Where city's new $500K in arts funding would go

The city's grants committee is set to meet Friday, this time armed with new breakdowns of who is getting what portion of the city's extra $500,000 in arts funding and $250,000 for other grants categories. The two new streams of funding add into a overall pot for grants that contains more than $5.4 million.

Here's who city staff propose should get a slice of the city's $500,000 in arts funding.

Most, but not all, of the boosts city staff is recommending come from that new pot. Some grants have been adjusted based on money that might have come from other grants not being applied for this year, or other money in the budget.

• READ MORE: Hamilton's arts funding gets a makeover
• READ MORE: Theatre Aquarius recommended for biggest boost in new arts fund
• READ MORE: Councillors confused about where new arts money is going

Councillors on the grants committee last week requested documents clearly outlining how this year's proposed funding compares to last year's — even though the fund is a new program this year so the comparison may not hold exactly. They also want to see a note about what grants were boosted or came entirely from the new $500,000 for arts and $250,000 for other categories the city allotted in March.

The new breakdowns from the city's finance department are posted here.

Theatre Aquarius is poised to get the biggest boost in its funding under the city's new arts funding strategy. Last year the theatre got $73,530, and for 2015 the staff is recommending a grant of $210,000. Only $60,399 of that increase comes from the new arts funding pot. 

The biggest grant to a group that didn't get any funding in 2014 is $48,000 to the Hamilton Music Collective's program, An Instrument for Every Child. Most of that grant, $38,000, comes from the new $500,000. 

These are the top proposed recipients of the city's arts funding. (This graph does not include the Art Gallery of Hamilton, which receives a set $1 million grant from the city every year through 2016.)

The grants come out of a total $5.4 million fund called the City Enrichment Fund that brings together several pots of money that were previously spread out. The overhaul was approved last year, and the city got 290 applications for funding total this year. There are four individual categories in the new fund: 

• Arts
• Communities, Culture and Heritage
• Community Services
• Sports and Active Lifestyle

The meeting is scheduled for noon on Friday. Follow @kellyrbennett on Twitter for updates.