Can I eSign Iowa Award Nomination Form

Can i document type e sign award nomination form iowa

good morning everyone and thank you for your interest in the Iowa cultural and entertainment districts program my name is Lindsay Keast and I am the arts program coordinator here at the Iowa Arts Council and managed the Iowa cultural and entertainment districts program before we get started a few housekeeping items all lines are currently muted and will be for the duration of the presentation to reduce background noise as this webinar is being recorded a link to the recording will be emailed to participants after the presentation and will be linked on the iowa cultural and entertainment districts web page for future reference if you have questions during the presentation please feel free to use the question and answer feature on your screen also use this feature if you are experiencing technical difficulties thanks again for joining us today [Music] the purpose of this webinar is to 1 familiarize you with the Department of Cultural Affairs which is the state agency that manages the designation program to to introduce you to our Iowa cultural and entertainment districts designation process and three to tell you about the goals for this program and how to successfully submit an application using slide room the online application system let's begin with an overview of the department the Iowa Arts Council is your state arts agency which is a division of the iowa department of cultural affairs the department empowers iowa to build and sustain culturally vibrant communities by connecting Iowans to the people places and points of pride that define our state the department impacts Iowans through the State Historical Society of Iowa the Iowa Arts Council and produce Iowa the state office of media production the Iowa Arts Council is the arts division of the apartment and our mission is to cultivate creativity participation and learning in the arts we administer funding networking and learning opportunities that support arts and culture in iowa on behalf of the department this includes the iowa cultural and entertainment districts program here is a look at the timeline for the designation program the deadline to submit your application online is 11:59 p.m. on May 1st 2020 a reminder that the Iowa Arts Council's application process is entirely online all material must be submitted using the slide room application portal material will not be accepted in any other format the deadline to submit your application online I already said that full applications will undergo a review by Iowa Arts Council staff for eligibility eligible applications will be sent to a competitive panel review by the Iowa cultural and entertainment districts Advisory Committee applicants will be notified by the end of June of designation decisions applicants who are awarded designation will receive a memorandum of understanding via email and information about their designation upon receipt of the signed Memorandum of Understanding districts will be designated for 10 years at which point they will be required to apply for redoes Ignatian in order to maintain their status as an Iowa cultural and entertainment district in addition all designated districts will be required to complete an annual report for the program by August 1st beginning one year after a designation let's now take a moment to review the designation program Iowa cultural and entertainment district designation recognizes well identified walkable mixed use compact areas of a city or county in which a high concentration of cultural facilities serves as the anchor it is a gathering place filled with cultural facilities arts organizations individual artists or arts based businesses as well as an array of other uses such as office complexes restaurants retail spaces or residents it has well-defined boundaries and people can sense when they have arrived at this unique place the program goals are to distinguish those districts which have created unique cultural centers and prioritized visitor experiences promote the districts and they're supported activities and provide technical assistance and professional development opportunities once designated the state through the efforts of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs shall endeavor to promote projects and initiatives implemented by the cultural and entertainment districts through established networks designated cultural and entertainment districts are provided an Iowa cultural and entertainment district road sign these signs served to market and promote the district designated cultural and entertainment districts are encouraged to use the Iowa cultural and entertainment district logo in their marketing efforts additionally Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs staff will provide technical assistance to cultural and entertainment districts including communication on state and non-state grant opportunities professional development workshops and by sharing best practices from other cultural and entertainment districts a single entity must be selected to serve as the primary applicant for designation while collaborating between a consortium of partners located within the area applying for designation the selected entity must meet the definition of an eligible applicant this applicant is responsible for submitting the annual report and will be the entity legally obligated to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding if awarded designation partners and collaborating entities are not required to meet the following eligibility requirements fellow federally tax-exempt 501 C 3 nonprofit organization incorporated and physically located in Iowa a unit of local county or federally recognized tribal government physically located in Iowa or a for-profit or commercial entity located in Iowa in eligible applicants include individuals units of state or federal government schools or institutions of higher education religious organizations reunions political parties or national service professional organizations and/or Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs grantees who have an outstanding final report or who have been placed on a department funding moratorium following designation cultural and entertainment districts are expected to submit an annual report to the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs the report will document the status of the cultural and entertainment district including the number of new businesses activities and promotional efforts within the past year this is