Getting to know the 'Inspire Olympia!' cultural program & getting it going

The "Inspire Olympia!" program "provides a tool for local jurisdictions, cities, and counties to strengthen and expand public access to arts, culture, science, and heritage experiences and their communities with a special emphasis on youth and equity reaching out to folks in the community who may not have the same level of access to the arts," explained Olympia Historic Preservation Officer Marygrace Goddu to her fellow arts commissioners yesterday in their Olympia Arts Commission meeting.

"This is done through a voter-approved sales or property tax at the local level, which goes into a dedicated fund, which is then used specifically to strengthen cultural organizations and their public programming and enhance access to them," Goddu furthered.  

Voters approved the program in a special election in April 2022, it's enacted for seven years, and then voters would be asked to reauthorize that taxation for it to continue; Goddu detailed, "So we've got to show our stuff and prove it works in seven years."

According to Goddu, the goals [of] the program are:

• Enhance and extend educational reach and offerings.
• Expand access.
• Reach underserved populations.
• Financial stability for organizations (particularly for small organizations).
• Community health.
• Public benefit.

Goddu shared that the strategy for getting there "is by putting the money into our existing local organizations and helping new organizations to grow up to do the service delivery in the arts, providing public and educational benefits and economic support through our cultural organizations." She also shared the hopes that this will cover ethnic organizations, as that's not been a big focus for the Arts Commission.

The definition of "Cultural Organization," according to the presentation given by Goddu, is; 501(c)(3), whose primary purpose is the advancement and preservation of science or technology, visual or performing arts, zoology, botany, anthropology, heritage or natural history, and who provides direct public programming or experiences to the general public.

Arts Commissioner Christy Tran asked for clarification on the required 501(c)(3) status and the limits it causes to access to several organizations.

 "They need to be a nonprofit," explained Goddu. "They need to be registered 501(c)(3) to be eligible for cultural access funding." The groups are getting access to the funding "that was a legislatively directed requirement. It's part of the underlying law that created the program."

Goddu goes on, "And I assume it's because they want to make sure that no one is profiting from the tax that the publicly funded grants go to a nonprofit organization that's proving that they're providing public benefit, there's accountability and a safety in that from the taxpayers perspective. That their hard-earned money as a taxpayer isn't going into someone's bank account, it's going to the public, it's going toward public benefit. And because it's a nonprofit organization, they'll pay salaries, etc., but they aren't making a profit. And I think that that's really what it's about."

Implementing

Detailing the program requirements, Goddu said, "The implementing legislation had some basic requirements that any cultural access program across the state needs to meet. Every program has to have an advisory board."

The implementing legislation had some basic requirements that any cultural access program across the state needs to meet. Every program has to have an advisory board

Funding Allocations:

• Administration (up to 10%)
• Transportation (up to 10%)
• Community programs and organizations, including Public Schools CAP (80%)

Goddu explained part of the program funding, "We will want to create some categories of funding within that 80% to ensure that small organizations are funded that there's a measure of funding for new emerging organizations that kind of capacity building fund and to make sure that our tried and true known quantity programs that deliver year after year are also receiving funding and can confirm that their programs as well.

"So whether we're talking about the Hands on Children's Museum, or whether we're talking about a two-person new startup organization or club or cultural group, we want to make sure everybody has a fair shot of getting funded. There's going to be a fair amount of work to develop those categories," Goddu shared.

For the setting of performance and evaluation standards, Goddu said, "we want to make sure that people are delivering on what they promised. We want to make sure that this is doable for everyone."

Act soon or wait

Olympia City Council reviews on Tuesday whether to support early startup for the program, Goddu shared, "and in order to do that they need to provide funding and staffing."

"Let's put it this way, if we start early it will be six to nine months ahead," Goddu said. She explained that if they wait until 2023 for the tax collections to begin the process of staffing and program planning and other requirements, it "will be six to nine months behind the ball. We won't get funding out in 2023, and the soonest we'll be able to begin distributing funding of 2024."

Ad hoc committee

To get things going sooner, they are proposing to start with an ad hoc committee to be created and get to work immediately, Goddu said. "We would solicit and seek members between now, you know, in the next couple of months, September, October, and begin meetings hopefully twice a month," she said.

"The ad hoc committee is intended to be different in [its] nature. It's because it's going to be short-term and kind of intensive. I'm hoping that we'll get some experts in certain technical areas around granting and grant program developments who can help us build the framework for this program," Goddu shared.

Goddu related that when the regular committee is able to start, "They can hit the ground running. They can take the recommendations of the ad hoc committee and shape them as they see… appropriate and make their recommendations to the city council."

Creating a solid foundation

"We want to make sure that the community knows about the opportunity, what the role of the board is, and they have time to consider and apply and be considered. [We] really want to let the message sink into the community so that we can gather a really strong pool of candidates for the permanent advisory board," Goddu said. She said that the candidates should be "representative of the communities that we hope to serve, as well as representative of the different sectors within the community. The arts, cultures, heritage and science community as well as the schools."