Letter to the Editor: "Communication and Collaboration" in the Arts

As any local can tell you, Napa Valley is in the midst of enormous change. Every day this valley is becoming a more well-seasoned mix of rural and worldly, small town and international. Of course, our local arts sector has also gone through a major transformation. It has taken the work of an entire community, over many decades, to gain the momentum that we are currently experiencing.

On the whole, the arts have had a rough road in this valley, traditionally so focused on agriculture, then wine, hospitality and food. The arts community was left alone, for the most part, to cultivate itself. However, in a place so visually stunning, it is not surprising that creativity has found a permanent home here. We have a rich community that includes every arts discipline, as well as multiple cultural traditions and languages. However, one of the major issues that continues to challenge us is an unfortunate lack of communication.

In 2006, the (NVCF) and (ACNV) called a meeting of local arts and community leaders to address the state of our local arts sector. Due to many factors, we had lost 12 arts organizations and businesses in the span of one year. At that meeting, the participants decided we needed a Cultural Plan for the entire community, a process that has been used successfully across the country for decades. The participants chose ACNV, the county’s designated umbrella arts non-profit organization, to administer the planning process.

For a year and a half, ACNV facilitated this engaging, transparent process (with the unparalleled help of local planning consultant, Morrie Warshawski) that included exhaustive data collection and research, discovery interviews, and town hall meetings up and down the valley. In 2008, ACNV compiled, summarized and published the for Napa County. (To see a digital copy online, click or go to: www.artscouncilnapavalley.org and click on “Cultural Plan” in the top menu bar; or please contact the for a hard copy.)

The next step was to identify funding for implementation, so the plan’s goals could actually be realized. In 2004, Napa County voters approved an increase from 10.5% to 12% in the Transient Occupancy Tax (or “TOT”), a tax charged to hotel visitors staying in the unincorporated area. The Napa County Board of Supervisors decided to set aside this extra 1.5% of tax revenue in a “Special Projects Fund.” The Supervisors then divided this annual amount (approximately $1M) to be allocated into three areas: 60% to parks and open space, 30% to visitor management, and 10% to arts and culture. Then for the first time, Napa County, in partnership with the NVCF, stepped forward to directly financially support the arts community.

In 2007, the 10% Arts portion (or $100k, annually) was set aside to fund the Cultural Plan implementation. For the first three-year funding cycle (Jan 2008-Dec 2010), in a demonstration of new cooperation and collaboration, the arts community decided to support the allocation of the Arts TOT funds to ACNV to distribute and then implement the 5-year Cultural Plan. It was an informed choice that the community made together.

Again, this was the first county-level support given to ACNV in its then 27-year history. Up to that point ACNV had focused primarily on supporting the local visual arts community (by producing the annual Open Studios Tour, for example) and its longstanding arts education programming in the schools and greater community.

This new charge enabled ACNV to expand its mission to serve the entire creative community. The organization adopted the Cultural Plan as its Strategic Plan and shifted programmatically to serve the multiple goals and objectives of the plan, including:

-      Creating and launching Napa Valley ARTS, a new annual program based around a cohesive marketing program for the entire arts and culture sector, developed in cooperation and partnership with the members of the Napa Valley Arts Coalition (serving Direction #1, Build Effective Awareness of the Arts);

-      Further strengthening ACNV’s free online community arts and culture calendar (www.nvarts.org) as the place for locals and visitors alike to find out what’s happening every day and night here, along with maps and links to buy tickets (Direction #1, Build Effective Awareness of the Arts);

-      Partnering with the Napa County Office of Education and numerous local visual artists on the annual Napa County Reads literacy program benefiting thousands of students (Direction #2, Ensure Inclusion);

-      Developing and launching the downtown Napa ARTwalk in partnership with the (Directions #2, Ensure Inclusion and #3, Establish Effective Public Arts Policies);

-      Providing Fiscal Sponsorship Services to mature and fledgling arts organizations (including the Arts in Mental Health program at Napa State Hospital, Cameo Cinema’s Community Programming, Wandering Rose’s youth and alternative arts efforts, David Auerbach’s unique music education program, Platinum Dance Company’s expansion of dance opportunities and Peter Hassen’s The Values Project) (Directions #2, Ensure Inclusion and #4, Maximize and Mine Arts Resources);

-      Working with Napa City staff and ACNV’s Public Art Committee to pass the Public Art Ordinance for the City of Napa (Direction #3, Establish Effective Public Arts Policies);

-      Documenting and cataloging the public art collections of both Napa and Yountville (Direction #3, Establish Effective Public Arts Policies);

-      Holding regular meetings with the Napa Valley Arts Coalition, with over 30 members representing every major arts organization and venue in the valley (Direction #4, Maximize and Mine Arts Resources);

-      Researching, compiling and distributing the results of ACNV’s Economic Impact Study of the Arts in Napa County (done in partnership with Americans for the Arts); National Public Art Benchmarking Study; and the Napa Valley Arts Education Study (serving every Direction).

