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Project Storefronts Wins $100K NEA Grant
by David Brensilver | Jul 12, 2011 5:47 pm
(3) Comments | Commenting has expired | E-mail the Author
In May, Project Storefronts, a creative-entrepreneurism-focused initiative administered by the City of New Haven’s Department of Cultural Affairs with support from the Economic Development Corporation of New Haven, was recognized with a Creative Economy Award from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Today, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Project Storefronts an “Our Town” grant.
In a press release issued today by the NEA, the organization’s chairman, Rocco Landesman, was quoted as saying, “Communities across our country are investing in the arts and smart design to enhance Americans’ quality of life and to promote the distinctive identities of our communities. Our Town creates partnerships among local governments and arts and design organizations to strengthen the creative sector and help revitalize the overall community.”
Project Storefonts was one of two Connecticut-based organizations to receive funding through the NEA’s “Our Town” grant program, the other being the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, in Hartford. The Bushnell was awarded an “Our Town” grant in the amount of $150,000 “to support the third phase of the iQuilt project, an arts-based economic development plan designed to capitalize on Hartford’s unique heritage and cultural assets,” according to the NEA’s press release.
Project Storefonts received $100,000 “to support the expansion” of the program.
The NEA’s announcement today marked the first cycle of “Our Town” grant funding. The NEA awarded “$6.575 million in grants to 51 communities in 34 states that have created public-private partnerships to strengthen the arts while shaping the social, physical, and economic characters of their neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions,” according to the press release.
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Comments
posted by: Project Overhead on July 12, 2011 11:37pm
Well if the chart below is correct, and amount being paid to the program administrators doesn’t go up any higher, the “administrators” in the photo above are about to personally collect just over $82,000.
Seriously, how does a program like Project Storefronts, in which landlords donate space and artists and entrepreneurs set up their own stores, require a structure in which 82% of the project’s funding goes to a program administrator?
posted by: Bill Saunders on July 14, 2011 3:05am
Project Overhead,
Oh yeah, the chart is correct. If you would like to see the actual documentation from City Hall, I would be glad to share it.
Some other further insights into the paper tiger that this is…..
1). In Phase one of this project (what the chart is based on), three out of four projects failed. The one project that prevailed (The Grove), had nothing to do with ‘art’, and also had a legitimate business plan, and required little ‘outside administration.
2). The Project that benefitted the most during Phase One of the project was Elm City Handmade, that received 10 months of free rent, yet did not ‘make it’ as a project…
3). Project Storefronts ‘won’ the 2010 Arts Council Award for Innovation in the Arts. Nominees were solicited in September (when Project Storefronts had barely started), and given out in December (before Project Storefronts had ended it’s first phase). How does this happen, except political connections…....
4). I have requested all of the quarterly reports for Project Storefronts. I have been provided with all of them for 2010, but none of them for 2011. They are basically all fluff.
5). On April 15, I received an email from Barbara Lamb, further deferring long-standing requests for information about Project Storefronts and the Office of Cultural Affairs, citing the NEA application as the primary excuse.
6). In June, when I talked to Barbara Lamb directly about the Final Quarterly Report for Project Storefronts, she indicated to me that she had not yet gotten to it, and pointed to a pile of folders on the floor. These quarterly reports are a contractual requirement for the grant money received from ECD. Some of the information that was supposed to be collected was sales and and visitor numbers. None of this information has appeared in any Quarterly Report to date.
7). Barbara Lamb also indicated to me that the first phase of Project Storefronts had ended on April, and that the Phase Two would be starting up in September. So what is THE FREE STORE, then….the un-project?????
So, if you followed the fuzzy logic:
If no real economic information is available to the public regarding the ‘true’ success of this project, how was this NEA grant justified??
I guess I am going to have to find out…
posted by: Bill Saunders on July 21, 2011 4:27pm
Project Overhead:
I just got a copy of the NEA grant application.
In addition to the 100k requested from the NEA, the City of New Haven and the EDC are supposedly providing an additional $94,500 in funding.
Of the total direct expenses for this project, $142k are direct administrative, which includes two full time employees—the managing administrator (Margaret Bodell—80k) and one full-time intern (35k).
Also, there is an additional $120k in ‘in-kind’ donations—Rent, Marketing, Graphic Design, etc.
Total reported budget—$315k