Performing & Fine Arts Commission Policies

The Performing and Fine Arts Commission of Rhode Island College is the controlling board of the monies collected through the Student Fine and Performing Arts Fee. It is within their power to make all properly authorized expenditures.

Organizations may be funded by only one student activities source, i.e. the Performing and Fine Arts Commission or Rhode Island College Student Community Government, Inc.

The members of the Performing and Fine Arts Commission shall be: four students (as defined in Article III of the By-Laws [p.2]), the Director of the Performing and Fine Arts, two faculty from the Performing and Fine Arts Advisory Committee, and the Vice-President of Student Affairs or designee.

1. General Policies

1.1 These policies shall apply to all Student Organizations and Student Groups which are funded by or are being considered for funding by the Performing and Fine Arts Commission. The fee is expressly for distribution to student organizations in the areas of: theatre, music, dance, art, creative writing, film studies, and performing arts presenting.

1.2 Funding is contingent upon the evaluation of each proposal by the Performing and Fine Arts Commission and the completion of all required certification forms and the annual report from the previous year (see pp. 59 ).

1.2.1 A student officer must be present for questions and defense at the hearing of the organization’s proposed Annual and Subsequent Allocations.

1.2.2 The Commission reserves the right not to accept a proposed Annual Allocation when documentation is incomplete, incorrect, or is a late submission. If the Annual Allocation is not accepted, TWO Subsequent Allocations will be required for the following year, ONE in April for the following Fall semester and ONE in October for the Spring semester.

1.2.3 The Commission reserves the right not to accept a proposed Subsequent Allocation when documentation is incomplete, incorrect or is a late submission.

1.3 The Commission will allocate its funds using the same budget policies and procedures as are used by the college in allocating unrestricted funds with the exceptions expressly provided otherwise.

1.4 All monies shall be held in an Agency Account.

1.5 Revenue cannot be spent until it is realized.

1.6 At the end of the fiscal year (June 30), monies remaining in an individual or group account will automatically be carried over to the organization’s next year budget but only to the extent of total revenues generated by the organization in the current year. Any deficit balance,as a result of exceeding the current year budget, will automatically be subtracted from an organization’s beginning balance for the new fiscal year. Otherwise, any other monies remaining in individual or group accounts will revert to the PFAC General Fund at the close of the fiscal year.

1.7 Two processes by which funding can be achieved for any group or organization shall be through Annual Allocation and Subsequent Allocation. A) An Annual Allocation is that which is granted to recognized organizations which receive funding for established on-going programs to be presented throughout the following academic year. -4- B) A Subsequent Allocation is a disbursement of funds to organizations not funded through the Annual Allocation process, or for a request for funds for a proposal which was not included in an Annual allocation request. Normally, Subsequent Allocations are considered “one-time funding”. There are two Subsequent Allocation Cycles as noted in Article 1.8 below. Funding for Subsequent Allocation is dependent upon the availability of funds.

1.8 The deadline dates for Annual Allocations, the Fall Subsequent Allocation Cycle and the Spring Subsequent Allocation Cycle are as follows: A) Fall Subsequent Allocation Cycle: Deadline will be the third Friday of October. This cycle is to consider proposals for performing and fine arts projects happening from January through May of a given year and were not covered in the Annual Allocation Cycle, and for extenuating funding for Spring semester. This cycle will include proposals for one-time only, special events. Organizations not part of the Annual Allocation Cycle may apply for funds in this cycle. B) Annual Allocation Cycle: Deadline will be the second Friday of February. Open only to organizations who have been funded in this cycle in the past. For projects and activities happening from September through May of the following year. C) Spring Subsequent Allocation Cycle: Deadline will be the first Friday of April. This cycle is to consider requests for budget adjustments for the current year, for extenuating expenditures for the remainder of the current year or for adjustments to the Annual Allocations for the following year.

