In 1989, the Arizona State Legislature established the Arizona Arts Trust Fund with monies collected from the filing fee of Arizona's for-profit corporations. These funds support the General Operating Support Grants awarded by the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Part of the legislation requires that organizations awarded General Operating Support Grants serve the needs of the community, including efforts to reach artists and audiences from culturally diverse groups. Grant conditions, which must be met before an organization's funding is distributed, include representation by racial/ethnic community members on their board of directors, and submission of a current Cultural Diversity Plan with the grant application.

You must mail a hard copy of your organization’s current Cultural Diversity Plan, assuring racial and ethnic participation on your board, along with any other supplementary materials. This Cultural Diversity Plan must:

• List goals and strategies to identify representatives from racial or ethnic communities
• Evaluate past efforts to reach racial or ethnic board members
• List resources to be contacted to increase racial or ethnic representation on your board
• Be current, and be approved by the Board of Directors at a recent meeting, and signed and dated by the Board Chair/President

The panel will consider this information, and the board chart you complete in EGOR (example below), in relation to this section’s review criterion.

Some organizations have submitted Cultural Diversity Plans which are broader in scope; e.g. they address gender, age, orientation, disability, geography, or other diversity issues; describe artistic programming, staffing or advisory councils that connect to the organization’s diversity goals; or relate the board’s policies, or holistic organizational approaches, that address building diversity. Such information is not requested or required by the Commission, but organizations may certainly submit Diversity Plans that are broader in nature.