Athens Cultural Affairs Commission

Minutes for Athens Cultural Affairs Commission Meeting DATE: September 14, 2020 TIME: 6:00 – 8:00 PM PRESENT: Executive: Chair: Andrew Salinas Vice Chair: Holly Alderman Treasurer: Darcie St. Onge Secretary: Madeline Bates Members-at-large: Beatrice Brown, Donna Brumby, Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Patrice Green, Helen Kuykendall, Montu Miller Ex-officio: Jan Bush Advisory: Didi Dunphy, Stephanie Raines, Marilyn Wolf-Ragatz Staff: Tatiana Veneruso ABSENT: Marc Beechuk, Linda Ford Approve Previous Minutes: Motion to approve: Patrice Green. Second: Helen Kuykendall. Motion passed with no discussion. Chair’s Report: • Future of the Athens Music Walk of Fame o Interest was expressed in doing another 10 plaques in 2021. The project’s current approval level through the Citizen’s Oversight and SPLOST committee is 2-3 plaques per year over the next 3 years. If we want to increase that approval level 10 in approximately one year, we will need to do the approval process over again, Treasurer’s Report: • Creating additional earmarks in the capital funds budgets will be a part of a larger discussion for when we have the full-time staff member in January 2021. • The Poet Laureate project is provisionally set to receive a $2,000 honorarium, paid in part every 6 months over 2 years, which might come from operating budget. Another financial component of that project: Poet Laureate would have the option (not mandate) to utilize one of the $1,500 Arts in Community Awards to execute a public art (poetry) project. Old Business:  • Jackson Street Art Walk Overview o Helen shared the history of this project and updates on plans for the art walk. This project was proposed (and passed) as a major capital project for SPLOST ‘21. o There will be art all along the promenade. The art itself would not be funded by SPLOST. o Due to the presence of the fire station, this route must be accessible for car traffic and shared with pedestrian traffic. The plan is to propose reducing the vehicle space and increasing pedestrian space from the existing street layout. This is a concern for children crossing College Avenue to access Lay Park Recreation Center, the adjacent playground, and the future Art Walk. City planners are looking into safe crosswalk designs to address this. Also, Mayor Girtz recently held a meeting to discuss how the fire truck traffic works. The idea of relocating the fire station to another city-owned property has been suggested; consultants are looking at options for relocation. If it could be moved, that would be a game changer because it would open up the possibilities of closing the street for festivals and markets, which cannot happen if the route must be accessible for cars and fire trucks. o There is much redevelopment happening on this north end of downtown, including a new residential development for seniors potentially happening directly next to the Art Walk that might affect the placement of the playground. The potential Hotel Indigo expansion/Creative Campus site is no longer part of the Jackson St. Art Walk project, but that parking lot may still be redeveloped. o The city is in the process of reviewing the proposals for creating Tax Allocation Districts (TADs) all around Athens as an approach to development, which could potentially help direct funds to this project and/or nearby redevelopment projects. o This project is in Commissioner Ovita Thornton’s district, and Commissioner Mike Hamby, assigned to the ADDA, is also involved. ACAC members should be sure to listen to Mayor & Commission (M&C) meetings and contact the city commissioners to do our part to keep this project in conversation. And, everyone should introduce themselves to their district commissioner. o Volunteers to support Helen with this project: Jan, Bea, Holly, Donna, Marilyn, Patrice, Didi, Madeline. Project Reports: Clayton, Greenway, Fire Hall #2, Cooperative Extension, Bus Shelters, Dudley Park, Firefly Trail, Whitehall Roundabout, Art Pianos • Bus shelters: Helen shared the draft of the brochure’s cover graphic. Tatiana will add a bus shelter blurb to Projects section of the ACAC website. • Athens Music Walk of Fame: ADDA is working on the app, and Didi is creating PDF map. • White Hall: Artist updated their sketches per M&C’s feedback. No major updates. • Fire Hall #2: Materials have been delayed. No other updates. • Co-op Extension: Sculpture site has been tented. Scaffolds for the sculpture have been placed. • Dudley Park: Received four proposals in response to the call for art. Marilyn will help convene a user group with two members to serve as voters who have not been a part of a user group experience: Darcie and Madeline. 2  o Tatiana’s proposal on forming user groups: Create an online application form for people interested in participating in user groups to consult in future. The portal could also be leveraged to recruit new ACAC members as well as to educate local artists on what selection processes are like. Dudley Park having only four proposals for consideration could be a good test-run for this method. • Clayton Street: Streetscaping keeps getting pushed due to infrastructure work. As of now the streetscaping is set for January ’21. The artist has their contract in hand. Having the artist visit in fall 2020 is still possible but not confirmed. • Greenway: Helen is close to finishing the call for art on the first part of the project; should be on time for releasing later in September. This will be a national call for art. • Poet Laureate: This project’s funding will come from ACAC operating budget, not SPLOST, so, it does not have to be approved by the M&C. Beginning January ’21, the staff position will not come from ACAC’s operating budget which opens up funds for things like the Poet Laureate project. Next step: identify a Poet Laureate selection committee then send proposal to the Mayor’s office re: the Mayor participating in the Poet Laureate selection. Tatiana to initiate conversation w/ Stephanie, Misha, Patrice, Andrew. • Play On! Athens: Cedar Shoals High School is back in terms of wanting to take on a piano. Andrew to coordinate with them as he currently has the piano and will personally pay for the delivery to the school. 2nd piano has been delivered to Clarke Central for their art program. New Business: • Arts in Community Awards: Resilience (AICA:R) o We funded 50!  All artists have been contacted multiple times and told they have been conditionally selected, contingent on making some changes to their projects.  About 10 of the projects need alterations. City attorneys’ office is working on Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Once that’s ready, subcommittee should meet to determine next steps. Changes needed to the projects will be listed on the MOU. o Cohort duos are to have 6 or 7 projects aligned with commissioners’ skillsets. All files are already sorted for each cohort in the Google Drive. Assignments:  Andrew/Patrice  Holly/Madeline  Helen/Darcie  Donna/Marc  Marilyn/Bea  Stephanie/Misha  Linda/Jan  Tatiana/Montu o Checklist for cohort responsibilities: AICA:R subcommittee will come up with this in their next meeting. Finance paperwork will be handled by Tatiana as well as Linda’s intern. Responsibilities will vary from project to project. 3  o Tatiana to create introductory emails for each cohort duo & their projects. • ACAC’s future: o Schedule new member knowledge sharing event this month. No discussion. Other: • The ACAC’s full-time position will go through the city. Stephanie will set up a meeting for a subcommittee of people to contribute to planning out the role: Holly, Andrew, Marc, Stephanie, Tatiana. • We may want to shift ACAC’s meeting date to a Tuesday or Thursday to better work within Lyndon House’s schedule, but there is no need to change the date before we start meeting in person again. Tatiana to set up a Doodle poll to discover everyone’s availability next week. Notes: • Art happenings? o Athens Creative Directory is live. Please sign up and share with local creatives. o Third Thursday this week on 9/17/2020 o Show opening at Steffen Thomas Museum of Art Next Meeting Date: October 12, 2020 4