Easthampton City Arts Public Art Subcommittee

ECA - Public Art Subcommittee Wednesday January 19, 2022 Meeting Minutes Attendance – Pasqualina, Jamie, Marcia, Tracey, Jean-Pierre, Bob and Denise 5:00 Public Speak – n/a Approval of December 15th meeting minutes – Pasqualina requested one grammatical change. Jamie motioned for approval, Marcia seconded all approved except Bob and Denise who abstained. ~ The Metal Men, located in Chicopee, has agreed to fabricate Peter O. Zierlein’s Ferry Street Park sculpture. Estimated completion is mid-February. Pasqualina and Peter will collaborate on its transportation to site. Pasqualina will coordinate with DPW on installation of the sculpture and other park components including the wayfinding sign, posts, bike rack and bench. The deadline for the grant’s required public celebration of the park’s completion is April 30, 2022. Committee decided to dovetail the celebration with Art Walk which tentatively resumes Friday, April 1st. and an inclement weather date on April 8th. The ribbon cutting will be at 5:00 with all stakeholders invited. Light seasonal, refreshments will be offered. Denise will find out if ABB’s Food Truck Friday event could also be involved. A larger public acknowledgement of the Ferry Street Park and the National Realtors Association will be coordinated with a Mill Pond Live event in late summer. ~ The Cottage Street sculpture’s theme is: Honoring the Legacy, Past, Present and Future, of Volunteerism in Easthampton’s Arts and Culture Community. $10,000 has been secured for the project through the MCC’s Festivals Program, the American Rescue Plan Act funds (ARPA) and the Collaborative for Educational Services, a non-profit educational service agency located in Northampton. The sculpture will have a dedication plaque to Debra Tautznik and Denise Herzog. An on-site QR code will be linked to information on past ECA volunteer award recipients as well as other volunteers. Jamie warned the committee to address the possible accessibility issues associated with QR codes. The project’s RFP will be released on June 1st, 2022. With a tentative schedule as follows; application due August 1st, announcement of winner on October 1st, fabrication and installation through the winter 2022/spring 2023 and a ribbon cutting celebration to coincide with Cultural Chaos in June of 2023. Pasqualina mentioned the Spot Lot events, scheduled on three Saturdays on May, and Cultural Chaos will be ideal opportunities to advertise the sculpture project. ~ ECA's Youth Arts Initiative 2022-2023 has received funding of $30,000 from the Collaborative for Educational Services and an additional matching $30,000 in ARPA funds, creating a $60,000 project over the next two years. This intergenerational project is a collaboration with Easthampton High School, the Easthampton Council on Aging, Easthampton's Healthy Youth Coalition, and Easthampton Media as well as several other local stakeholders. These collaborators will create the foundation for a "living" story archive, (like StoryCorps, founded by Dave Isay in NYC 2003) for the City of Easthampton that can be experienced virtually, in-person, and in expressions of public art that will be integrated throughout Easthampton’s streets and shared spaces. The first year of programming will focus on many forms of participatory civic engagement. The Union Street Infrastructure Improvement project is scheduled to begin later this year. The project includes three sites for the installation of public art. City Planner, Jeff Bagg reminded the committee that it needs to be mindful of the schedule and deadlines to work successfully with the project’s timeline.