Public Art Committee

Public Art Committee Meeting Summary Minutes Tuesday, June 11, 2024, 5:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Location: 2011 Fay St. 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 Jaime Chaves Tony Santiago Lana Dennis Molly Trask Mark Iwinski JP Trostle, Vice-Chair Eliza Redmann Student Members Oliver Hess Bren Vienrich-Felling Committee Members Absent Alexis King Ann King Student Members Melinda Love Samantha Gonzalez Myra Weise City, County and Guests Present Rebecca Brown, City of Durham Rachelle Sickerott, City of Durham Brenda Bright, Durham County Annette Smith, City of Durham Stephanie Minor, City of Durham I. Call to Order and Guest Introductions a. The meeting was called to order at 5:45 p.m. by Chair Mya Castillo-Marte. II. Approval of Minutes a. MOTION: To approve May 2024 meeting summary minutes b. ACTION: Approved. (11-0) (Chaves, Trostle 2nd) III. Adjustments to the Agenda a. Current student member Bren Vienrich-Felling will be recommended for appointment as a full committee member in order to make room for another student member. IV. Announcements a. City of Durham i. The Poet Laureate program had 16 applicants. Durham’s Poet Laureate should be appointed by the Mayor sometime in late summer. ii. Three agenda items were approved by City Council.  1. $800,000 in American Rescue Plan (Also known as American Resue Plan or ARPA) money to go to Hayti Heritage Center to support artists through stipends and developmental activities. 2. Funding has been received for the South Ellerbe Restoration Project. City Council approved the contract amount for artists to be raised from $50,000 to $95,400. 3. The banners on Corcoran Street parking garage will be repaired due to weather damage. The City is contractually obligated to replace and repaired them until 2028. a. Eliza Redmann enquired if the additional funding for the South Ellerbe project is for additional artists. Rebecca Holmes responded that the additional money is to support the current artists expanded scope of work. Additionally, costs have risen since the artists went into contract, and the City wants to ensure that the vision for the project is feasible to execute. Holmes also stated that more public art will likely be added to the site in the future. b. Mya Castillo-Marte asked if the artwork will be the same for the Corcoran Street garage repair. Holmes responded that the installation will be the same design as previously. c. Laura Richie gave additional comments on ARPA funds going to Hayti Heritage Center to support artists. Richie encouraged members to continue to advocate for this type of funding for artists. b. Durham County i. Durham County’s Dco On the Go contest winners were chosen and presented with their awards. Three adults and three youths were chosen. The adult winners, in order, are: Janice Little, Brandon Hampton, and Aaron Overington. The youth winners, in order, are: Jena Im, Erin Lee, and Dahlia Louis. The top winner of the adult category will get their design on the sides of the County vehicle, and the top youth category winner will get their design on the back. The County hopes to have the vehicle finished by 2026. V. Old Business a. PAC Re-appointment Recommendations i. Reappointment of Oliver Hess (student, 2nd term) and appointment of Bren Vienrich-Felling (1st term as non-student member). Vienrich-Felling expressed interest in serving as member of the Public Art Committee, instead of a student member. PAC members discussed and were in agreement. 1. MOTION: To recommend the re-appointments of Oliver Hess as a student member and Bren Vienrich-Felling as member of the Public Art Committee to the Durham Cultural Advisory Board for their review and approval. 2. ACTION: Approved (11-0) (Richie, Dennis 2nd) b. PAC Chair and Vice-Chair Nomination i. Mya Castillo-Marte opened the floor for anyone wanting to self nominate and invited members to think of the two positions as Co-Chair positions. Castillo- Marte nominated Lana Dennis as PAC Chair. Laura Richie nominated Jamie Chavez as Vice-Chair. 1. MOTION: Recommend to DCAB the officers, Chair and Vice-Chair, for appointment 2. ACTION: Approved (8-0) (Castillo-Marte, Trostle 2nd) c. PAC New Member Discussion and Recommendation i. Castillo-Marte shared information on where new PAC members can access information for the committee such as meeting minutes, agendas, presentations,  contact information, and duties. PAC membership application has been re- opened with a new deadline of June 30, 2024. There are now 4 PAC full member vacancies to fill, and 2 student PAC member vacancies to fill. Castillo-Marte suggested to the group to wait to recommend new members until the PAC meeting in July due to the amount of onboarding of new members happening during this meeting. Castillo-Marte also recommended that PAC members think about the skill sets needed in the group as they look over new member applications. Members discussed the benefits of having a full committee, such as diversity in perspectives and opinions. ii. Laura Richie began a discussion about skills sets and recruitment goals for new members. Richie mentioned the importance of the committee reflecting Durham's population