Having or knowing the policies and procedures for accessibility would raise your score. 

Goals and objectives could be more clearly and succinctly defined with bullet points listing measurable objectives.

Proposal Impact answer duplicated previous answer regarding partnerships and did not address economic impact of the project. 

Light on description of evaluation plans.  Process to measure demand for additional programming is not addressed.  Suggest audience surveys to assist measurement of quality and demand for programming.

Need policy/procedure that addresses accessibility.

Excellence:

• The chosen narrative style is not clear when discussing goals and objectives.  Although the goals are discernible, the "goals" section is primarily a description of the Festival.  As for the "overarching objective," this is not measurable except in broad terms.  This is actually a goal whereas an objective would explicitly describe ways in which the programming may continue in ways that would be easily assessed.  For instance, the final paragraph before partnerships describes an measurable objective (albeit hidden at the end) where the proposal describes two visits to a middle school.  Lead with this type of information as objectives.  

Impact:

• The impact narrative appears to describe sponsorships and in-kind donations to the Festival and not impact going towards the local community.  In this section, the grant application is seeking to discern how the Festival would positively impact the lives/experience of attendees and how the Festival is beneficial to the local community through improving quality of life as well as local economic development. It would behoove the grant writer to review the guidelines for this section in future grant applications.
• M/P:
  • "Widely disseminated" is a subjective phrase.  How is the video disseminated and is there an approximate number of views?
    • (as a side note, music is not, as it is so often mistaken, a "universal language."  This is viewed as an ethnocentric stance when placed against a background of western classical music as can be discouraging to other cultures) 
  • The CD recording, as listed here, does not appear to be used as a marketing and promotional item.  Be specific about its use in this section.
  • The details provided about subscriber numbers and FB post reach are the types of information critical for a cogent M/P program. Other items that should be included in this section include, but are not limited to:
    • Social media like & follower mumbers
    • Print media advertising campaigns
    • Direct mail campaigns
    • Word of mouth campaigns
  • Details are critical for this section and the allotted space was not used and the information presented was lacking specifics as noted above.

   

Management:

• Excellent to see the Festival is free to the public.
• The organization appears to be in excellent fiscal health, but the cash reserves seem excessive.  You may want to consider broadening your outreach or investing in a foundation to ensure the longevity of the organization.
• The evaluation plan has little to no detail.  This is a huge area of need for this application.  Specific points to consider including:
  • Audience surveys
  • Social media comments
  • Administrative/artistic personnel reviews of programming
  • Local media reviews/critiques
  • Specific audience size numbers
  • Patron growth in numbers