HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_10.21.2009Minutes of the Meeting of the
Arts and Culture Board
City of Georgetown, Texas
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Present: Charles Aguillon, Melanie Dunham, Jane Paden, Steve Proesel, Georgene Richaud, Mandy
Solin
Absent: Penny Plueckhahn
Staff Present: Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant
A. Chair Charles Aguillon called the meeting to order at 3:06 p.m.
B. There were no announcements regarding upcoming events.
C. There were no citizens wishing to address the Board
D. Georgene Richaud moved and Steve Proesel seconded to accept the minutes as distributed, and
the motion passed unanimously.
E. Consideration of and possible action. on
1. Report about October advertising campaign - Charles Aguillon Charles showed the
October Arts Month calendar rack card, the Happy Trails map of the banner project, and the
ad that appeared in. the Austin Chronicle and the Williamson County Sun. He said he
thought all of the advertising had been useful and that some organizations evenapproached
him about being represented the next time a. calendar (the rack card) is published. He also
mentioned that the large article Rachel Slade wrote in the Sun about the weekend's activities
was important in raising the community's awareness of the arts events going on.
2. Report on San Gabriel Park sculpture display project - Judy Fabry, Georgene Richaud.
Georgene reported that she and Penny had gone to the Espinoza Stone quarry to pick out
rocks for the sculpture pedestals. The chose 10-12 rocks that Matt Espinoza agreed to put
aside for our project. He said he would choose among the rocks to deliver the greatest
number of them without exceeding the Board's $1000 budget. Judy then reported that Eric
had spoken with Jamie Baren and Eric Nuner at Parks about where the rocks could be placed.
Jamie and Eric Nuner agreed to take over the project as far as overseeing the delivery and
getting the rocks permanently placed in level positions. They also will handle getting the
metal mounting plates attachedto the rocks They thought they could accept delivery within
the next two weeks.
Charles said that Penny hadtold him that she no longer has time to be involved in acquiring
the borrowed sculptures and neither does Charles, so he asked Steve to help with this part of
the project. Charles said that it's possible that Art Works may be able to take over scheduling
of the rotating sculptures. He will bring it up at their next board meeting. Georgene said that
she thinks it would be good for Art Works to take on this part of the project since Arts and
Culture Board membership changes frequently, making it impossible to advertise a
permanent contact person
3. Report on Art m the Square - Charles Aguillon. Charles said that attendance was greater
than it was at last year's Art in the Park and that the majority of the artists were very pleased
with the business they did The local restaurants also were very happy with the large volume
of business they had (there were no food vendors at Art in the Square). Charles heard lots of
positive feedback about the banner project. He thinks that next year Art Works will solicit
fewer banners, so that being invited is more of an honor and there won't be as much artwork
to have to reproduce In future years, new banners could be cycled in and others not hung
again.
Mandy suggested that the Arts and Culture banners should be hung in more prominent
locations —preferably on the four corners of the Square. This year, only one was on the
Square.
Steve said he had positive feedback about the banners from the merchants on the Square.
Mandy then suggestedthat it would be useful to do an "exit interview" with the merchants to
get their opinions about what worked and what d.idn't. Sucha survey would provide some
hard data to share with Council about the benefits of using the Board's money in this way.
Mandy said she would draft some questions, which probably shouldbe asked in the very
near future. Charles said he would ask Cari Miller, tourism manager, to conduct the survey.
Charles also was pleased with the tent that provided space for the local arts nonprofits to
distribute information about their programs. Only one organization that asked to have a table
didn't show up.
Charles is going to write thank you letters to all of the artists who participated in Art in the
Square. Judy will get Arts and Culture Board letterhead for him to use. Charles also expects
to talk with Mark Thomas in the near future about the impact of the arts on economic
development. He hopes to be accompanied by two Council members who are supporters of
the Board.
4. Summit of the Arts - Charles Aguillon. Charles outlined the agenda he plans to follow at
tomorrow evening's Summit of the Arts. First, he wants to spend some time talking about the
City's events calendar, on which any organization may post their events. He will emphasize
that all of the information for the October Arts Month rack card came from that calendar, so if
organizations want to be included in the future, they need to post their events.
Next on the agenda he'll ask for feedback about what people thought of Art Month's events
Finally, he'll talk about the Event Sponsorship grants
Georgene said she thinks Charles needs to make clear from the beginning of the grant
discussion that the Guidelines and Apphcation are not up for discussion They may not be
perfect, but they will stand through this first round of applications and the Board will decide
whether they work or not.
It was suggested that the next Summit needs to be before October 2010—possibly in August
2010.
5. Revision of sponsorship guidelines and application form - Judy Fabry. The Board members
went through the two documents and made recommendations for changing due dates and
dates of decisions and funding. the due date for applications will be December 11, 2009, the
Board will hold two meetings in January to consider the applications and will take their
decisions to Council on January 26 Awards will be announced by February 4 and
disbursements will be made around February 1.5.
6. Potentialarts projects - Charles Aguillon. Charles spoke briefly about ideas he and Eric
Lashley have been discussing related to using the area between 7th and 8th Streets and MLK
and Rock for some kind of performance venue. Even without any kind of structure, musical
stages could be set up during existing festivals to pull people to this part of downtown and to
begin to raise the community's awareness of the potential of this block.
Charles also has been looking at the Texas Commission on the Arts' Cultural District program
and believes Georgetown should work on an application for the coming year He said it will.
take cooperation from numerous City departments, businesses, and nonprofits, but he is
optimistic that it could be accomplished. He asked that this topic appear on the November
Board agenda.
7. Reminder of cancellation of December 2009 meeting - Judy Fabry
Charles adjourned the meeting at 4:37 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Georgere Richaud, Secretary
Charles Aguillon, Chair