[NewMusic] STEIM funding trouble

[Sarah - 21 Grand]

Well, a number of folks are funded at the City level - though from my
experience and what I've heard, San Francisco will consistently fund and
support organizations, but it's somewhat based on longevity - Mr. Raskin or
Adam Fong or anyone else involved w/SF orgs, feel free to correct me.

I often struggle with what and how much to share with people here about the
inner workings of 21 Grand, as well as what my role is here. I don't want to
provoke more "woe-is-me/woe-is-us" sentiment, because I feel to a large
extent that is a bit self-defeating. However, I feel like a lot of people
are supportive, and I want to encourage people to feel that 21 Grand is part
of the "community" and is in a large sense "theirs" - as opposed to "mine."

 I will tell people that we exist because there is a need for a space like
ours here, and that if/when that need goes away - whether people stop doing
weird music or there are other venues doing what we do better that the
artists we serve prefer to present their work - we would quit and go back to
what we were doing before we had this naïve idea to start an avant-gardish
arts space in Oakland - though I've almost forgotten what that was at this
point. Of course, it's difficult from our vantage point to properly assess:
there've been quite a few new music series in Oakland start and end over the
course of our lifespan ...and there have been various points when I've felt
it's time to throw in the towel, but the situation will change a few months
later.

21 Grand has received approximately $18,000 from the City of Oakland over
the last 3 years, though we were not funded this year ...the explanation is
a bit complicated, but I personally feel like we were victims of my honesty:
in terms of the $15,000 or so that Darren and I personally put into the
organization back in 2002 and 2003 when we were really suffering
financially; in telling the panelist assigned to interview us that our
target audience is college educated (which at least one other panelist
determined made us "inaccessible"), as well as not inventing programs for
kids or educational programs for the sake of having them in order to garner
more funding, regardless of whether they were relevant to what our main
purpose is. (I think ROVA's Informance series is quite good, btw.)

I would be interested in hosting workshops or other educational activities
at 21 Grand, and anyone with ideas and enthusiasm for doing so, as well as
helping us raise money ... Feel free to contact me and we can discuss it
off-list.

Thanks for reading,

sl

Damon wrote:
I am happy to trade their two or three decades of funding  and then
getting cut off for our nothing ever!