Cultural Commission

CITY OF DANBURY CULTURAL COMMISSION 256 Main Street Danbury, Connecticut 06810 203 797 4508 June 27, 2022 Minutes of the Meeting Meeting called to order, in person and as a video conference call, by Chairman Harvey Center at 6:30 pm with Commissioners: John Cherry, John Cooke, Alma Faham, Ed Moore, Perry Price, Gregory Smith, and Coordinator Gregory Wencek. Absent: Mary Burke and Cheryl Hill. Presentation of Minutes The Minutes of the May meeting were presented. A motion by GSmith to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by JCooke. Passed by unanimous voice vote. Correspondence EMail: 1. Invoice for Make Music Day $700 and various other exchanges for the project 2. Carillon concert at St. James’ 3. W-9s for literary contest winners Mail: Thank you from HAT scholarship recipient Andre Luiz Saes dos Santos Phone: Reports on DCC sponsored events ○ Richter Association for the Arts ■ * Eric Clark and Jung Won Yoon - Sunday, May 29⋅3:00 – 4:30pm HCenter: Very nice ■ * 2022 Member Art Show - May 2:00 – 5:00pm ○ Connecticut Open House Day 2022 Saturday, June 11⋅11:00am – 4:00pm ○ Make Music Day Tuesday, June 21 41 performers at 11 locations around Main Street Danbury events not sponsored by the Commission ○ Danbury Music Centre ■ Marian Anderson painting unveiling Friday, June 3⋅5:30 – 6:30pm GWencek: the artist did very well capturing the energy of Marian Anderson. The painting is on permanent display in the Marian Anderson Performance Hall. ■ Community Band- Danbury Music Centre Sunday, June 26 4-6pm ○ City Center Danbury ■ Street Festival - Saturday, June 4⋅12:00 – 6:00pm GWencek: Well attended, bith with displays and attendees. ■ Danbury Summer Concert Series Friday, June 17⋅7:00 – 10:00pm ■ Dancing Under The Stars - Thursday, June 23⋅6:30 – 8:30pm ○ Mad Hatters On Top of the World - Saturday, June 4⋅7:00 – 8:30pm ○ Greek Experience Festival Friday, June 10 - 12 ○ Danbury Brass Band A musical celebration of Fathers' Day, Flag Day and Juneteenth - Danbury Brass Band Sunday, June 19⋅2:00 – 3:15pm ○ Danbury Museum ■ Music in the Garden Saturday, June 4⋅4:00 – 6:00pm ■ Guided Tours of 4 Danbury Museum Historic Buildings on our Main Street campus Minutes of the Meeting Page 1 of 6 Approved: July 25, 2022 NOTE: Additional and supporting information can be found in the files at the Commission office.  CITY OF DANBURY CULTURAL COMMISSION 256 Main Street Danbury, Connecticut 06810 203 797 4508 ■ The outdoor exhibit panels are installed. ○ City Center Danbury Farmer's Market - Friday, June 24⋅10:00am – 2:00pm until Oct 29, 2022 ○ Danbury Railway Museum ■ Steel & Wheels car show, this year to benefit Special Olympics Danbury June 11 ○ Palace Theater Danbury ○ Galleries ■ Gallery of the Visual and Performing Arts Center WCSU Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension ■ Scratching the Surface: David Haislip - Gallery at Still River Editions 128 E Liberty St. ■ in VIEW project ● WCSU Upcoming events See addendum Coordinator’s Report ● 2021/2022 Fiscal Year is closed ● Literary Contest Finished payments ● Make Music Day Jun 21, 2022 ○ Grant funds report is due in July ○ Not all of the 41 Artists lined up were able to perform (inclement weather) ○ Actual Danbury venues ■ Mothership Bakery & Cafe Performers not confirmed ■ Kennedy Park ■ Salvation Army ■ Urban Sculpture Park ■ 1 Kennedy Flats ■ Danbury City Hall ■ PO-YO ■ Danbury Library ■ Danbury Railway Museum ■ Under the Palace Theater Marquee ○ Congratulations to all who took part in National Make Music Day! ■ More than 3,000 music-making events took place in the U.S. on June 21, along with performances by thousands more musicians in 120 countries around the world who celebrated the day. ■ Check out 134 press clips about Make Music Day 2022, from media outlets in 60 U.S. cities, to learn about events you may have missed! ● Designs for Danbury ○ Updated rules submitted to Greg and Alma for review ○ These rules are based on the literary contest rules ● Application started for Supporting Arts Grant Program ○ The Supporting Arts grant program provides general operating support to help Connecticut’s arts organizations and municipal arts departments cover programmatic costs associated with their mission-related work. This type of grant is flexible and gives the grantee the ability to use the funds where they are most needed. Minutes of the Meeting Page 2 of 6 Approved: July 25, 2022 NOTE: Additional and supporting information can be found in the files at the Commission office.  