HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-08-31-ARTS-minLexington Council for the Arts
Meeting Notes
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
7:00 PM– 8:30 PM
Location: Via Zoom. See below for remote participation instructions
Pre-Meeting Tasks
Review of draft minutes from June 1, 2022 meeting
Attendance:
Present: Anwel Tsai, Jessie Chen, Steve Poltorzycki, Ashley Rooney,
Marie Hewes, David Hoose, Lisa Herbert, Shalini Kakar,
Absent: Doug Urban
Guests: Doug lucente
Recording Secretary: Marie Hewes
Meeting start time: 7:04 PM
•Call to order : The focus of this meeting the Grant cycle. Grants are funded by
the Mass Cultural Council.
•Secretary’s report : Approved Unanimously
•Treasurer’s report :The detailed Treasurer ’s report is deferred to the next
meeting.
-This year we will have 9,200.00 Dollars + any amount unused.
-Town budget : 6,000.00 dollars
-We are going to ask for an increase for that budget in July 2023.
•Overview of FY 2023 grants schedule
Here are a few reminders:
-The applications are open from August, 23rd until October, 17th
-Grantees need to apply through the Mass Cultural Council.
-On October 18th we will start reviewing the applications.
-There are two steps involved :
-Selection of projects which will not be funded.
-Decisions as to the amounts granted for the projects chosen.
-Grants are usually not above 500 dollars.
❖We discussed and reviewed the priorities of the MCC ( related to
grants):
-Should we fully fund or partially fund the projects?: Some
of the projects we fund are very small ( $100-$900)
-Should we limit the number of years we fund a project ?
We have given priorities to first time applicants.
-Ashley feels that there should not be repeated grants
each year because some projects have to fund
themselves.
-Should we prioritize live projects over online projects?
Overall we feel that live events are more aligned with the
Mission of the Council.
-Lisa : Broad versus deep. Should we consider giving
preference to fewer proposals?
-Reviewing surveys administered to residents of Lexington
should give us important information about which projects
to fund.
-When considering grant applications from school children
we should factor in how school funding for the arts might
already cover the project in question.
-We agreed on changing some wordings on the document
Steve will make the corrections.
• Develop plan for publicizing grant availability and application
deadline
❖We discussed ways to publicize the grant application and
several members will advertise through different media: Shalini
will announce the Grants Application on Social Media ( Twitter,
Instagram) . Ashley will write a press release. We will also post
the information on the Lexington list and Anwell will update the
website with the details. Jessie will translate the information and
add it to the CAAL
❖The announcement will be sent more than once.
❖Steve suggested dividing the grantees between us, so we can
each have 2 or 3 grantees and act as a liaison and promote their
work over the course of their project. This will be discussed at
the next meeting. S
•Other topics/ ideas
❖Possible topics for our newsletter:
➢Dance around the World information
➢The video of the haiku celebration
❖Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 7th at the regular
schedule.
➢Each member should write a summary of a project they
would love to work on.
➢Discovery Day is October 8th ( We will reserve a booth
and we need to figure out what to do there.)
➢The MCC has this one time program : 5,000.00 or more
dollars to any eligible organization. The application is
due in the third week of September.
Meeting Adjourned at: 8:20PM
Motioned by: Steve
Seconded by: David