1.9 All check processing and deposits shall be made through the appropriate College agencies.

2.0 A projected income, based on projected enrollment for the upcoming year, should be agreed upon by the Chair and a representative from the College Accounting Office. At the discretion of the Commission, the following will apply: A) 2% of the total budget* each year will be set aside to advertise the Performing and Fine Arts at Rhode Island College in trade publications and theatre programs (i.e. PPAC, Philharmonic, Trinity, etc.) B) Up to 3% of the total budget* each year will be reserved to help fund the annual Spring Celebration of the Arts. C) 7% of the total budget* each year will be put in reserve for Commission administrative and operating expenses. D) 10% of the total budget* each year will be held in reserve for extenuating circumstances including short-falls in estimated fund collection. *NOTE: Total budget includes estimated income derived from the collection Students Fine Arts Fee each semester plus any funds carried forward from the previous year. E) Prior to the Annual Allocation Cycle each year, Commission members will mutually agree on the allocation of the balance of funds and to what percentage will be allocated each cycle. 2. Evaluation Criteria The Performing and Fine Arts Commission evaluation criteria are based on the following:

2.1 QUALITY

2.1.1 Ability of project to enhance opportunities and activities in the Performing and Fine Arts at Rhode Island College.

2.1.2 Artistic merit of the overall project.

2.1.3 Reputation of organization’s ongoing arts programming.

2.1.4 Artistic merit of organizations previous arts programming.

2.2 COMMUNITY IMPACT

2.2.1 Need for project/organization

2.2.2 How accessible is the project/organization

2.2.3 Does the organization encourage attendance by new, minority and/or special constituencies.

2.2.4 Does the organization demonstrate ongoing commitment to arts programming/activity at RIC.

2.2.5 How accessible is the project/organization to the general public.

2.3 SOUNDNESS OF PLANNING

2.3.1 Clarity of goal objectives.

2.3.2 Realistic and accurate budget.

2.3.3 Adequate outreach activity (including promotion/publicity).

2.4 ADMINISTRATIVE CAPABILITY

2.4.1 Proof of responsible fiscal management.

3. Annual Allocation Annual Allocations will be awarded on the basis of the following Guidelines:

3.1 The requests for funding must come from Performing and Fine Arts Commission recognized organizations which have received funding previous to the present request and which have completed and submitted the necessary certifications as required by the Performing and Fine Arts Commission.

3.2 Priority for funding will be given to the established groups and activities in the Performing and Fine Arts Departments and Programs, i.e. Art, Creative Writing, Dance, Film Studies, Music, Performing Arts Series, and Theatre. All other funded events must conform to the nature of the Performing and Fine Arts.

3.3 The proposed annual budget and projects must be reviewed for funding by the appropriate Dean, and the Director of Performing and Fine Arts.

3.4 The following budget process shall be adhered to: 1) By January 31 of each year all appropriate organizations and departments shall be notified regarding the budget process for the next academic year. 2) The notice should include a budget proposal form and cite a date in the month of February announcing the deadline for budget proposal requests to be submitted. 3) After the deadline has expired, the Commission shall meet for consideration of each budget request. 4) Any Annual Allocation requests will be rejected if it is not received by the Commission’s Director on or before the deadline date and time. Requests not meeting the deadline date will be considered in the next Subsequent Allocation cycle. 5) Consideration shall take into account the activity of the organization’s proposed programs, the target population for the organization, the quality of the proposal, the community impact, and the administrative capability of the organization based on previous years’ activities. (See Evaluation Criteria page 5). 6 Annual Allocation Budgets shall be available on an annual basis divided in half for each semester. The organization must receive approval from the Commission if a larger amount is to be spent in the first semester. 7) All organizations must keep ledgers which shall be set up in accordance with the college accounting procedures using its line item system and budget code numbers. Money appropriated to a given line item must be spent within the constraints of that line item; no money may be transferred from one line item to another without the consent of the Commission. 8) Any annually funded organization which exceeds its anticipated revenues has the prerogative to make a special request to the Performing and Fine Arts Commission for authorization to spend part or all of its excess revenue during the current or following year. 9) No organization may spend money over the summer (June 15 to August 31) without prior authorization of the PFAC. -6- 10) A mandatory meeting of Treasurers of all funded organizations will be held each year by September 30. Treasurer’s of organizations that receive funding through Subsequent Allocations must attend a treasurer’s meeting by November 30 if requested. Funding is contigent upon attendance by the treasurer or designee

3.5 If an organization has not been active for a period of three consecutive years, they will be dropped from Annual Allocation Cycle.

