Public Art Committee

Durham Cultural Advisory Board PUBLIC ART COMMITTEE Meeting, November 19, 2014, 8:30 a.m. Rand Board Room, Durham Arts Council MINUTES Members Present: _X_ Kathy Bartlett ___ Dot Browne _X_ Dan Ellison ___ Mark Hough _X_ Noel James _X_ Chris Ogden (Chair) _X_ Charlene Reiss ___ Julie Rhodes _X_ Karen Slotta _X_ Gail Williams OEWD Staff Present: _X_ Peter Coyle Also Present : Sherry DeVries, Kevin Lilley, Tony Waldron The meeting was called to order by Chair Chris Ogden at 8:30 a.m. Karen Slotta made a motion to accept the minutes of the October 15, 2014 meeting. Dan Ellison seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously. While we await the City’s extranet, Ogden reported that he set up an on-line files repository via dropbox as an internal working document site for committee member use on task force initiatives, to hold documents for sharing among committee members. He reported that Peter Coyle has put previous committee minutes and Cultural Advisory Board minutes on the City Web Site. The can be accessed by going to http://durhamnc.gov/ich/cb/oewd/Pages/OEWD-Monthy-Meeting-Minutes.aspx. Ogden reported that Duke University student intern Nick Orr will be available 150 to 300 hours in coming weeks to work on strategic funding models based on research into other cities’ models. He reported that Coyle arranged Public Art Network accounts for Orr and several committee members through a new City membership in Americans for the Arts. Ogden discussed several different models for public art funding including pure percent for art programs and project by project funding systems used by different cities. He cautioned about reliance on any single funding approach (eg, even if we get substantial “percent” funding, it would still be subject to fluctuations in relevant capital projects and thus may not provide sustainable funding.) In response, he underscored this committee’s’ long term efforts to create a multi-dimensional web of funding to include percent-for-arts, project-based, grants, donations, corporate sponsorships, and developer partnerships. 19-Nov-2014 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 1 of 3 He reported that Colin Copeland from Cactus Consulting Group, LLC is a co-captain of Code for America and is willing to create a programming project to model percent for art funding when the City’s Open Data provides access to raw numbers for capital improvement budgets and projections. Ogden led the committee in a discussion of evolving committee membership needs. The committee discussed ways to attract people with specific knowledge and strengths that could benefit the committee’s work, as well as the need for greater diversity across all measures (including economics and geographies) on the committee and for representation from the community. key agencies and partners. Ogden will report on this to the Cultural Advisory Board, which appoints committee members. As strategic funds task force chair Julie Rhodes is traveling and could not attend the meeting, Ogden reported that the task force has created a working mission statement and goals statement (see October minutes). The next phase will be looking at specific tasks to advance the goals. Gail Williams suggested that additional interns might be appropriate to help with research. Ogden introduced Tony Waldron, an artist and Duke researcher who works in non-traditional art and creates pop-up exhibits. Waldron indicated that he attended to learn more about the committee, as he would be interested in getting involved. Karen Slotta discussed the first draft for an annual public art plan She discussed the structure of the document noting some examples of projects already under way: 1. A “why” statement 2. A potential projects summary a. New police headquarters b. SmART grant initiative c. Gateways projects d. Bull City Connector bus shelters – an ongoing Durham Transportation Department project with Mark Ahrendsen from that department and Steve Gaddis from Durham Area designers leading the planning and design process e. Electrical transformers project. Downtown Durham Incorporated is the lead agency working with Duke Power. Ogden reported that Kathy Bartlett is working on a document reporting on committee accomplishment to date since its creation. Ogden provided an update on the Public Art Inventory project. He reported that Steve Gatlin had hoped to use his students to help on this project but was unable to do so. Gail Williams offered to have her students provide photographs of pieces as they are identified. The Durham Convention and Visitors bureau is working with the committee on the inventory on-line site. Charlene Reiss reported that she and her task force are looking at the new police headquarters planning to encourage incorporation of public art into the project from the very beginning. The City Council has approved a site on East Main Street for the new building. She discussed the building design concept. Kevin Lilley reported that the General Services Department will issue a 19-Nov-2014 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 2 of 3 Request for Qualifications for architects to apply for the project. He noted that public art is on the list of considerations in the project design, which is estimated at a cost of $63 million, including land purchase. Reiss showed the project timeline. The committee discussed ideas to potentially recommend for the design of public art on the site, including how the building will relate to pedestrian and vehicular flow on Main Street and how to use the work as a positive statement to both honor the police’s service and sacrifices and also help improve the relationship between the police and their community. Reiss noted that the police should symbolized as a part of the greater community, not an “other,” and that word choice is key to not setup an us vs. them mentality. Bartlett suggested researching considerations for security issues around art near police buildings, including creative use of bollards and avoiding creating blindspots. Lilley suggested that the committee work with the General Services staff on how to cooperate in the project from its genesis. He will work with Coyle to get that process started. Karen Slotta stressed the importance of the project’s architect be versed in public art. Ogden reported that the City is working on a possible Bloomberg Philanthropies grant to support a dance in the neighborhoods project for the summer of 2016. Coyle reported that his department is considering a summer youth mural project using paid students from the Summer YouthWork Internship Program. Coyle reported that a group of churches are looking, very preliminarily, at a possible project for a sculpture to memorialize victims of violence in Durham. He will provide more details as they become available. Coyle reported that the American Tobacco Campus is working on an idea for a mural it will fund on the retaining wall of the Durham Freeway across the street from the ATC south parking deck. Coyle attended a meeting with representative of ATC and the City and state transportation departments. The City will be indirectly involved as it will need to endorse the project. Ogden reported that the Al Frega sculpture, donate by Downtown Durham Incorporated has been installed in CCB Plaza. Dan Ellison made a motion to adjourn. Charlene Reiss seconded the motion. It passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:01 am. 19-Nov-2014 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 3 of 3