Public Art Committee

Durham Cultural Advisory Board’s PUBLIC ART COMMITTEE Meeting, July 15, 2015, 8:30 a.m. at Durham Arts Council Members Present: _X_ Kathy Bartlett _X_ Margaret DeMott _X_ Dan Ellison ___ Jeffrey Goldman ___ Noel James ___ Erika Martinez _X_ Chris Ogden (Chair) _X_ Charlene Reiss _X_ Julie Rhodes __ _ Katie Seiz ___ Karen Slotta _X_ Pamela Taylor ___ Gail Williams OEWD Staff Present: None. Also Present: Trish Creta, Rosemarie Kitchin 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 May 20, 2015 meeting. Kathy Bartlett seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously. OEWD City Liaison Hiring Update: Ogden reported that the city had 4 candidates in the final round for the position. In person interviews were offered to the top 2 candidates, but each of them declined the position due to short start dates and/or short timeframes between phone and in person interviews. The other 2 candidates were interviewed in person by a 10-person panel. OWED decided to post the position again. Discussion included suggestions that top candidates could easily require a couple months from the start of the process to their start date. Consensus was that we hope OEWD will reach out to the previous top two candidates and encourage them to re-apply. Dan Ellison pointed out how important it is to have a City liaison person for the arts and culture. Concerns were raised and discussed that if the new position will be 70% economic development and only 30% arts, that the City will suffer. Police Headquarters Task Force Update: Charlene Reiss reported that at the recent City Council meeting, Renee Leverty, Chris, and Charlene presented to the council. They were well received, and Councilman Don Moffitt requested that they return to another council meeting to present more information and visuals, particularly around what the City would “get” for the full 1% funding (~$600K) and for a $250K-$300K price point. Reiss noted that it July 15, 2015 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 1 of 3 felt like the council was on board with the idea of public art, but they’re a bit cautious about the costs. Ogden shared that he has been trying to find information on Return on Investment (ROI) for Public Art projects, but that most of the concrete information seems to be around ticketed art events. He has inquiries into the American for the Arts, and at the SmART update Sherry DeVry’s said she was working on ROI information. The PAC needs to write up a statement of work for a professional public art consultant to help us prepare a best practice business case for integrated public art in the HQ buildings, for their various constituents. The presentation will include education around public art 101, best practice process of site specific/funding/rfp/management, comparables to other cities, ballpark costing figures, ROI of public art, etc. Trish Creta with the City of Durham General Services reported that recent meetings with the architects (O’Brien Atkins) and builder (LendLease) have been productive. Meetings have addressed community input and security, etc. Feedback from the meetings that there is too much surface parking. However, initial inquires are that the ~85 public spaces will be needed. They are exploring whether public parking is an option for the parking deck on the site, but preliminary input is that the police need the entire deck secured for staging, etc. One possibility being explored is of diagonal street parking. The height of the new building will be limited to 5 stories due to various constraints like security and usage. They are looking into costs for incorporating the Carpenter building (current home of El Centro) into the design. It’s not in bad condition, but would need unfitting to meet police department needs. The Chevy Land building has a beautiful façade but is in the middle of everything else and would be too limiting to remain. Discussion ensued about Charlottesville, VA as an example of a parking deck that has integrated police in the bottom levels, public parking above, includes retail on the ground floors, and is wrapped in public art. Ellison pointed out that Charlotte is another good example of public art integrated into parking decks. Creta is hoping to do a presentation to the city council on August 6 regarding the project. Kathy Bartlett noted that media coverage of the recent community meeting was great. Creta pointed out that General Services has a positive track record for meeting usage needs in creative, aesthetically pleasing ways – such as the movable railings inside DPAC. Reiss pointed out that while the idea of leveraging existing budget items in artistic ways (eg, use current budget for security barriers in creative public art applications), that additional funds are likely to be needed to commission best practice public artists for site-specific, integrated works. July 15, 2015 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 2 of 3 New PAC Member Appointments: Ogden noted that scoring on new member applications indicated that there are 5 top candidates (out of 6 applications). Kathy Bartlett made a motion to appoint the top 5 applicants. Pam Taylor seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously to appoint as new or returning members to the PAC: Gail Williams, Katie Seiz, Nola Paterni, Jennie Barbour, Sarah Serventi. Civil Rights Mural update: Ogden reported that the artist reports that the mural is scheduled for completion at the end of July 2015. It needs official wording for credit from the city. There are questions on documentation – key? plaque? brochure? Discussion of who coordinated an “unveiling” event, possibly on Sept 12? Are there audio options available? DDI and DCVB should have an interest in the signage for the mural. Julie Rhodes made a motion to ask OEWD to officially request the Durham Public Affairs Office to project manage the event, including coordination with the County, DCVB, and Federal/State representatives. Charlene Reiss seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously. Margaret DeMott and Dan Ellison expressed their interest in a membership role helping the event, but not in a leadership role in assisting with the event planning. SmART update: DeMott reported that a recent SmART meeting included many stakeholders. The DAC and State Arts Council are meeting to determine next steps. Dan Ellison made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Charlene Reiss seconded the motion. It passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:00 am. July 15, 2015 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 3 of 3