Cultural Arts Advisory Board

Cultural Commission January 13, 2020 STATE OF TEXAS § COUNTY OF TARRANT § CITY OF BEDFORD § The Bedford Cultural Commission met in regular session on January 13, 2020 with the following members present: Thomas Jacobsen Summer Finley Alexis Perez Terry Smith Josh Santillan Kimmie Hamm Donna Lively Kim Brown Sergio Santos Wendy Hartnett – City of Bedford Charlenia Castillo – City of Bedford Cortney Beach – City of Bedford Amy Sabol – City of Bedford City Council Tom Burnett – City of Bedford City Council Leslie Greene – Guest Mary Anna Callaway – Guest CALL TO ORDER Meeting was called to order at 6:30 P.M. by Mr. Jacobsen. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Consider approval of the following Cultural Commission minutes: a. December 9, 2019 The minutes for were approved with no changes by a motion by Ms. Hamm and Ms. Lively seconded the motion. BUSINESS  Discussion and update on Phase Next/Old Bedford School. Presentation by Cissy Sylo, Project Manager. ￭ ￭ Ms. Hartnett – Introduced Cissy Sylo, Project Manager of Phase Next. ￭ ￭ Ms. Sylo – Presented a brief overview of where we are in the project using a digital 3D model and short video from one of her saved files, via our new flatscreen. – Offered us a chance to ask questions or express any concerns we may have regarding Phase Next. ￭ ￭ Mr. Smith – Wondered if there were any thoughts for splash pads considering their popularity and effectiveness, especially among the youth and children. Ms. Sylo answered with a “yes,” as it was already in the works. ￭ ￭ Ms. Sylo – Continued showing more of the virtual model. 1  Cultural Commission January 13, 2020 ￭ ￭ Mr. Jacobsen – Asked what exposure did or will the glass wall have. Ms. Sylo answered: “South and north.” – Asked, also, if there were “any states for special vens (venues?), weddings,” etc. Ms. Sylo gave a brief but in-depth answer as to where events such as those might take place using the model. ￭ ￭ Mr. Smith – Had suggested a place for a sewing and quilting club, after having heard recent complaints from a small group of people, particularly women, who are in fear of losing their existing club space. Ms. Sylo, as a quilter herself, was happy to answer. ￭ ￭ Ms. Sylo – Continued showing the rest of the virtual model. ￭ ￭ Mr. Smith – Questioned Ms. Sylo’s repeated high-cost recovery plan. “Does that mean this will ultimately operate in the black, or it will not operate in the red so much?” ￭ ￭ Ms. Lively – Expanded more on the topic of cost recovery. ￭ ￭ Mr. Smith – Experimented with the idea that if all the money—$70 million total—were to be spent, where would a chunk of that go? (His guess was the recreational center.) Ms. Sylo explains. ￭ ￭ Ms. Sylo – Tried to continue showing what was left of the virtual model until it cuts off. (Realized it was because she was given the wrong file or flash drive prior to the meeting.) ￭ ￭ Mr. Smith – Asked Ms. Sylo what was the average price increase of a project similar to this, but on a regular basis. ￭￭ Ms. Sylo – Continued to discuss where we are in the project, regardless of the lack of visual presentation. ￭ ￭ Ms. Lively – Asked where would the Fourth of July festival take place. Ms. Sylo answered that it was “Still at the Boys Ranch.” ￭ ￭ Ms. Sylo – Continued discussing on what more was to come in the project. Some members would chime in, here and there, with comments while also asking fun and curious questions. ￭ ￭ Mr. Jacobsen – Wondered about any change of plans to close the entire park during the period of construction. Ms. Sylo responded, saying the contractor was given the option of eighteen months, but whether or not it will be closed all the way down to a year, she was uncertain. ￭ ￭ Mr. Santillan – Asked if most, if not all, of what Ms. Sylo presented to the committee was available for viewing online. Ms. Sylo responded “yes,” before Ms. Hartnett provided us the name of the website. (See external link below.) – LINK: https://www.bedfordtx.gov/454/Phase-Next ￭ ￭ Ms. Sylo – Wanted to know what questions we might have concerning what may affect us as a board or even as a resident. – Reminded us of her business cards she passed around earlier, should we be needing to find or contact her. 2  Cultural Commission January 13, 2020 – Thanked by the committee for her hard work. – Mentioned briefly the presentations given once a month at the Council. The following one coming in February and the other in March. ￭ ￭ Mr. Smith – Made the idea of occupying an area—maybe at the Ranch—and have charitable citizens make donations to promote the arts, and in doing so, be awarded plaques for their contribution (used the Bedford Public Library as a prime example). That way, we don’t have to rely, again, solely on loans or a similar mean to keep up our budget. ￭ ￭ Ms. Sylo – Thanked again by the committee before making her leave.  