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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_11.03.2008 SpecialMinutes of the Meeting of the Arts and Culture Board City of Georgetown, Texas Monday, November 3, 2008 Present: Penny Plueckhahn, Georgene Richaud, Ruth Roberts, Mandy Solin, Addie Busfield, and Jane Paden, Charles Aguillon was present for part of the meeting Staff Present: Eric P. Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant Others Present: Jim Wear, Creative Arts Manager for the City of Plano Special Session: Chair Ruth Roberts called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. Those present introduced themselves to Jim Wear Mr Wear began his presentation by paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson: "I must study war so that my son can be a fainter so that his son can be an artist." Jefferson's thought reflected the natural cycle of priorities that will inform the work of an arts and culture board — and also present it with difficulties. Mr. Wear moved on to describe the development of the City of Plano's involvement with the arts, which began in the 1980s. In 1994 a $19.4 million bond was passed for the construction of a 1200- seat concert space for the Plano Symphony. In the middle of the planning stage the capacity was increased to 2500 seats and the cost rose to $30 million. A bond to cover the increase in cost failed and the money that had been approved initially sat unused. Subsequently, a Tax Increment Financing (TM) district was established to fund arts facilities. Since 2000 the City has opened three arts facilities. The Creative Arts Department is part of Plano's Parks and Recreation Division. Its mission is to ` create an environment where the community can share in the full diversity and vitality of the arts." Mr. Wear has a staff of six who (1) create and manage the cultural facilities; (2) encourage appreciation of the visual arts; (3) nurture the success of local arts organizations; (4) provide arts enrichment programs; and (5) promote public awareness of the arts. The facilities that the Creative Arts staff manages are: • Courtyard Theater — a remodeled gymnasium (cost $6 million of TI H funds) that seats about 300. • Amphitheater in City nature preserve — 2 years old, built at a cost of $1.6 million, which seats 1500 At the present time, concerts in this venue recover about 60% of the cost of production. Donations must be raised to cover the balance. During the past year, 30 concerts played in this facility. Weather limits its use as a concert venue. • Cox Playhouse -- 100-seat ` incubator" space for new theater groups and musicians. Encouraging appreciation of the visual arts includes: • Rotating exhibits at City Hall, the Convention Center, libraries, and the Courtyard Theater. • The public art program, begun in 1999, did not have funding until 2005. Took advantage of public -private partnership to provide a large display of longhorn cattle sculptures. The land and sculptures were donated, City provided installation and infrastructure. • There are two public art "committees", both appointed by Council. Early boards were dominated by academics, addition of business people later helped move the work along. Membership of boards is about evenly divided among male/female. People serve two-year teixns with possibility of one renewal. Nurturing cultural arts organizations: • In FY 08-09 will give $677,710 to 20 organizations. Nine special events will receive $298,000 (some Hotel Occupancy Tax "HOT" tax, some money from the City). Mr. Wear noted that Plano has used HOT for at least the last 15 years. • Mr. Wear listed a number of state-wide and national organizations that he believes provide good networking opportunities and information for arts and culture boards. He provided contact information for Pat Porter, executive director of Texas Business Committee for Culture and the Arts. • He suggested that we approach our large companies to get people on our art boards and active with our arts organizations. Art enrichment programs operate in cooperation with the Plano ISD. Children who benefit are those who qualify for free or reduced cost lunches Last year paid $57,000 to an independent contractor (nonprofit organization) that put on the 2-week sessions in dance, visual arts, theater, and singing. Promoting public awareness of the arts • Concerts at the amphitheater (tickets are very inexpensive) • Film series • planostages.tix.com is website through which tickets are sold After a lunch break, Mr Wear spoke about master planning He suggested the Board needs to "start where you are now" and list the local resources that currently exist (organizations, facilities, human resources, programming, and special events). Then the Board should try to determine where the money comes from so that these resources may be retained. The next step would be to look at existing plans, such as the 2030 Plan and the Downtown Master Plan, to see whether they define "what Georgetown wants to be when it grows up." Then talk to local movers and shakers to see what their vision for Georgetown is. Next consider whether the City prefers large-scale events with lots of people or "controlled chaos" (lots of small events). Penny asked Mr. Wear whether he didn't think all of this work was being reactive rather than proactive. Mr. Wear responded that the Board needs to know what the movers and shakers want, whether that is what the Board decides it wants or not. He said that the Board should be in a position to offer City Council a "menu" of choices. Georgene suggested that the Board could offer an alternative "identity" to the City because she doesn't believe that there is a unified vision at this time of what the City should be. Mr Wear emphasized the importance of using data from earlier plans and trying to work arts and culture around what those plans intended to do. He suggested that to help with the "vision thing," we should find another community that has had a similar idea and try to figure out how they did it. A community's vision of itself could be, for example, a tourist destination, a place to raise a family, or an economic headquarters Arts and culture could play a role in all of these visions, but the focus would be different Looking at the plans of other cities would also help establish costs. It will be important to establish measurable goals with measurable costs. Finally, Mr. Wear led the Board in anexercise to identify all of the City's existing arts and culture assets. The result of that exercise is attached to these minutes and made a part of them. The meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, udy Fab ' (/ Ruth Roberts Acting Secretary Chair