Aspen City Council will consider extending the grant program to arts and culture during a working session on Tuesday afternoon.
To celebrate the 4th of July, the council will not meet today. Tuesday’s discussion will focus on the grant program and whether additional dollars from property transfer tax should be used to fund it.
In November, Aspen voters approved an amendment to the city’s code that allowed RETT funds to continue funding Wheeler Opera House, in addition to programs at the Red Brick Center for the Arts, and removed the $ 100,000 limit on arts and culture grants. The measure passed with 71% support from Aspen’s electorate.
According to the memorandum of John Barker, senior management analyst at the city’s office of strategy and innovation, the transition of the 2A measure coincided with the increase in the RETT collection related to the growth in the residential market in Aspen. In 2021, RETT raised a total of $ 10,848,886, and in May 2022, totals reached $ 4,909,547, a 37% increase compared to the same period in 2021.
With the 2A transition, Red Brick will now receive an estimated annual amount of $ 250,000 for operating expenses and equity project support, while previously it received approximately $ 30,000 annually in RETT funding. Wheeler staff and the grant steering committee are proposing an expansion to the grant program, as well as two new art grants departments – the Aspen Artist Fellowship and Asset and Acquisition Assistance Support – to make the most of the additional RETT funding available, Barker wrote in a memo.
“This proposal aims to allocate the additional resources available through the RETT collections in line with the general philosophy of the subsidy program and a strategic focus area with fiscal responsibility and stability through different economic conditions,” says the memo. “Despite increased collections in recent years, it is important to implement programs that can be sustained in times of less robust RETT collections and retain the ability to support specific, core funding applications of RETT, Red Brick Center for the Arts, and Wheeler Opera Dom in addition to extended grant funding. . “
She added that the two new grant departments will be pilot programs. If approved by the council, they will be assessed and re-assessed ahead of the grant cycle until 2024. Barker proposes funding for an arts and culture grant program of $ 800,000 to $ 1.2 million in 2023, and $ 40,000 to 60,000 for the Aspen Artist Fellowship and $ 500,000 to $ 1 million for the Asset and Acquisition division.
Increasing the funding of arts and culture programs will encourage eligible organizations to submit more meaningful applications and is the most effective way to support the arts and cultural community, but in years with lower funding the volunteer committee may recommend not allocating all available funding as committee members will prioritize high-caliber applications.
“A strong arts and culture grant program is an important tool to meet the council’s goal of contributing to the cultural vitality of the Aspen community,” Barker wrote. “It is imperative to continue supporting artistic and cultural organizations through this historically successful program that allows fellows to apply for organizational or program support in the areas most important to the applicant organization.”
The creation of the scholarship program will support individual and organizational creative vitality, she added, which would strengthen the work of the individual and stimulate a creative community dialogue around pressing problems. Asset and Acquisition will help local non-profit arts and culture organizations keep their facilities running efficiently while encouraging innovation by supporting the purchase of new equipment and materials.
Board members will be asked to indicate if the proposals are in line with the Board’s vision for the use of RETT funds, what the annual budget should be for each branch, and if they would like to see a different kind of artistic and cultural support not mentioned.
The working session will start at 4:00 PM. at Aspen City Hall council houses on Tuesday. The meeting will be open to the public for observation in person or at Zoom. A link to the Zoom agenda and meeting can be found at cityofaspen.com.
