Hillsborough County Arts Council holds workshop to walk grant recipients through agreement, payments and reporting

Hillsborough County Arts Council officials held a virtual workshop for Special Events Partnership Grant recipients to explain contract obligations, the payment schedule and the documentation required to receive reimbursements.

Eileen Blake, one of the presenters, said the grant award is a legal agreement that incorporates the original application and that events must take place in Hillsborough County to remain eligible. "We are obviously funding you all for different arts and culture, special event grants around the county, with an emphasis on tourism and community building," Blake said. Martine Collier, identified in the session as the division director of the Arts Council, introduced the workshop and said staff would be available for follow-up questions.

The workshop outlined a three-part payment structure set out in Exhibit C and Exhibit D of each recipient’s agreement. Lisa Hill, the grant coordinator, explained that Payment 1 is a pre-event disbursement equal to 40% of the award and is released after the county has a fully executed agreement and required backup such as venue confirmation, an event schedule and any significant budget revisions. "This is a pre event payment. It's upfront 40%," Hill said.

Payment 2 is a post-event payment equal to another 40% and requires submission of full Exhibit C and D along with event descriptions, preliminary attendance numbers and documentation of vendors and programming. The final 20% is released after recipients submit completed budgets showing actual cash expenses and event revenue; the county does not count in-kind contributions as cash expenses. Hill warned that "if there is something that's really deviant from the application and the expenses noted in the application, we may withhold this 20%."

Presenters emphasized additional administrative requirements: recipients must provide up to 10 tickets so county staff and Cultural Assets Commission or Board of County Commissioners members can monitor events, and they should send ticket information at least two weeks before an event. The county expects logo recognition and public acknowledgement of Board of County Commissioners support in event publicity and on websites; staff will provide the official Hillsborough County logo on request.

Deadlines and recordkeeping were stressed. Payment requests must be submitted within 60 days of an event date; recipients may request a one-time 60-day extension but must apply at least two weeks before the original 60-day deadline for staff approval. Hill also said financial and attendance records related to the agreement should be retained for no less than six years to support audits or follow-ups. Payments are processed through the clerk’s office, which uses the mailing address on a recipient's W-9 and handles optional direct deposit enrollment.

Presenters pointed recipients to the Arts Council web page, the WIP manual for the Special Events Partnership and the Cultural Assets Commission resources (the commission is the body that scored applications for BOCC consideration). Staff said they will distribute the slide deck and contact information after the session and invited recipients to reach out for one-on-one assistance on completing Exhibit C and Exhibit D or preparing supporting backup.

The session closed with a brief Q&A; presenters said there were no substantive chat questions and reminded recipients that staff are available to walk through packet-specific details by email or phone.