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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_05.20.2009Minutes of the Meeting of the Arts and Culture Board City of Georgetown, Texas Wednesday, May 20, 2009 Members Present: Charles Aguillon, Melanie Dunham, Penny Plueckhahn, Steve Proesel (arrived at 4:45 p.m.), Georgene Richaud, Mandy Solin Members Absent: Jane Paden Staff Present: Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant A. Call to order by Charles Aguillon at 3:05 p.m. B. Announcements regardmg upcoming events Charles announced that the Clara Scarbrough endowment, which was first announced at the Performing Arts Alliance gala in April, has raised nearly $25,000 already. The foundation also will be creating a bank of musical instruments that will be available to childrenwho cannot afford to purchase an instrument. ® Charles also announced that GISD has hired a new director of fine arts, J.D. Janda, whom Charles will bring to a Board meeting in the future. C. Citizens wishing to address the Board. None were present D. Consideration and approval of minutes of last meeting Georgene moved to approve the minutes as distributed, seconded by Melanie, and the motion passed unanimously. E. Consideration of and possible action on 1 Meetings with Councilmembers and City administrators - Charles Aguillon. Charles said he had not met with any more of the Council smce the April meeting. Paul Brandenburg is the next person he hopes to meet with, and he plans to finish visiting with Council members within the next four to six weeks. Pat Berryman has indicated her willingness to meet with him 2. Changes m April to City's fiscal policy regarding the Arts and Culture Board —Eric Lashley. Eric passed out a page with the text of the City's fiscal policy as it relates to the Arts and Culture Board. The page also contained the revisions that were made to the policy during April. At that time the City Manager and the Director of Finance removed the funding policy that had been in place for the past two years In the future, funding will be based on available funds and will be at the discretion of the City Manager instead of being 1/4% of the general fund and 2% of CIPs. The new policy also states "Funding priority will be given to projects that include a matching donation, including contributions from local organizations and sponsors.' The new policy also permits the Board to carry over unspent funds from year to year, the disbursement of which will be determined by Council at the recommendation of the Arts and Culture Board. Discussion followed with Board members questioning Eric about why he thought these changes had occurred. Eric suggested that the Board needs to work toward reinstating the former funding policy. Georgene disagreed and said she believes that it would be better if the Board just does what Council appears to want it to do this year —without funding, to re- establish their credibility with the Council. Charles remarked that Council seems to want the Board to apply for grants, instead of GIVING grants, as the Board has been planning. Charles said he hopes that his conversation with Paul Brandenburg will give the Board better guidance about what to do in the coming year Penny reminded the other Board members that some members of this Council are focused solely on cutting costs for the City and that these viewpoints must be considered in every decision the Board makes. Georgene said that the Board is not penniless —they still have this year's appropriation —and that it should be spent on projects that will be high profile Melanie suggested that the Board should go ahead with giving grants, in fact, use up this allocation over the next two years, so that when they do go to Council for additional funding they will be able to show that they used what they had to shore up Georgetown's arts organizations. They made the money last for two years, but more is needed. Georgene wondered whether there is some way to get more mileage out of the mules sculpture, e.g., have a contest to name the mules. That reminded Penny that she wanted the record to reflect that Bob Coffee has not repaired the illegible date that he put on the sculpture At the unveiling he said he would fix it. Eric also pointed out that the Board has not mstalled the plaque it is supposed to add to the sculpture. Judy said the Board needs to agree on text for their plaque and that she will remind Bob of his promised repair. Getting no takers for the mules publicity idea, Georgene threw out the idea of having a fundraiser for local arts nonprofits. Charles said he hopes to get representatives from some of the nonprofits to attend the Board meetings and share with the Board what their needs really are. This informationalso would be useful to bring to Council. 3. Budget requests a Polo shirts for the Board members - Charles Aguillon. Charles passed out a sheet showing possible men s and women's shirts that could be purchased locally He also said that he'd learned that the City logo would have to appear on the left side of the front and ` Arts and Culture Board" could appear either on the right side of the front or on the right sleeve edge. The price of the shirts was approximately $40 each. Some Board members said they thought that was too much to pay for polo shirts. Mandy said she preferred to use their budget for art, not shirts, and that wearing their name badges on a black shirt would accomplish the same purpose at no cost to the Board. After more discussion, Charles agreed that perhaps giving away T-shirts to the public that have some kind of arts and culture motif may be a better idea for shirts The "Art Month" programs in October may generate some sort of graphic to use on T-shirts b. Additional lighting for paintings m the library lobby — Judy Fabry, Ruth Roberts. Ruth was unable to provide an estimate of the cost of the lighting she proposes. After some discussion, Melanie, who has had some experience in lighting design, agreed to look at the lighting situation on the bridge and bring a. recommendation to the Board. 