3.6 Reinstatement to Annual Allocation status would follow Subsequent Allocation procedures.

4. Subsequent Allocations

4.1 Subsequent Allocations are awarded twice each year. Proposals are due in October (date to be set by Commission) for the following spring semester and in April. (See General Policies 1.7a and 1.7c)

4.2 Any Student Organization meeting the criteria as stated in General Policies 1.1 may apply. Preference may be given to organizations who are not eligible to apply in the Annual Allocation cycle.

4.3 Any Student Organization or Student Group must submit a written proposal of the program(s) to the appropriate Department Chair who must make a recommendation on the viability of both the group and the project. The group must then obtain the recommendation and authorization from the appropriate Dean before the proposal may go before the Commission. When all proper authorizations and recommendations are received the Commission will examine the proposal.

4.4 The Commission may approve the proposal, reject the proposal, table to a future date, send the proposal for further information or background work, or recommend some other type of action.

4.5 The amount of money requested and approved for Subsequent Allocation will be budgeted within the Agency Account and assigned a number. The Organization must then follow all rules and procedures which apply to all Allocations. If the money is not used by the end of the academic year in which it was appropriated, it will return to the general Agency Account.

4.6 Certain Subsequent Allocations will be used only for a “one time” event and will not be used as a basis for recognition or develop into an organization requesting Annual Allocation.

5. Procedure for Recognition as an Annually Funded Organization

5.1 The Recognizing Body will be the Performing and Fine Arts Commission based on prior approval of the organization’s constitution.

5.2 The organization must have previously received (3) three consecutive years of funding through the Subsequent Allocation process.

5.3 After the third year of consecutive funding through the Subsequent Allocation process, the organization may apply to be funded in the Annual Allocation cycle.

5.3.1 This application will be evaluated upon a clear definition of the organization’s artistic goals and objectives, and the criteria used by the commission to evaluate organizations funded through the Annual Allocation process. (See Evaluation Criteria)

6. Inventories

6.1 Each organization should send a complete inventory to the Commission of all goods purchased with the student monies, i.e., the Student Activity Fee and/or the Fine Arts Fee.

6.2 Capital items purchased with Student Activities money before September 1982 will remain Student Government property.

6.3 A full report of all purchases made with the Fine Arts Fee will be submitted to the Commission no later than April 30th of each year based on the inventory report and will reflect which capital items are the property of Student Government and which are college property.

7. Personnel Policies Normally monies from the Performing and Fine Arts Commission will be used for professional practitioners, consultants and other persons not regarded as employees of the state. Such expenditures shall be approved in advance by the Commission and shall be subject to all college personnel policies.

8. Affirmative Action This Commission will insure that all organizations who receive funding are operating in a manner consistent with Affirmative Action and are offering programs and services which are appropriate to the diverse campus population.

9. General Provisions

9.1 All contracts should include a statement that Rhode Island College is not responsible for any liabilities incurred.

9.2 All requests for funds must be submitted on the official Performing and Fine Arts Commission Proposal Form.

9.3 In cases where liability insurance is not provided by the outside performing organization, the college attorney and/or president shall be consulted. As a result of such a review, if any unusual circumstances become evident, the Director of Fine Arts will be consulted and will secure the appropriate executive clearance.

9.4 The Commission reserves the right to withhold funding in cases it deems necessary. The Director of Fine Arts may implement such action pending approval by the Performing and Fine Arts Commission

10. Amendment of Funding Policies These funding policies may be amended by majority vote of members voting at any regular or special meeting of the Commission. The amendment will immediately become effective.