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City Council Staff Report Agenda Item No. 12
November 8, 2011
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Library Services Department
Cynthia Cowell, Library Services Director
949 - 717 -3810, ccowell @newportbeachca.gov
PREPARED BY: Jana Barbier
APPROVED: 4-kLAn
TITLE: Cultural Arts Grants, 2011/12
ABSTRACT:
The sum of $40,000 (Cultural and Arts, City Grants Account # 4002 -8254) is provided
annually for specific cultural or artistic planning or projects as approved by the City
Council. The City Arts Commission has the responsibility to review all programs and
requests for support from arts groups and make recommendations for funding to the
City Council for final approval.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve recommended recipients for FY 2011/12 Cultural Arts Grants as selected by
the City Arts Commission in accordance with City Council Policy 1 -10 — Financial
Support for Culture and the Arts.
FUNDING REQUIREMENTS:
A. Budget Includes Sufficient Funding
The current adopted budget includes sufficient funding for this purchase. It will be
expensed to the City Grants account in the Cultural and Arts Department, 4002 -8254.
There is no fiscal impact related to this item.
DISCUSSION:
City Council Policy 1 -10 recognizes the importance of promoting culture and the arts
within the City and establishes a Reserve Fund for Culture and Arts. The sum of
$40,000 is provided annually for specific cultural or artistic planning or projects as
approved by the City Council. The City Arts Commission has the responsibility to
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November 08, 2011
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review all programs and requests for support from arts groups and make
recommendations for funding to the City Council for final approval.
The Commission received written grant proposals from ten cultural organizations for
funding of approximately $53,240 in free cultural arts programming for the Newport
Beach community in fiscal year 2011 -12. After careful deliberation the following
recommendations, totaling $40,000, were approved at the October 13, 2011 meeting:
ExplorOcean /Newport Harbor Nautical Museum $2000
Sea Tales is now entering its third year of programming. On the first and third Wednesdays of
each month 20 -25 children preschoolers, ages 2 -5, and their parents and /or grandparents
embark on a new nautical /ocean themed adventure. Designed to engage children on a multi -
sensory level, Sea Tales uses a variety of activities including storytelling, arts and crafts, music
and touch tank exploration that introduces them to all the wonders of the sea. Stories are
brought to life by a member of the South Coast Repertory Theater or a volunteer from the
community. Following the performance, children participate in an arts and crafts project related
to the day's theme. This is followed by an interactive activity such as singing, blowing bubbles
or creating artistic drawings with chalk. Rounding out the experience is a trip to the Museum's
touch tank followed by the opportunity to discover the Museum's galleries and exhibits.
Baroque Music Festival $3000
The Baroque Music Festival will hire the full complement of professional musicians for a
chamber orchestra to perform a concerto program at St. Michael and All Angels, an intimate
instrumental program in Sherman Gardens, and as an orchestra to accompany the John
Alexander Singers for the Finale Concert at Newport Harbor Lutheran Church. Local favorites,
Landauer, Shostac, Arregui and Blumenstock will perform at Sherman Gardens. Specifically
the Cultural Arts Grant will be used to contract Jolianne von Einem, Robert Diggins, William
Skeen II and concertmaster Elizabeth Blumenstock to return to Corona del Mar in 2012 to form
the core group of first chairs for the string sections and to re- establish a woodwind section for
the performances.
South Coast Repertory Theater $2000
South Coast Repertory Theatre has requested funding for "Theatre for Young Audiences"
(TYA), an annual series of three professionally produced plays created especially for children.
Since 2003, TYA extends the range of the theater's offerings and makes available to the
community original, SCR - commissioned world premieres and existing adaptations of popular
and classic children's literature. As the only professional youth- oriented theater company in
Orange County, TYA's main purpose is to introduce the vitality and magic of professional
theatre to all Orange County children, especially those in underserved areas. TYA is also a
valuable tool in helping school districts meet the California Department of Education content
standards for the Visual and Performing Arts and English- Language Arts at little or no cost to
the schools. Every student receives a specially created program booklet. In 2011 -12 the plays
Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" The Borrowers, and Jane of the Jungle.
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Southland Opera $3000
Southland Opera proposes to perform either assemblies of Adventures in Song and Story or
Operetta! A World Tour in each of the six elementary schools in the city of Newport Beach or
sequential workshops at one Newport Beach school. In the workshop series, Southland Opera
will work with four classes of students and each class will be given six 45- minute, sequential
sessions. In these sessions each class creates their own original song. At the end of the
workshop series, the classes perform their original pieces for the school audience and attending
family members. The elementary schools from which they will choose are: Andersen, Eastbluff,
Mariners, Newport Coast, Newport, and Newport Heights. All performances and /or workshops
will be completed before September 28, 2012.
