Scores and Comments

24.c.ps.142.716

Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts, Inc.

Application Details
Proposal Type	General Program Support - Discipline-Based
Request Amount	$150,000
Total Score	489.000
Average Score	81.500

Panelist Scores

Panelist	Quality of Offerings	Impact	Track Record	Total
Bejarano Thamara	32	33	30	95
Bosley Cicely	30	30	22	82
Bullock Barb	34	34	24	92
Crane Hyla	28	28	24	80
Rosenbaum Randall	18	15	15	48
Roy Sarah	31	34	27	92

Comments
Bejarano Thamara - Score: 95.000
{No comments provided.}
Bosley Cicely - Score: 82.000
Multiple access points for young people (virtual, partnerships, sensory friendly experiences). DEI and Accessibility: consider updating language from 'handicap'. How does Class Acts programming accommodate the diverse needs of learners served? Budget seems incomplete. Clarify NFY.
Bullock Barb - Score: 92.000
Exceptionally strong outreach and educational programming. Impressive work that supports and promotes the importance of arts and culture in children's lives.
Crane Hyla - Score: 80.000
Would have helped to provide more details. Is there a typo in the budget as how can there only be $40,000 in income? Need clarification and more specific information.
Rosenbaum Randall - Score: 48.000
For this review I found myself deeply confused between the two distinct program categories of presenter and professional theater. These are two distinct funding categories in the GPS guidelines. Presenters choose establish performing entities and present them to audiences, on stage or in schools. Professional theater organizations have an artistic director, often hire a production director and production staff, build sets and costumes, hire and rehearse actors, and then present that "realized" production to audiences. I've read through this application several times, and I can't see it operating as a professional theater. Unless I'm missing critical information, it appears to be a presenter and therefore I question whether it can be supported within this category. Looking at the descriptions and the support material it's even hard to tell what they have been presenting on stage or in schools. There is a press release on the Daniel Tiger characters visiting all Children's Hospital. It looks like this is a touring organization being presented by the applicant. I really couldn't see what else they were presenting throughout the year, or even what they presented in the past. Okay, that said: the applicant's mission statement does not clearly define the organization (it could mean anything) and I do not understand what they mean by "an emphasis on culturally diverse programming" since there is nothing in the application that indicates what they're programming at all. The goals, objectives and programming activities are so vague as to be practically useless. I don't know whether there is an assumption on the part of the applicant that whoever's reading this application does everything there is to know about this organization, but that is simply not true. The list of partnerships and collaborations also seem confusing, more list of places where the applicant takes its programming than true collaborative partnerships. And the support materials really didn't offer me much in the way of additional information about the kinds of programs and activities taking place. Under impact, there is no discussion of the economic impact of the programs. They talk about presenting live stage performances, workshops, artist residencies and community festivals, but there is absolutely no information on who is organizing these activities, whose providing artistic leadership for these activities, who the artists are, what work they are doing, nothing of that sort. The digital images included in the support material are all pictures of students and children attending events, and only a few pictures in the "collage" have artists performing or managing art tables, very much in the background. I find this strange. Who are these artists, and what are they doing? There are no examples of marketing material beyond the BAM! Fest Invite. Looking at that you can dig out the names of three groups: Giving Tree Music, Nomad Bus And Cultured Books. These appear to be (according to Google) established groups, underscoring my impression that this organization is a presenting and not a producing organization. Physical accessibility to programs seems fairly standard, and it's hard to tell how much is actually driven by the performance space and it is the applicant. I will acknowledge that the applicant features a bilingual show and a sensory friendly performance, which I assume they are responsible for presenting, but there's really no information about that as well. It's possible that one of the groups they present as a ready-made sensory friendly performance. The diversity/equity/inclusion statement appears to be the work of the Mahaffey Theater, so it's hard to distinguish between the applicant organization and the theater space. On the issue of fiscal stability, the organization further confuses me by saying in its opening statement "The Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts benefiting the Mahaffey theater, remains stable". I don't understand what "benefiting the Mahaffey theater" means in that statement. And when you go to the 990 form in the support materials it looks like they had deficits in each of the two years (19 – 20 and 20 – 21) shown. Even though the organization, according to the application, "remains debt-free, and has a positive cash flow". Evaluation is primarily through survey instruments and it's nice to see that they say "feedback will inform what we choose to program next season".
Roy Sarah - Score: 92.000
Important mission. Enjoyed the book bus, and partnership with the Children's Hospital.