Discussion of joint Commission meeting and strategic plan. ***Amended Item ￭ ￭ Ms. Hartnett – Covered hers and Mr. Jacobsens’s attendance at a joint commission meeting a few months back. – Said that the discussion was brought about the subcommittees. They believed it to be a great idea and are considering it; however, they have to see what needs to be done with the other committees, as well. (So far, it was undecided.) ￭ ￭ Mr. Jacobsen – Remembered a question he brought up to a meeting—called by Michael Boyter—on behalf of our committee: “What do we do about subcommittees?” – Proceeded going over the acquired material covering what is needed to form a permanent subcommittee. Must have “commission council approval.” ￭ ￭ Ms. Hartnett – Added that a general title should be given to each subcommittee—titles relating to their individual activities (e.g. a subcommittee for projects, a subcommittee for events, etc.). ￭ ￭ Ms. Brown – Spewed quite a long, but interesting question: “Who is taking the lead on making the changes to the ordinance on proposing the changes to the ordinance to discover all of the conditions and the changes that were talked about, who particularly, are related to the subcommittees?” Ms. Hartnett was unsure, but was willing to find out. – Admitted to only raising the question because, based on this discussion, those committees do not exist anymore. ￭ ￭ Mr. Jacobsen – Emphasized more on Mr. Santillan’s point from our last discussion(s), which focused on doing more outside our once-a-month meetings. The aim being to meet separately, wherever and whenever we can, so that we can get twice if not three times as much work done. ￭ ￭ Mr. Santillan – Talked about what he and Mr. Santos have been doing and observing lately, art-wise. ￭ ￭ Ms. Brown – Said she personally asked for a strategic plan to be on the agenda, considering the many questions she had regarding the last plan. (Anything more that was up for concern she addressed, as well.) ￭ ￭ Mr. Jacobsen – Noticed we were the only committee that required a strategic plan. Questioned if having one was beneficial or not. 3  Cultural Commission January 13, 2020 ￭ ￭ Mr. Santillan – Turned to Ms. Brown for her thoughts on having a strategic plan. (Mr. Jacobsen: “Does [having one] serve us well?”) ￭ ￭ Ms. Brown – Said that to have a strategic plan is “to look forward, not just for the next sixth months or next year.” ￭ ￭ Mr. Santillan – Contributed his views on the idea of a strategic plan, too. Thinks we should focus our attention on our storefronts, on public art—whatever is most publicly visible to make our efforts known. – Asked Mr. Jacobsen on his thoughts. ￭ ￭ Mr. Santillan – Provided some ideas and examples to help our strategic plan along. Mr. Jacobsen, Mr. Smith, and Ms. Brown would offer some ideas as well, along with some advice for an ‘effective’ strategic plan. ￭￭ Ms. Lively – Reminded us of the events coming up that equally required our attention.  Discussion and possible action on a Public Art Program. ￭￭ All – Agreed to save this subject for future discussion.  Discussion, updates and possible action on upcoming art/cultural programming, including the City of Bedford Tree Lighting, ArtsFest, and Twilight Concerts. ￭￭ Ms. Hartnett – Provided updates on ArtsFest. (Note: The ArtsFest event is April 4th, from 10:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. at the Boys Ranch.) ￭￭ Mr. Jacobsen – Pointed out one the frustrating fact that, although growing, it is not growing as fast as we would like. Hoped we had any thoughts on additional communication or another to get word out. ￭￭ Mr. Smith – Asked how we can upgrade(?) artists who participate. Mr. Santillan responds to his question—telling him what he and Sergio have been doing to solve this supposed problem. ￭￭ Ms. Hartnett – Understood that, because we all come from different places, from different backgrounds and with different things, we expect to see something new; something that appeals to us. Therefore, suggesting we “take some homework back for the next meeting” which involves coming up with places/things we would otherwise like to see advertised at ArtsFest. ￭￭ Mr. Jacobsen – Followed up on one of Mr. Smith’s points. The desire being “to go from a craft show to an arts show.” ￭￭ Mr. Santos – Expressed the importance of encouraging what is here—the people that make up our community—instead of trying to attract others from elsewhere, like Richardson or Grapevine, for the sake of bringing more art and culture into Bedford. Local support and the maintaining of positive attitude about the art (and voices) that exists here are what is important. – Had been given an e-mail (cob.events@bedfordtx.gov) after expressing his stance on supporting local artists, the ArtsFest, etc. 4  Cultural Commission January 13, 2020 ￭ ￭ Listed off events to come: ArtsFest (April 4th), HEB Reads plus the Chalk Walk (both May 2nd). Also, in May, the Twilight Concert series—only on Fridays (May 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th). ￭￭ Ms. Hartnett – Asked if we had any questions on the events covered, especially ArtsFest. ￭￭ Mr. Santillan – Recalled an art show he and Mr. Santos were having over in Hurst, and another here in Bedford, but at the Central Arts. ￭￭ Ms. Hamm – Invited us to a function of her own; the TAG Gallery. ADJOURNMENT There being no additional business, Mr. Santillan made a motion for adjournment of the meeting; Mr. Jacobsen seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 8:14 P.M. Thomas Jacobson, Chairperson 5