demographically and representing the experiences of the population. There is a chart available to PAC which has the demographics of its members compiled. Marte-Castillo also highlighted the importance of a diverse committee, adding that those with varied arts backgrounds should be represented. Richie mentioned that age, class, and experience should be considered, as well as the length of time an applicant has lived in Durham. Marte- Castillo expanded by mentioning the looking for diverse experience and skills sets outside of the arts. Rebecca Holmes asked current members to send in a short description of their experience and skills to staff so that the committee can more readily identify where there are gaps needing to be filled. VI. New Business a. Upcoming 6 months (July-December): City Public Art presentation and discussion i. Stephanie Minor, City of Durham, Cultural and Public Art Coordinator 1. Minor gave a slideshow presentation to PAC members about recently completed and upcoming City public art projects. 2. The completed projects are as follows: a. CBAPN: Bragtown. Rebecca Holmes provided background on Celebration of Black Artistry in Public Neighborhoods (CBAPN) and some of it’s completed projects. The CBAPN project in Bragtown is a mural conceived by a grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation that honors the history of the Bragtown community, how they were founded, and their connection to Stagville Plantation. The project was funded by Participatory Budgeting funds that were approved for use by City Council. b. Durham Station Public Art Project. Artist Theresa Arico created three mosaic benches for the Durham Station. Each bench is a unique theme. PAC members and City staff were able to recommend the location for a public art project. This project was funded by Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) money, called CIP Public Art Fund. CIP is money that the City puts aside for long range projects and collaborations. Durham’s Cultural and Public Art Department gets up to 1% of CIP funds to put towards public art projects. c. Fire and EMS Station 18 Installation. Artists Katy Clune and Julia Gartrell created an installation using scanned and archived photos belonging to the fire station, as well as their own photographs of objects in the collection of the Durham Fire Department. They also created work using oral histories of retired fire fighters. This project was funded by Durham’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). d. Merrick-Moore Park Public Art. The public art at the entrance to  Merrick-Moore Park was designed and created by Cricket Forge, LLC and mosaic artist Jeanette Brossart. The work tells the history of the neighborhood and its founders John Merrick and Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore. Community members participated in the construction of the mosaic elements. Annette Smith expanded on the history of the project by commenting that it was a great example of an artist engaging with the community they are creating art for. This project was funded by Durham’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). 3. Upcoming City public art projects are as follows: a. Corcoran Street Garage Maintenance. The City’s public art project, Durham in Continuum is being replace due to storm damage. The installation, which is made of mesh banners, has torn. The City is contractually obligated to maintain the installation until 2028. Rebecca Holmes added that the replacement of the banners was approved by City Council, who has to sign off on public art projects costing more than $50,000. The project has received a national award from Americans for the Arts. It is a partnership with the Durham Arts Council and Downtown Durham Inc, as part of the Durham smART Innitiative . It was created to activate the corridor from ballpark to ballpark to encourage people to walk those routes. I. The restoration project was funded by Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) money, called CIP Public Art Fund. Eliza Reddman enquired into how public art projects get funded with CIP money. City officials responded that Durham’s Cultural and Public Art Department gets up to 1% of CIP funds to put towards Public Art. Durham County gets 1% of funds. The client department for a project will decide how much money, up to 1% that they want to use in City projects that will have art. Certain departments are not included in this resolution. Richie stated there is an opportunity to advocate for those departments who qualify but are not using this resolution to use this 1%. Redmann enquired into how the City determined the percentage amount. Holmes responded that one path to increase or determine the 1% funding is through PAC and Durham Cultural Advisory Board (DCAB) advocating for a City Council update to the current resolution. Another path would be for a city to adopt a new public art plan that lays out how art is funded. II. Mark Iwinski asked if there is any engineering being done on the new banners to ensure they won’t get damaged as well. City officials responded that the banners will be made out of a new mesh material, and there may be conversations with the fabricator about venting the