Public Art Committee

Durham Cultural Advisory Board’s PUBLIC ART COMMITTEE Meeting, February 17, 2016, 8:30 a.m. at Durham Arts Council Members Present: _X_ Kathy Bartlett _X_ Margaret DeMott _X_ Dan Ellison _X_ Julie Rhodes _X_ Chris Ogden (Chair) _X_ Charlene Reiss _X _ Katie Seiz _X_ Jennie Barbour _X_ Pamela Taylor _X_ Sarah Serventi ___ Nola Paterni ___ Gail Williams OEWD Staff Present: None. Also Present: Nancy Trovillion and Sherry DeVries The meeting was called to order by Chair Chris Ogden at 8:31 a.m. Ogden reported that Gail Williams emailed him that the minutes were not yet complete. Nancy Trovillion from the North Carolina State Arts Council (NCARTS) gave an update on the SmART Project. The committee has received several presentations on the whole project. Durham is one of 5 towns in cities to receive this funding. The time is ripe to begin phased implementation of Mik Young Kim’s Vision Plan. Trovillion suggested that NCARTS could fund a small portion (~$35,000) to kickoff the first piece of the project while the city is waiting for a decision on its submitted NEA grant. Charlene Reiss moved that the PAC support moving ahead with planning for the implementation of the portion of the plan involving the design of a more appealing railroad crossing area at the intersection of Corcoran and Ramseur and return with a tangible plan for PAC’s review. Margaret DeMott seconded the motion which passed unanimously. This initial project could include ground plane art, lights and garage wraps. Charlene stressed the importance of inviting community participation from those most affected. Sherry DeVries indicated that work is continuing on coordinating SmART and DDI’s Downtown Master Plan. After discussion, Katie Seiz moved that the committee formally request OEWD’s help in bringing the Durham Transportation Hub Project to fruition using at a minimum the already allocated funds. Reiss seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Kathy February 17, 2016 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 1 of 4 Bartlett agreed to chair a PAC Taskforce on the transportation hub project with Sarah Serventi, Jennie Barbour, Katie Seiz, and Chris Ogden as members. It was agreed that the first steps were to confirm the amount of funding available, which should be at least $45K ($15K from the last three years of CIP plus City Council approved $30K budget) and maybe $70K. Then we need to identify the appropriate person to work with in the transportation department since Mark Ahrendsen may be retiring in April. The committee stressed the importance of involving the community in the process, including those who ride the busses, drivers passing by, and bus drivers/related personnel. It was suggested that we connect with Freelon to understand their un- funded plans/ideas originally. Discussion ensued around using an RFP vs. RFQ. Current thoughts are that RFPs are frowned on, for burden artists with working for free. Rather, we should do an RFQ or hybrid to identify top teams, then interview top three. The SmART team provided $1,500 honorariums to the top three for them to pitch project specifics. Sherry DeVries recommended that some of the funding be used to hire a professional public art consultant to oversee the project since the committee does not have the expertise to manage the process from end-to-end and given OEWD’s announcement last month, it seems unlikely that OEWD staff will be made available to provide day to day management. Ogden shared multiple links to the Raleigh Arts Plan (also in dropbox) and encouraged the committee to review them in advance of our next meeting. He suggested we pay particular attention to their organizational and funding models, and consider how they may or may not be applicable to Durham. For instance, their Arts Commission started in their City Manager’s office and moved to their very large Parks and Rec Department. There were pros/cons for both locations. They are leveraging their current “home” to use their deep neighborhood presences to deliver their art “products.” Discussion to follow at a subsequent PAC meeting. Charlene Reiss reported that the new police headquarters seemed quiet and that they seem to be focusing on new police chief search. It was noted that we followed up again with OEWD, but are still waiting for a green light from Kevin Dick to make introductions with us to Bill Gascoigne, Senior Program Manager at Durham Police Department who is overseeing the HQ project. Charlene will also follow up with General Services to see about an update. Several members of the committee discussed the possibility of attending the American for the Arts New Community Visions Forum on March 9 in Charleston WV. DeMott said that DAC may be sending someone also. If so, carpooling could be great. Dan Ellison reported that his students were working on an audio description project of nine downtown public art sculptures. He will send Ogden a written abstract