HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_04.25.2007Minutes of Meeting of
Arts •! Culture Board
City of Georgetown,
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Arts and Culture Board Members present: Charles Aguillon (arrived at 3:30 p.m.), Nancy Blansett,
Addie Busfield, Jane Paden, Penny Plueckhahn, Georgene Richaud, Ruth Roberts
Members absent: Rich Bartko (excused), Paul Gaffney (excused)
Staff attending: Eric Lashley, library director; Judy Fabry, library administrative assistant; Erin Kersey,
City webmaster.
Regular Session
Call to Order at 2:10 PM
There were no announcements from the chair and no citizens wishing to address the board.
Consideration and approval of minutes of last meeting
Penny Plueckhahn moved that the minutes be approved as distributed, seconded by Nancy
Blansett, approved unanimously.
Consideration of and possible action on
1. CVB events calendar and the Georgetown arts community —a conversation with Shelly
Hargrove, Director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Erin Kersey, City of
Georgetown Webmaster — Penny Plueckhahn
Shelly Hargrove had accepted the invitation to attend the meeting but she did not do so.
Penny opened the discussion by saying that she seems to have become an unofficial point of
contact for smaller arts organizations in Georgetown that are seeking information about the
schedules for the Symphony Society and the Festival of the Arts. Her research showed that in
other cities she looked up on the Internet, arts calendars were always found on the cities'
convention and visitors bureaus websites. Georgetown has a CVB site, but the Arts and
Culture Board believes it could be more informative and have a stronger arts component.
Penny continued by suggesting to Erin that the Board is willing to communicate with the
smaller local arts organizations to let them know how to get their events advertised on the
CVB website if that would be helpful to the people who are in charge of the CVB site.
Erin responded that the CVB has no one on staff who can solicit information from arts
organizations, so they're dependent upon whatever is submitted. She believes that
establishing guidelines for what CVB will accept for publication has been an issue. Limiting
the events that are advertised to those that will appeal to people from out of town, rather than,
for example, the local church pancake supper, is not an easy line to draw. Erin said she has
been talking with Clark Thurmond at the Sun about creating a website for the newspaper and
it would have a calendar that would include events that are of more local interest.
Eric Lashley suggested that the City has established the Arts and Culture Board specifically to
promote the arts in Georgetown. They did not include promoting church activities in their
ordinances, so it is not hard to argue that the City website can promote artistic events and
exclude church- sponsored events.
Someone inquired about who to contact in other cities to find out what their rules are for
submission of events to website calendars. Erin said that the guidelines are often posted right
on the website, but that webmaster probably would have them, too.
Erin said she would be happy to make the existing CVB site, or an enhanced CVB site, more
searchable, but she needs to know what people want. Penny suggested the Portland, Oregon,
CVB site is a good model. After some general discussion the board members agreed that they
would like to see an online form for submission of information and that some questions that
need to be addressed before that could happen are: what are the categories of events, what is
the timeline for submission and publication of information, in what format /size should photos
be submitted, which target markets can be identified?
Erin
said that
she worries
that CVB staff will not
have time
to enter lots of information and
that
an online
form could
make that work much
easier. She
also worries, though, that staff
might not be comfortable with enforcing the rules for submission. Penny responded to that by
suggesting that the Arts and Culture Board could create a list of "approved"
advertisers /submitters so that staff wouldn't have to decide each case. Erin said that Shelly
and Keith would have to approve all guidelines and changes to the calendar, but after they've
approved them, she would be happy to meet with the board again to discuss the next steps.
After Erin left the board formed two subcommittees: (1) to establish rules for submission of
event information — Penny, Nancy, Georgene, and Charles; (2) to create a new format for the
calendar — Rich and Ruth (Rich was not present to confirm his ability to work on this
committee). Committee members will discuss good dates for meetings and let Judy Fabry
know at least 72 hours in advance so that the meetings may be posted.
2. Revision of the bylaws of the Arts and Culture Board — Ludy Fabry
Judy explained that the City Council recently approved two ordinances that reduce the
number of members on most City boards, including the Arts and Culture Board, and therefore
make parts of the bylaws obsolete. She submitted drafts of the revisions that are necessary to
bring the bylaws in line with the new ordinances, which are attached as part of these minutes.
After considerable discussion about how the changes may affect the Board, Penny moved to
accept the proposed changes to the bylaws, Jane seconded the motion, and it was approved
unanimously.
3. Report on proposal scoring — Charles Aguillon
Item was tabled because Charles had not arrived yet.
4 Wording; of Certificate of Excellence for GISD Music Education — Addie Busfield, Judy Fabry
The proposed wording for the Certificate of Excellence for the GISD Fine Arts Department is
"for its unwavering commitment to school -based music programs and for providing space for
symphony concerts for the community." The wording was accepted by acclamation. The
Council meeting on May 8 was selected as the proposed time for presentation of the
certificate. Judy will make those arrangements.
5. Nomination for Certificate of Excellence - Ludy Fabry
There were no nominations.
6. Consideration of donation of a painting - Eric Lashley
Eric hasp' been approached by Larry and Barbara Welch, who are moving from Austin to
Sun City, about donating a 54" x 84" painting by Su Allen, a photocopy of which was
distributed to the board members. There was considerable discussion but the consensus was
that if the Welches are willing to donate the painting with no strings attached —that it could
even be sold if the library chose to do so —then it should be accepted quickly. Georgene
moved that the painting be accepted concurrent with a signed document of unrestricted
donation and Addie seconded the motion. It passed unanimously. Eric said he would ask the
City Attorney to draft a donation document, for signatures of the donor(s) and Eric. ('gas
corrected by Roberts at the May 16, 2007 Board meeting)
Demonstration of library's hanging system -Eric Lashley, Nancy Blansett
Eric had a rod, rod sleeve, and hanger piece from the library's new system and Nancy had a
demo kit from Walker Hanging Systems that included all of the pieces in the system. It became
clear that the library needs to purchase some additional pieces to make paintings more theft-
resistant but everyone approved the appearance and ease of use of the system. The first rotating
display will be hung May 16 by the Williamson County Art Guild.
Agenda items for next meeting -Judy Fabry
Penny suggested that the board would like more information about the dog park and
opportunities for public art there; Judy suggested that the Board needs to prioritize locations in
the City for public art and also begin discussing how to spend the $70,000 that will be
appropriated for public art in the 07 -08 budget.
Jane moved to adjourn at 3:55, seconded by Nancy.
Respectfully submitted,