Programs

2009 Recovery Act Grants for the Arts in Philadelphia: Program Guidelines

Guidelines regarding 2009 Recovery Act Grants for the Arts in Philadelphia, distributed by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and administered locally by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance in partnership with the City of Philadelphia.

For Frequently Asked Questions, click here.

Program Purpose

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) recognizes that the nonprofit arts industry is an important sector of the economy. Through this Act, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is able to fund arts projects and activities that preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn. As part of this important investment, the NEA has designed a plan to expedite distribution of critical funds for the national, regional, state, and local levels for projects that focus on the preservation of jobs in the arts.

In Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy have created a partnership to support local nonprofit cultural organizations through the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This partnership will award one-time grants to eligible nonprofit cultural organizations for projects that provide:

Salary support, full or partial, for one position that is critical to an organization's artistic mission and that is in jeopardy or has been eliminated as a result of the current economic climate (excluding development and fundraising positions); and/or
Fees for a previously engaged artist and/or contractual employee (excluding fundraising and development positions) to maintain or expand the period during which such a person would be engaged.

The Cultural Alliance and the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy expect to award between five and fifteen grants. Grants will be awarded at three levels: $15,000, $25,000, and $45,000. Grantees will be required to report on funding received through the Recovery Act (see "Awards Process" for more information). Each grant will support one employee or contracted position at an arts organization.

Please note that organizations are limited to receiving NEA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds through only one source – from the Arts Endowment directly, or through an entity eligible to subgrant NEA funds including a state arts agency, a regional arts organization of state arts agencies, or a designated local arts agency that is eligible to subgrant or regrant funds, such as the partnership of the Cultural Alliance and the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy.

Program Calendar

Application Due Date:     5pm, July 24, 2009
Panel Review Process:    July – August, 2009
Award Notification:    Expected August - September, 2009 (This date is dependent on ensuring due diligence with other NEA Recovery Act programs)
Award Contracts Due:    (tbd)
Reports Due:    (Complete schedule tbd, projected dates include quarterly reports throughout the year. See "Awards Process" for more information.)

Award funds may only pay for salary expenses or contract fees incurred between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010.

Grant Requests

Organizations may request a grant award of $15,000, $25,000, or $45,000. Total project costs may exceed this amount. If you do receive a grant, it will be for the full amount requested. It is expected that five to fifteen grant awards will be made available through this program.

Applicant Eligibility

Organizations may apply to this program if they meet all of the following eligibility requirements:

Organization’s primary mission is the provision or support of the arts.
Organization has exemption from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Project or program to be funded provides salary support, full or partial, for one position that is critical to an organization's artistic mission and that is in jeopardy or has been eliminated as a result of the current economic climate; AND/OR project or program to be funded provides fees for a previously engaged artist and/or contractual personnel position to maintain or expand the period during which such a person would be engaged.
Organization to be funded is located in Philadelphia county, and the majority of its programmatic activity takes place in Philadelphia county.
Project must occur between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010.
Organization is an FY2009 grantee in good standing of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund or the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) Arts Organizations & Arts Programs Track (AOAP).

Eligible arts organizations may apply to more than one source of grants made available through the NEA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. However, organizations are limited to receiving NEA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds through only one source – from the Arts Endowment directly, or through an entity eligible to subgrant NEA funds including a state arts agency, a regional arts organization of state arts agencies, or a designated local arts agency that is eligible to subgrant or regrant funds, such as the partnership of the Cultural Alliance and the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy.

If you are eligible to receive Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds from more than one source, we strongly suggest you apply to all programs for which you are qualified. We will work with other Recovery and Reinvestment Act funders to ensure that only one grant is received per organization.

Funding Restrictions

These grants may not be used to fund the following:

Salary or expenses for development and fundraising personnel
Capital expenditures
Activities for which academic credit is given
Activities that have already been completed
Activities that have a religious purpose (events may take place in places of worship, but content cannot have a religious purpose)
Jobs located outside of Philadelphia county
Cash prizes and awards, Competitions, and/or Scholarships
Benefit activities (fundraisers)
Hospitality expenses, i.e. receptions, parties, gallery openings
Lobbyists’ payments

Review Process

Applications are due no later than 5pm, July 24, 2009.
Applications must be completed online.

