I have to attend one of the final rehearsals for a show going up this weekend, but I wanted to do a quick entry on something I learned today.
Shannon Daut, Director of Programs for WESTAF (Western Arts Federation) spoke to my booking consortium today about various benefits we will accrue by our state rejoining WESTAF. Our consortium was already receiving some financial support under a couple of their programs that didn’t require the state to be a member so we were familiar with a lot of what she said.
One of the things she did tell me that came as a sort of surprise was that for granting purposes an underserved community could be one that wasn’t served by the arts well at all as well as one that was underserved by a particular discipline. As an example of the latter, she mentioned that Denver where WESTAF is headquartered was underserved by dance.
What is necessary for the granting process is to make the case for why a community is underserved citing data be it historical trends or census data. One of the other criteria for the grants is that the arts organization be engaged with what the community wants. You can’t just seek financial support to bring Jethro Tull in because they never tour your part of the country unless there are a lot of people who want to see the band.
According to Shannon, if you have plans to present an group of an underserved discipline in proper proportion to the demand of your community, you have a fair chance of receiving support even if your community is renowned as a hot bed for other disciplines.