HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_03.10.2010Minutes of the Meeting of the
Arts and Culture Board
City of Georgetown, Texas
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Members Present: Charles Aguillon, Philip Baker, Kaki Bassi, Karen Lange, Steve Proesel, Dar
Richardson, Mandy Solin
Staff Present: Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant; Laurie
Brewer, Assistant Director of Finance
Minutes:
A. Chair Charles Aguillon called the meeting to order at 3:02 p m After introducing himself as the
vice principal at the 9th Grade Center, GISD's representative to the board, and the only remaining
original member, he asked eachperson to introduce him- or herself.
• Philip Baker identified himself as a church musician who worked in the Dallas area for 40
years, but he currently plays the organ at the Catholic Cathedral in Austin.
• Karen Lange is secretary to the principal at Williams Elementary.
• Dar Richardson is retired from a career in manufacturing design, tried performing arts for a
while but settled into clay sculpture. He has coordinated two Texas Society of Sculptors
shows at the library and currently is helping to put in place the rotating sculpture show in
San Gabriel Park.
• Steve Proesel is retired but teaches accounting at Austin Community College. When he lived
in. Florida he was on the board of a film festival and since coming to Georgetown has become
president of the Festival of the Arts
• Kaki Bassi moved to Georgetown from Cabo San Lucas While she lived in there she owned a
number of art galleries, coordinated 24 art festivals and organized art exhibits in various
places in Mexico. While living in Houston during the 1970s and early 1980s she was on the
founding committee of the Houston International Arts Festivaland was one of the original
directors of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston.
• Mandy Solin is a creative director and graphic arts designer who moved to Georgetown from
New York City several years ago.
B. There were no announcements regarding upcoming events.
C. There were no citizens wishing to address the Board.
D. Presentation by Fmance Division regarding the budget process for FY 10-11. Laurie Brewer
passed out a questionnaire to the board members and asked them to discuss the questions and
submit consensus answers to Finance after their meeting in April. She emphasized the tight budget
that will undoubtedly be adopted this year and she askedfor input regarding services that the
Board thought could be reduced or eliminated.
E. Consideration and approval of minutes of last meeting. Mandy made a motion to accept the
minutes as distributed and Steve seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
F. Considerationof and possible action on
1. Overview of meeting procedures and of the work of the Arts and Culture Board, 2005 - 2010.-
Eric Lashley Eric used a PowerPomt presentation to review the origin of the Arts and Culture
Board, its evolving focus, the ways in which it has been funded, and the projects it has
completed and has underway. He also reviewed the parliamentary procedures by which the
Board operates.
2 Election of vice chair and secretary for 2010 - Charles Aguillon. Charles called for nominations
or volunteers for the office of vice chair Mandy Solin volunteered, no one else wished to be
considered for the office, and her election was approved by acclamation. Steve Proesel
volunteered to be secretary, no one else wished to be considered for the office, and his election
was approved by acclamation.
3. Report on sculpture pad project and selection of a date for grand opening - Dar Richardson.
Dar announced that he has contracts with nine sculptors for fourteen sculptures that will be
placed in San Gabriel Park. Most will be put in place later this week but two will not arrive
until around April 1. The artists will be given $100 each to help defray the costs of moving their
sculptures. Dar spoke briefly about the cooperation that he hopes will develop among
Georgetown, Marble Falls, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and Gilbert Barrera in.
San Antonio to create a permanent Central Texas sculpture trail, with pieces rotating among
these locations.
Dar said that work still needs to be done to acquire markers for each of the sculptures in the
park. He will look into getting these made. The group agreed to have a ribbon -cutting for the
sculpture exhibit on Friday, April 23, at 5:00 p.m. Dar made a motion to call the exhibit the
Georgetown Sculpture Tour, which was seconded by Kaki and passed unanimously. Eric
pointed out that it will be important to get some kind of informational material printed about
the Sculpture Tour that can be available at the Vistors Center.
4. Cooperative sculpture project with Southwestern University/Ben Pierce/3M grant - Eric
Lashley Eric reported that he had been approached by Ben Pierce, professor of biology at
Southwestern University, about the possibility of money being available for art to place along
the San Gabriel River. Dr. Pierce has a grant from 3M that has some money left that must be
spent by August 2010. He said the main caveat is that students must be involved in selecting
the art. The very brief time period remaining before students leave campus for the summer
makes it likely that the grant will have to be used to purchase an existing work. Dar said that
several of the pieces that are being placed in the park exhibit might be candidates for this
project. Dar, Mandy, and Charles will serve on the art selection panel. Mandy said she would
talk with Mary Visser, professor of art at Southwestern, about involving students in coming
years with the design and creation of more pedestals for sculpture in the park.
5. Report on grant process - Tudy Fabry. Judy reported that the grant checks have gone out and
that two of the grantees have contacted her to get the City logo to use in their promotional
materials.
6. Report on the membership requirements of the Ordinance establishing the Arts and Culture
Board—Tudy Fabry. Judy said she had heard from the City Secretary that it will not be a.
problem for the Board to operate in the coming year without a representative of Southwestern
among its members.
7. Changes in day andtime of Arts and. Culture Board meetings - Charles Aguillon. After a brief
discussion among the members of the Board, they mutually agreed to change the regular
meeting day to the third Tuesday of each month and the meeting time to 4:30 p.m. The next
meeting will be on Tuesday, April 20. Judy said she would check into the process of amending
the bylaws to reflect this change.
8. Application for Cultural District Designation - Charles Aguillon. Charles explained briefly
about the designation offered by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the complexity of the
application and the need to have a City employee to lead the project. He asked Judy to send
the materials about this topic that had been distributed during the January meeting to the new
members of the Board.
9. Budget and grants in the next fiscal year - Eric Lashley. Eric said that the budget process started
at a Council workshop on March 9, but no priorities were established at that time Instead,
Council asked staff to come back with priorities that they could rank. Charles said he had
spoken with Paul Brandenburg about the budget process and that he and Eric will be meeting
with Mr Brandenburg on March 22 to discuss it further
Respectfully submitted,
esel, Secretary Char es Aguillon, Chair