All applications will be initially screened for eligibility by program staff, followed by a full review from a panel of arts professionals and civic leaders.

Program staff will screen all applications to determine the following:

Applicant meets all eligibility requirements
Applicant has not received other NEA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds

Panelists will review eligible applications and determine final award recipients, seeking the following characteristics within the overall group of organizations receiving grant awards:

Preference to organizations that support traditionally underserved constituents and communities. Efforts will be made to provide awards to organizations that serve underserved populations such as those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability.
Geographic distribution of awards throughout the county.
Diversity of artistic and cultural disciplines represented within the group of organizations receiving awards.
Excellence in program quality and leadership at grantee organizations.
Potential of the project to have a significant and immediate impact on the arts work force.
Significance of the project and position(s) to the mission and core work of the organization.
Likelihood that the project will achieve the identified outcome(s) and the feasibility of the proposed performance measurements.*
Ability to carry out the project including the appropriateness of the budget, the quality and clarity of the project goals and design, the resources involved, and the qualifications of the project's personnel.

* The NEA, along with other federal agencies, collects information on the projects it funds in order to track the results, or outcomes, of its activities. This information is compiled and reported to Congress and the public. The outcome the Arts Endowment intends to achieve through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is: Organizations enhance their ability to realize their artistic and public service goals. Within the context of this outcome, all applicants are asked to define what they would like to achieve, how they will assess the degree to which it is achieved, and, upon completion of the project, what they have learned from their successes and failures.

Based on the request amounts and funds available, it is expected that five to fifteen grants will be awarded through this program.

Awards Process

Notification of grant awards is expected by September 2009, pending funds available and our ability to ensure that grantees have not received other funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by that date. All grantees will need to complete and return an awards contract, at which point, once funds are available, checks will be issued to organizations who have satisfactorily met all conditions of accepting the grant award.

In acknowledging receipt of any grant award, grantees will be required to credit the NEA, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, and the Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy. Grantees must clearly acknowledge support in their programs and related promotional material including publications and Web sites. Organizations that receive grants may be provided with further, more specific requirements for acknowledgment of this initiative.

Grantees will also be required to:
•    Report on the use of NEA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds as outlined in Section 1512 (c) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5 ("Recovery Act"). This will include quarterly reports in a pre-determined format.
•    As applicable, maintain personnel activity ("Time & Effort") reports for any employee whose salary is charged, in whole or in part, to the award. To view a sample report, please visit: http://www.nea.gov/grants/apply/recovery/time-and-effort-sample.pdf.
•    For grants for projects that engage artists and/or contractual personnel to whom you propose to pay fees, maintain written contracts that outline the employment terms.

In addition, grantee organizations will be required to obtain DUNS numbers (www.dnb.com) and register with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR, www.ccr.gov) before October, 2009. Program staff will assist grantees in meeting these requirements if applicable.

Please visit http://www.nea.gov/manageaward/Recovery/index.html for further information on reporting requirements, noting that grantees of this program will be considered as subrecipients of the NEA.

Program Partners

Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is committed to making Greater Philadelphia one of the foremost creative regions in the world. Our vision is that cultural enterprise is universally recognized as the distinguishing feature of the Greater Philadelphia region because: everyone is passionately involved in and supportive of arts and culture; diverse cultural enterprises are equally committed to artistic excellence and audience engagement; the creative sector sparks people’s ingenuity and cross-cultural understanding; and, arts and culture are integral to the quality of life, social fabric and economic vitality of the region and its residents. For more information about the Cultural Alliance, please visit www.philaculture.org.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. Funds for this grant program are provided to the Cultural Alliance and Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy from the NEA through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. For more information on the NEA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, please visit http://www.nea.gov/recovery/index.html.

Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy
The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy works to: improve access to the arts for both residents and visitors; expand arts education for young people; oversee all the City’s arts programs; support the growth and development of the City’s arts, culture, and creative economy sector, by promoting public and private investment in the creative economy sector; coordinate with relevant City agencies to unify the City’s arts efforts; and serve as a liaison between the City’s many cultural institutions. For more information, please visit www.phila.gov.