HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_04.15.2009Minutes of the Meeting of the
Arts and Culture Board
City of Georgetown, Texas
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Members present: Charles Aguillon, Melanie Dunham, Penny Plueckhahn (arrived at 4:15), Steve
Proesel, Georgene Richaud, Mandy Solin
Members absent: Jane Paden
Staff present: Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant
Others present: Nick Ramos, representing Georgetown Art Works
A. Chair Charles Aguillon called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m.
B. Announcements regarding upcoming events Charles reminded the members of the Performing
Arts Alliance's gala, which will take place Saturday, April 18. Contact Charles for more information.
Judy passed out a flyer from the Palace Theater advertising their playbill cover art contest.
C. Citizens wishing to address the Board. None were present.
D. Consideration and approval of mmutes of last meeting. Georgene moved and Steve seconded
the motion to accept the minutes as distributed. The motion passed unanimously
E. Consideration of and possible action on
1. Lightpost banner project - Nick Ramos, Charles Aguillon. Nick Ramos was representing
Georgetown Art Works. He passed out a proposal (which is made part of these minutes)
describmg lightpost banners for October 2009 Arts and Humanities month in Georgetown.
This is a public art project intended to expose visitors to the Square to onginal art, even if
they don t step inside any of the stores or galleries Art Works proposes to have local artists
create 70 original banners that will hang fromthe downtown area lightposts from late
September until late November. After this time, they will be donated to schools or other
public institutions as art for display. Sixty of the pieces will be submitted by local artists who
have been invited to participate, five will be from GISD high school students selected by their
teachers, and five will be from Southwestern University art students. Georgetown Art Works
is requesting $4,000 from the Arts and Culture Board to cover the cost of producing these
banners. After Mr. Ramos' presentation the board members asked some questions and then
told him they would consider his proposal later in the meeting. Mr Ramos left
2. Round Rock Area Arts Council - Charles Aguillon. Charles reported on the opening gala of
the Round Rock Area Arts Council (RRAAC), which he attended on February 27 at Texas
State University's Round Rock campus. He pointed out that RRAAC is a nonprofit
organization, not a citizen's board. He was especially impressed by the entertainment at the
event —virtually every performing/visual arts group in the area was represented. The
purpose of the Council is to provide funding to those groups and it was clear that they
supported the Council!
3. Pads in San Gabriel Park for rotating sculpture displays - Eric Lashley, Judy Fabry. Eric
contacted Marble Falls, which has a rotating sculpture exhibit He got very little information
from the City or Chamber representatives he spoke with, but Dan Pogue, who started the
program, was very helpful. Dan said that the City provides the insurance for the artworks.
Their pads are granite and some have "tie -down" capability, however, he said that most
sculptures are too heavy to carry off, so securing them is generally not an issue Eric asked
both Dan and Dar Richardson about recommendations for the size of the pads, but neither
had any specific suggestions. Judy had spoken with Bob Coffee about the cost of the pedestal
he made for the mules sculpture and he had not been able to produce that information in time
for the meeting. He did say, though, that he thought pads for the purpose we intended
should be of varying heights and sizes.
Eric said he would investigate the insurance issue with City staff. Charles said that the
Council members with whom he's met so far have all been very excited about the idea of
rotating borrowed sculptures. Georgene summed up the discussion by pointing out that
questions remaining to be answered are dimensions of the pads and insurance. Mandy and
Melanie both said they thought the pads should be as attractive as possible, e.g. staining or
stamping the concrete, if that is what we choose to use.
4. Calendar and promotion - 'Judy Fabry, Charles Aguillon Charles said that he and Mandy
and Melanie had met on April 10 to discuss ways to promote the Board's work. He asked
Mandy to summarize their conversation. Mandy said that Charles had indicated that the
Council members with whom he has spoken seemed to want the Board to be engaged in
'visible" activity, such as events on the Square. They discussed developing a logo for the
Board but recognize that it will have to be approved by the City and Charles said he would
pursue that. They thought that branding October as Arts Month would be a good move and
that the Arts and Culture Board might see about taking over the names of Festival of the Arts
and Art in the Park and changing them to Georgetown Festival of the Arts and Georgetown
Art in the Park (or on the Square). They thought that an arts element could be added to
October Market Days, with a block or section devoted to the fine arts.
Georgene said she thought coordinating events with First Friday or Market Days when there
are no other major events going on in central Texas would be a way to build on the already
existing infrastructure of regular downtown events.
