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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_10.07.2008 SpecialMinutes of the Meeting of the Arts and Culture Board City of Georgetown, Texas Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Members Present: Charles Aguillon, Addle Busfield, Jane Paden, Penny Plueckhahrt, Georgene Richaud, Ruth Roberts, Mandy Solin Staff Present: Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant Others Present: Alexia Griffin (Georgetown Symphony Society); Paul Gaffney (Southwestern University Dean of Fine Arts); Doug Smith (Palace Theater); Jane Estes (Georgetown Art Works); Anita Reed (Palace Theater); Larry McCormick (Williamson County Art Guild); Sue Gray (Williamson County Art Guild); Karen Frost (GISD Performing Arts Alliance) Special Session CaII to Order at 6:30 PM 1. Chair Ruth Roberts called the meeting to order at 6:30 and passed out numbered lots to the guests to determine the order in which they would speak. 2. Doug Smith, representing the Palace Theater, gave a brief summary of the organization's history, emphasizing the financial difficulties they have met and are in the process of overcoming. He said that joint advertising among the arts organizations to increase tourism is the topic he would like to see addressed 3. Karen Frost and Charles Aguillon represented the Performmg Arts Alliance. Their organization began two years ago when various booster clubs associated with GISD jomed their efforts to raise money for education and staff development. They agreed that joint advertising is important and that development of a City-wide master calendar for the arts would prevent groups scheduling events at the same time and competing for the same audience 4. Jane Estes, director of Georgetown Art Works said her organization's purpose is to add a visual arts component to tourism in Georgetown. Ultimately, Art Works would like to have a downtown center for the arts and would work to promote art "vacations m Georgetown. To the wish list of issues to be discussed she added community -based art education for children. 5. Sue Gray, representing the Wilhamson County Art Guild, noted that the organization of visual artists has grown and that its newsletter is now being distributed to 350 people. The Art Guild is interested in joint advertising, a community calendar, partnering with other organizations, and promotion. of Georgetown as an art destination. 6. Alexia Griffm, representmg the Georgetown Symphony Society, explained that her organization brings to Georgetown the Temple Symphony and some other artists, such as finalists in the Van Cliburn competition. She liked all of the ideas that had already been presented 7. Paul Gaffney, Dean of he Sarofim School of Fine Arts at Southwestern University, explained that the Sarofim School is an educational organization that provides events and presentations as a "happy by-product"of its core mission which is to provide undergraduate liberal arts education to students. The school invites the public to attend concerts, recitals, plays, and exhibits of visual arts that are the work of students The University is interested in establishing a community -wide calendar of the arts to help with planning events. 8. Charles Aguillon, representing GISD, said that the new 9th Grade Center/High School has a fine theater that will seat 350 and that the school board supports the district's drama program. 9. Addie Busfield, representing the Hill Country Book Festival, noted that its first annual event would take place on October 13 with 60 authors participating. 10. Ruth Roberts opened the generaldiscussion with the subject of a. Master Calendar. She called for help withgetting this going • Sue Gray said she would help. • Paul Gaffney said that sending information to one place is no big deal. His assistant, Lacy Vain, already does that, using Scheduler Plus. He noted that Southwestern could not provide a server for community -wide input. • Karen Frost suggested the Google calendar format the City currently uses. • Anita Reed said she had been impressed with the Chamber of Commerce's interactive Community Guide. She said she would be responsible for coordinating arts events on this calendar and that the Chamber would be happy to give a demo of it. The Chamber's guide requires payment of an annual fee for membership. Anita said the price she was quoted for the Palace was $600/year. 11. Ruth moved the discussion to the topic of Arts Par[trerships. • Charles Aguillon presented the example of GISD and the Symphony Society partnering to share a staff person. The Symphony Society needed someone to do clerical work and Charles needed someone to schedule use of the Performing Arts Center at the high school. He also suggested that the Community Resource Center on University Avenue is another example of nonprofits sharing office space in one building. • Ruth asked what the common needs of the organizations are and suggested that an "arts coordinator' might come from among the arts students at Southwestern. This year the Festival of the Arts is getting an intern from Southwestern. Paul Gaffney said he doubted that it could be set up as an ongoing internship because the needs of organizations are so different. Jane Estes, Paul Gaffney, Charles Aguillon, and Penny Plueckhahn agreed to meet to discuss the intern idea. 12. Ruth brought up the topic of Joint Advertising. • Doug Smith is interested in advertising outside of Georgetown. He wants to entice people to come to multiple events. The Palace is looking at billboards and print ads but the cost is high. Anita Reed suggested the HOT tax could be used to fund the advertising • Charles asked what the Arts and Culture Board can do to help with funding in this very tight economy Would sponsoring a grant -writing workshop be helpful? Doug Smith said that UT offers those workshops regularly. 13. What do we want? • An employee whose only job is to support the Arts and Culture Board. However, to get such a thing, the entire arts community would have to support the idea. • Penny Plueckhahn said she believes a building for arts organizations is also needed. • Mandy Solin asked whether the arts organizations could prioritize their needs/wishes. • Larry McCormick said that a master plan is the key to dealing with these issues. Development of such a plan would require input from each organization about their goals. It would be completed in two stages: (1) Creationof a "Big Dreams" list, and (2) designing a plan for funding the dreams. He noted that a good master plan is a political document that has force in the community. It could involve a bond issue that would help the Palace with debt or provide for a community art center. Larry said he would draft a letter to the organizations asking for their wish lists. • Charles Aguillon said that we need to have an Arts presence with the Chamber (of Commerce) and. a Chamber presence m the Arts. 14. Summary of topics discussed • Master calendar • Arts partnerships • Shared advertising • Funding • Tourism • Center for the arts • Arts vacations • Educational programs • Interactive Community Guide • Intern program • Promotion of the artist registry • Grant -making • Involving the Chamber of Commerce in all events The meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, udy Fabry, Acting Secretary Ruth Roberts, Chair