CITY OF DANBURY CULTURAL COMMISSION 256 Main Street Danbury, Connecticut 06810 203 797 4508 ○ Application Deadline: Monday, August 1, 2022 at 11:59 PM ○ Funding Period: October 1, 2021 - September 30, 2022 ○ I explained to Finance Dept.that this is a one-time grant and have asked for their assistance ● Held a meeting with Brian Clements, Poetry judge, re: A cooperative venture with WCSU for "Poetry Meet-ups" bringing students from communities across the state to Danbury to mingle with Danbury students and workshop poetry (and/or short story) ideas and processes. ○ The Commission could provide busses to bring students to Danbury ($800/day) ○ The Commission could pay for instructors for the workshop ($500 each) ○ The Commission could provide a venue for a public reading ○ WSCU could provide meals ○ WCSU could provide a location for the workshop ● Held a meeting to discuss producing a podcast for promoting Danbury Arts groups to the public ● The Commission should try to enhance diversity outreach ● Architecture project - No Action May 21, 2018 Appeals from Community groups: Danbury Museum and Historical Society - Brigid Guertin, Executive Director, requests $9,510 for 80 Years, 80 Objects: Celebrating the history of Danbury through unique objects. NOTE: The original request was for $14,000 but a state grant was received which reduced the amount sought from the Commission. Creation of indoor and outdoor exhibits celebrating the history of Danbury using over 80 artifacts, 5 buildings, volunteers and museum staff to facilitate access. There will be free admission thanks to the State grant for Summertime museum [children’s] access. The Danbury museum will make all ages admission free for 6 months. This request is to cover the expense of expanding the State’s grant which covers children and is for 3 months, to be for all ages and run from July 1 to December 23. BGuertin: The Museum is focused on “Equitable Access” which means reducing as many barriers to participation as possible e.g.: admission costs, notification in native languages, or bridging cultural differences. The State Office of the Arts has provided a grant to allow free access to children during the summer. The Museum has expanded that program to include free access to everyone through December. They expect approximately 600,000 people to interact with museum exhibits this year. Other Museum programs, such as the 3rd grade Lunch and learn, will continue using their general budget. The Danbury Museum is one of a few in the state with a municipal focus. JCooke: Does the City pay for programs? BGuertin: The City budget underfunds the Museum’s operating costs by $100,000 per year. Those costs are made up from grants, donations, and fees. Funding for programs, such as 80 Years, 80 Items, are a cost above those operating expenses. This grant will cover the cost of Docents and materials for 80 Years 80 Items. Old Business 1. ● Designs for Danbury - GSmith, AFaham GSmith: The proposed rules appear to be good. AFaham concurs with the emphasis on the three judging criteria should be met not one or two. Minutes of the Meeting Page 3 of 6 Approved: July 25, 2022 NOTE: Additional and supporting information can be found in the files at the Commission office.  CITY OF DANBURY CULTURAL COMMISSION 256 Main Street Danbury, Connecticut 06810 203 797 4508 Moved by GSmith to start providing information about this project to participating parties, seconded by JCooke. DISCUSSION: Still to be determined are the project timeline, the number of winning submissions, the number of and persons who will be judges, and other specifics. The Commissioners colesessed around 3 to 5 judges including some Commissioners and some business leaders and perhaps someone from the mayor's office. AFaham: should entries be reviewed for eligibility at application receipt or after all have been received? The consensus is after all have been received. HCenter: The budget proposed is $5,000. GSmith: Rizzo and NYCONN should be included in those companies asked for submissions. CALLED: Passed by unanimous voice vote. The Coordinator is instructed to move forward and provide updates for GSmith and AFaham. New Business 1. Authorization for Website renewal $200.00 Moved by PPrice to approve $200 for continuing the Website, seconded by EMoore. DISCUSSION: HCenter: this is for the URL and hosting? GWencek: Yes. CALLED: Passed by unanimous voice vote. 2. Ethnic Cultural Festival revival - PPerry PPerry would like to encourage the revival of this event. The Coordinator is asked to coordinate a potential project through the Mayor;’s office. Notes regarding previous festivals a. Residents representing nations all over the world came together over the weekend to demonstrate that the city is a true melting pot at the fifth annual (1984) Danbury Ethnic Cultural Festival at Rogers Park, despite heavy rains throughout the morning that forced cancellation of a parade. Germany, Africa, Brazil, Cambodia, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Israel, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia and Vietnam were represented. [https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Do-You-Remember-Heavy-rains-stop-parade-but-not-219782.php] b. When the Danbury Intercultural Association began it sent announcements to known ethnic groups in the greater Danbury area. Over time the