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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_01.16.2008Minutes of the Meeting of the Arts and Culture Board City of Georgetown, Texas Wednesday, January 16, 2008 Board Members Present: Charles Aguillon, Rich Bartko, Addie Busfield, Nancy Blansett, Paul Gaffney, Georgene Richaud, Ruth Roberts Board Members Absent: Jane Paden, Penny Plueckhahn Staff Present: Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant Regular Session A. Call to order at 2 05 p.m. B. Announcements from the Chair and Board members • Ruth reported that Jane is recovering well from her knee surgery • Judy told the Board members that no distinction is made any longer between excused and unexcused absences from Board meetings. All absences are just absences. According to a Council resolution passed in July 2007, a Board member may be removed if he or she misses more than 25% of the meetings. • Ruth apologized for the RFQ process being behind schedule. She and Judy have been working on it, but only got all the necessary information in the past few days. • When asked about the Texas Society of Sculptors (TSOS) show proposed for the library, Judy reported that she was meeting with Dar Richardson and Bill Colley later in the week to begin making plans for the show in June. Ruth also said that she had sent an email to Dar confirming the interest of the Arts and Culture Board about working with the TSOS on future projects C. Citizens wishmg to address the Board —There were none. D. Consideration and approval of minutes of last meeting Georgene moved and Paul seconded a motion to accept the minutes as distributed. ['he motion passed unanimously. F. Consideration of and possible action on 1. Report on hangmg systems for City facilities - Tudy Fabry Judy said that the hanging system the Board purchased for the Rec Center may not be installed until the renovation of the building is complete, which will be at least a year. Greg Olmer, the manager of the rec center, has accepted responsibility for trying to get the facilities manager to give permission for the installation. 2. Report on membership of next Public Art Panel - Ruth Roberts Ruth said that the following citizens have agreed to serve on the Public Art Panel: Linda. Scarbrough, Chris Damon, Ellen Davis, and Tom Nichols Addie and Nancy are still interested in being on the panel, as is Ruth. Penny was not present to say whether she wants to serve on this panel. The group agreed to wait until the February meeting to choose the Board members who will be on the panel. 3. Acquisition of pubhc art for location on the downtown Square - Ruth Roberts The group discussed the draft RFQ that was distributed with the agenda packet and agreed to the following revisions, additions, and corrections: • Add the population of Georgetown and that it is 30 miles north of Austin • Change the submission date to March 14 • Reword the first paragraph • Put 2008 after all dates in the RFQ • Omit "Red Poppy Capital' from the description of Georgetown • Add the size specifications • Add that the artwork may not pose a public safety hazard nor may it require electricity • Add that the appearance of the work should not be altered by weather and it should be low mamtenance Georgene moved and Rich seconded a motion to send the RFQ to the City Purchasing Departntent after the recommended changes are incorporated. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Development of a directory of local artists — Nancy Blansett Nancy proposed a directory that is limited to artists who live and work in Georgetown. It would include artists and galleries and could be published in hard copy as well as online She used Laguna Beach, California's directory and artist/gallery information sheet as a possible model. Their directory is updated annually. It is basically just a list that may be sorted by artist or gallery and is searchable within those categories. Rich said he had done a similar directory for the Williamson County Art Guild, although it was only a binder filled with information. The question that remained unanswered at the end of the discussion was who would do the work necessary to compile the directory. 5. Development of a long-range plan for pubhc art for Georgetown. — Charles Aguillon Charles pointed out that the Board is about to become smaller (reduced to 7 members in the next month or two), and that to accomplish all of the work the Board hopes to do, they will need to tap interested volunteers to provide some of the labor. Charles met recently with Georgetown Art Works and he believes that organization could work well with the Arts and Culture Board. Charles proposed having a semi-annual meeting to which all of the arts organizations in Georgetown would be invited. At this meeting the Board could talk about their goals and seek help from the community. He thinks that the profile of the Board needs to be raised and also that inaccurate information about what the Board has been/is doing needs to be addressed. If the Board develops a long-range plan and follows it, they will have more credibility in the community. Eric suggested that with some of next year's budget the Board hire a consultant to help develop a master plan. He said that bringing a well -written master plan to the City Council for its approval and adoption would be the best way to insure continuing and increased support for the Board. Nancy spoke about her positive experience with facilitators. She thinks it would be useful to have a facilitator present when any meeting with area arts organizations takes place. Georgene said that the Board has to decide whether they are just going to be an agency that buys public art for the City or if they are going to be the arts coordinators for the City. These are issues that need to be addressed in a long-range plan. Charles proposed inviting a different group to meet with the Board each month, to discuss how the Board could help them with their work. He hopes that the new superintendent of GISD might be one of the first to visit since she has shown much interest in the arts. 6. Seek increase m funding to 2% of all CIPs Ruth Roberts Ruth is concerned that the Council's agreement to give the Board 2% of "appropriate" Capital Improvement Project (CI1) budgets will allow them to not fund any art from CIPs in some years. Eric responded that the Board needs to establish a track record of responsible spending that produces good pubhc art before they go to Council to ask for more money. Also, he pointed out, the composition of the Council will change with the election in May and the Board has no way of knowing how the new members will view funding the arts. Georgene suggested that perhaps it is the proportion of the General Fund that needs to be mcreased insteadof tapping more CIP budgets. If there are no CIPs for a number of years, the Board will be left with only the General Fund monies. All agreed that the Board needs to work with Parks to get art written into their grant proposals. To facilitate this idea, the Board will invite the chair of the Parks Board to the March meeting. Agenda items for the February meeting: ® Certificates of Appreciation (this is a good way to keep the Board before the Council) ® If no one from Southwestern University is appointed to fill Paul Gaffney's position, discuss changing the ordinance to say that representatives from SU and GISD are 'desirable" rather than required • Establish the Board's top five priorities (each Board member should come with a list) ® Discuss how to spend down the entire FY 2007-08 appropriation Paul moved to adjourn at 3:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Charles Aguillon; Secretary Ruth Roberts, Chair