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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-09-ARTS-min Approved Minutes -Lexington Council for the Arts -June 9, 2014 1 Present: Cristina Burwell, Diana South, Leslie Masson, Emily Passman, Lynne Klemmer, Jean Hart, Zoe Perry-Wood, Jessie Steigerwald Absent: Regie O'Hare Gibson, Cheryl Meadow Cristina Burwell called the meeting to order 7:12 p.m. Minutes were taken by Secretary Jessie Steigerwald. Secretary's Report: Emily Passman moved, and Leslie Masson seconded a motion to approve minutes from the May meeting. Treasurer's Report: Diana South Treasurer received request for reimbursement for our portion of the Open Studios expenses. We had approved $350.00 as a contribution for the artist reception. The expenses documented by the submitted receipts exceeded the $350.00 (slightly, at $367.90). Treasurer will pay the $350.00 that we authorized. Current balances: $5,139.44 —State Funds $2,710.09 —Local Funds Future agenda item: LOS has had discussion about future receptions and it may be beneficial for us to include this as a future agenda item. Cristina suggested fall 2014. Chairperson's Report: 2013 Grant update: Grants were all closed. Remaining funds ($1,005.00)will be available to grant next year. Three grant recipients did not submit their expenses in time and these funds remain available for the next cycle. 2014 Grant update: We expect some funds that we awarded will not be used. Examples include: the Bach workshop (not taking place), Bead Polymer group at LACS (did not take grant as they could not find a suitable speaker). Denise Doucette will only make 1 of 2 performances because of difference between monies requested and granted. Upcoming Events: A summer dance at Depot Square will be coordinated by the Folk Art Center of New England(Grant Application 48). Only managed to get one group interested in performing for summer, not all three performances as scheduled. (They requested $500.00, we granted $150.00 due to limited available funds.) Approved Minutes -Lexington Council for the Arts -June 9, 2014 2 Action item: David Williams advised that we must vote to approve release of funds for $175.00 from Trust and $25.00 from us in order to fund the Ella Lou Dimmock Award. Emily Passman moved to approve release of funds for $175.00 from the Ella Lou Dimmock Trust and $25.00 from our Local Fund account. Jean Hart seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Community Center grant proposal is now posted on Google Drive. It was not accepted. Jean reported that LACS is working on mural, though the progress is not yet visible. LOS reimbursement request for food was over by $17.90. It was reported that this was just record keeping and LCA will reimburse for agreed grant amount (and not over). New Business: Cristina introduced the evening's main discussion items: our input regarding the Community Center, and our future Fundraising plans. Fundraising: Fundraising was taken up first, and Zoe Perry-Wood observed that the timing for a fundraising initiative may be too late. Zoe felt that a mid-June start time might prove too challenging if our goal is to increase funds available for the fall cycle. It would be advantageous to raise funds before October 15th. Cristina confirmed that postcards and letterhead could be available for new fundraising efforts. Zoe reviewed some earlier suggestions, including hosting an event in someone's home. Regie O'Hare Gibson has shared the idea of ekphrasis. Emily Passman shared the idea of holding a Pecha-Kucha, or similar event. (A "20 x 20" event includes having someone present 20 slides, at 20 seconds each. Presenters prepare a topic in advance. 10— 12 presenters create an exciting event full of ideas and creative sharing. An emcee is important. Townspeople advertise stores or services, which adds another element. Presentations vary and could be about art or business ideas.) Like a mini-Ted Talk. Notes are allowed. Leslie Masson shared experiences from an anthropology conference. (Similar sharing with multiple presenters, at five minutes each but no slides, and no notes. Audience pays to come in. Leslie felt an auditorium could be helpful.) Emily noted that there are standards for becoming an official Pecha-Kucha society. Zoe suggests maybe you can do a 20 x 20 talk without being part of a formal Pecha-Kucha. Or evening of 6 painters presenting 20 x 20, or artist talks. On the question of timing, Jessie said she doesn't want to give up trying to increase resources for next grant cycle and outlined reasons she felt it was not too late. Jessie felt the urgency to increase available funds is real because we were not able to fund all of the Approved Minutes -Lexington Council for the Arts -June 9, 2014 3 requests that we believed were worthy. Diana South suggested we could write a letter, perhaps right after we receive all fall applications, with an update showing the total amount we received as requests, and the gap between what we have available and what we would need to fund all requests. Diana and Leslie heard radio advertising by MCC and everyone agreed this might help raise awareness in our community—both to the kind of work we do, and also to the need for individuals and businesses to step up to support the arts in our community. Zoe suggests that it would be a good idea to set a specific goal, for example, to double the funding. Leslie likes the idea of promoting both "arts and culture", and helping people understand the range of"arts" and"culture" and how each branch enriches our community. Other goals: Jessie suggested we could offer slots or boxes on a donation sheet/letter, where people could earmark funds, for example *general grant fulfillment. If someone donated and checked this box, their funds would go towards raising the percentage on all valid grant applications. Or, someone might earmark *an LCA project that we offer to oversee at the Community Center—like an artist-in-residence period. This might allow us to introduce something new while also expanding resources for all of our applicants. Zoe has kept an ongoing list of wish list