay. At what time? 
We'll take it. It's going to be at 1 PM or sorry,  
[54:22] it didn't make it onto the document 
that I sent out. I'll send it I'll  
[54:25] send a separate email about the site 
visit. Thanks. You're very welcomed.