HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-06-16-ARTS-min.pdf RECEIVED' fra
SELECTMEN / yr
ri7 _ 71930
UTES of LEXINGTON ARTS COUNCIL MEETING
MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1980
Present Tina Forbes, Nancy Gordon, Judith Greenwald, Yvette Kaplan, Molly Nye,
Judi Ozuransky, Ann Parks, Natalie Warshawer; also Maria White, Manage-
ment Intern
Absent: Marion Coletta and Donald Gillespie
1
Co-Chairman Molly Nye opened the meeting at 7 40 p.m. Members began
the meeting with a discussion of the National Association of Community Arts
Agencies 'NAC39) Conference on June 20th at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston Molly
Nye mentioned that an afternoon session of the conference relating to local arts
councils *quid be interesting She also noted that the cost of $15 00 per person
to attend the conference could not be assumed by the Town Yvette Kaplan stated
that the june 20th conference might be redundant in light of information acquired
from a workshop for local arts agencies held on June 4th Molly Nye suggested that
the Lexington Arts Council consider joining the NACAA to develop valuable connec-
tions however, the Council could not pay for membership until money is obtained
by the Counc_. .
Yvette Kaplan was asked to describe the workshop conducted by the Mass
Council on the Arts and Humanities on June 4th She mentioned the various pre-
sentations dealing with the federal-state-local arts network, and with the function-
ing, goals, objectives, resources, funding sources, and guidelines of local arts
agencies F
Members discussed their perceptions of the purpose of the Lexington Arts
Council They agreed that although the Council will benefit from the Arts Lottery
and should work with it, the Council should not rely on the Lottery Members
voiced dislUe of being asked by the State Arts Lottery Council to sell lottery
tickets Judith Greenwald asked if the Council. could receive money from the state
as a non-profit organization
Molly Nye resumed discussion of the June 4th workshop Yvette Kaplan
mentioned that financial assistance is available to local arts agencies from the
Mass Council on the Arts and Humanities Nancy Gordon noted that now is the time
to look for grant writing training andassistance and:to seek funding sources
(((��� Members agreed that this is necessary, and Molly Nye asked that Nancy Gordon and
Ann Parks gather information about grants that are available and about grant writing
\y`�''*4 and grant acquisition Yvette Kaplan continued on the subject of the June 4th
, workshop and stated that speakers had recommended that local arts agencies work
with their local Recreation Departments and formulate programs together
A member of the Council asked if the Council is fiscally autonomous or if
its spending required approval from the Selectmen Molly Nye suggested that the
.y Council consider Arts Lottery money as providing for services to better the town
and the arts broadly, while other revenues the Council obtained could have a more
narrow purpose The question was again raised as to the operation and procedure of
v the local Council and the degree of involvement of the Board of Selectmen with the
Council Maria White was asked to find out the nature of the Board's involvement
with the Council
Members discussed their desire to correlate information on grants and to
evaluate all of their grant options It was mentioned by one member that the
Council could collaborate with other art" organizations that are not. eligible for
certain grants and thereby combine their respective resources Judi Ozuransky
volunteered to xerox material from the June 4th workshop for distribution to Council
members
— 2 —
There was discussion of who the Council members represented on the
Council, i e. art groups A member pointed out that the State Arts Lottery
Council wants a broad base of "art" support within each community and wants "re-
commended" people However, the Council members felt that they had each joined
the Count... as interested individuals and were not serving primarily as spokesmen
for whatever arts groups they may be associated with.
The subject of funding sources was brought up again as it was noted
that the eeadline for some funding opportunities from the Mass Council on the
Arts and -canities has already passed Yvette Kaplan said that it was important
for the '.nil to "get a handle on" what the Arts Council's function will be in
the to.r
Mention was made of the good coverage of the Arts Council by the Minute-
man.
2 a, Parks volunteered to try to obtain more information packets from the
June 4t_ nreshop to distribute to Council members
;aria White presented the responses sent to the Town Manager's Office
in regards to the arts directory She agreed to type a list and compile a card
file of these responses
The Council decided to continue to publicize its efforts to create a
directory, and will use the Minuteman and other sources which members listed. In
this say, it is hoped that Lexington residents involved in the arts in and around
Lexington w_Jx register with the Council
Judith Greenwald asked if the Council should break down into specific
areas and der re the arts" that it will represent The Council decided that be-
fore that cctld be done they should receive more input from the community
MU.ly Nye brought up for discussion a questionnaire that she had been
sent by the -tate Arts Lottery Council The questionnaire asked for information
about arts in local communities and will be used to assist the State Arts Lottery
Council in developing guidelines for distributing lottery funds It was decided.
that instead of group discussion of the questionnaire, the questionnaire and
-deco pan• ir sheet would be copied and sent to each member
Nancy Gordon asked that an agenda be set for the next meeting Molly Nye
said that the questionnaire and the lottery guidelines would be on the agenda
Tina Forbes said that it would be helpful if the Council had information from other
local Councils as to how they operate, and Nancy Gordon said that she would try to
obtain this information from other towns
Molly Nye asked if the Council needed by-laws The Council asked Maria
White to obtain information on how other advisory committees function
Tina Forbes mentioned that it would be beneficial if each Council member
kept in mind how they wanted the Council to function
The Council decided to hold its next meeting at 7.30 p.m on Monday,
Je. l4
The meeting adjourned at 9 25 p.m
Respectfully submitted,
Y tc r
14 hit
t
Maria White
Management Intern
M-3/jt