HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_07.19.2006Minutes of the Meeting of the
Arts and Culture Board
City of Georgetown, Texas
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Arts and Culture Board Members present. Charles Aguillon, Rich Bartko, Natalie Davis Dowling,
Paul Gaffney, Jane Paden, Georgene Richaud, Ruth. Roberts
Absent: Addie Busfield (excused), Penny Plueckhahn (excused)
Staff Attending Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Administrative Assistant (Library)
Others in Attendance: Colette Stewart, visitor from the Citizens Academy
Regular Session
Call to Order at 2:07 PM
A. Call to order and announcements from the Chair
Chair Gaffney called the meeting to order and introduced Ms. Stewart to the Board He
announced that he would not be available for the August meeting and polled the group to
see whether anyone else expected to be absent. Everyone else said they could attend in
August, so the Board will meet as usual.
B. Consideration and approval of minutes of last meeting
Ruth Roberts moved and Rich Bartko seconded a motion to accept the minutes as
distributed withthe correction of a typographical error on page 2, item 3, first line of text:
delete initial "t" in. "the expects." Motion passed unanimously.
D. Comments of citizens wishing to address Board
None.
E Consideration of and possible action on
1. Agenda item for City Council meeting on July 25. Judy Fabry explained the purpose of
the cover sheet, which is to provide basic information so that Council members may be
prepared to consider and discuss the topic. this item. asks Council members to give
staff an indication of their preferences for funding public art in Georgetown so that an
ordinance may be drafted.
Paul Gaffney said that in his remarks to Council he intends to avoid any language that
would imply that the Board "asking" Council for something. Rather, he intends to
emphasize the Board's "recommendations" for funding, as advisors to the Council.
Rich Bartko asked whether it is too late in the budget process for 2006-07 for any
money to be appropriated for public art. Eric Lashley said that it's late but not too late,
depending entirely on how anxious the Council is to get going on public art. They
could add a line item to the budget any time before it is accepted.
Georgene Richaud asked whether the amount of money spent on CIPs during FY 2005-
06, from which the examples on the agenda item cover sheet were drawn, is an amount
that might be available in other years. Judy Fabry provided information about CIPs
coming up in the next few years, noting that they will cost approximately $2 million
less than those underway in the current fiscal year.
There was some discussion about locations for public art, such as Downtown and the
parks, which might be suggested to Council as priorities for funding. Bringing to
Council the idea that art is desirable in locations that probably will not be covered by
CIPs would allow them to explore alternative ways to generate money for public art in
locations such as these.
2. Public Art Panel. Members agreed that they would like to go ahead with establishing a
panel to choose art for the new library, which would give the Board an opportunity to
test the draft guidelines for selection of art and artists. Eric Lashley would take the
place of the Council in this case, since Council will not be appropriating the money for
this project.
Ruth Roberts inquired about the exterior sculptures that have already been donated for
the new library. Eric Lashley was unsure about the cost of the two pieces, but the
subjects are a boy and a girl. Eric also said that he did not know how much money
would be available for the piece of art that the panel would be seeking. He wants it to
hang on the wall of the maul staircase and knows that there is power to that wall if it is
needed for the artwork or for illumination. Until the amount of money available is
known, the panel could meet to consider the type(s) of work the members consider
appropriate and could discuss the content of the Request for Proposal.
Chair Gaffney said that Ruth hadexpressed interest in being onthe panel and that he
also would like Natalie Dowling and Rich Bartko to represent the Board. He asked
Natalie to be chair. then he suggested other groups to be represented on the panel
should be the Library Advisory Board, the Friends of the Library, and the library staff.
Eric Lashley suggested Linda Nix (Library Board), Martha Lawlor (Friends), and
Travis Cook (staff) The members agreed to these choices and Eric said he would ask
them to serve. Paul Gaffney will speak with them after they agree to be on the panel.
Although she had not submitted a request to speak on this subject, Colette Stewart,
who was visiting the meeting, suggested that the three groups should be allowed to
choose their own representatives. Chair Gaffney said that the Board prefers to control
the membership of panels
All meetings of the panel are public meetings and must be posted 72 hours in advance.
Natalie said that she preferred evening meetings and the other Board members said
they were agreeable to that. Judy Fabry will post andattend the meetings to take
minutes and to record recommendations about the guidelines
3. Progress report from Larry McCormick. Chair Gaffney drew the Board's attention to
the letter from Larry McCormick and reiterated that it appeared the letter of support
the Board sent to McCormick was all that needs to be done before the visit from
Artspace in January.
4. Reporting of arts events to City webmaster or Judy Fabry. Chair Gaffney polled the
group to find out whether people are sending notices of arts events to the City to be put
on the City website. He said that Southwestern sends their notices to Shelly Hargrove,
director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Charles Aguillon said that GISD is still
working on their fall calendar, so it has not been submitted. Shelly Hargrove's e-mail
address is shargrove@georgetowntx.org.
5. Guidelines for selection of art and artists. This topic was postponed, pending work by
the new public art panel.
Georgene Richaud moved and Jane Paden seconded a motion to adjourn at 3:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
2
Charles Aguilloii(Secretary