HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-03-05-ARTS-minElLexington Council for the Arts
Meeting Minutes
March 5th, 2025
7:00 PM— 8:30 PM
Location: In-person at Parker Room, Town Hall (Lower Level)
Present : Claudia Lach, Alix Fox, Lisa Herbert, Jennifer Zacharis, Elsie Xu, Eric Hellweg,
Marie Hewes, Mamata Barnajee, Shalini Kakar
Absent : David Hoose
1. Call to order : The meeting was called to order at : 7:05 PM
2. Secretary's report — approval of fall minutes that had not been submitted to the
Town Clerk (Claudia & David)
— The following Minutes were not approved due to the Secretary transition.
October Minutes, December Minutes
— We are also voting to approve last month's Minutes.
— Motion to approve the October, December and February Minutes
Moved: Eric Hellweg
seconded : Claudia Lach
3. Treasurer's report (Marie) :
Balance of our accounts on 03/05/2025
State Account : $4,436.00 ( this account is used to pay out grants)
Town budget Account : $6,000.00 ( this account must be used by 06/2025)
MCC projects festival: $720.00
Local Account : $5,807.00
4. New Date for Town Picture —Friday, March 7t" at 5:00 pm
We will gather at S:OOPM at the Calendar spot.
Gerald Hewes will be the photographer. Day 69.
Alix will bring the Council for the Arts Banner.
5. Grantee Reception
The invitations have been sent: Event is planned for 03/18/25 at 5PM
Food and refreshment are finalized: Wegmans
•'• Still to manage:
• number of tables needed ( probably more than 7): 7 round and 5 rectangular)- 8
chairs around the round tables.
How to hook up the screen.
Test run the presentation.
Jennifer will bring her laptop
we need to figure out the order of slides
Flowers for the tables- Elsie will purchase at Trader Joes and have a friend help
with the arrangement.
••'• Responses:
Jennifer had 4-5 responses as of today.
A reminder was sent. The RSVP was due on Friday, March 7th.
Liaison will know if their grantee has responded as a printed list of responses will
be shared
•'• Organization of the event:
• 30 minutes to mingle
Introduction by Alix
Each grantee will present their project in 2 minutes
Mingle again
•'• Tasks
• Clean-up: Claudia, Mamata, Marie
set-up: Mamata, Alix, Shalini
6. Upcoming projects
❖ Porchfest
Porchfest will be September 27th/28th, 2025
We will start talking about Porchfest next month : 6 months before the event.
We discussed the month for Porchfest because of the possibility of rain but it still
seems that September is a great month. Lisa checked with Jewish Holidays.
❖ Lexington Laughs : probably not happening
There is an open-Mic ( Wednesday night) at the Community Center. Lisa will talk
to the comedian who is responsible for that event .
❖ TedTalk : Lisa would like to put together a Ted Talk.
Mahatma is a facilitator of a Ted Talk in Middle School and Elementary school.
40 students attended the last event.
Mahatma is a certified facilitator of Ted talk
There is a TedTalk at the Lexington High School
There is going to be a MOTH in October in Concord.
We could contact the HS parents : Topics like History and civil discourse or
connect with Jessi from LEXSEEHER
❖ Immigration stories cannot happen in the spring, but maybe later. Anyone
children included) can submit their stories in the language of their choice.
❖ Stories from the Stage or MOTH:There is going to be a MOTH in October in
Concord.
❖ The Native American Project : Waiting for a proposal on October 14th.
The grantee has a singing performance at Cary Hall. She would like to postpone
it to April instead.
She would need to confirm all the details and have a concrete plan and secure
the venue because the money is supposed to be used within the year.
7. New business
❖ Dance Around the World: Saturday, March 8th- Cary Hall
Ashley ( Town Celebration Committee- former LCA member) realized that Dance
around the world belonged to the Arts Council. The argument is that the Town
Committee has a different Mission that does not align with this event.
Dance Around the World started in 2014: Brought different dance teams to a
venue in Lexington.
- Some of these teams are asking for money.
- This year it will be in Cary Hall.
- Lexmedia and a news reporter will be there.
- The Chairs this year are Elsie( LCA), Ashley ( Town Committee) and Sudha
- Costs:
- The Town Committee provided $5,000.00 to the event.
- The Music Director: $1,000.00
- DJ $2000.00
❖ We decided that the conversation regarding that event must continue when we
have more details:
Is that event part of LCA?
What would be the total cost?
Motion to adjourn : Claudia
Seconded : Jennifer