What Happened?
The Bush Foundation recently awarded Rapid City, South Dakota, with a $200,000 grant to maintain its arts and cultural programs amid financial struggles. The city’s grant proposal aims to increase audience numbers with more revenue and leadership programs supporting artistic endeavors and cultural institutions.
The Goal
The Bush Foundation has awarded the Community Innovation Grant to Rapid City over a two-year period to replace a failing system of shared marketing, event calendaring and ticketing that has produced minimal results. The money will be used for a number of awareness initiatives to drive interest and participation in artistic and cultural organizations. The city’s institutions already have plans for several improvements including:
- Marketing buys
- Website maintenance
- Ticketing services
- Event calendar development and maintenance
- Branding services
- Addition of administrative staff to implement changes
After the funds from the grant have been used up, Rapid City will rely on audience financial support to keep programs running. The program will be put into action through a collaboration between Destination Rapid City, which has strong ties with local businesses, and the Rapid City Arts Council, that will benefit the most from community growth in the programs.
Moving Forward
It is not enough for Rapid City to acquire the $200,000 grant. The city created a representative committee researched how similar artistic and cultural initiatives were launched in other communities to identify best practices for long-term sustainability. The grant is being used to jumpstart the development efforts, while collaboration, education and community cultural planning will be key to continued success. Rapid City is focused on combining the economic activity generated by local businesses with the marketing strategies for the art and cultural community.
Community Innovation Grant
The Bush Foundation recently created a new category for its grant programs designed to enable communities to overcome unique challenges with sustainable solutions. The awards are granted to local or Native Nations in Minnesota, South Dakota or North Dakota that have researched and developed innovative strategies to meet a community need more effectively than previous solutions.
Winners of the Community Innovation Grant have not only identified the needs, disparities and opportunities in the community, but also researched new tactics and compared them to failed strategies. These communities are gathering data through focus groups, public polls and other channels to generate new ideas and receive feedback on specific tactics.
The Bush Foundation has already funded 34 projects under the Community Innovation Grant category for a total of $44 million in support. The community-driven problem-solving proposals aim to overcome a wide variety of local challenges and issues. Some communities are improving access to healthcare services for residents, others are expanding artistic programs or implementing a program to end bullying.
To be eligible for a Community Innovation Grant, organizations must present a sustainable solution to a unique problem that is:
- Inclusive
- Collaborative
- Resourceful
Grant winners are awarded a flexible grant of 25 percent of the current annual budget for the program up to $500,000. The awards are reserved for communities in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and 23 Native nations in the same area.
Innovation Is The Future
Gov1 has kept track of financial strategies that focus on smart planning to create more sustainable communities.