Olympia council approves plan for investing millions of tax dollars into arts, culture
The voter-approved Inspire Olympia cultural access tax is bringing in $3 million in its first year to be reinvested in local arts and culture initiatives. And the city council has approved the plan to get those funds out to those who apply at the beginning of 2024.
Voters approved the sales tax increase of 0.1% in early 2022 and the tax went into effect in 2023, raising $3 million to be available to local groups next year. The tax increase lasts for 7 years.
Marygrace Goddu, the program manager for Inspire Olympia, said she’s been working with the program’s advisory board since late May to come up with a mission statement, priorities and funding goals, as well as a funding application for local nonprofits.
The program mission statement is, “Inspire Olympia provides a reliable source of public funding that sustains a healthy, visible, welcoming and inclusive nonprofit cultural and science sector, making creative cultural experiences accessible for everyone in Olympia.”
Its funding goals include supporting programs in arts, culture, heritage, gender and science. And the funds will be used to make programming more accessible and equitable, in large part by taking away the cost of attendance for some events.
About $2.3 million will go directly to cultural organizations. That money is divided into two categories of competitive grant funding, and Goddu said she expects they’ll give out an estimated 60 to 70 contracts for services with programs altogether. Another $25,000 was set aside for field trips, $50,000 for contingency, and $200,000 was budgeted for transportation costs, though Goddu said they likely won’t need that much.
Another $300,000 was budgeted for annual administration costs.
The funds are split between the comprehensive category, which is meant for larger organizations with established year-round programming, and the impact funding category, for organizations that aren’t registered nonprofits but have fiscal sponsorship from one.
Larger organizations can apply for 15% of their annual program budget, and can receive a maximum of $75,000 a year for two years. Smaller ones can ask for funds for a single event, or to get a year-round program started for anywhere from $3,000 to $30,000 a year. But Goddu said the smaller organizations have to provide a one-to-one match for their requested amount. It can be a cash match, or in-kind donations and volunteer service.
Goddu said organizations in both categories can propose programs for youth and in-classroom experiences, though the city is still working out its partnership with the Olympia School District. Schools can apply to be reimbursed for field trips to Inspire Olympia-funded programs, which would be free for students to attend.
At Tuesday’s meeting where the City Council approved the plan, Mayor Pro Tem Clark Gilman said he was tearing up when reviewing the funding structure for Inspire Olympia because of the expanded access it gives children.
“As somebody who’s organized high school field trips, to have that kind of resource available for organizations is, it’s as happy as if we had a bunch of arts interventions, and I got to go celebrate at the Armory,” Gilman said.
Goddu said the program board and city will be conducting public outreach about the plan for the next few months.
“It’s also an equity strategy with a new program. The more time we can give the community to learn about the program, the better participation we can expect to have,” Goddu said.
She said applications will open in January and close in mid-March. The applications will be evaluated and scored through May or so, and then the board will make funding recommendations to the city council for approval in June. The plan is to have programs active by July 1, she said.
Once the programs are up and running, Goddu said they will immediately enter an evaluation period. She said the programs will be evaluated on their equity and access work, all while the Inspire Olympia program itself is being evaluated for the same things.
Goddu said the city purchased a software interface system that will act as a portal to Inspire Olympia information for organizations and the public. It’s not available yet, but she said it will contribute to lowering the barrier to cultural access in the city.
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