Athens Cultural Affairs Commission

Agenda for ACAC Commissioners Meeting DATE: May 11, 2020 PRESENT: Executive: Chair: Andrew Salinas Vice-President: Holly Alderman Treasurer: Darcie St. Onge Secretary: Madeline Bates Members-at-large: Melisa (Misha) Cahnmann-Taylor, Linda Ford, Patrice Green, Helen Kuykendall, Montu Miller Non-voting Members: Marc Beechuk, Marilyn Wolf-Ragatz, Didi Dunphy Ex-officio: Stephanie Raines Staff: Lizzie Zucker Saltz ABSENT: Members-at-large: Beatrice Brown Non-voting Members: Jan Bush Approve Previous Minutes: • Motion passed; approved. Chair’s Report: • Welcome new ACAC member Donna Brumby! o Note: at the time of this meeting, Donna has not yet been approved as an official member by the Mayor & Commission. Treasurer’s Report: • Not discussed. Old Business: • AICA – Round 1: $1500 awards. Ongoing. Let’s get word out more.  o Note the term “awards”; no longer using the term “grant” for “Arts in Community” funding opportunities. o Will focus this round on organizations, as organizations will not be eligible for second round of Arts in Community Awards. • Poet Laureate concept – Will submit in the future o Has not yet been officially proposed as an agenda item to Mayor & Commission (M&C). Project Reports: Clayton, Greenway, Whitehall Roundabout, Music Walk, Fire Hall #2, Cooperative Extension, Bus Shelters, Dudley Park, Firefly Trail • Bus Shelters: now considered a “complete project” except for a few Type 2 shelters that will be installed in June or July. Working with Transit and Planning offices on a map and brochure specific to the art shelters. • Clayton Street: streetscaping work will begin this summer. Eric Leshinsky will then engage business owners and other residents along that corridor to develop his project concept. His visit will be tentatively set for the fall. • Music Walk of Fame: Bronze plaque design has been approved and the contract is underway. Fabrication Purchase Order (PO) is underway. Plaque sites are still being approved by M&C. Ten nominees have been selected and are still being contacted and agreements being formed. Artist contract has been finalized. • Whitehall Roundabout: Received two proposals for public art at the roundabout at Whitehall Rd. and Milledge. The selected artist will have the opportunity to incorporate additional design standards for final approval by M&C. Lizzie is forming a virtual selection committee. • Calls for art need to be issued for the following projects: o Greenway: Helen and user group have drafted call for art, tentatively to be released in August. o Dudley Park: Call has been drafted; next step is to publish. Construction to begin this summer. o Motion: Requests for Proposals for projects with budgets over $10,000, starting with the Dudley Park, should be open for 8 weeks. Motion passed; approved. New Business: • Arts in Community Awards – Round 2: $100,000 total funding o Where do tangible creations go? o Consider Prosperity Package source 2  o How to be as inclusive as possible o Tim is our contact in the ACC Finance Department. The funds will be released to ACAC account shortly. Tim has confirmed these funds will roll over into the new fiscal year (beginning July 1). o 50 awards at $2,000 each was provisional, not mandated at this point. o These funds must be disbursed as contract for services. Because these funds come from the Resiliency Package, personal financial impact should be a part of the application/evaluation. o Various suggestions:  Make this a competitive award based on a written statement and resume/CV but not a project proposal  Groups/collectives could apply for a larger award for a more ambitious project (necessitating variable amounts)  Define one umbrella project under which the individuals’ or collectives’ projects would fall, such as a festival event or seasonal series (like UGA’s Spotlight on the Arts)  Facilitate applicants sorted into cohorts to develop collective projects • Collaborate with local nonprofits to facilitate group projects. Must consider how facilitators would be compensated. o Pause discussion for now. Review information about what other cities are doing to fund local arts through the crisis and what limitations are in place already based on how exactly the M&C approved these funds being used. Breakout discussion set for Monday, May 18 at 6:00 PM. Participants: Patrice, Madeline, Didi, Darcie, Lizzie, Andrew. Other: • Not discussed Staff Notes: • Not discussed Next Meeting Date: June 8, 2020 3