nature of the relationship between different local ethcnic groups and the Association changed as the members and organization of different local ethnic related groups changed. Collaboration with the Greater Danbury Intercultural Association was also an opportunity for lesser known ethnic groups to gain recognition within the community, while it also provided a platform for all associated groups to host their own events. The Greater Danbury Intercultural Association oral history project lead them to seek out persons from the wide variety of ethnicities that make up the western Connecticut area and interview them about their heritage, their lives, and on topics they felt were important to preserve regarding their cultures. That project resulted in the forty-six tapes and five transcripts in this collection. This series contains transcripts of five of the oral history interviews conducted with local persons by the Greater Danbury Intercultural Association and some miscellaneous materials related to the annual Intercultural Festival. [https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/findingaids/ctdbn_ms064_danburyIntercultural.xml] 3. Approval to proceed with the application for State of Connecticut Supporting Arts Grant Program The consensus is to proceed with this grant application 4. Explore expanding Literary contest to include Inter-city writing workshop with WCSU (Brian Clement) Minutes of the Meeting Page 4 of 6 Approved: July 25, 2022 NOTE: Additional and supporting information can be found in the files at the Commission office.  CITY OF DANBURY CULTURAL COMMISSION 256 Main Street Danbury, Connecticut 06810 203 797 4508 a. i. POSSIBLE COSTS ARE: Transportation ($850ea)/Site rental/Meals ($?)/Instructors($500ea) The consensus is to proceed with exploring this project Action on Grant Requests: Danbury Museum and Historical Society - Brigid Guertin, Executive Director, requests $9,510. Moved by JCooke to grant $5,000 for 80 Years, 80 Items, seconded by EMoore. DISCUSSION: EMoore: What is the funding history of grants to the Museum? GWencek: see the financial report first page. The Museum does not apply to this Commission every year. CALLED: Motion to grant $5,000 to the Danbury Museum and Historical Society Authority passed by unanimous voice vote. Other Business ● Meeting with the Mayor The mayor will not be able to attend this evening. He is still catching up on meetings from last week that were rescheduled due to him having COVID. Thanks, Jonathan M. Barney - Community Services & Constituent Relations - Office of the Mayor | City of Danbury ● JCooke would like to send a letter to the Mayor’s office supporting the juvenile courthouse project. The Commissioners approve without objection. Motion to adjourn at 8:03 Made by EMoore. Passed by Unanimous voice vote. NOTE: Corporation Counsel has provided the Clerk's office with the following... Current as of 3/16/20: Effective with Gov. Lamont's Executive Order No. 7B issued on 3/14/20, the requirement of public attendance at all meetings of public agencies is suspended. Meetings are to be held remotely by conference call, videoconference, or other technology, provided that (in summary): 1) the public has the ability to view or listen to each meeting or proceeding in real time by phone, video or other technology. Therefore the Commission office had set up a video conference call which started at 6:00 on Monday evening. Commissioners and the public connected to Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82772697887?pwd=dmJkOGFlc0RGR0RpWDlodDlKZ2ErZz09 Meeting ID: 827 7269 7887 Passcode: 206245 One tap mobile: Dial by your location +19294362866,,82772697887# US (New York) +1 929 436 2866 US (New York) Meeting ID: 827 7269 7887 Passcode: 206245 Meeting ID:827 7269 7887 Passcode: 206245 The meeting started at 6:30 and was not recorded by the Commission. Minutes of the Meeting Page 5 of 6 Approved: July 25, 2022 NOTE: Additional and supporting information can be found in the files at the Commission office.  CITY OF DANBURY CULTURAL COMMISSION 256 Main Street Danbury, Connecticut 06810 203 797 4508 Upcoming events Addendum Scratching the Surface: David Haislip - Gallery at St. James’ Carillon Concert Series Still River Editions Every Wednesday in July JANUARY 24 - June 30, 2022 25 West Street - Danbury, CT Still River Editions 128 E Liberty St Suite 3, Danbury, CT 06810 Danbury 's Farmer's Market - City Center Friday, July 1⋅10:00am – 2:00pm Weekly on Trailer Box Gallery Friday, until Oct 29, 2022 Opening May 22, 2022 through August 6, 2022 Danbury Railway Museum 12 Francis J Clarke Circle- Bethel Ct. 120 White St, Danbury, CT 06810, USA With an outdoor sculpture exhibition featuring 6 artists. *Events sponsored by the Commission Western Connecticut State University Minutes of the Meeting Page 6 of 6 Approved: July 25, 2022 NOTE: Additional and supporting information can be found in the files at the Commission office.