This is just some of the work ACNV has been able to do with the County’s support over the last three years. The funds went directly to staffing each project above and were used 100% to support the goals of the Cultural Plan, on behalf of the entire sector. Because it was written as a 5-year plan, and we are now 3 years into the implementation stage, ACNV had built its planning and budget around realizing the plan’s four strategic directions.

In September 2010, with the first Special Projects cycle about to end in December, Napa County approved the Napa County Commission for Arts and Culture (NCCAC) as the recommending body for the arts portion of the TOT. (As with the other two allocations, there is an advisory committee that solicits and accepts applications for the funds. The committee then gives its recommendations to the Board of Supervisors for approval.)

To give more context and history of the formation of the NCCAC: ACNV helped to create this advisory group in 2007, along with the Board of Supervisors. The NCCAC was formed to serve the Cultural Plan’s third strategic direction: Establish Effective Arts Public Policies. The NCCAC’s role was to be the liaison between the arts community and each of the county’s city councils as well as the county itself. The Commission would be made up of representatives from each city and jurisdiction, as well as the unincorporated area, with additional at-large members. If there was a policy or ordinance that was negatively impacting the art community, it was the Commissioners’ role to voice this issue to their repective governmental body and work towards changing the language of these policies.

However, the NCCAC was never given any funding, guidance or resources. ACNV provided staffing support for the Commission for two and a half years until ACNV’s own limited resources had been stretched so thin that staff had to step back from this role in March 2010. Without this formal relationship, the quality of communication declined.

As stated, in September 2010, the County approved the Commission as the recommending committee for the arts allocation of the TOT. In November 2010, the Commission released a Request for Proposals (or “RFP”) that declared the next year of these funds would support a one year “Pilot Capacity Building Regrant Program”. (For those not entrenched in non-profit grant-ese, “Capacity Building” means infrastructure, equipment, capital improvements and technology, not staffing or programs.)

One of the unintended consequces of this huge and unforeseen shift in the funds’ purpose is the repercussions for ACNV. The TOT funds ACNV received from the County for the last three years represent a third of the organization's overall annual budget ($300k) and the majority of its annual operational funds ($150k). Without these funds, ACNV’s programs listed above would not have happened nor will they continue unless immediate replacement support is identified.

The planning ACNV had made for 2011 programs, like Napa Valley ARTS 2011, Art in April, Napa County Reads and others were in jeopardy; in fact if the funds were not found immediately, ACNV itself was facing a major budgetary crisis.

To be clear, this County funding was never guaranteed to ACNV, and the organization is grateful for all the support the Supervisors have shown ACNV and the arts sector over the last three years. The Cultural Plan was was written as a 5-year plan and ACNV never planned to apply for County funds for implementaion past 2012. Programs that ACNV established during the implementation phase (like NV ARTS) were created to be self-sustaining by the end of the next funding cycle.

However, the decision-making process for this rather large shift was not made with community input. As the primary recipient for the last three years of this funding, and with continued indication from county representatives that ACNV would be able to apply for funds again to complete the implementaion process, ACNV found this change abrupt and surprising. And although this change represents a 90% cut in ACNV’s county funding, ACNV found out about at the same time as the rest of the arts community: when the RFP was released in November.

Obviously, all of our arts community needs funds, especially lately. Every non-profit organization in the Valley would love to be granted funds to build their capacity. But this is not the issue. The board and staff of ACNV is thrilled when any local arts organizations are supported; after all, that is our mission. The problem is, with such limited funding ($100k for the entire county), community input is indicated: How best can we use these precious funds? Are the goals of the Cultural Plan still relevant to this community? The community created this plan three years ago, and whether the goals have been met, and implementation is no longer needed, these should be decisions made by the community. Whether ACNV is a recipient of TOT funds is not the issue. These are taxpayer dollars and the community deserves to have a voice in this process. At the very least, some warning to as to the change would be warranted, so proper planning can be made.

It was an environment of competition, suspicion and scarcity that led us to the cultural planning process five years ago. During that planning process, over 800 individuals, businesses, schools and organizations gave the arts community a clear vision of where to go and how to get there. It fostered levels of communication and collaboration never before seen in Napa Valley’s arts community. The momentum we have gained in the last few years is just beginning to have traction. To that end, ACNV will continue to identify funding to run its programs and serve the arts community according to the goals of the Cultural Plan.

is the executive director of Arts Council Napa Valley.