Olympia Cultural Access Advisory Board recommends funding 60 local art and culture organizations

The Community Livability and Public Safety Committee approved the Cultural Access Advisory Board's (CAAB) recommendation to fund 60 local organizations for over $2 million and forwarded the same to the Olympia City Council for consideration. 

At Wednesday's committee meeting, Marygrace Goddu, Inspire Olympia program manager, presented the funding recommendations from the CAAB. She outlined the application and review process that saw over 60 organizations apply for the inaugural round of funding. She said review panels evaluated each application based on criteria like programming merit and value, community impact, equity, and accessibility.  

The local nonprofits submitted proposals detailing planned activities. Review panels comprising board members and community volunteers spent an average of 45 hours each assessing the applications.  

The program established two funding pathways – comprehensive funding option and impact funding option, each slightly different in terms of eligibility requirements, funding levels, and contract duration. "This is intended to level the playing field between experienced organizations that have been in the game for a while, and for newer and smaller organizations," Goddu said. 

The program manager further explained that the comprehensive funding offered a two-year contract of up to $75,000. Under the impact funding, organizations could request from $3,000 to $30,000 with a one-year contract.  

According to Goddu, there was strong interest from the local community in the inaugural funding round. Of the 61 applicants, 40 organizations applied through the impact pathway. She added that 10 applicants were new organizations formed specifically for this opportunity.  

The remaining 21 applicants followed the comprehensive pathway. 

Goddu added that six organizations are serving and representing marginalized groups, while 39 offer youth programming, and 10 offer field trips.  

"We have more organizations who consider themselves arts organizations than we do heritage, science, or culture. We hope to see that adjust a little bit in future years," Goddu commented.  

The program manager showed the 2024 one-year impact applications and funding recommendations for 40 applicant organizations. Goddu shared that the total funding request from these groups was over $1,060,490. The recommended funding amount totaled $951,000.  

Goddu pointed out that was not a significant cutback from what these organizations had applied for, indicating the review panels endorsed are largely funding the proposals as submitted. 

For 2024-2026 two-year comprehensive applications, Goddu said the total funding recommendation is $2,441,659.  

The funded organizations will use the money to support a wide array of programs over the next year, from field trips and dance parties to puppet shows, film screenings, and concerts across Olympia. 

Goddu said they will be sending out the award letters to the applicants after the city council has approved the funding recommendations.  

The Cultural Access Program was approved by voters in 2022 which dedicates a 1/10 of 1% of Olympia sales tax to the cultural access fund for reinvestment in local nonprofit organizations in the city. The fund is projected to earn about $3 million each year.