7/17/2015

GRANT PROPOSAL FOR SPCAC SPONSORED BATIK WORKSHOP

Submitted to:
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund
Michelle Currica, Program Manager
Philadelphia City Hall, Room 116
Philadelphia, PA 19107
P: 215-686-0343 | E: info@philaculturalfund.org
Submitted by:
South Philadelphia Cultural Arts Center (SPCAC)
Jane Lee Chow
1838 South 8th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19148
267-761-9645

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The South Philadelphia Cultural Arts Center (SPCAC) is wanting to sponsor a 10 week Indonesian batik
workshop during after-school hours for teens that will take place at St. Thomas Aquinas Community
Center in the heart of South Philadelphia. The cost of the workshop will be $2500 and we have already
received $500 through community resources. SPCAC is seeking more support totaling $2000 to enable
the workshop to begin by February 2016. Not only will this workshop contribute to SPCACs vision and
mission to celebrate our communitys ethnic diversity and thus promote peace and cooperation, but it will
also meet the felt need for after-school activities for teens.

ORGANIZATION
The South Philadelphia Cultural Arts Center (SPCAC) is located in the heart of one of the most diverse
neighborhoods of South Philadelphia. Our organization strives to become a beacon of peace to the world
by celebrating our ethnic diversity through the arts. In this way we hope to promote mutual
understanding and cooperation in a neighborhood where conflicts arise due to misunderstanding and fear.
The people in our community hail from Burma, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mexico and more.
Most of the long-time residents are African American and Italian American. There are so many artrelated resources yet to be tapped among such a rich well of resources and our organization is committed
to providing opportunities for people to come together and learn from each other.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Our South Philadelphia community is in need of good quality, affordable out-of-school activities that can
serve school-aged children from the immigrant and non-immigrant population in this area of South
Philadelphia. According to a recent survey conducted in the community, 60% of school-age children
1

rarely attend after-school activities and in an interview, one community member said that most children
spend too many hours after-school on social media or playing video games. There is a fear among many
of the ethnic communities that children, especially teens, are vulnerable to crime, drugs and gang life as
well as depression and isolation. Due to the success of the batik workshop that was held last year, our
organization would like to provide the same workshop, with the same teaching artist, and have it available
to teens during after-school hours.

PROJECT GOALS/OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES
Goal
20 children, ages 12-18, and adults will gain a new appreciation for an Indonesian art form by making a
batik cloth piece of their own.
Objective Number One
Over a 10 week period, students will learn the history of batik, how it developed in Indonesia and how it
influenced textile art in other countries.
Activities
Students will watch a video, listen to a presentation, look at and hold antique and contemporary batik
samples (with a possible trip to the museum).
Outcomes
20 students will attend the course once a week after-school and demonstrate their knowledge of the batik
patterns, where they originated on Java and how they developed over time.
Objective Number Two
Over a 10 week period, students will learn the step by step process of creating a wax-resist cloth.
Activities
Students will learn how to draw with a canting using hot wax. They will dye the cloth with brushes and
boil out the wax from the cloth.
Outcomes
20 students will attend the course once a week after-school and will demonstrate their ability to do the
batik technique.

MONITORING & EVALUATION

The teaching artist will be required to keep attendance and an internal blog which would include a brief
paragraph about highlights of the class with 2 or 3 photos of the process and then a paragraph stating
challenges or issues that need to be addressed. The attendance log and blog can used for monitoring and
later for evaluation. At the end of the 10 week period the teacher will meet with staff and will be asked to
verbally tell a story about her experience using prompts that are listed below. This can be recorded or
video-taped for later use.
At the end of the final class, each student participant will be given a very brief survey to fill out and any
student who is willing can be video-taped telling their story about the workshop using prompts similar to
the questions asked of the teacher. The brief survey will ask practical questions regarding the teachers
effectiveness, enjoyment, location, time frame, etc.

After choosing at a few stakeholders to vote on the best stories/videos, this information with
pictures/videos can be posted on the organizations website. An executive summary including data from
the surveys can be written up for funders and stakeholders with a link to the website. Decisions about
future workshops can be made based on the information collected from the blogs, stories and surveys.

