Cultural Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2024 09 18

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0 22. Do you have an outstanding City of Louisville art grant project or art grant evaluation form? Please provide details. No Page 3: Project Details Project Details * 23. Please give a brief overview of your project: For the last two years, the Cultural Caravan has presented a concert during its June Festival in honor of the heroes and victims of the Marshall Fire. These concerts have been of particular significance to the Caravan: our founder is Josh Halpern, and his parents lost their home in the Marshall Fire. This annual concert traditionally takes place at one of the Louisville Fire Stations and features food from local restaurants (Moxie, Pica's Taqueria, and Lulu's participated in 2022; Moxie, Sweet Cow, and Ruby Ru's participated in 2023); performances by a diverse range of musicians (Gonzalo Teppa presented Venezuelan Jazz and Enion Pelta-Tiller performed Django Reinhardt in 2022; Raul Murciano presented the Colorado Mambo Orchestra in 2023); and, in 2023, additional support from Marshall Together, as well as representatives of mental health resources. Louisville is still rebuilding from the Marshall Fire, but even as Louisville completes its physical healing process, the community needs arts and culture to come together and feel whole yet again. This event has been a great gift to the hardworking men and women of the Louisville Fire Department, the city's resilient local business owners, and the countless individuals impacted by the events of the fire. In 2023, this event was part of a fruitful collaboration with the Louisville Arts Council. In fact, the Louisville Arts Council's partnership with the Cultural Caravan inspired numerous other cities —including Lafayette, Erie, and Broomfield —to institute municipal partnerships with the Cultural Caravan. A formal partnership with Louisville is yet to take effect for this season, but we are hoping that this event will be the centerpiece of that partnership. * 24. Project goal(s) This event is intended to bring together a community scattered and traumatized by the Marshall Fire, and to celebrate our collective resilience. Our founder is Josh Halpern, and his family has still not begun to rebuild after losing their home. Everyone is in different stages of recovery from the Marshall Fire, but this event is an opportunity to find comfort and strength in communal experience. The mission of the Cultural Caravan is to make world -class music accessible to everyone throughout Boulder County, regardless of socioeconomic status. The Caravan is also committed to advocating for the more than 50 organizations that have partnered with us, including local businesses like Moxie Bread Company and Lulu's BBQ, social -service nonprofits such as Marshall Together and Sister Carmen Community Center, and municipal organizations including the City of Louisville Arts Council. Since 2021, we have presented more than 100 low-cost or free events in more than 50 locations throughout Boulder County, including schools, community centers, local businesses, and public parks, including numerous appearances in Louisville. Our many Louisville - based partners contribute to the culture of Louisville's community, just as our roster of 60+ local artists do. We make their contributions more visible and vibrant through the collaborations and events we facilitate, and present a wide range of incredible artists in public performance in the process. * 25. Describe your project in more detail, outlining the project scope and means of executing the project. This event is part of the Cultural Caravan's 10-day June Festival, featuring 60+ artists in more than 20 events throughout the community. This event will take place outside of the Louisville Fire Station 1. We will secure permits to close the block and use amplified sound. An ensemble of world -class artists will perform outside for all those in attendance. The Caravan is planning to present Ritmo Jazz Latino and/or renowned bluegrass violinist Enion Pelta-Tiller. Food trucks will be present, parked across the street from the fire station. The fire station will wheel their trucks outside so children and their families can explore and learn, and the Caravan will provide sidewalk chalk and games for kids. The Caravan compensates the artists, manages all branding elements and many components of advertising, and facilitates day -of set-up for the musicians' performance area and sound equipment. Assuming the Louisville Arts Council renews its partnership with the Cultural Caravan, they will be a co -presenter, utilizing their communication capabilities to invite the entire Louisville community. * 26. What is your target audience? Our target audience is everyone in Louisville. The Cultural Caravan's core ethos is that all are welcome. We make this event free so the cost of entry is of no concern, especially if anyone is in financial need due to hardship related to the fire. In 2023, Marshall Together was present to provide information on mental health services, which was a wonderful and helpful gesture. * 27. How will you market your project? We present events throughout the year and are constantly growing our audience throughout Boulder County. We employ robust online advertising using Meta ads that promote our events via Facebook and Instagram to the nearby geographical area, as well as utilize our growing list of email contacts. We also provide digital and print materials so our local business and municipal partners can share the events with their communities and subscribers. For the 2023 fire station event, we also provided posters to numerous businesses in downtown Louisville. To date, we have presented over 100 events throughout the community, and have only seen our attendance improve over time. * 28. Please describe prior experience in executing similar projects. Our fire station concerts in 2022 and 2023 were great successes. In 2022, we received grant funding from the Louisville Arts Council and the success of that event prompted the Arts Council to formally partner with us. In 2023, we moved from the Via Appia fire station to the more pedestrian -friendly Main Street station, allowing for a more open and communal feeling. We expanded the event to include two food trucks, added Marshal Together as a nonprofit partner, and increased our budget to hire a larger musical group. We also have experience partnering with a working fire station and their fire chief, and obtaining the necessary street closure and amplified sound permits to execute this event. Again, the Cultural Caravan has successfully presented 100+ events in locations across Boulder and the surrounding region since 2021, and these fire station events have been highlights of our programming. * 29. How will your track and measure the success of your project/event? Our key markers of success for this event are community attendance and involvement. We know from our Fire Station concerts in 2022 and 2023 that community members, first responders, and our presenting partners sincerely appreciate this event. The fire department eagerly jumped on board to collaborate again after the first year, and artists are always eager to return to work with us year after year. At this year's concert, we will take informal headcounts throughout the event to monitor attendance. Last year, there were more than 200 people in attendance. We will also make sure to reconvene with all partners —including participating artists, businesses, and representatives of the fire department and the City of Louisville —after the event's conclusion to evaluate where we succeeded and where we can improve as we build toward future collaborations during our 2024-25 season. * 30. How will your project benefit Louisville residents? This grant's funding comes from City of Louisville taxes, and it is important that the project reaches Louisville residents. This event is by, for, and all about the people of Louisville. We are providing an opportunity for people to be together in joy and grief, to enjoy music by phenomenal local artists and food by excellent local restaurants, and to express appreciation to those who are building Louisville back from its recent challenges. In 2023, it was rewarding to see friendly faces of Louisville residents who we met in 2022, thrilled to return for another concert at the fire station. We feel strongly that this event will only grow in 2024.