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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-10-17-ARTS-minLexington Council for the Arts Meeting AGENDA Pre - Meeting Tasks Review of handouts & minutes Attendance: Present: Cristina Burwell (Chair), Seetha Ramnath (Vice- chair), Amy Crandall Kaser (Treasurer), Rebecca McGowan, Cheryl Meadow Absent: Leslie Masson, Jessie Steigerwald, Lynne Klemmer, Jean Hart, Faith Lin Guests: Mark Ferri Recording Secretary: Seetha Ramnath Meeting start time:7:05pm 1. WELCOME - Chairperson a. Introduction of members - Mark Ferri attended the meeting and submitted his application to join the Council which Cristina will pass along to the Board of Selectmen for approval. Mark recently moved to Lexington and is a sculptor. Mark will be replacing Susan, who has resigned because she cannot commit to the Council at this time due to personal reasons. b. Cristina passed around new LCA member cards. Playtime art store offers 10% discount to individuals who are a member of an art organization. c. Cristina noted that as of this week she has been employed as a director at the Munroe Center for the Arts. She has spoken with the town (state) attorney -of- the -day at the ethics commission about any conflict of interest with LCA membership (MCC liason noted there was none other than she would need to recuse herself from any grant related to MCA). She was pointed toward some online documents that discusses this further, as the details were unclear. Cristina will update the Council as she knows more. 2. REPORTS a. Secretary's Report Because there was not a quorum at tonight's meeting, the minutes will be held for review at the November meeting. b. Treasurer's Report Review of numbers for the MCC annual report - $5,660 grant funds available for 2016 -17, $2,700 local funds available. It was also noted for the town annual report that in FY2016, $18550 was requested in grants, though only $5085 was able to be awarded. c. Grants Report Cristina will be sending out postcards to grantees from FY 2016 who have not submitted their receipts for reimbursement. Grantees have a year from the time their award letter is dated (read: December). A new form being used for FY17 grant process is discussed under New Business below. d. Communications Report i. Website: www.lexartscouncil.org - it was noted that the grantees are listed on the website, as is the instructions on how to join Lexington's artist listserv. 3. OLD BUSINESS There was limited time to review old business due to the closing time at the Community Center. a. Dimmock Award Update - this year's winner (May 2016) was Danielle Kerr. A $100 check was sent to her via delivery to the LHS arts office. This amount was the interest on the Dimmock fund. b. PIR Update - the Program Improvement Request was more thoroughly detailed (by two pages) by request of Linda Vine (Deputy Town Manager) such that it included how grants were evaluated and what the $10,000. being requested would be used for. This was sent on and is being reviewed by the Town Counsel. c. Strategic arts & culture plan - This week Cristina was just given some dates by the MCC contact who will be able to facilitate the meeting, and she is going to the Community Center staff to ask about possible times to meet there before reaching out to stakeholders for the best time. 1 of 2 4. NEW BUSINESS a. Grant Evaluation - i. Seetha reviewed the new grants application form with Council members, and made adjustments as discussed. This form has been placed on the Council's Google drive for all members to access (in Grants folder). This form was designed to provide quantitative back -up in reviewing and comparing grants. The form is structured with four core areas: quality /originality /creativity, community benefit, planning, and budget. It is anticipated that this year the document will be fine -tuned as Council members work out any wrinkles in its design as they are using it. ii. On November 1st, Seetha will begin assigning Council members approximately 3 grants each to review using this form (there will be some overlap of members who will review the same grants this way, and so will provide some cross - checking). If anyone wishes to review a particular grant in depth, or be recused from one they are assigned to the are asked to contact another member to switch grants (assignment sheet will be on Google Docs) and to update the assignment sheet accordingly. Members are expected to review ALL the grants (provided by MCC on Nov. 1st), but only their assigned ones in depth. Members are asked to come to the November meeting with questions prepared for all the grants, as they note them when reading and wish to discuss. b. 2016 Projects were not discussed, because of limited time. Cristina is aiming to put these updates on the Council blog for both updating members, and residents. i. November Center ArtsWalk ii. ArtsOffroad - iii. Parade - iv. Discovery Day Diana and Amy excused themselves at 8:30 at which time discussion had finished on the grant evaluation form, and notes were being made on the form by Seetha. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS a. November 14 2016 - Cary Hall (room to the left of entry doors) Meeting Adjourned at: 8:53 Motioned by: Jean Hart Seconded by: Seetha Ramnath Handouts: June & September 2016 Minutes Grant Evaluation form (draft) PIR Form (draft) 2 of 2