Madison Cultural Plan 2011 - City of Madison, Wisconsin

Madison needs
an electronic
grants
management
system; two
alternatives
should be
considered.
Ideally, a partnership could be structured to maintain the ability of local applicants
to utilize a city/county match strategy; to reduce the number of forms applicants
need file by creating a joint city/county application and reporting process; to
capture the advantage of the county’s online application management system
and to free the Madison Arts Commission from a disproportionate burden of grants
management given its limited staff and resources compared to both the amount
available for grants and for its rapidly growing responsibilities in broader city
building.
Any such agreement should allow that city funds awarded be qualified as
matches to any additional Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission funds sought.
Consideration should be given to the impact of any partnership agreement on
stability of municipal funding for grants, sufficient identity of city participation in the
grant-making, and continuation of the Madison Arts Commission’s strength in
supporting important small and emerging work. Additionally, the city would need
to be satisfied with both the transparency and the rigor of the county’s review
panel process. The important question of panel membership would also need to
be considered, especially regarding the place of residence of panelists. Madison
dollars should be reviewed by panels on which Madison residents are represented
at the very least in proportion to their presence in the county’s overall population.
Such a partnership could allow the Madison Arts Commission to make $65,000/year
(in year one with annual growth to be determined by the Madison Arts Commission
and the Madison Common Council) available to be granted via the Dane County
Cultural Affairs Commission for grants to Madison-based artists, creative workers,
and arts and cultural organizations for activities within the City of Madison.
The second option worthy of consideration is piggybacking on the city’s ongoing
effort to upgrade its overall software support for financial and management
services. At present, the effort includes work with the Office of Community Services
in developing electronic grants management tools. Slated for beta testing in 2012
and implementation in 2013, the grants management system may be relatively
easy and inexpensive to adapt for Madison Arts Commission use.
In this option, the Madison Arts Commission would retain the role of reviewing grant
applications, but the overall effort required of staff would be reduced by
Madison Cultural Plan Findings
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