due on August 1st beginning one year following designation per statute language all designated cultural and entertainment districts are required to apply for redesignate every ten years the Reda's Ignatian process will include information updating the cultural district identity operations and programming information cultural and entertainment district assets goals for the next ten years accomplishments from previous ten years and economic impact now we will review the application itself before you apply for Iowa cultural and entertainment districts designation it is important to determine whether the program is a right fit for you to do so make sure you have reviewed all available material for the program please note that all of the Iowa Arts Council's designation and grant processes are entirely paperless all program materials are available online and all communication will be sent electronically step 1 please be sure to read the guidelines for the program on the Iowa Arts Council's website each Iowa Arts Council administered program has a different set of requirements and guidelines that applicants must follow please make sure you closely read and understand these the guidelines also include a scoring rubric so you can see how an application will be evaluated step 2 once you've reviewed all available designation materials please contact me with any questions I am available to answer your questions regarding eligibility and to review drafts of the application make sure you contact me well in advance of the application Deadline my contact information will be included at the end of this presentation step 3 visit the Iowa Arts Council's application portal at Iowa Arts Council slide room calm and complete the application here you will be able to view a summary of requirements by clicking on the link to the program that you wish to apply for to view the full application requirements you must create an account on slide room and login after logging in you'll have access to the narrative questions character limits and upload requirements all material must be submitted online via slide room the Iowa Arts Council does not accept any material submitted via mail or email nor does it accept late material after a deadline passes we will go through the application process in more detail later in this webinar step 4 after you've submitted your application you will wait to receive notice applications will first go through a staff review for eligibility eligible applications will be sent to a competitive panel review by the Iowa cultural and entertainment district advisory committee the committee will make designation decisions based on the submitted applications and applicants will be notified by the end of June regarding designation decisions the scoring rubric included in the guidelines for the Iowa cultural and entertainment districts program is what the panel will use to review your application you will notice that each section of the rubric corresponds with each section of the application other than contact information in a quick district summary we do not ask you to provide anything that will not be scored if you keep your rubric handy while you complete the questions you will have a better chance of addressing each piece of criteria that the pain'll will use to score your application the only unscored sections of the application include the contact information and a brief summary of your proposed district cultural assets primary contact information will ask for the contact information of the individual who is submitting the application and who we should contact with any questions authorized official information will ask for the contact information for the individual with the legal authority to obligate the applicant this is the individual who would be responsible for signing the Memorandum of Understanding applicant information will ask for the contact information for the eligible entity submitting the application this should be the entity that will enter into the ten year memorandum of understanding and will take responsibility for reporting requirements on behalf of the district this entity will remain unchanged over the course of the ten year period we also ask that you include the name of your proposed cultural and entertainment district and a summary of the proposed district which asks for a brief overview of the area's cultural assets including the presence of anchor arts and cultural attractions walkability and access relationships with local artists and entrepreneurs and support for new cultural industries organizations and artists the first scored section of the application is the district demographics notice as we go through these sections how the rubric aligns with the questions district demographics asks for both quantitative and qualitative assessment of the demographics of the area a strong application will clearly identify the area demographics and address how the assets of the district are meeting the demographics unique needs the second section covers the district's Advisory Council your response should include all of the partners and organizations who meet on a regular basis to discuss the status and future of the cultural and entertainment district the partners must include at least one city or county official a strong application will list many partners who are diverse and reflect the area's demographics the third question and rubric category asks about the district boundary you must both upload a vicinity map that clearly demonstrates the boundary of the district with street names and transportation corners and facilities please be sure to review your boundary and consider its walkability and diversity of the cultural assets you must also include a description and justify of the boundary which can include but is not limited to providing the general location of the cultural district within the community historic standing structures indicating those listed on the National Register of Historic Places boundaries of historic districts that are listed on or have been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places cultural arts and tourism amenities entertainment venues including music TV and film studios and event spaces retail service and restaurant amenities green and open space primary pedestrian corridors in the cultural district and accessibility features either existing or proposed the community support materials section allows you to attach documentation demonstrating that the district has community support this support may include but is not limited to letter or resolution