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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_02.17.2010Minutes of the Meeting of the Arts and Culture Board City of Georgetown, Texas Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Present: Charles Aguillon, Jane Paden, Penny Plueckhahn, Steve Proesel, Georgene Richaud, Mandy Solin Absent: Melanie Dunham Staff Present: Eric P. Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant A. Chair Charles Aguillon called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. B. There were no announcements regarding upcoming events C. There were no citizens wishing to address the Board D. Finance moved their presentation to the March meeting. E. Consideration and approval of minutes of last meeting. Georgene made a motion, seconded by Mandy, to accept the minutes as distributed. Motion passed unanimously. F. Consideration of and possible action on 1. Report on sculpture pad project -Eric Lashley, Georgene Richaud, Penny Plueckhahn. Eric reported that Dar Richardsonhas twelve sculptures lined up for the park exhibit and he plans to have them installed by March 8. Ten of the pieces are coming from the Marble Falls exhibit. Eric reminded the Board that they will need to plan a grand opening/ribbon cutting and that they will have to produce a brochure to advertise the exhibit There was some discussion. about April being a good month for the grand opening, either the week before or the week of the Poppy Festival Discussion of the date for the grand opening will be on the March agenda. Judy brought up the subject of the City's insurance for the loaned sculptures. She learned that the underwriters will accept the artist's value of a piece and they will need photos of the pieces once they are in place. The deductible for an insurance claim is 55000, which is more than quite a few of the pieces are worth 1 here was considerable discussion about insuring the sculptures. Judy said that she would be submitting the photos and information about the value of the pieces to the insurance underwriters regardless of what the Boarddecided to tell the sculptors, so that the City would not be completely liable for damage to an expensive piece. Georgene made a motion that the artists should display their work entirely at their own risk, seconded by Penny. The motion passed unanimously. There also was discussion about the $35 entry fee that appeared on the draft application form. The Board members agreed to eliminate the entry fee for the artists in this first show but want the fee in place for future shows. 2. Grantee's final report format - Judy Fabry, Charles Aguillon. Judy asked again for Board member's suggestions about how to make the final report form clearer or more useful. Suggestions mcluded numbering the pages, adding check boxes or instructions to circle the choices in item #4, adding artists to #12, and rewording the request for images (#5 on the required attachments page). 3. Revision of Grant Application form - Georgene Richaud, Judy Fabry. Georgene revised the Grant Application Form as her final work for the Board. Suggestions for improvements includedwriting out acronyms, creating boxes for the narrative responses (on the pdf form) to limit their length, adding a question in the Event Budget Information about beginning and ending dates of the applicant's fiscal year, removing item H from the required documentation. A lengthy discussion followed regarding whether applicants should include inkind sponsorships in their revenue and expense reports. Some members believed that these amounts could unrealistically inflate a project's budget, others thought that showing the inkind grants as both revenue and expense would eliminate that problem. No decision was reached and the issue will be addressed again when the grant application is ready to be published. 4. Revision of the membership requirements of the Ordinance establishing the Arts and Culture Board —Charles Aguillon Mandy announced that she is leaving Southwestern University effective February 19, so she no longer will be their representative. However, Council reappointed her knowing that she was leaving SU, so it is not clear whether Council expects the Board to operate in violation of the Ordinance or whether they will appoint an additional person to represent Southwestern. Mandy pointed out the difficulty of finding someone from SU willing and eligible to join the Board. Someone suggested that emeritus professors might be considered. Mandy said she would talk with Paul Gaffney about that possibility. The Board chose to table this decision until next year, when Board members will change again. They directed staff to advise Council that the Board is out of compliance. 5. Changes in day and time of Arts and Culture Board meetings - Charles Aguillon After brief discussion the Board agreed to table this item until the March meeting They then realized that the March meeting takes place during spring break and several people would be absent, so Georgene made a motion to move the meeting to Wednesday, March 10, at 3:00 p m , seconded by Steve, passed unanimously. 6. Entertamment for the Poppy Festival and Art in the Square —Eric Lashley. Eric talked about a conversation he had had with Cari Miller, director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau about musical entertainment for the Poppy Festival and Art in the Square. Cari said that the big stage musical events for the Poppy Festival are very expensive and she recommended smaller venues on the four corners of the Courthouse square. Discussion followed about how to get good music and possible costs. Penny suggested that sponsorships by businesses might pay for the musicians. All agreed that this should be a joint project with. Main Street and CVB and that a subcommittee of Arts and Culture Board members should be established soon. 7. Application for Cultural District Designation — Charles Aguillon. Charles explained that the item about this topic that had been on the Council agenda for January 26 had been pulled because of the complexity of getting this project going. He said it definitely needs a single person to be the director and that whom that person will be is not clear. Shelly Hargrove seems to be the logical choice, but she is reluctant to take it on without Mark Thomas's support. 8. Budget and grants m the next fiscal year — Eric Lashley. Eric emphasized that without a Council person to establish funding the Arts and Culture Board as a Council priority, there would be no money for grants in the coming fiscal year. He encouraged the Board members to speak to Council members before February 23, when their priority -establishing workshop takes place. Some Board members believed the grant application process should go ahead whether there is money or not —that the applicants can put pressure on. Council to fund the Board. Eric pointed out, though, that budget decisions will have been finalized before grant applications are completed. Charles said he would develop a budget to give to Paul Brandenburg if fundmg the Board becomes a priority for Council. The meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Juty Fabry L/ Charles Aguillon Acting Secretary Chair