ACME outlines program evaluation, 'Elevate' guideline revision and Nexus timeline; commissioners press on ethics and final-report payments

Candice Cooper, interim chief administrative officer for ACME, and Jesus Pantel, cultural funding supervisor, briefed the Arts Commission on cultural-funding programs, timelines and an expanded community-engagement plan.

"ACME is a brand new office that was established on 02/24/2025," Cooper said, and she described a program-evaluation process and a parallel strategic-planning effort that will use community feedback collected between 2020 and 2025. Cooper said staff are processing that feedback through a tool being selected with the citywide public-input team and expect to return analyzed results to the commission.

Cooper said staff are revising cultural-funding guidelines to reflect the office mission and recent state and federal changes. She said the commission working-group recommendations have been reviewed and some are already incorporated into draft guideline language (one example changed staff terminology from "creative business" to "art groups"). Cooper said a draft will be returned to the commission in May and that staff aim to present revised Elevate guidelines to city council on July 24, with a public launch of Elevate in August and fund distributions in January.

Jesus Pantel said Nexus (the year-long funding program) will begin activities May 1 and that final reports are due by May 30 of the following year; award announcements were imminent. "We are currently in the midst of scoring and analyzing the Nexus applications," Pantel said.

Commissioners pressed staff on program logistics. Several commissioners asked about the working-group structure and whether staff were creating a new group or integrating the existing commissioner-community working group; Cooper said staff will meet with commissioners to define how the groups combine and to prioritize a single, efficient process. Commissioner Anderson and others asked about possible conflicts if commissioners who participate in drafting guidelines later apply for funding; Commissioner Anderson asked that commissioners who help develop programs not be applicants. Cooper said she would consult city legal counsel and noted the March 6 council resolution asking staff to evaluate program processes; staff will seek legal clarification and incorporate any necessary ethics safeguards into the working-group plan.

Commissioners also pressed staff for clarity about Long Center payments and final-report processing for grant recipients. Pantel explained that ACME staff review all final reports and do a full, detailed review for about 10% of final reports chosen by criteria (new grantees, previous problems, or randomly); other reports receive a spot check. He said staff aim to complete a review within five business days after submission and that the Long Center runs payments every two weeks; when staff have finished review, recipients should expect the final 10% payment "within 1 to 3 weeks," depending on the Long Center's payment-run timing. Pantel added that invoicing and interagency cash flows can cause occasional delays and staff will work with recipients to correct incomplete final reports.

Cooper and Pantel also outlined the public-engagement plan for Elevate: surveys, focus groups, a "meeting-in-a-box" toolkit for partners, webinars, a web page and partner outreach. Cooper said staff have identified more than 1,700 potential partners for outreach.

No formal vote was taken on program changes; staff presented the timelines and asked the commission for continued partnership and to participate in working-group planning and legal-review follow-up.