Buidling a GAP Advisory Committee

Developing Your Advisory Committee

1. Begin developing your Advisory Committee by identifying three to five community leaders from each county that your GAP Agency will serve. In addition to considering members of the community already involved in the arts and arts organizations, also consider key personalities involved in county organizations, such as:

Chambers of Commerce

Downtown Development Authorities

Main Street/Better Hometown Programs

Tourism / CVB Directors

Libraries

Economic Development

Regional Development

Service Clubs

Newspaper/Radio/TV Stations

Schools

Boys Club/Girls Club

Hospitals

Strive to select a group of individuals who will accurately reflect the diversity of gender, occupation, race, and ethnicity of all the communities that your Grassroots Arts Program will serve.

2. Contact the individuals you have selected. Explain the Grassroots Arts Program and its potential impact on the community. (Face-to-face contact is best.) Make a GAP Fact Sheet from the FAQ's Section and provide the Advisory Member Job Description ( available from Forms, Letters and Logos) and your preliminary budget. Issue an invitation to be on the Advisory Committee.

3. Schedule a meeting time that is agreeable to all members of the community serving on the Advisory Committee. Have Key Application Questions, GAP Timeline, and sample letters (all available on Forms) ready to hand out. Discuss the application questions, and develop your answers. Decide on an agency timeline, and what changes (if any) your agency would like to make to the standard forms. Make sure everyone is in agreement as to when the Advisory Committee will next meet prior to concluding the meeting.

4. Develop a funding philosophy.

5. Use the materials completed during this meeting to fill out and submit your Grassroots Agency New Applicant Certification Application to the Georgia Council for the Arts.

6. Once an organization receives notification that it has been approved for certification, the Georgia Council for the Arts will issue a contract requiring that state funds be expended as outlined in the plan developed by your Advisory Committee.

7. Once you receive notification form GCA, let your Advisory Committee
know that you have been approved. Provide them with a copy of your
agency's timeline, which was developed in your first meeting with them.
Make certain that a date for a first meeting to act upon applications is
clearly indicated on the timeline. Ask them to start spreading the word
through their friends, families, and professional colleagues.

8. Upon certification, the Georgia Council for the Arts will send a letter of congratulations and appreciation to each of your Advisory Members.