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Evaluation
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Evaluation Process
  • There is no limit to the number of applications accepted by the foundation each cycle.
  • Grantseekers are evaluated across disciplines.
  • Applications are evaluated by a rotating panel of Bay Area artists
  • Reporting requirements for all Community Arts grants will be detailed in grant agreements.
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation of Community Arts grants is based on four criteria, each of which is assigned a score of either 1, 4, 7, or 10. The scores for each criteria are then weighted and combined, for a total possible score of 100, and then scores are averaged across panelists. Criteria are used to ensure a consistent and equitable approach is taken in evaluation. While scores provide a framework for conversation among panel members, they are not the only factor that influences funding decisions; scores alone do not determine whether a grant is recommended for funding.
  • 30% Relevance and urgency of organization/project – How clearly did the grantseeker articulate the necessity of the work of the organization at this moment? Why is this work being done, and why now?
  • 30% Artistic excellence/craft – Who is doing the work and what is the level of skill and craft exhibited in the work?
  • 30% Community served – How rooted is the grantseeker in the desired community, what is the plan for reaching the intended community, what is the need of the community being served?
  • 10% Capacity – Does the grantseeker have a reliable organizational structure or confirmed plan for execution of the project; is there staff capacity, confirmed resources, and clarity of purpose? Does the grantseeker have necessary community connections and support?

Community Arts Panelists

Applications are evaluated by a rotating panel of seven Bay Area artists representing multiple disciplines, geographic areas, aesthetic styles, and backgrounds. Panelists are respected experts and mentors in the Bay Area arts community; each panelist serves a three-year term.

Gabriele Christian
they/them

Gabriele Christian is a San Francisco-based conceptual artist and descendent of stolen folk. Experimenting within somatic practices, language, performance composition, video production and community arts facilitation, they locate and center BlaQ (Black and Queer) experience, vernacular, and aesthetics as wellsprings for radical futurity. Read more.

Ruthie Dineen
she/her

Ruthie Dineen is a pianist, composer, bilingual teaching artist, and Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She grew up in the Bay Area; her mother’s family is Salvadoran and her fathers’ Irish-American. Read more.

S. Shafer Mazow
he/him

Stephen Shafer Mazow, Executive Director at Z Space, is a writer, theater artist, fundraiser, and activist living in San Francisco and working in program development and strategic initiatives at the intersection of art, science, and social justice. Read more.

Erika Oba
she/her

Erika Oba is a composer, pianist/flutist, and educator based in the SF Bay Area. As a composer she has written works for jazz ensembles, orchestra, chamber groups, dance, and theater. She has been commissioned by groups such as the Del Sol String Quartet, Fresno Philharmonic, Shotgun Players, and Sharp and Fine. Read more.

Nadhi Thekkek
she/her

Nadhi Thekkek is the Artistic Director of Nava Dance Theatre, a bharatanatyam dance company based in San Francisco. Nadhi uses the south Indian dance form to navigate place, identity, and politics through the lens of her lived experience as a child of immigrants and an unapologetic South Asian, diasporic woman. Read more.

Jon Tracy
he/him

Jon Tracy is the Artistic Director of Marin Shakespeare Company, where he leads artistic programing for the company and has spearheaded initiatives to open the Marin Shakespeare space for new theater development by local artists. He works internationally as an art and culture producer for theatre and film. Read more.

Jenifer K Wofford
she/her

Jenifer K Wofford is a San Francisco artist and educator whose work investigates hybridity, history, calamity and global culture, often with a humorous bent. She is also 1/3 of the Filipina-American artist trio M.O.B. Read more.