HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-10-08-ARTS-min.pdf
Lexington Council for the Arts Meeting
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
7:00 - 8:30 PM
Parker Room, Town Hall, Lower Level
1. Call to order 7:04pm
Present: Alix Fox and Claudia Lach, Co-Chairs; Marie-Aude Hewes, Treasurer; Thelma Goldberg,
Lisa Hebert, Jeanne McDermott, Jennifer Zacharis
Absent: Mamata Banerjee, Eric Hellweg, David Hoose, Secretary
Recording Secretary: Alix Fox
We welcomed our new Council member, Jeanne. Council members present introduced
themselves.
2. Secretary’s Report: Alix Fox
September minutes were taken by former Council member Shalini Kakar, whose term expired
September 30th. Minutes were received shortly before this meeting, without time for review.
September minutes will be circulated to the Council and voted on at our November meeting.
3. Treasurer’s Report: Marie Hewes
We have a fairly large balance left in our state account (MCC annual grant funding) because we
have used our local account to pay for a decent number of grants. There are 11 grantees who
have not yet submitted for reimbursement.
2025 Grantee Notes:
- The Seven Fires program is rescheduling for December at the Community Center.
- The Mushroom Maze was not executed as expected according to the proposal. While
weather and poor mushroom growth were cited as issues, we are going to the grantee
to re-run the maze as planned in the spring. While we were abl to include the
rescheduled date and time – which coincided with Porchfest – in our newsletter, it
wasn’t ideal. Alix is the project liaison and will follow up.
- Claudia requests that we all get in touch with our grantees as liaisons to see if there are
any performances in November or December to be included in the newsletter.
4. Porchfest 2025 - After Action Review : Lisa Hebert
Everyone agrees it was a terrific event! The level of activity in the town center was terrific, and
a lot of people came out and enjoyed the music on a beautiful afternoon.
Feedback from this year:
- Find other locations from which the physical maps can be distributed.
- It was clear that momentum really caught on this year, with lots of coverage and chatter
online, in FB groups and person posts, etc.
- Having so many bands in the center really drew a lot of people. But we should also
consider whether having so much happening in the center takes away from the number
of attendees who visit porches around town
- Some of the Mass Ave locations were not town property, and were quite successful
locations: Grain Alley was great, and so was Clay Oven.
- Having Cary Library as a venue made for a tough time crossing the street.
- The finale at the Stone Building was really well attended, all ages, singing along,
DEFINITELY repeat.
What to do better next year:
- Better connection with bike path/Bikeway Block Party
- More places for attendees to pick up paper maps
- Better communication among volunteers. We had some frustrating issues with power
access at Depot Square/Emery Park, but now we know!
Date for next year: Saturday, September 26, 2026!! Rain date: Sunday, September 27.
5. 2026 MCC Grant Cycle
Application period closes October 16th. Panel Book will be sent to us by MCC shortly after
that. As with last year, we will request a spreadsheet download of the entire Panel Book
which Alix will adapt into our grant evaluation spreadsheet. Grant readers will begin
evaluation in early November – Claudia, Marie, Thelma, Mamata.
6. Lexington Laughs: Claudia Lach
We have videos from Ajay of some proposed comedians. Claudia will send out to all LCA
members to review, feedback will be due in about 2 weeks. Still waiting to confirm Clarke
Middle School auditorium while we wait to hear from the town about the insurance issue.
Will look at alternative venues, and possibly other dates if necessary. Original date was
Saturday, January 24th – want avoid the long weekend before.
Motion to adjourn: Claudia moved, Thelma seconded, approved by unanimous vote.
Meeting Adjourned at 8:32pm
Respectfully submitted,
Alix Fox