Public Art Committee

Public Art Committee SUMMARY MINUTES Wednesday, June 19, 2019 at 8:30am General Services Department Committee Members Present Mya Castillo-Marte Chris Ogden Wade Williams Margaret DeMott* Laura Ritchie *Cultural Advisory Board (CAB) Caitlin Margaret Kelly Katie Seiz**, Chair member, ** Ex-officio CAB City of Durham Present Alex Benson, GSD Annette Smith, DPR Rebecca Brown, GSD Others Present Calvin Brett David Wilson Stephen Hayes Rachel Wexler I. Call to Order and Guest Introductions 8:37am II. Approval of Minutes I. The approval of May’s Summary Minutes will be moved to the Public Art Committee meeting on July 17, 2019. III. Adjustments to the Agenda I. Certificate of Appreciation for Chris Ogden i. The City of Durham wishes to honor Chris Ogden with a Certificate of Appreciation signed by Mayor Steve Schewel for his years of service to the Public Art Committee. Ogden has offered a series of historical files for the PAC to use as a resource. IV. Announcements and Presentations I. Black Wall Street Gardens Presentation, David Wilson and Stephen Hayes i. After receiving feedback from Public Art Committee members and two engagement sessions at Hayti Heritage Center, the artist team has been working to refine their design to fit suggestions on the content, form, and materials of the public art installation. Their refined vision spreads the work throughout multiple stations in the park and is intended to integrate with guided walks currently happening in Black Wall  Public Art Committee Street Gardens. Their presentation includes a PowerPoint of visuals along with a 3D mock-up of the park and the two design concept options developed. The goal is to use shape and form to create a timeless piece that encourages viewers to jump back in history. The artist team requests feedback from the Public Art Committee to help choose between the two designs. ii. The first option is a monumental piece made from steel, taking the shape of Durham County in an abstract form, placed upon a 9-ft diameter base that is elevated two inches off the ground. One side of the sculpture would have openings for half-relief castings of historic figures of Black Wall Street, while the second side shows a piece of metal cut to wrap the sculpture, allowing people to push and spin the piece around slowly. The base of the piece would be embellished with a compass design, creating the visual illusion of a sundial. Screenprinted graphic and text around “1906/1960” will narrative around Black Wall Street’s history. Signage will be incorporated to describe the shape of the monument and provide potential space for a QR code. iii. The second option include three kinetic pieces stationed throughout Black Wall Street Gardens. The sculptures consist of flat steel bars rolled together into a 63” steel sphere sculpture, surrounding a flat sand cast of the silhouette of a child’s head, mounted upon a human-scale steel totem pole with screenprinted graphics and text narrating the history of Black Wall Street. iv. Collectively, the committee felt more strongly towards the second design concept option presented by the artist team. However, the committee expressed that they would ultimately prefer to have both design concepts displayed in the garden if the budget allowed for it. II. Fiscal Sponsorship & Grants, Caitlin Margaret Kelly i. Keep Durham Beautiful (KDB) charges a 5% overhead fee for all contributions the City receives through the 501c3 as a fiscal agent. Since the long-term relationship would require a contract with the Public Art Committee and board approval from KDB, the fastest start date would likely be Fall 2019. Tania Dautlick is the Executive Director of Keep Durham Beautiful. III. Topic of Discussion: Neighborhood Public Art Projects i. The Calendar of Meetings allots for Discussion around the Neighborhood Public Art Program to take place on August 21 and September 18. These discussions will focus on developing what steps the Committee would like to take to plan and execute this program including: processes for the open call, neighborhood cultivation, and strategic outreach. ii. The first steps for this program include identifying a list of “target” neighborhoods that have been underrepresented in community arts programming and identifying what  Public Art Committee type of open call to put in place. Each project should have a person on the ground in the community to help manage the project while using resources provided by the City/PAC. There will be a single PAC representative tied to each neighborhood project to help facilitate, funnel questions, and set-up artist pitch sessions. The community should pick the artist that works for them, rather than the City choosing which artists match each neighborhood. iii. Each Task Force Team will have an equal hand in the process of cultivating a neighborhood public art program and the Committee will work to put together a deck of projects within the budget for neighborhoods to use as reference when planning public art in their community. V. New Business I. Calendar of Meetings, Katie Seiz i. Motion: The Public Art Committee adopts the Calendar of Meetings and Priority Goals for FY 2019-2020. (DeMott, Castillo-Marte 2nd) II. Task Force Quarterly Updates i. Moving forward, the Public Art Committee’s Task Force Teams will report out updates on a quarterly basis, rather than a monthly basis. These updates will include progress on their team’s individual priority goals. VI. Updates/Old Business I. The FENCE: Regional Showcase i. The deadline to enter as a host city for the FENCE 2020 is December 2019. The estimated cost for this project for 2020 is $15,000. The Public Art Committee will give their final decision on whether or not to move forward with this project next year at the meeting on November 20, 2019. This decision will be made by utilizing a project summary of the FENCE’s timeline in the City of Durham. II. Downtown Durham, Inc. Updates, Rachel Wexler i. Rachel Wexler proposes an upcoming agenda item for August to share upcoming projects involving public art and creative placemaking within Downtown Durham, Inc. A strategy document is to be shared for PAC members to review with information on programs like Walkable, the DJ at Durham Station, and more. ii. The Public Space Pilot Project is an activation project focused on retaining and supporting the creative and artistic cultures of Durham and upholding public spaces of convergence. The pilot program provides grants to individuals and organizations who will bring temporary, creative, free of charge experiences to downtown Durham. The  Public Art Committee deadline to apply is July 28th, 2019. VII. Adjournment 10:04am Respectfully submitted, Alexandra Y. Benson