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Sacramento's 'Bureaucracy Hacker' Talks Tech, Arts

Ash Roughani, the "bureaucracy hacker" in the Sacramento Mayor’s Office for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, held an online workshop recently to give some insight to the city's new "creative economy" pilot project. The focus of the mayor's initiative, known as MOFIE, is supporting community organizations, co-working spaces and other players in the innovation and tech ecosystem.

Ash Roughani, the "bureaucracy hacker" in the Sacramento Mayor’s Office for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, held an online workshop recently to give some insight to the city's new "creative economy" pilot project.

The focus of the mayor's initiative, known as MOFIE, is supporting community organizations, co-working spaces and other players in the innovation and tech ecosystem.

When running for office last year, Mayor Darrell Steinberg talked about making Sacramento a destination city. He outlined three priorities in a letter in October of last year before he took office:

  • Expansion of the convention center
  • Riverfront development
  • Innovation and creative economy
On Jan. 10, the City Council approved the creative economy pilot project, authorizing $500,000 for various projects and allowing the use of the funds under these four strategies:

  • Make Sacramento a platform for experimentation
  • Build a place-based neighborhood ecosystem around food, tech and art
  • Empower individual creators, makers and entrepreneurs
  • Practice what we preach: civic engagement and innovation in City Hall
The council recently approved the development of a neighborhood-based community revitalization and economic development action strategy to ensure that the prosperity and success happening in downtown and midtown is more equitably distributed throughout Sacramento — not just the central city.

The intent of the pilot project is to fund projects that further:

  • Testing and experimentation
  • Data collection and analysis
  • Policy development
  • Systems rethinking
Of the $500,000, MOFIE is allocating $250,000 each to microgrants of $5,000 and grants of $25,000. This will result in funding for 60 different projects to support and grow Sacramento’s creative economy. These will help MOFIE figure out what kind of projects it will be interested in investing in more heavily in the future. Each council district will receive a minimum of one grant ($25,000) and two microgrants ($5,000).

Additionally, applicants are encouraged to collaborate with each other. It’s possible that applicants can apply separately for funding for the same project, and, if awarded, their grants can be stacked. However, to stack the grants, applicants need to address different elements of the same project. For example, MOFIE would be interested to see one person applying for funding to do a pop-up and another person apply for funding to develop an arts curriculum on how one might implement a pop-up. In that sense, the same project would address different focus areas.

The areas that MOFIE is interested in are:

  • Public art/installations
  • Performing arts/music
  • Farm-to-fork
  • Urban tech
  • Pop-ups
  • Temporary activations
  • Multi-use spaces
  • Marketing/communications
  • Youth/education
  • Cultural equity
  • Underserved communities
There will be an “other” box for applicants whose projects don’t fit into these categories.

Examples of projects from other cities that would be of interest to MOFIE are:

  • Wynwood Walls in Miami — A former industrial area where the city created many murals, resulting in a significant amount of foot traffic and interest because of the murals.
  • Bike Counter in Copenhagen, Denmark — A tech project that simply counts bicyclists as they pass by, but it also serves as a signal to encourage people to cycle more.
  • ArtCODE in Palo Alto — An interactive art installation driven by sensors and data, which created an interesting art installation from detected pedestrian traffic.
The projects are not limited in scope and could be (almost) anything, as it relates to Sacramento’s creative economy.

The review panel will consist of three city staff and six members of the public who are appointed by the mayor. Applications will be reviewed based on the following criteria:

  • Potential impact (50 percent)
    • Economic impact
    • Social impact
    • Replicability/scalability (throughout the city)
  • Place-based need (30 percent)
    • Placemaking potential
    • Geographic feasibility
  • Applicant capability (20 percent)
    • Track record
    • Project feasibility
The application portal is open at https://cityofsac.forms.fm/creative-economy. Apply by July 30 to be considered. Applicants will be notified in September, and the grants will be disbursed in October. Eligible projects should plan to begin on or after Sept. 15 (subject to change).

Q&A with Ash Roughani, taken from an online video workshop:

What is "urban tech?" 

I wish I had a dictionary answer for you — I don’t, but that goes to, if you saw earlier the bike counter, where it’s an LED display that counts bicycles as they ride by, interactive art, Internet of Things sensors. We’re looking for folks to propose ideas to us that relate to urban tech. So, anything that sort of improves quality of life through technology.

Is there a target end date for projects that you can share?

Just to be safe, I would look at the end of August of next year — that would be August of 2018. It could potentially go longer than that. We actually anticipate, and this is through our work with the RAILS program, that folks may end up finishing their projects in one to three months, so a 12-month maximum. That’s really the issue there.

Can an organization do an arts-based project if they are not exactly an arts organization?

I love that! Yes! Please do. Creativity comes from all places. We’re looking to empower all types of individuals, all types of organizations. Really what we’re looking for is the vision to improve a public place, a public space, a community, and catalyze some economic activity and pedestrian activity.

Can one person apply for different projects in separate applications?

Really the max that you could apply for is one $5,000 microgrant and one $25,000 grant. We’re just anticipating such a large response to this project; we wouldn’t be able to review all of the applications, if we allow multiple applications. Sorry about that. Hopefully you’ll go for the one that’s of most interest to you.

My agency is a public agency that has a nonprofit arm. Can each entity apply for this grant independently?

The answer to that is yes, if they’re separate entities. I will just say that’s sort of a loophole. So, I wouldn’t strongly encourage that because the intent and spirit of the program would be to avoid that type of “double-dipping.” So, it’s highly, highly unlikely that the review panel would award a grant to both entities, even though that could technically be allowed.

We are not an arts organization, so we do not have art samples to share in the application. Your thoughts on what to share?

Tell us what you’ve done. Show us some big project that you’ve completed. Show us that you can take an idea and make it reality. That’s the best advice I can offer there.

Do you have to live in the district where your project is proposed?

No, you do not have to live in the district. The project just has to be in that district.

Is there any particular area in Sacramento County that you are more interested in jump-starting?

Just to clarify on that point, we’re looking only within the bounds of the city of Sacramento. And no, this is one of those questions where you’re looking for what we want, but we’re looking for what you want to do.

Would a development of a website that helps to cultivate a stronger network of local artists be eligible?

Absolutely. In fact, that fits under the marketing and communications focus area that we had mentioned earlier.

What if the project essentially lives online, but could be distributed throughout the city? I’m thinking of an education-focused project — a curriculum that would activate discussions about creative careers in classrooms. However, the examples given are primarily event-based, and I’m not sure my idea would hit all of the metrics you’re looking for. Thoughts?

No. 1, I think that would fit under the youth/education category. Education doesn’t necessarily have to be youth. That would totally work. Just for the geography, that would be citywide. On the metrics, you’ll just have to be creative about how something that’s online actually creates an impact in the physical world. That’s the only trick. They’re definitely not mutually exclusive, though. You can think about how apps are connecting people. Online platforms can lead to offline activity, so definitely a good fit.

Are there residency requirements? I’m new to Sacramento.

No, there are not residency requirements.

 

MOFIE has provided several resources to help applicants:

Application portal and guidelines:

Online Q&A:

Collaborate:

Upcoming workshops:

  • July 5: Art Institute
  • July 10: Sacramento City Hall
Inspiration:

  • Project for Public Spaces
  • The Scenic Route (by Transportation for America)
  • Groundplay (project out of San Francisco)
Contact: mofie@innovatesac.org