Public Art Committee

Durham Cultural Advisory Board’s PUBLIC ART COMMITTEE Meeting, July 20, 2016 8:30 a.m. at Durham Arts Council Members Present: X Jennie Barbour Kathy Bartlett X Margaret DeMott X Dan Ellison X Chris Ogden (Chair) Nola Paterni X Charlene Reiss Julie Rhodes X Katie Seiz X Sarah Serventi X Gail Williams General Services Present: Stacey Poston OEWD Staff Present: Brian Smith The meeting was called to order by Chair Chris Ogden at 8:30 a.m.  Chris presented the meeting minutes from the previous committee meeting, June 15, 2016.  Katie motioned to approve the meeting minutes, and Sarah seconded the motion. Chris welcomed and introduced guests Stacey Poston and Brian Smith  Stacey gave updates on the new Police Headquarters including a recap of the meeting Charlene, Chris, and Katie had with Stacey on June 27th.  The June 27th meeting included members from PAC, General Services, Police, O'Brien Atkins Associates, Triangle Art Works, and GoTriangle. Chris commended Stacey on a very productive meeting and the committee concurred about its excitement to be involved in the next planning phase for the implementation of integrated art into the complex. Initial arts locations could be in the lobby (both a huge mural and hanging elements), a long hallway running the length of the building along E. Main Street, the parking deck façade, an officer memorial, and also the outdoor public space surrounding the new police headquarters buildings.  Stacey informed the committee of each of the following designs and proposals for art in the multistory atrium lobby, street-space, and the parking deck. The Committee strongly supported meeting with the architect and General Services to explore repurposing the funds allocated to use standard brick for the Parking Deck cladding, and instead use the $100K+ funds to create a Public Art façade, possibly a programmable lighting wall that could be changed from time to time, or even used for emergency communications. July 20, 2016 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 1 of 4   Stacey went through the “imagination art board” with the entire committee, and discussed the focus on involving the intended audience, interactions with art, and the funding of the art needed for the Police Headquarters. This document and others are in a project dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ser3s67zyb1a95g/AADdFpAcmbnH6jjd5XcHeAYwa  Charlene updated the committee about the architect’s vision for a mural in the lobby. Stacey reassured the committee that the building plans would be able to accommodate appropriate lighting, hanging hardware, electricity, and Internet connectivity for various ideas about retaining murals, light art, and hanging art presented by the committee.  Chris informed the committee of the Police HQ-specific $20K in the budget for this fiscal year and a hope to fund the project more substantially.  Margaret and Charlene reminding the committee of the importance to involve the greater Durham community and to ensure there was adequate safe space inside the lobby and outside for patrons.  Charlene mentioned the importance of involving other community organizations in the process of choosing the art for the new space.  Stacey informed the committee of an opportunity to get local community buy in at the Holton School event. Charlene suggested having a table with Brian and Stacey and hopefully having a PAC/CAB member also host the tables at Holton and during CenterFest in order to get community input and buy in for the project’s public art. The committee was very interested in helping Brian and Stacey make this happen.  Chris, Brian and Stacey also discussed opportunities to use digitized police memorabilia to honor the deep history of Durham Police, including their fallen and commended officers.  The committee unanimously supported that money previously intended to be spent on bricks for the façade of the parking deck instead be spent on public art installation. The committee unanimously agreed. Chris motioned to extend the meeting until 10:30a. The committee unanimously agreed, and Brian and Stacey both committed to stay through the meeting.  Chris updated us about the letter concerning the new home of the CAB and PAC to Mayor pro tem Cora Cole-McFadden. Dan did get through to her on a phone call, but she did not appear very interested helping the CAB and PAC resolve their support needs from and issues with the City. She also thought CAB and PAC should be supported by the Durham Arts Council. It seemed unclear whether she would be replying to the letter and/or meeting with our representatives.  Brian greeted, and was welcomed by the committee. Brian gave the group an update on the $110K of RFPs issued by OEWD in June without any collaboration with the PAC. They were hurriedly done to try and encumber year end funds. They realized the error OEWD “recalled” them, but will revisiting this coming year. They were intended for place-making art needed for the neighborhood revitalization fund. July 20, 2016 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 2 of 4   Brian informed us of the City’s priority to have more public art in Black Wall Street Park at Parrish Street. The hope was to create a restful, reflective park. Margaret reminded the committee of the location of this new park, and how it would incorporate 3 parcels of greenspace.  Katie informed Brian about the work of Jessica Averhart at American Tobacco and about Tobias Rose. Both could help connect Black Wall Street to contemporary issues.  Charlene reinforced the Committee’s desire to review all RFPs for any public art in the city before they were made public. Brian agreed, and the Committee all supported further involvement in the RFP process for the city moving forward.  Katie and Margret both volunteered to send RFPs out to their artist networks moving forward.  Brian did not know the outcome our new home. Chris encouraged the committee to attend the joint meeting scheduled for later in the day with the PAC and CAB, Grace and Keith Chadwell.  Brian reaffirmed his commitment to involving the PAC in all future neighborhood revitalization projects. The committee was very excited to hear about the projects and looked forward to working with Brian.  Brian and Chris informed the committee about the DDI Main Street Lighting project. Brian informed us DDI hoped to pick an artist in August, but that OEWD would need to review the infrastructure needed, and he hoped there would be more updates for the August PAC meeting.  Chris reminded Brian of the Bus Stops project which were designed, but not all were funded/implemented. As he and Charlene shared with Grace and Brian at their April meeting, these should be “easy” projects to use last minute, year end money on, given the City has completed contracts, etc.. Chris gave the following administrative updates:  Chris outlined the $20k budget allocated by the City Council again for FY16-17.  Stacey informed the committee of “annual funding” vs CIP funding and how it can be rolled over. She informed the committee about how to “carry forward” the unspent funds from the previous fiscal year.  Chris informed the committee that we should have $50k for the previously approved transportation hub art installation, based on these budget discussions.  Stacey seconded the committee’s desire to have a staff person tasked with supporting public art.  Margaret reminded the committee of best practices for RFP vs. RFQ and how to best move forward with getting an RFQ out for the transportation hub. Margaret gave an update on the SmART Grant:  Executive meeting is scheduled for Aug 5.  Durham received the $100,000, and next step is to revise the scope of work.  The first project will be the “back porch” area. July 20, 2016 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 3 of 4 Chris alerted the committee of a new project funded by the CAB.  The CAB has allocated $4,745 of Cultural Master Plan funds for as many as three (3) 1-to-1 matching grants to local Durham businesses to work with local artists to create visible works of art for their businesses that will be visible and enjoyed by the public.  The committee discussed options of promoting this via individual business, DDI non-profits, and chamber of commerce members. Meeting adjourned at 10:30 am Respectfully submitted by Sarah Serventi July 20, 2016 Durham Public Art Committee Minutes page 4 of 4