material in a way to prevent  damage, if possible. b. Mural Restoration: Civil Rights Mural. The Civil Rights Mural was created in 2015. It is painted to the right of the Durham Arts Council building. The mural is fading and will be restored this year. The mural was created by artist Brenda Miller Holmes, who collaborated with Durham community members who were interested in being a part of the creation of the mural. A documentary on the creation of the mural can be seen here: Living Colors - the Durham Civil Rights History Mural Project on Vimeo c. DPLEX Acceptance Agreement. The Durham Arts Council is working with artist David Wilson to install public arts outside of the Convention Center. Funding for this project was provided to the Durham Art Council by the City of Durham’s American Rescue Plan funding. The City will be responsible for maintaining the art. d. South Ellerbe Creek Stormwater Restoration Project. The artists chosen for this project will present their proposals to PAC for approval of recommendation in the next six months. They will show their artwork and discuss their engagement process. The artists were contracted two years ago and have worked along side the project architect and landscape designers on integrating their artwork into the site. The artists scope of work has been extended, leading to an increase in funding from the City. Holmes gave background on the project site, stating it was originally a YMCA, which was then leveled, leaving a concrete pad. The City removed the pad and is restoring the area to its natural habitat. The site will also be a connection point for the Ellerbee Creek Trail and the upcoming Durham Rail Trail. The artists contracts will coincide with new construction of the site. There are three proposed art installations. One is a bench that is integrated with the landscape artist proposals. There are also several sculptural pieces. I. Reddman asked who the point person is for this project. Holmes responded that the Cultural and Public Art Program provide support to coordinate with the landscape, architects, and the construction professionals. Stephanie Minor will be the project manager for this project. e. South Arts Grant FY25 (High School Focus). A second grant from South Arts was just received for this project. This project is a partnership with Keep Durham Beautiful. It is a mural encouraging responsible clean up of cigarette litter. The second grant will be used to continue the project. PAC will learn more about the project and will receive a presentation of the final designs in the coming months. f. Participatory Budgeting: Bus Shelter Public Art Project. Southern School of Energy and Sustainability has paired with an artist to paint two murals. The artist will work with students  from the school to paint one mural at a public bus shelter and one mural on-site at the school. PAC will be presented final design proposals for the project. g. Documents: Cultural and Public Art program PAC Updates 2024 h. Mya Castillo-Marte, Chair spoke to PAC members on various topics. A summary of information discussed is below: I. The Criteria and Guiding Questions for Public Art Review is a set of guiding principles which should be used to assess project and artist proposals. II. PAC subcommittees are not mandatory, and PAC members should feel free to reassess the use of them moving forward. III. PAC will learn more about the New UDO in the coming months. The Chair encouraged members to advocate that the New UDO include public art initiatives. IV. Training for implicit and explicit bias is recommended to the group moving forward. V. JP Trostle, Vice-Chair, emphasized the importance of getting to know your group members outside of official meetings and reinforcing official meetings by dropping subcommittees. He also recommended PAC member focus on the New UDO in the short term, and the Durham Cultural Roadmap longer term. VI. PAC members should take the initiative to visit and familiarize themselves with public art pieces. VII. PAC members are encouraged to attend public meetings when possible and use opportunities to advocate for public art needs. VIII. Mya Castillo-Marte and JP Trostle, who’s terms are ending on June 30, 2024 were thanked for their service to PAC. IX. Trostle advised members to share information on and encourage people to submit to the Citys Pre- Qualified Artist Registry VII. Public Questions: None VIII. Adjournment a. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 9th, 2024, 5:45 PM - 7:15 p.m. on Zoom. b. The meeting was adjourned by Castillo-Marte at 7:15 p.m. IX. Documents a. Durham Unified Development Ordinance (municipal.codes) b. Public Art at Wheels Roller Skating Rink | Durham, NC (durhamnc.gov) c. Durham County Public Art Projects 2024 County Durham Public Art Program: https://www.dconc.gov/county-departments/departments-a-e/engineering-and- environmental-services/durham-county-public-art-program City of Durham Cultural & Public Art Program: https://www.durhamnc.gov/450/Cultural-Public-Art-Development Durham Cultural Advisory Board Agenda Center: https://www.durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/Cultural-Advisory-Board-6 Submitted respectively, Rachelle Sickerott