5. Budget and guidelines for sponsorships - Charles Aguillon, Penny Plueckhahn, Georgene
Richaud. Georgene introduced the guidelines and application form that she and Penny had
drafted during the past month. She said they used Plano's models but revised them to fit
Georgetown's needs. She also said that she and Penny had some considerations that needed
to be addressed: (1) the City's liability in sponsoring events; (2) and whether the 501(c)(3)
designation is too limiting. Perhaps "501" is enough to be a nonprofit designation? Georgene
asked everyone to reread the drafts and send her their comments and suggestions before the
next meeting.
The consensus was that the drafts were extremely well done and seemed nearly ready to put
in place. Melanie, however, was concerned that a startup event would not be eligible for
funding, for example, the proposal that Nick Ramos had brought to the board earlier in the
meeting. She suggested that the guidelines/application be changed to say that the
"organization" instead of the "event' has to have at least a two-year history. She also asked
about the wisdom of accepting grant applications only once a year. What about events that
come up later? Other board members argued that the only way to fairly distribute whatever
money the board has for grants is to do it at one time and make them competitive. Melanie
then suggested that perhaps applicants should choose from among designated amounts for
their grant, e.g , $1,000, $5 000 etc. Others argued that it's better to let the applicants ask for
what they need and then the Board can parcel out the money inamounts that they choose to
the organizations) that seems most deserving.
Charles brought up the idea of giving special consideration to proposals that are collaborative
efforts between arts organizations. The consensus was that this was a good addition.
Georgene said she would change the wording associated with "history" from programming
to organization (as recommended by Melanie) and would add text that encourages
collaborative proposals.
Charles then presented his proposed budget for the coming year and Eric referred to
proposed changes in the City's fiscal policy that would affect funding beyond September 30,
2009. Specifically, the changes that the City Manager and Finance Director propose would
eliminate the 1/4% of the general fund fozutula for determining the Board's allocation and,
instead, funding would be at the discretion of the City Manager For 09-10 he proposed no
funding. Also, the policy of 2% of CIPs for art would be eliminated. Discussion about these
subjects ranged widely and decision -making was postponed until at least the next meeting
when Council's intentions regarding the Board's funding might be clearer In the meantime,
Charles pointed out the importance of getting at least four Council members on the Board's
side, in the hope of getting some funding for 09-10.
6. Art projects and purchase prize for TSOS summer show - Judy Fabry. Judy said that Dar
Richardson of the Texas Society of Sculptors, would like to have a decision about whether the
Board would offer a "purchase prize" at the summer show. Penny moved that the board
consider spending up to $3,000 to purchase art from the TSOS show. Georgene seconded the
motion. Discussion included an objection from Mandy, who believes the Boardshould know
exactly where a piece of art is going to be installed before it is purchased, i.e , the Board
should purchase art for a location, not just buying to acquire art. Charles called for the vote
which was 5 to 1 in favor of the motion with Mandy opposed.
7. Board logo - Charles Aguillon. Charles would like to put a Board logo on polo shirts that
members will wear when attending public arts events He will pursue the logo question with
the appropriate City staff. Members questioned what color the shirts would be and the choice,
which was not voted upon, seemed to be either white or black Charles hopes to have the
shirts ready to wear at the Red Poppy Festival.
8. Report of meeting of Main Street, CVB, and Arts and Culture Board chairs - Charles
Aguillon Charles reported that the meeting with the other Board chairs was useful They
learned what the others' main concerns were and identified areas in which they might be able
to collaborate —the Entertainment and Arts calendar being one, CVB's regular publication of
brochures in which arts events could be highlighted is another, and art displays in vacant
buildings being a third.
Mandy said that the Board needed to make a decision about funding the proposal by
Georgetown Art Works that Mr Ramos had presented. She moved that the Board fund the
entire project, up to $4000, with the caveat that one in every ten of the banners that are
produced be "City of Georgetown/Arts and Culture" banners, which would be interspersed
among the original art banners. (This would clearly identify the Board's sponsorship and
would give the Board some banners to use for other events, too.) Georgene seconded the
motion, which passed unanimously. Judy will tell Mr. Ramos of the Board's decision.
9. Items for May agenda
• Budget
• Art projects
• Sponsorships
Georgene moved to adjourn at 5:25, seconded by Steve.
Respectfully submitted,
eorrie Richaud, Secretary
Charles Aguillon, Chair