Cultural Council

By City Clerk at 8:47 am, Oct 31, 2023 September 5th, 2023 6:30pm-8:30pm Usually Meets 1st Tuesday of Every Month WELCOME 6:35 pm Margaret welcomes everyone here at City Hall. Call to order ML does the ROLL CALL: Members Present: Margaret Leahy co-Chair(ML), Madison Barnes(MB), Ann Johnson(AJ), Brian Riley(BR) Laura Kozlowski (LK), Amy Vander Els, co-Chair(AV), Randy Herman(RH) Not Present: John Moynihan(JM), Sally Nutt(SN), Aimie Westphal, City Liaison(AW) Guests: Mayor Gove(MG) Approval for Aug minutes: ML motions, MB seconds, unanimous No visitors - No Public Comment 6:30pm Treasurer report (ML): Grant reimbursements paid out for Code & Circuit, NBPT lantern festival, mosaic rock; grants balance at $8,558.27. We received 2 grants for Open Studios this year! 1 for $1,700 for marketing, to be used in specific ways. $2,500 for a festival Grant from MCC which will be approved by City Council and we can use this for whatever we want. Total = $3,200, which exceeds our marketing budget. Motion to reimburse ML $21.86 on supplies, MB motions, RH seconds, unanimous. 6:34pm Marketing report: (ML) Weekly newsletters, 1-2 unsubscribers per week. 53% only open the emails but this is good! Doing all the standard stuff right now. 6:38pm Art at City Hall Report:(AJ) New show will be Oct 27- Jan 25. Call for art the last week of Sept. Hanging on Oct. 27th. Opening will be 1 November and it will be ok if the artist mixer is the same week. 6:45pm Poet Laureate Report:(BR) A few applications for Poet Laureate. One is Elizabeth Wolfe who works with prisons. The application is online through the Whittier Home. The next reading is the 27th, last for the season. 6:46pm Grant Recipient Report(MB): Grants are open. $12,200 is what we have to distribute. Sheila at the Chamber asked if we wanted to talk about grant writing at one of the breakfasts and be part of a panel. It is after Open Studios, on Nov. 15. 6:50pm: Mayor Gove gives us a presentation on places/spaces for the future of Amesbury and how we can potentially add art to the spaces. 7:38pm Open Studios Discussion: (ML) 48 artists signed up, no more spaces left at City Hall, posted this in the Newsletter/social media. Cedar St usually lags with registration, since they know people will come anyway. Business Sponsor status(ML, BR, MB) Mel’s record shop is exclusively sponsoring the trolley! Tradesmill is by Mcacao. Other sponsors: Gould insurance, Farm + Sea/Barewolf, Alchemy&Art, Michael Petrovick, Cathy Toomey; businesses hosting: Trendsetters, Caravan. Possible: Chris Moore, Crave Would like sponsors for: Sincere Metal Works, 14 Cedar St, Pond St Studios. (3 more sponsors at 500 each. ) Friend of the tour: Hempire. Could use more of these. Select brochure cover Art: (ML), This year we have a lot of submissions. “House of Green” by Kale Baker was the top choice. Motion for succulents ML, BR seconds, All in favor for the succulents! Approve Print/Marketing budget: Smaller this year, $3,000 cap. ML wants a new banner for in front of City Hall, or by the Library. 700 copies of the brochure this year instead of 1000 which was too many last year. QR codes will be available too. Maybe try to get PBS/NPR, Morning Buzz in Newburyport, Globe…. ML motions to request a marketing budget of $3,000, AV seconds, Unanimous. Auction for public art: RH Raffle from small businesses in town, maybe just do a donation jar? Some businesses will give out specials for the day, where we can help advertise for them. Looks like 10 businesses will offer discounts for customers who show the brochure. Oct 15 is the deadline for the brochure. These discounts will be printed in the brochure. Crave will do any kind of sponsorship…maybe a trolley sponsor? ACC will reach out to him about the sponsorship. Are we a 501c (Yes)? If someone donates a piece of art, can we send a letter out for their taxes? Determine Volunteer roles (SN): Sally will help designate volunteers for the weekend. Performers budget (AV) At the Cultural Center, the condo association says they want it to be very quiet. Want to ask if there can be some acoustic guitar players. Last year we had 4 musicians. AV has reached out to: John Travano, Rocky Neck jazz project, Marc Young, Lee Biddle, Eric Pierce This year we have a good variety, maybe reach out and ask their rates, maybe we can have multiple performers for 2-3 hr blocks at a time. 100/hour seems to be the average rate. AV motions to approve $1,000 budget, ML seconds, unanimous. 8:33pm MURAL UPDATE(AV, ML) Met with the Mayor today. Under $10,000 per vendor, does not have to go to bid. The artist came in at 10,000. So we have to put out a call for proposals from 3 artists. We need to take the lowest bid. Had some tweaks for Kate to change up her design a little. Will have to go through procurement law, we will have to be strategic to other potential vendors. 8:40pm Adjourn: Motion to adjourn( ML) seconds(MB) Unanimous Important Dates: September 1-Oct 17 Grant Applications Open Sept 30 Open Studios registration closes(artists/Sponsors) **Oct 3 Next meeting back at Cultural Center. Laura Kozlowski, Secretary 10/3/23