Criteria for Funding

Abilene Cultural Affairs Council Grants Assistance Program

Quality

• High artistic merit as perceived by peers, critics and the public
• Innovation and creativity in programming and artistic content
• Vision and leadership of artistic staff
• Activity furthers applicant's stated artistic mission
• Responsiveness to community art needs

Community Involvement

• Evidence of efforts to reach a diverse population, i.e. audience make-up
• Evidence of leadership and representation by a variety of different social, economic, and racial groups on board
• Innovation in programming to reach new and special audiences, including collaborative programs with other groups
• Evidence of legitimate efforts to involve minority individuals on artistic, technical administrative, policy and audience levels
• Evidence of intiative in promoting arts aducation within appropriate discpline

Administrative and Fiscal Responsibility

• Evidence that organization has ca continuing history of growth, stability and vision
• Evidence of long and short range plans
• Evidence of leadership of administrative staff
• Evidence of organization's ability to accomplish proposed goals
• Evidence of efficiency and effectiveness of organization
• Evidence of effective board/staff interaction
• Accuracy and completeness in financial reporting

Contribution to Local Economy

• Evidence of audience growth
• Evidence of increasing non-local audience
• Effectiveness of marketing efforts
• Evidence of effort to secure financial support from both private and public sectors
• Diversity of funding sources, earned and unearned

Distribution of Funds and Amount of Funding Available

• Evidence that artistic programming is not a duplication of other local efforts
• Evidence that the applicant's financial resources are experiencing appropriate growth in relation to Council funding

(Peer review panelists rate each application on these six criteria)