Festival Ballet Theatre will bring its "Ballet to Schools" program to two Newport Beach
elementary schools in November /December, 2011. Eight FBT company dancers will perform a
narrated, abbreviated version of The Nutcracker, tailored for children ranging in age from five to
fourteen years. A program coordinator, with the assistance of the performers, will guide the
students through an interactive lesson on how pantomime, music, and costumes tell a story and
express emotions without words. Students will be taught appropriate ways to express
appreciation for a theatrical performance. After the performance, students will converse with the
professionals through a question- and- answer session. Students will view beautiful, professional
quality costumes, Pointe shoes, and props up- close. Teacher's curriculum will be provided to
encourage the educators to further interact with classes beyond the presentation.
Newport Beach Film Festival $6000
The Newport Beach Film Festival is planning a one -day educational industry seminar program,
similar to past seminars, to be held on the first Saturday during the Festival, tentatively
scheduled for April 28, 2012 at a Newport Beach location. Past seminar topics have included
directing, screenwriting, production design, cinematography, film music composition, animation,
documentary filmmaking and special effects. Artists of past seminars include Aaron Sorkin
(Social Network, West Wing), Elmer Bernstein (To Kill a Mockingbird), Steve Oedekerk
(Barnyard, Bruce Almighty, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius), John Waters (Polyester), Marc
Shaiman (Hairspray, City Slickers, Sleepless in Seattle), Bobby Moresco (Crash), Mel Stuart
(Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), Seth Gordon (Four Christmases), Eugene Jarecki
(Why We Fight), Earle Hagen (The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, M.A.S.H.),
Mark Fergus (Iron Man, Children of Men, First Snow), Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee),
Trevor Rabin (Snakes on a Plane), Jeff Arch (Sleepless in Seattle), David S. Ward (The Sting),
Cathy Schulman (The Illusionist, Crash), John Landis (Twilight Zone), and Judiann Makovsky
(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone). The Festival Seminar Series attracts a wide variety of
people with a strong representation of students, seniors, film experts, avid fans, and novice
filmmakers. Ages span from 13 to 80. The seminar program intends to serve approximately
600 people. In 2012, the Festival intends to expand its outreach to colleges and high school
students.
Newport/Mesa YMCA $1000
The YMCA focuses on strengthening communities in the areas of youth development, healthy
living and social responsibility, believing that all children deserve the opportunity to discover
who they are and what they can achieve. The 'Y' Fine Art Outreach Class will run for eight
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weeks, sixteen hours at Newport Mesa YMCA from April 17 — June 5, 2012. Subjects include
(Month 1) Drawing I Pacific Northwest; Painting, Color Theory, Australian Aboriginal; Sculpture,
Symbolism in Indonesian Masks; Ceramics, Latin American Vessels; (Month 2) Drawing II, Intro
to Form, European Perspective; Painting, Watercolor Landscapes, Canada; Sculpture, Mosaic
Tiles, Ancient Greek/Roman; Ceramics, Vases, China. At the end of the session the students
will participate in setting up an art exhibition of their artwork at YMCA's multipurpose room.
Inspired by the comic physical antics in the films of the Marx Brothers, Keith Glassman Dance &
Performance proposes to premiere Dancing Marx on the shallow stage of the Lyon Auditorium
at the Orange County Museum of Art on Sunday, August 5, 2012. In the past, the
intergenerational modern dance company has been supported by two Arts Commission awards
and presented Mavericks in 2003 with local surfers an Dancing With Ghosts in 2007 with
member of the OASIS Senior Center in the casts. Though this production will not include
residents in the choreography, company director /choreographer Keith Glassman will offer a 1.5
hour movement workshop for Newport Beach residents (in June) and an open rehearsal in May
at the OASIS Senior Center Event Center. In the workshop, both young and old are invited to
explore some of the concepts and elements that inform the humorous siblings' action and get an
opportunity to safely experience the physicality involved in the comedians' humor.
City Arts Commission $20,000
The City of Newport Beach Arts Commission is dedicated to providing a range of free cultural
programming that enriches the entire community, especially children and families. The Arts
Commission sponsors multidisciplinary arts programs funded by the Cultural Arts Grant
Program such as arts lectures, public art projects, and visual art exhibitions in Central Library
and at City Hall. The Arts Commission extends the range of arts programming by providing
additional funding for the Concerts in the Parks series and the Shakespeare by the Sea festival
held each summer. In 2011 -12 these funds will assist with the Newport Beach Public Library's
Imagination Celebration events in May.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
Staff recommends the City Council find this action is not subject to the California
Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQA ") pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will
not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the
environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378)
of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it
has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or
indirectly.
NOTICING:
The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of
the meeting at which the City Council considers the item).
Cultural Arts Grants, 2011/12
November 08, 2011
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Submitted by:
44'k-1 C�e'e
C nthia Cowell
Library Services Director
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