HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-12-06-ARTS-minLexington Council for the Arts
Meeting Notes
December 6,2023
7:00 PM–8:30 PM
Location:Via Zoom
Attendance:
Present:Steve Poltorzycki,Ashley Rooney,David Hoose,Sue Benson,Eric
Hellweg,Alix Fox,Shalini Kakar,Claudia Lach,Marie Hewes
Absent:Elsie Xu,Lisa Herbert
Guests:
Recording Secretary:Marie Hewes
Meeting start time:
•Call to order :The meeting was called to order by the Chair at 7:06 PM.
•Secretary’s report (Marie)
➢Motion to approve the meeting notes of November 1st,2023
Motioned :Ashley
Seconded :David
➢Unanimously approved
•Treasurer ’s report (Steve)
Town Budget Account:$4,325.00 -Must be used by June 30th.for other projects
MCC Festival/Project grant 2024 :$2,500 .00 earmarked for Lexington Laughs-If
not used,will go back to MCC.Expires by June 30th
Local account :$5,782.00:For any purpose.Rolls over from year to year
We have not touched it for some time.
MCC recovery Grant :$6,000.00 Can be used for any purpose.Supposedly rolls
over
Other potential source :
Council program :$1,820.00 .(20 %for our own project.We will vote today to
decide if we keep 20%for our projects.
Cultural District Grant:We are members of the steering Committee
$15,000 :We need to use or make a recommendation.
Conclusion :If we put aside 20%for our own projects 20%,we have $9,695.00
available for grants.If we don’t keep the 20%,we would have $11,515.00
available for grants.
•Discussion of MCC grant applications :
Steve started to describe the process of the Grants Allocation to our 3 new
members and reiterated the criteria stated by the MCC
-Program must be related to the Arts,
-Event must demonstrate a benefit for the Lexington Community,
-Then he detailed the organization of the Grant Committee (Steve,David,
Lisa,Ashley,Claudia,Marie)and explained the different steps taken by
the Sub committee as well as the information communicated to the
grantees prior to submitting an application
➢That we would favor events located in Lexington
➢That we were looking at the following criteria:
➢Artistic merit,
➢Benefit the broadest range of Lexington residents
➢Accessibility,
➢Financial need and other sources of funding.
➢Residence of the artists
This year,the LCA received 46 applications (music,Visual Arts,Dance and
Theater…)
Steve shared an organized spreadsheet as well as the Panel Book with the 6
members of the Sub Committee who met twice to review and rate each project.
Some projects (not receiving enough points)were eliminated after discussion.
Other projects (receiving mixed support)were discussed in depth.
At the end of the SubCommittee meeting 24 projects were selected.
According to the support received by each project,funds were allocated:Projects
with strong support received the amount requested or close to that amount.
Projects with less support received a portion of the requested amount.
The objective of today’s meeting is to finalize this list.
Once we finalize this list,we need to send a formal letter to the Grantees who
have been “Cut ”.Grantees have to appeal our decision by January 3rd.
Steve reminded the Council that the objective of today ’s meeting was to make a
decision regarding:
-Confirming the list of projects that are “Cut ”in order to inform these
grantees.(1)
-Allocating 20%to our own projects(2)
❖To confirm the projects “cut ”and inform the grantees
➢Motioned :Steve
➢Seconded :Ashley
➢Unanimous
❖To keep 20%for the LCA projects
➢Motioned:Ashley
➢Seconded:Claudia
➢Unanimous
The following observations/questions were shared by members
-That we had very few Theater grants
-That the discussion regarding the amounts should be postponed to
January to allow new members to get more familiar with the process and
the grants themselves.
❖Make a provisional vote today and a final one in January (regarding
amounts allocated)
➢Motioned :Steve
➢Seconded:Ashley
❖To meet in person in January:
➢Motioned :Claudia
➢Seconded:Ashley
Finally,Steve reminded the members of the Council of the potential roles open :-
-Help on projects-Champion on projects
-Chair or co-Chair
-Treasurer
-Secretary
-Someone to Oversee the grant process
-Website-Guru :weebly .We created another website on wordpress
-Head of porchfest-
Steve will write down all the
Meeting Adjourned at:8:40 PM
Motioned by:Steve
Seconded by:Ashley