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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_10.17.2007Minutes of Meeting of the Arts and Culture Board City of Georgetown, Texas Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Board members present: Charles Aguillon (arrived late, left early), Nancy Blansett, Addie Busfield, Paul Gaffney, Penny Plueckhahn, Georgene Richaud, Ruth Roberts Board members absent: Richard Bartko (unexcused), Jane Paden (excused) Others present: Jim Carrillo and Kimberly Annis of Halff Associates Staff members present: Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant Regular Session A. Call to order at 2:03 p.m. by chair Ruth Roberts. B. Announcements from the Chair and Board members. Ruth passed around photocopies of pictures of an oil painting and a photograph of Drusilla Huffmaster, which Bob Horick asked the library to accept as part of Ms. Huffmaster's donation of a grand piano for one of the library meeting rooms. Ruth also passed around a brochure for an upcoming international large scale sculpture exhibit on Main Street in Marble Falls. C. Citizens wishing to address the Board. None were present. D. Consideration and approval of minutes of last meeting. Addie Busfield moved to accept the minutes as distributed, seconded by Georgene Richaud. The motion passed unanimously. E. Consideration of and possible action on 1. Presentation by Jim Carrillo, Parks master plan consultant - Mr. Carrillo gave a brief PowerPoint presentation that showed examples of parks in other cities, especially the public art that exists in Richland Hills, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and Long Beach, California. He also displayed a map of Georgetown and its ETJ, which showed existing park lands. He then invited the Board members to tell him what they thought should be added to Georgetown's parks to make them better. Penny Plueckhahn brought up the needs of the Festival of the Arts and Charles Aguillon spoke briefly of the proposal to turn the existing football stadium in San Gabriel Park into some kind of music venue after GISD no longer needs it. Conversation continued for nearly half an hour with the consensus being that Georgetown has a fine park system now and that infrastructure, such as electricity and restrooms, are the chief deficiencies. Everyone wanted to see art in many parks. 2. Conversation with Austin's Art in Public Places staff member. Eric spoke by phone with Meghan Turner, a member of the City of Austin's public art department staff, to learn how they handle scoring of proposals. He found that they have given up scoring and now let the panels discuss the proposals until they reach consensus about which to choose. The panel members are involved in writing the RFP /Qs, so they are well informed about what to look for in the proposals they receive. Also, their panels include arts professionals and citizens who live in the neighborhoods where the art will be installed, a mix that positively affects the creation of the RFP. Meghan also recommended membership in Americans for the Arts, which includes access to their listserve discussions about public art issues. The board spent some time talking about the idea of selection by consensus and most people seemed to think that it would be preferable to scoring. 3. Report on requests for public art panel members from HARC and Main Street Boards. Ruth and Eric attended the regular meetings of HARC and the Main Street Advisory Board during the past month. Chris Damon, from HARC, volunteered to serve on a public art panel. From Main Street, Ellen Davis of Southwestern, and Cheri Thanos, a business owner, both expressed interest in participating in a panel, but each had reservations. Ms. Davis is marrying Lucas Adams in the near future and wondered whether her participation might be considered a conflict of interest. Paul Gaffney suggested that she could simple recuse herself from considering anything her husband might submit. Ms. Thanos has to mind her store during the day, so she wasn't sure she would be able to attend meetings. 4. Report on visit to San Antonio Museum of Art. Addie Busfield visited the museum to learn about how curators evaluate art that they are considering acquiring. She said she spoke with David Rubin who emphasized authentication of each piece. He also believed foundries can provide important information about maintenance and insurance of pieces of sculpture. 5. Report on Laguna Beach public art. Nancy Blansett reported on her recent visit to Laguna Beach, a town about the same size as Georgetown. This community has embraced public art and the town's arts commission is currently sponsoring competitions of several types. 6. Donation of painting to o City from Patty & Rick Eason. Ruth announced that the Easons purchased a Snell painting that was auctioned recently to benefit the Georgetown Animal Shelter. They agreed to donate the painting to the City, for display wherever is most appropriate. Eric said that Kimberly Garrett, Parks Director, has already indicated that she'd like it to hang in the teen area of the recreation center that is under construction. Penny moved to accept the painting, pending completion of the donation waiver form. Georgene seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Ruth will get the Easons' signatures on the form. At this time Ruth brought up the donation of the Huffmaster painting and photograph, which Bob Horick would like to have hanging in the library on November 4, when the Symphony Society announces its acquisition of her Steinway grand piano, which once belonged to Ima Hogg. Penny moved to accept both items, pending completion of the waiver forms and Addie seconded the motion. After some discussion about where the works would hang and their intended purpose, the board voted unanimously to accept the gifts. 7. Certificate of appreciation for donations of art to the City. Ruth presented a draft of the certificate of thanks she proposes to give to donors of art. Penny moved to approve the certificate and Addie seconded the motion. Discussion followed about having presentation ceremonies in addition to giving the donors the certificates at Council meetings. Ruth suggested that this should be on the agenda for November. The motion passed unanimously with Charles Aguillon out of the room during the vote. 8. Board's acquisition of public art for the downtown Square. Ruth reported that she had been talking with several long -time residents of Georgetown about what they thought were themes or subjects that might be recognized in a sculpture on the square. Clare Easley suggested agriculture and merchants. Nell Benold suggested the railroad, J. Frank Dobie, and Southwestern. Penny asked for an official vote to remove the Ruidoso eagle from consideration for acquisition. Ruth moved to do so and Nancy seconded the motion. Addie, Paul, Georgene, and Ruth voted in favor of the motion. Penny abstained and Charles was absent. Motion passed. Nancy suggested that the longhorn idea has been done many times in many places and might not be a good choice for the board to pursue. Penny added that since the board would be able to purchase only one longhorn this year and there is no guarantee that future boards would want to increase the herd, it probably is not a good choice. 9. Nominations for Certificates of Excellence. No nominations were brought forward. F. Agenda items for next meeting. • Presentation ceremonies for donated art • Acquisition of public art for the downtown Square Meeting adjourned at 4:02 p.m. Respectfully submitted, f Charles Aguillon, Secretary f x e'o k___T Ruth Roberts, Chair