Public Art Committee

Public Art Committee Summary Minutes Tuesday, October 10, 2023 5:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. In person at General Services Department, 2011 Fay Street Durham, NC 27704 For more information on how to join, visit: https://durhamnc.gov/453/Public-Art-Committee Committee Members Present Mya Castillo-Marte, Chair Laura Ritchie Eliza Redmann JP Trostle Ann King Student Member Bren Veinrich-Felling Committee Members Absent Jaime Chavez Myra Weise Lana Dennis (excused) Michelle Smith Lee Nisbet Student Member David Ojo Oliver Hess (excused) Doreen Jakob (excused) Guests and City Staff Present Ajani Anderson, City Staff Brenda Hayes-Bright, Durham County Annette Smith, City Staff Sarah Martin, Durham County Rebecca Brown, City Staff E’Vonne Coleman, Chair of Durham Cultural Advisory Board I. Call to Order and Guest Introductions a. Castillo-Marte called the meeting to order at 5:55 p.m. II. Approval of Minutes a. There were not enough members present for quorum. The September meeting minutes will be approved in the November meeting. III. Adjustments to the Agenda a. None IV. Announcements  a. City of Durham i. City staff announced that the Cultural Roadmap community survey is available for Durham residents to take and the planning group has received over 500 completed surveys and 200 incomplete surveys. Staff asked that Public Art Committee (PAC) members help promote the survey through their networks by distributing marketing materials. ii. The Cultural Planning Group has also finalized contracts with the Creative Community Partners (CCP). The CCP team is diverse in artistic disciplines and members are dedicated to reaching multiple groups (race, sexuality, gender, ability). For more information, see the Cultural Roadmap website. b. Durham County i. Brenda Hayes-Bright introduced the new Durham County Public Art Coordinator, Sarah Martin, who joined the County on September 25th. ii. The County is looking or artists to design a wrap for the new County vehicle, “DCO on The Go.” There are opportunities for adult artists (18+) and for students (6th – 12th grade). For more information, see: https://www.dconc.gov/dcoonthego. Information will also be in the October newsletter from staff. c. PAC members i. On October 12, 2023, a subgroup of the Cultural Roadmap Planning Group is gathering at Fosters Market on Chapel Hil Blvd at 11:30 to meet with Steve Schewel. Artists or residents wanting to engage with the cultural planning process are encouraged to join. V. Old Business a. New PAC Member Recommendations. i. There are three full vacancies (Patricia Harris, Christina Perkins, and Molly Matlock resigned from PAC) and one student vacancy. PAC members were asked to review and submit votes about their preferred candidates from PAC applications. They will recommend four members for three positions, and since there is one student who has applied, they will submit one name for student membership. ii. Staff suggested that because PAC is not at quorum this meeting, they will host a discussion on applicants and solicit votes via email. iii. Members were impressed with the applicant pool, and have the same four top members, although not ranked in the same order. iv. Samantha Gonzalez applied for a full member position but is currently a student, so will be recommended to fulfill the student vacancy. v. Members discussed the applicants’ strengths, including diverse artistic backgrounds, identities, and expertise. PAC members ranked their top four applicants as: 1. Tony Santiago 2. Jalen McGee 3. Alexis King 4. Sierra Thorne  vi. These recommendations will be brought forth to the absent PAC members, for their recommendation. Once confirmed, the recommendations will be brought forth to the Durham Cultural Advisory Board for their vote of approval. VI. New Business a. Vice-Chair Recommendation i. JP Trostle was nominated as vice-chair by all members present (5), with Trostle abstaining. The Chair directed staff to solicit the members who were not present to recommend or abstain from recommending JP Trostle as the new Vice-Chair. If the majority are in favor, the recommendation will be brought forth to the Durham Cultural Advisory Board for approval in their October meeting. b. Task Force Goal Description & Member Volunteers i. Cultural Roadmap 1. Lana Dennis joined the Cultural Roadmap group from the Public Art Committee. 2. Evonne Coleman, chair of the Durham Cultural Advisory Boad, asked the role of the Cultural Roadmap group. Originally this subgroup was convened to advocate for public art within the new cultural roadmap process. Thus far, there hasn’t been opportunity to do that outside of stakeholder meetings. Ritchie provide more information on the role of the PAC members involvement in the Cultural Roadmap and that to date, the upcoming work for the PAC members did not have clarity. Currently, the Cultural Roadmap is in the significant input stage, and PAC has previously recommended people who needed to be in the interviews and focus groups. The next opportunity is participating in the internal visioning sessions (November 16, 2023) to hear community responses from the consultants. ii. Capacity Building 1. None. iii. Implicit/Explicit Bias 1. None. iv. PAC members are interested in supporting the development of new UDO guidelines to align with Durham’s goals for public art in the Durham community. Members discussed the possibility of making this a committee-wide special project with an assigned coordinator. Members also discussed the benefits of focusing committee-wide on special projects rather than prioritizing separate task forces. Members prefer to use a zoom rather than meeting in-person. c. Retreat Planning, DEI Training Discussion i. The PAC annual retreat has been rescheduled to February or March of 2024, and discussions on its content will take place in later meetings. VII. Public Questions  a. None VIII. Adjournment a. PAC members shared that the Zine Machine festival will happen at the Durham Fruit on Sunday, October 15, 2023. b. Castillo-Marte suggested that PAC members visit Greensboro, talk with the public art team about their arts strategies, especially some innovation that happened during the pandemic, and see public art in Greensboro. c. Castillo-Marte adjourned the meeting at 7:25 p.m. For updates on City of Durham’s Public Art Projects, visit: https://durhamnc.gov/3319/Current-Public-Art-Projects For updates on Durham County’s Public Art Program, visit: https://www.dconc.gov/county-departments/departments-a-e/engineering-and-environmental- services/durham-county-public-art-program Respectfully Submitted, Ajani Anderson