Olympia staff liaison Amelia Layton presented the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) recommendation of funding various events for 2024 for a total of $835,911.
During the preliminary budget briefing at Monday's October 30 city council meeting, Layton informed the councilmembers that the projected revenue 2024 is $520,000. She noted that the LTAC has seen the highest funding requests this year. The committee recommended allocating $835,911 for funding various events.
To fully fund this recommendation, $313,911 would be drawn from the program's reserve balance of $758,145.
During the committee’s September 28 meeting, LTAC agreed to recommend allocating funds to the following organizations and events:
Layton highlighted changes made to prioritize equity, including asking applicants about their mission, vision, and accessibility. New scoring is also considered in organizations' equity plans. They also updated the review rubric to eliminate personal bias within the application.
The committee decided not to fund the $25,000 request for the Capital Lakefair event. The JOLT will be doing a follow-up story.
Layton explained that each application was scored out of 50 points with 10 bonus points. It included 10 points allocated to the following categories:
She added that the LTAC earmarked some money for new and emergent organizations this year.
Sweeny Todd is one of the projects being funded, details of that were introduced at the Olympia’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) September 28 meeting.
Harlequin Productions will collaborate with the Olympia Symphony Orchestra for the project.
Committee member Don Olea agreed to back the $15,000 request for marketing the performance, as he believed that bringing Sweeney Todd production is something new and innovative. "That kind of name could bring people in. It is something big to many people within many cultural areas."
In its application, Harlequin stated that it plans to bring the Sweeney Todd to audiences from October 11-13, 2024.
Olea said the committee could revisit next year if that innovation brought something good for Olympia.
Selby reminded the committee that the city's Economic Development allocated $150,000 funds to Harlequin Productions to support struggling local theater organizations. The city council also approved awarding $50,000 to Olympia Family Theater, and $100,000 to Olympia Film Society – Capitol Theater in May.
She added that Harlequin can also apply for a grant from the Inspire Olympia in January.
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