items during her time on the council. For example, David Williams was once interested in re-use of specific granite pieces for a mini-feature or sculpture area at Lincoln Field/Park. Granite is down there now, but no work has taken place. There is a sculpture in a closet in Cary Library that needs a pedestal. The cost for the pedestal could be a few thousand dollars between pedestal and transportation. Cristina agreed to contact Koren Stembridge at Cary Library to check on this. Another wish list item was to improve gallery space at Munroe—needs gallery lighting, painted walls, and the area has a rug problem. This was put on hold due to accessibility concerns. First Parrish is interested in improving gallery space. Community Center may offer a good amount of gallery space. Holding events, like juried shows, requires funding for publicity and potentially requires funding for a jury or show expenses. Emily Passman notes that people who submit to a juried show will pay to submit, and this process can bring some funds in. Another idea is a big house party or salon. Jesie and Leslie agreed to pursue this and report back to the group. We agreed that we might be able to apply to MCC for a local grant. (Like last year, where the idea was to request funds for gallery space. It was awarded but we withdrew it because Munroe is not accessible and our funds may only be used for places that meet public accessibility standards.) The group agreed to pursue the suggestion of a late summer or early fall letter campaign and to further explore a spring event. Jessie, Diana and Cristina volunteered to draft a letter for the LCA September meeting while Zoe and Cristina would review a Big Donor campaign (i.e., resources needed, calendar, letterhead, website.) Approved Minutes -Lexington Council for the Arts -June 9, 2014 4 Fall Fundraising Task: Diana, Cristina& Jessie will get draft of fall letter. Spring Fundraising Task: Cristina, Emily, Leslie, Jessie will talk about spring event. Major Donor Task: Zoe, Cristina will discuss. Community Center: Cristina shared floor plans from Pat Goddard and the Community Center Committee. Lynne Klemmer shared some ideas that were generated by her tours of the CC. For the lower level, Zoe suggested a color field mural and Lynne shared that Hastings did a large—scale mural with David Fichter. Display cases could work well for items that LACS might be able to share/ show. The finished areas in the large dining room space are more difficult to envision for art as major walls are changing during construction. Jessie suggested two possible types of gallery spaces —formal and an artist-in-residence place. And, building on Leslie's earlier note about "arts and culture" -- display cases could work very well for "cultural" and "arts" displays. Cristina notes that library does not have insurance for art on display. LACS does have insurance. Maybe town can connect with LACS to learn about this. [Jean Hart will find out when LACS has work shown at library, is the work insured?] Cary Library did have a video recording of someone who was attempting to steal a work of art. Zoe has range of experiences with galleries and finds best color to show art is a neutral gallery gray. Lighting is also not so complex. Brainstorming discussion included: Formal Gallery, Artist-in-Residency Gallery. We agreed we needed to create a report with recommendations. Additional ideas or concerns we would like to present: * Permanent vs. Rotating displays; Storage space; Themes (Our town) * When people want to donate: need ways to review submissions. * Juried or not. Who should be on the jury? Professional artists or not. Leslie Masson raised concern that the Community Center is for the whole community and should not feel exclusive. This lead to discussion around whether all works should be framed for security, or not. In addition, members had different views about what "quality art"indicates. Broader discussions around "What is art?" "What makes it art?" "What type of art is worthy?"will likely take place as people consider what should be shown or purchased for a town space or a town art collection. Jessie shared information about a recent MFA exhibition that selected"Boston's favorite"impressionist works through crowd-sourcing on Facebook. There were positive and negative aspects to the exhibit. (Viewers had a forced choice so it was not truly our "favorites" from MFA's holdings.) Approved Minutes -Lexington Council for the Arts -June 9, 2014 5 Other questions included: if there are juries for shows, which stakeholders should be included (staff, visitors, etc.). How frequently should displays change (who would do the work, who would select the art or the themes?). Criteria for inclusion in Community Center Art Collection should be developed, for example: No broken frames — Suitable for public building "Best of what Lexington has to offer" reflect current arts scene in Lexington speak to traditional art forms represent wide range of media open to all artists but precedence for Lexington arts Art Selection Committee In _ag llery space: Can have calls for proposals, small group shows, or suggested themes RFP for individual artists or small groups to come with proposals Opening show & after... Jean Hart offered that she has experience with good places to advertise opportunities for artists. The following people volunteered to work on a gallery report: Jean, Cristina, Leslie, Jessie. Cristina reminded members that we will try to fill 2 council vacancies in Sept. (to keep town and state appointments similar). She will confirm whether Regie O'Hare Gibson is still interested, or would prefer to participate in another way, such as forming a committee for an ekphrasis. UPCOMING opportunities Council members, along with Lexington are invited to attend the Pocket Park meeting June 18th 4:00 p.m. at the Depot. This is a kick-off meeting,with September and October meetings not yet planned. November is a goal. Members have valuable opportunity to add input and experience with design and aesthetics. Adjourning 9:16 p.m. Next meeting: September 8th, Reed Room, Town Office Building.