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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_03.19.2008Minutes of the Meeting of the Arts and Culture Board City of Georgetown, Texas Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Members Present: Charles Aguillon, Addie Busfield, Jane Paden, Penny Plueckhahn, Georgene Richaud, Ruth Roberts, Mandy Solin Staff Present: Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Administrative Assistant, Library Others Present: Andrea Gonzales, Williamson County Sun; Bill Sattler, City Council Member; Larry McCormick Regular Session A. Call to order by Ruth Roberts at 2:05 p.m. B. Introduction of new Board member, Mandy Solin — Ruth Roberts. Mandy Solin. replaced Paul Gaffney as Southwestern University's representative on the Board She is the university's graphic designer and is responsible for all of SU's publications. She and her husband moved to Georgetown from New York City, where she also worked in graphic design. C. Announcements from the Chair and Board members — There were no announcements. D. Citizens wishing to address the Board — None were present. E. Consideration and approval of minutes of last meeting. Georgene moved and Jane seconded the motion to accept the minutes as distributed. Motion passed unanimously F. Presentation about 08-09 City budget — staff Accounting Department. No one was present from the Accounting Department, so Judy distributed the survey Accounting had provided and asked Board members to turn them in after the meeting. G. Election of vice chair and secretary. Ruth called for volunteers to fill these positions. Charles volunteered to be vice chair and Jane volunteered to be secretary. Penny moved to elect them to these offices, Addie seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. H. Consideration of and possible action on 1. Master plan for the arts in Georgetown — Larry McCormick, Ruth Roberts Larry McCormick, speaking to the Board for the third time since 2005 * distributed a handout, which will be made a part of these minutes, that included (1) excerpted statements from the City's new 2030 Comprehensive Plan relating to arts and culture in Georgetown, and (2) Larry's written proposal for the creation of a master plan for arts and culture in Georgetown. He pointedout that although the new comprehensive plan mentions culture, it doesn't provide a. way or place for developing it. Larry believes that it is important for all of the City's arts - related organizations to work together to develop a master plan that could be presented to Council as the roadmap that is not provided by the comprehensive plan. He suggested that the City should hire a consultant to help with creating such a plan and that each arts organization should send a representative to a "summit" where needs and goals could be recognized and articulated and, further, that the existence of a master plan would aid the Arts and Culture Board in spending its annual allocation from City Council intelligently. *Clarzfication added by Addie Busfield, 4/16108. Ruth responded that the Arts and Culture Board is very much interested in working with Larry and the Art Works organization but that the Board is busy until May. Larry said he understood the situation but asked for a motion to create a master plan Penny said that she wasn't sure that all of the 501(c)(3) organizations Larry had listed should be involved in master planning. She thinks they are very focused in their interests and would not contribute significantly to master planning She suggested instead that Main Street and CVB might be better groups to involve in a "City" sponsored master plan. Since Charles is working with Larry on the Arts Works project, Ruth asked him to let Larry know what decisions were made at this meeting. Larry left the meeting. 2. Directory of local arts organizations — Ruth Roberts. Penny was prepared to speak on this subject and Ruth yielded the floor to her. Penny handed out a list of local arts organizations (which is a part of these minutes) that she had compiled, and then asked for input from the Board about groups she may have omitted, or groups they thought should not be included. Ruth asked what the Board expects to do with this list. Charles suggested that the Board could publish a newsletter and send it to the organizations. He then expanded on the newsletter idea and suggested including an item about arts events in each month's City Reporter, which is distributed to all City utility customers. Sun City's Sun Rays also was suggested as a possible venue for distributing arts information. Someone suggested to Penny that the Healing Arts Gallery be added to the list. 3. Report on results of RFD — Judy Fabry, Ruth Roberts. Judy handed out a list of the artists who had submitted proposals (which is a part of these minutes) and told Board members that packets of the proposals (on CDs) were available to any Board member who wanted to look at them. There were a total of 24 proposals and they came from as far away as California, Chicago, and Santa Fe. Most were from central Texas, however. 4. Selection of Board members (3) for Public Art Panel — Ruth Roberts. Ruth asked for volunteers to serve on the public art panel Georgene, Addie, and Jane volunteered and Ruth appointed Georgene as chair of the panel. The outside panelists will include Tom Nichols, Chris Damon, Linda Scarbrough, and Cheri Thanos (to replace Ellen Davis who excused herself after her husband submitted proposals). Ruth reminded the panelists that there will be no scoring involved in the selection and that they will bring their final selection to the Board for approval. Then, if the Board approves the panel's selection, the Board will take the selection to City Council for approval. 5. Request from Texas Society of Sculptors for 3 board members to jury June show — Judy Fabry. No one responded to Judy's calls for volunteers. Ruth said she would volunteer Don Snell as long as no computer skills were required. Addie and Jane said they would serve if necessary, but that they felt their participation could be a conflict with being on the public art panel Judy said she would inform the TSOS of the discussion. 6. Establishing Board's priorities for next five years — Charles Aguillon, Ruth Roberts Charles led off the discussion by suggesting that the proposed master plan should include a dedicated staff person for Arts and Culture. He went on to describe how GISD presently is offering to be a "home' for arts organizations that don't have bricks and mortar space. For example, the Symphony Society shares costs with the Fine Arts department, to the advantage of both organizations. He envisions a City building, staffed by a City employee, in which non-profit arts organizations could rent space. He suggested that perhaps GISD and the City could share the cost and services of such a staff person. Discussion continued about the undeniable economic contribution the arts make to communities. Mandy talked about her experiences in New York in the SOHO and DUMBO neighborhoods, areas that went from economically blighted to upscale and where housing for artists now must be subsidized. At last month's meeting, Paul Gaffney suggested that Vincent Kitch Cultural Arts Program Manager for Austin, could help the board develop a master plan. Georgene recalled this but wondered whether the board should brainstorm first. Charles said he thought that is what would happen at the proposed "summit." Georgene asked whether individuals would be invited to participate in the summit and Charles said he thought that citizen input should not be solicited until after the board creates a draft plan. Charles agreed to create a proposed timeline for master planning to present at the next meeting. 7. Add advertising to the Board's budget - Charles AguilIon. General discussion took place about what advertising the Board might purchase. The topic of a logo for the Board came up again and Judy said that the City would not permit the Board to have a unique logo. Its logo will be the City of Georgetown logo with "Arts and Culture Board" tagged on. There was also brief mention of the Board purchasing a banner, but the Festival of the Arts brochure became the focus of the discussion. Penny said that the Board would have to commit by May 5 and have copy ready by May 12. Discussion followed about the Board 'sponsoring" the Festival by purchasing a piece of art. A purchase of this type will be an action item on the April agenda. Another idea emerged —advertising arts events in the monthly City Reporter, which is distributed with the utility bills. Penny said she would investigate this possibility. 8. Certificate of Appreciation - Judy Fabry. Postponed to the April meeting. Charles moved to adjourn, second by Mandy. Meeting adjourned at 4:05. Respectfully submitted, Jane Paden, Secretary Ruth Roberts, Chair Addenda: Larry McCormick's handout Penny Plueckhahn's directory Judy Fabry's list of artists who submitted proposals