TIMELINE
ACTIVITY

Month
1

Evaluate assets & needs

Search for funding
Engage stakeholders
Recruit Leaders & Children
Advertise Project
Project Activities
Monitor Project
Evaluate Project
Project Celebration Event

ALLIES
The South Philadelphia Cultural Arts Centers board is made up of representatives from each of the major
ethnic groups in the neighborhood. Members of the ethnic community will be the major players in
making events and workshops happen. Some of our board members are also involved with other very
supportive organizations in the community such as SEAMAAC, Taproot, United Communities Southeast
at the Houston Center and the Indonesian Diaspora Network. It is important for us to know the felt needs
of these organizations. The center needs to benefit all the stakeholders at least at some level. Many of
these organizations will help us to advertise and direct potential students to our programs. St. Thomas
Aquinas Catholic Parish serves many of the Asian and Mexican members of our community and they
have enthusiastically offered to provide space in their community center for our batik workshop.

OUTCOMES TO DATE
Currently we are sponsoring a four-week Vietnamese cooking class and an eight-week Burmese weaving
workshop with each of the classes meeting at different locations in the community (we do not yet have
our own building and so we rely on community resources to provide space). Last year we hosted our first
batik workshop through funding given to one of our teaching artists, Donna Backues, who received a
Leeway Art and Change grant. It was a success in many ways providing young people and adults from
the Muslim and Christian Indonesian communities to come together peacefully and also contributing to
the need for cultural preservation, knowledge & understanding.
3

PROJECT LEADERSHIP
Donna Backues is our lead teaching artist and she has an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the
Fine Arts. She has been teaching for over 25 years both in Southeast Asia and in Philadelphia. During
her 18 years of living in Indonesia, she learned the traditional art of batik. She is a painter and a mixmedia artist and has taught batik in various public and private schools in Philadelphia. In 2013, Donna
won first prize in the American Batik Design Competition. Her website can be viewed at
www.donnabackues.com.

BUDGET
Item

Unit Price

Qty.

Source

Total

Teaching Artist (per hour class time)

$35.00

20

Grant

$700.00

Teaching Artist (per hour prep time)

$25.00

10

Grant

$250.00

Staff Meetings

$20.00

Grant

$60.00

$5.00

20

Grant

$100.00

Volunteer Assistant (per hour class time)

$10.00

20

In-kind worth

$200.00

Space (per day)

$50.00

10

In-kind worth

$500.00

Soda Ash 1 lb.

$1.83

Fees

$5.49

Urea 1 lb.

$2.32

Fees

$11.60

Synthrapol Soap

$4.64

Fees

$13.92

Dyes

$5.00

Fees

$25.00

Muslin Cloth 48 inch

$3.19

Fees

$15.95

Sumi Brush

$1.39

30

Grant

$41.70

Teacher Transportation (approx.)

Material Costs

Wax

$11.83

Fees

$70.98

Drop Cloths

$2.47

Fees

$9.88

Duct Tape

$3.25

Fees

$6.50

Paper and 30 Pencils for sketching

$7.76

Grant

$7.76

Gloves

$8.00

Fees

$16.00

Sequins and Threads

$10.00

Fees

$10.00

Fabric for backing

$25.00

Fees

$25.00

Wax Skillets

$24.00

Grant

$120.00

Canting tools

$5.50

20

Grant

$110.00

$100.00

Grant

$100.00

$40.00

Grant

$40.00

Electric Extension cords

$8.00

Grant

$40.00

Buckets

$4.00

Grant

$8.00

$50.00

Grant

$50.00

Electric Burner
Pot for boiling cloth

Misc.

Paper Towels for clean up

$2.50

Fees

$7.50
$2,545.28

SUSTAINABILITY PLAN
Although the project plan is only for a seven-month period. The community will need continuous afterschool programming with several different kinds of classes to choose from. The committee is planning
for program sustainability by:

Talking to stakeholders & building community support before a new project begins.
Using community assets like space and volunteers to cut program costs and increase community
involvement.
Monitoring the project and changing it as needs arise and feedback is evaluated to make it more
attractive to future participants.
Continually looking for more funding and networking with donor organizations and community
leaders with access to funds, in-kind donations and volunteer support.
Sharing our success and building community support through celebrations and communication
with funders and media.

ATTACHMENTS
CDP Funder Report
2013 Tax Return
Teaching Artist Bio/Resume
List of Board Members & Bio/Resume
Photos from past workshops