for distribution to the Committee. Ogden reported that the NEA grant is available in the committee’s Drop Box. He suggested that folks read it for the excellent background info it contains, part of our ongoing training. February 17, 2016 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 2 of 4 Ogden reminded the Committee that, in January’s joint meeting, Kevin Dick asked that the committees provide him with specific motions about interim assistance requests. Discussion ensued to create such a list. Reiss moved that the committee formally request OEWD’s help for the following list. Serventi seconded the motion which passed unanimously: Bus Station Project Formally request OEWD help in bringing the Durham Transportation Hub Project (ie, downtown bus station) to fruition in this fiscal year, using the already allocated funds at a minimum. Next steps include: * Create a PAC Taskforce to help facilitate this project. It shall be comprised of Kathy Bartlett (chair), Sarah Serventi, Jennie Barbour, Katie Seiz, and Chris Ogden. * Confirm the Project Budget with OEWD. We understand that there is at least $45K ($15K back monies from CIP plus $30K the City Council Approved in FY15- 16 budget), but we’ve heard there may actually be as much as $70K. * Request hiring a public art professional consultant to oversee the project. Given OEWD’s personnel constraints, can they contribute extra funds to outsource what would normally be their work? We anticipate that the person shall manage the process end to end, including writing hybrid RFQ/P, organizing community charrettes/surveys, marketing via national/local artist calls and specific invitations, and then managing the call, semi-final artist pitches/honorarium payouts, artist selection, contracting, design, installation, et al). * Meet with Durham Transportation Department’s Mark Ahrendsen (and/or his designee if he’s retiring in April) Understand the Project Space & Constraints (eg, just inside the building, or inside and outside of building, and/or connect with adjacent land?) Learn about architects’ un-funded space plans/ideas Given that the location is a defacto gateway to the city, is it an “official” gateway too? On the Open Space plan? note: be sure to solicit community(s) pre-design phase input from those who ride the bus (at different times of day and days of the week), Megabus folks, drivers passing by, tourists, etc.) Interim City Employee Support * PAC/CAB Website Updates - we agreed to wait for Peter’s replacement to get the website updated. Now that we won’t have access to him, how can we get the members’ names updated and the minutes posted, etc.? February 17, 2016 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 3 of 4  * PAN Membership Renewal for PAC and CAB- ask them to please renew the Public Art Network membership. It expired in November and would be helpful on multiple fronts, including options for our transition from OEWD. It’s a solid investment for a relatively low fee. * Provide a City Employee liaison contact for successful completion and funding disbursements for the Durham Transportation Hub Project (see above) Budget for a Public Art Professional Staff Position This will be our fourth (?) consecutive year requesting this. It is a critical need. We are not aware of a single City employee resource who is a public art professional and “wakes up every morning asking how can we improve Durham’s public art and creative peacemaking.” We understand that this person is unlikely to be housed at OWED (give their desire to sever CAB/PAC support responsibilities). However, we are entering another budget cycle and OWED is still our affiliated department for budget requests. We anticipate that when our new “home,” is determined, any resulting budget, and personnel, would transfer accordingly. This position would call for a national search for an medium-high level person, specifically from the public art profession, who would be both a strategic thinker/relationship builder and also able to implement projects. (Chris’ note: the anticipated salary would likely be in the $60-80K range.) Budget for a 2016-2017 Public Art Project OEWD has been the conduit for public art funds from the City. Like this year, with the bus station project, we request that they ask for public art funds. If this is amenable, the PAC will work on describing a specific proposal (given the City's stated preference for funding tangible projects, rather than following the Percent for Art method). We anticipate a request in the $70-$100K range. We want to be sure that we at least get a placeholder in the budget process. Consensus was to defer discussion of filling the two open PAC positions and identifying committee needs for next year’s members. A motion to adjourn by Serventi was seconded by Reiss and unanimously passed at 10:15 a.m. Respectfully submitted by Kathy Bartlett. February 17, 2016 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 4 of 4