by the governing body such as city county or Joint Resolution which supports the cultural district letter or resolutions by other local Development Corporation and community organizations supporting the cultural district letters of support from partner organizations on the cultural and entertainment district Advisory Council and or letters of support by businesses and organizations located within the proposed district please note that all documents in this section must be combined into a single file for upload public asset access asks for a description of the target population served by the district plans to increase or improve access strategies to reach target audience through marketing or promotion and accessibility features of the district the diversity efforts section seeks to garner a better understanding of how the district represents their community through inclusion of diversity as well as plans to improve upon current efforts over the next ten years a strong application will include an explanation of current efforts to address the diversity of your region through the district's amenities and we'll set two goals with corresponding strategies to increase diversity in the district during ten year designation this section asks you to describe incentives in the county city or community partnering organization which offer to cultural and entertainment district enterprises and or qualifying resident cultural workers please be as specific as possible about the local incentives offered local incentives might include but are not necessarily limited to special signage publicity local grants property tax abatement self-supporting municipal Improvement Districts tax increment financing districts rent buy downs and/or low-interest loans or zoning to encourage live and work space for artists applicants can have fun with the tourism driven section as they imagine a weekend itinerary for visiting tourists strong applications consider lodging dining recreation retail performances museums and galleries we ask you to submit up to five media samples that provide additional context for the proposed district that enhanced the case for designation media samples may include photos or video of the proposed district zoning designations within the district of private and public uses existing use maps of the district's housing maps of the district and surrounding area event announcements etc do not submit additional narrative or a list of web links in this section the last piece of criteria in the rubric covers grantsmanship and case for support this does not pertain to a specific application section but rather to the application as a whole this is where the panel will evaluate the quality of the application overall and whether the application made a good case for designation okay now I'm going to share my screen with you to review the application process you will go to Iowa Arts Council dot slide room comm and when you go there here's what the landing page looks like when you arrive if you scroll down you can see all of the available opportunities from the Iowa Arts Council that require an application for the cultural and entertainment district program you'll go to the general section which is the second one from the top and click on the 2020 Iowa c ltural and entertainment district application at the top you'll see the deadlines a brief description of the program and a link to the guidelines which are also available on the website as I noted earlier you will have the option to preview the full application so you do not need to sign in to see these questions so you would click on preview full application you can scroll down and look through each required section of the application including all the narrative sections and the upload requirements when you're ready to apply you can click the apply Now button if you don't already have a slide room account you can create one here if you do have an account you can click login once you log in it take you to the program you were last reviewing you can then click begin application or continued application once you begin on the left-hand side of your screen you'll see each of the narrative sections that you can click through across the top you can click through the different sections so forms includes all the narrative portfolio is where you'll upload your support material and submit is where you'll see which sections you have left to complete as you're going through the forms when you get to the narrative you'll see down at the bottom right-hand corner of each section that it will start tracking your characters as you type so note that there are character limits for each section and it does include spaces so if you're drafting the application in an external word processing platform we do encourage you to do this to help you proofread grammar and spelling just be aware of the character limits as you draft the application sections and if you do decide to do this in word and you copy and paste into the box please be sure to check the bottom after pasting to ensure your content has not been cut off due to the character limits on the portfolio section you can submit up to five media samples that provide additional context for your proposed district that Hance your case for designation if you click on that you'll see that you can provide up to five items including images of up to five megabytes per file video up to 250 megabytes per file audio up to 30 megabytes and PDFs up to 10 megabytes per file when you get to submit it will show you the red caution signs indicating the incomplete section when the application is complete all of these will turn into green checkmarks and there will be a submit button allowing you to complete your application do note that you can click save and exit up in the top right hand corner any time during the applicator process and it will save all of your work you by no means need to complete the application all in one sitting you can come back and work on it again at any time and that covers the technical piece of the online application as a reminder Iowa Arts Council staff is available to answer all of your questions it's best to contact us early in the application process as our ability availability becomes limited as the deadline approaches thank you again for viewing this webinar we look forward to receiving your Iowa cultural and entertainment districts applications and here is our contact information should you have any questions for both myself and our new Iowa Arts Council administrator David Schmitz thank you all for joining me today [Music] you