4. Pads m San Gabriel Park for rotating sculpture displays, costs and insurance — Eric Lashley, Judy Fabry Eric said he had investigated whether the City would insure borrowed sculptures and found that it is possible The Board would need to notify the risk manager when the sculptures have been installed. Eric also said that the Parks Department is concerned about sculptures being placed in areas that are likely to flood. As far as construction of pads goes, Parks employees could build simple concrete pads at little cost. If the Board wants anything fancier than that, it would have to be done by a contractor.. Penny had some photos of the pads for sculpture that Marble Falls uses that she shared with the Board. Georgene liked the pad that was a limestone boulder and she wondered whether the Board could get Georgetown's quarry owners to donate some large pieces of limestone. More discussion ensued regarding the flood issue, who would administer the rotating sculpture program, and whether the pads would be plain or decorated. Penny moved to investigate the cost of installing 6-8 pads in San Gabriel Park for the purpose of displaying sculpture Georgene seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Eric said he would get some cost estimates for concrete pads and limestone. He also will find out who did the entry signs for the City and whether that contractor might help with the pads project. Georgene said she would visit the two places intown that sell large pieces of limestone to see what is available at what cost. 5. Art Works banner project — Judy Fabry Eric spoke to this issue since he had recently attended a meeting with Nick Ramos, Shelly Hargrove, Cari Miller, and Keith Hutchinson about the banner project. Since this is the first time an entity besides the City has wanted to hang banners, the City needed to devise an approval process. The consensus from that meeting was to get Paul Brandenburg's approval for the project. Subsequently, Paul said he approved, but he wanted the Main Street Board and the CVB Board to also approve the project. Eric said that the subject is on the agendas of both Boards in the next few weeks Finally, Paul said that Charles or Jane Estes (Art Works) should notify Council, probably in September, that Art Month is going to take place and that the banners will be part of that event. Eric also said that the Arts and Culture banners are also OK with all concerned. Mandy said she wants to be sure the Board sees the design of those banners before they are made. 6. Guidelines for sponsorships - Charles Aguillon, Penny Plueckhahn, Georgene Richaud. Since the proposed changes to the draft guidelines were small, Georgene just read the proposed changes rather than passing out new drafts. Mandy moved to approve the changes to the Guidelines and Melanie seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Eric brought up the subject of insurance, which had been discussed during the April meeting He pointed out that organizations that apply for an Event Permit must have insurance, so it seems unnecessary to ask grantees to provide additional insurance. Georgene said she would review the language of the Event Permit and make any necessary changes to the wording to bring the language of the sponsorship application in line with the Event Permit requirements. She will bring the final draft of the apphcation and guidelines to the June meeting 7 Update on TSOS summer show and judgmg - Judy Fabry. Judy announced that the TSOS show coordinator, Dar Richardson, said he didn't want more than three judges. Mandy offered to withdraw, leaving just Charles, Jane, and Georgene as judges. The judges may go throughthe entries independently, but they will need to get together to reach consensus about the seven prizes that will be offered (1st, 2na 3rd, and four honorable mentions). They need to reach their decisions by June 15. 8. Board logo - Charles Aguillon. Phis topic was covered in the discussion of the purchase of polo shirts 9. Other art project proposals - Judy Fabry. Eric mentioned the library's recent photo contest (photos of the library interior and exterior and photos of people reading at the library). He pointed out that all of the public art in the library (sculpture at south entrance, murals in the children s room, and the acrylic sculpture on the bridge) figured in a large number of the photos that were submitted. He believes that is a sign of how much people DO notice art and that the Board should be proud of their contribution. 10. Items for June agenda. Sculpture pads, adoption of the Sponsorship Guidelines and Application, report on the meeting with. Paul Brandenburg, discussion of whether the Board should become involved in pushing the amphitheater project. Georgene moved and Melanie seconded a motion to adjouun at 5:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Richaud, Secretary CharlestAguillon, Chair