Public Art Committee

Durham Cultural Advisory Board PUBLIC ART COMMITTEE Meeting, October 15, 2014, 8:30 a.m. Rand Board Room, Durham Arts Council MINUTES Members Present: ___ Kathy Bartlett ___ Dot Browne _X_ Dan Ellison ___ Steven Gatlin ___ Mark Hough _X_ Noel James _X_ Chris Ogden (Chair) _X_ Charlene Reiss _X_ Julie Rhodes ___ Karen Slotta _X_ Gail Williams OEWD Staff Present: _X_ Peter Coyle Also Present: Sherry DeVries, Beth Mandell, Margaret DeMott The meeting was called to order by Chair Chris Ogden at 8:31 a.m. Dan Ellison made a motion to accept the minutes of the September 24, 2014 meeting. Gail Williams seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously. Peter Coyle reported that he is moving ahead on plans to add the past minutes and other documents to the Public Art area on the City’s web site. He hopes to have the minutes on the City web before the November meeting. Ogden explained the use of the drop box set up for use by the strategic funding group. Ogden introduced Beth Mandell, a professional photographer who has offered to assist the committee on marketing and other matters. Sherry DeVries reported that she is checking on Public Art Network (Americans for the Arts) membership issues and will inform Coyle of what she finds. Ogden reported that Steven Gatlin is out of the country at the moment but his students can take on a project to take photographs and videos of public art in Durham for the DCVB web site. Ogden reported that Duke University Vice Provost for the Arts, Scott Lindroth could provide the committee with a student research intern for between 150 and 300 hundred hours of work, at no cost to the committee. The internship program focus is entrepreneurship and the intern can investigate strategic funding and other issues. Dan Ellison noted that the Duke Entertainment, Media and Arts network has an email list that might have useful contacts. The Duke Career Center keeps a list of students looking for internships. Ogden discussed the proposed new Durham Police headquarters building and suggested that the committee engage early in that project concerning possible public art opportunities. He reported on a discussion with two police officers about their interest in a public art project at that site that might both honor officers’ service and serve as a bridge to community concerns of police policies and actions. He asked for volunteers to work on building a relationship with the planning team for the headquarters project. Charlene Reiss offered to head the task force, with Ogden and Noel James as additional members. DeVries noted that the General Services Department is the lead department on City building projects. DeVries suggested that the Public Art Network has interesting data on large scale projects. She suggested the need to create a solid proposal, including a funding recommendation, for the City Manager. She shared that DAC has approached the City Manager to pitch smART funding from a public art angle. Ogden suggested that DAC and PAC coordinate their efforts, especially around public art. DeVries agreed. He suggested the possibility of reciprocal representation on the PAC and smART committees. DeVries agreed to look into the possibility, noting a potential challenge of making the smART committee too large, especially as it includes State-level people. Ogden agreed to check in with the CAB to determine their support. Julie Rhodes provided an update on the work of the strategic funding task force. Their discussions have focused on the following areas, including near term, intermediate, and long term goals: mission: To achieve substantive, “stable, and predictable source of funding for public art" (line 34 Resolution #9788) overall, and for the City of Durham’s existing 1% for Public Art Program, specifically: 1) Remove “up to” language from line 88 of Resolution #9788: 2) Cultivate relationships between the PAC/CAB and city/county officials (city council members, mayor, city manager, county commissioners, county manager, department heads, planning department personnel, etc.) to encourage and increase annual public art funding. 3) Establish relationships among the PAC/CAB and the public, local artists, and community thought-leaders to muster effective political support for annual public art funding. 4) Recruit supplemental funding, including discretionary City funds, private developer incentives, corporate sponsorship, and grants.  a. Private developer incentives should include increased, meaningful scoring weight for public art support and also purchases from local artists. 5) Invest in a professional public art consultant to help establish a substantive and sustainable stream of funding for the City of Durham’s existing 1% for Public Art Program and other public art initiatives. 6) Shepherd the creation of the Annual Public Art Plan (APAP), that is both actionable and saleable (eg, via a persuasive elevator pitch) by describing (where applicable) specifics around use of funds. In short, “If we received x funds, What would we spend them on?” Note: this is a parallel initiative from a classic percent-for-arts approach, meant to create multi-pronged, sustainable funding: a. "Impact" (ie, answering "so what" - "why" do this? why now? providing what returns to the city/citizens? etc.) b. Funding Amount Estimates (either out of pocket requirements, returns, etc.) c. Funding Source(s) (1% CIP, city budget, grants - what kind, donations, etc.) d. Dependencies (eg, financial, staffing, and legislative resources needed to complete; agreement from/cooperation with other projects’ timetables, etc.) e. Concrete Next Steps (including timeframes and measurable milestones) 7) Encourage the City of Durham to hire a full-time public art administrator. Rhodes suggested that the next steps will be: 1. Investigate other examples of public art strategic plans in other cities. 2. Review current City arts funding. 3. Join the Public Art Network. 4. Determine the uses for a consultant and the scope of information to be sought. 5. In parallel with 1% CIP funding, investigate options to propose specific project(s) funding in the City’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget. 6. Look at site specific project proposals. 7. Look at possibilities for a merger of the City and County public art committees, or a structured system for cooperation and information exchange. 8. Flesh out the strategic plan’s goals with tasks to achieve the goals. Dan Ellison suggested that the committee should focus on the SmART initiative for the next year or two. It could be a huge project that will have elements of many aspects of what the committee would like to see accomplished. DeVries explained the SmART process and that, if successful, it would be a multi-year, multi-million dollar plan. She affirmed that the Cultural Advisory Board and the Public Art Committee will be integrally involved in the process. Rhodes asked if the task force was too isolated from other considerations. Reiss suggested that the task force start by identifying needs and look at strategies to meet those needs. DeVries suggested that, while the committee needs to support the SmART process, it should also look more broadly at long term goals for the City’s public art process. Ogden reported on the discussions with the County public art committee about possibilities for a merger. He noted that the county committee does not have any funding at this time and that the committee is focused on County-owned sites and employee art. He has invited the chair of that committee, the xxx, and Katie Seitz to attend meetings of this committee. Ogden suggested that the committee look at their new inititiaves (particularly with the task force recommendations) and map what needs it may have for members with specific expertise in different areas, and their availability. If gaps are found, identify potential members that might fill those gaps. Once identified, make a recommendation to the Cultural Advisory Board, which appoints the committee members. He noted that the committee does not have a maximum number of members, but of course we want to balance size with workability. The committee agreed they would consider needs and potential candidates. Coyle reported that the Civil Rights Mural Project has faced additional weather-related delays but is moving closer to completion in November. The contract has been extended to December 31, but the artist hopes it will not take that long. He reported that the Downtown Durham, Incorporated sculpture donation should be completed by early November. The contract process is moving forward on the Liberty Arts sculpture donation. The matter is scheduled for a City Council vote on November 3. Ogden and Coyle reported on Office of Economic and Workforce development’s plans to look at potential departmental funds that can be focused on public art projects in the current fiscal year. Dan Ellison made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Charlene reiss seconded the motion, which passed at 10:01 a.m.