Cultural Arts Commission

CITY OF EVERETT CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSION MEETING October 12, 2021, 5:00PM-6:30PM Roll Call: Aaron Alonso-Present Hugh Denny- Absent Jason Grim- Present Elizabeth Person- Present Ruben Trujillo- Absent Diane Wright- Present MaryAnn Darby - Present Deb Fox- Present Citalli Zarate- Absent Cat Snapp- Present Alexander Vincini- Present Terra Patterson-Present Guests: Jo Hull, Pacifica Chamber Orchestra; Brock Howell, Everett Station District Alliance; Paul Roberts, City Councilmember; Cassie Franklin, Everett Mayor Acceptance of the Agenda for October 12, 2021 Motion/Second/Approved (m/s/a) unanimously to accept the agenda. Acceptance of 2021 Meeting Minutes from September 14, 2021 Motion/Second/Approved (m/s/a) unanimously to accept the minutes. Member Reports No updates. Mayor Update by Mayor Cassie Franklin Presented budget to council. A nice budget [as compared to 2021] because she didn’t have to make dramatic cuts to programs, services, and events. Excited to have core events and culture + additional funds for public art (for land acknowledgement piece) + arts and culture. Working on American Rescue Plan funding + Brock’s plan for Station District. Couple of applicants so far for Everett Forward Grant Program. For the rest of [American Rescue Plan] (ARPA) dollars, staff will bring buckets of recommendations with areas that need significant investments for one-time dollars, especially housing/homelessness/drug addiction. [The City is] opening online town hall/survey tool for community to allocate ARPA dollars. All Commissioners are encouraged to fill survey out to figure out investment opportunities. Tyler’s new title = Placemaking Manager Land Acknowledgement Questions: No set location yet – City Hall is in mind, but open to artist’s connection Earmarked $100,000 – It is NOT 1% for the Arts, it’s in addition Will do a call for artists Question about Tyler’s job Dan’s is Economic Development Director – Tyler will still report to Dan Guest – Brock Howell, Executive Director of Everett Station District Alliance Everett Station District Alliance received Everett Forward grant for a Mural Project. Goals are to enliven public space, empower community, center equity. Funded elements are, paint columns/underside of Pacific Avenue Overpass (over Smith Avenue) by Everett Station, 2 murals, 1 billboard mural (digital artist). Don’t have identified locations for the two murals, but [they] have location for billboard mural + space and printing to be donated. Preliminary themes (community stakeholder group will help narrow down themes) = Renewal to a bright future, welcomeness and hospitality, industrial nature of our neighborhood, past and future transit service, deep past/present/future. 7-story housing likely being built on southwest corner of Pacific Avenue and Smith Avenue. Inspiration like International District columns in Seattle and the First Hill/Downtown columns under I-5 in Seattle. Selection Process will entail Community Selection Committee (ESDA staff, neighborhood stakeholders, city staff, reps from Everett’s arts community), Wall Call for 2 mural sites, design brief for committee to finalize (not asking for proposals for specific designs…want to keep it a low-barrier application entry), community survey for broader public input, community chooses artists, installation in April-May (TBD) with volunteers. Artists, Partners, and Volunteering = CAC, Urban ArtWorks, Schack Arts Center, Artists, Painting Volunteers. E- mail Brock if you want to be involved at Brock@EverettStationAlliance.com. Open to other artists but would be great to have Everett-based artist or at least a local artist. Staff Updates Received 10 responses for COVID project. Subcommittee meeting next Tuesday, October 19 at 3:00pm. Diane will step down on this committee due to familiarity with artists but will join the Cultural Arts Grant subcommittee. Wintertide will be a season event now. Will partner with Everett Makers Market and Downtown Everett Association for a kick-off during Small Business Weekend (November 27-28). Tree lighting ceremony and city lights with hot cocoa, music, etc. Tree lighting on night of Small Business Saturday (November 27). Everett Forward Grants - $280,000 of grants are going to arts grants (second most grant category). We don’t have a final list yet for underwriting of grant awardees (making sure federal legalese works out). Affirmation Station (Timothy Flood piece) targeting for Quarter 1 2022, funded by Tourism Fund and won’t come out of Cultural Arts Commission funding. Downtown banners will be replaced - $5,000 budget for design. Staff meeting next Tuesday, October 19 to drill down Land Acknowledgement art piece question + Tyler will chase grant funding and reallocate money into other arts programming. Jo Hull Guest Update: PCO first in-person concert. Well attended by music students, Archbishop Murphy High School in chapel, opening + outreach concert. Sunday, December 5 at Archbishop Murphy High School with a second outreach concert with Snohomish County Music Teacher’s Association – It’s their annual competition with their winning students with their concerto pieces. PCO waived all fees for students to participate with this upcoming concert. Tyler will reach out to Jo for possible Wintertide collaborations. Cultural Arts Grant Discussion Discussion about criteria for grading the 2022 CA grants. Tyler presented a first pitch: Two qualification questions: 1.) Is the applicant and/or project eligible? Yes/No; 2.) Is the application complete and/or acceptable in its current form? Yes/No Grant Goals: Following questions are to be graded on scale of 1-10 aggregate scoring (not weighted, scoring highest out of 40 potential points) and related to goals of the grants: 1.) Arts Impact – Expand access to arts in Everett for Everett residents and/or visitors; 2.) Equity; 3.) Placemaking – How does the project add to the quality of place? Does it provide quality of life amenities? 4.) Artistic excellence and/or innovation – Has project or applicant demonstrated artistic excellence or innovation Other considerations (in case of tie): 1.) Over past 10 years, how many times has organization/project been awarded a CA grant? 2.) Over past 10 years, how much funding has organization/project been awarded a CA grant? Questions: Deb interested in expanding Placemaking Goal to also be a place to fund events as opposed to upgrades or a specific art piece. General agreement about potentially combining Placemaking Goal with Arts Impact to connecting how impactful these other type of art events can be to the community. Deb will share last year’s CA grant criteria for Tyler. Diane wants to connect how many people are being impacted by any individual performance to Arts Impact Goal. Elizabeth likes to emphasize the Mayor’s priority of equity/access for lower-income organizations. Deb also mentioned measurable results. Cultural Arts Grant [applications] will close on November 15, with recommendations coming at December meeting. Subcommittee will meet between November 15 and December meeting. Jason Grimm, Deb Fox, Mary Ann Darby, Terra Patterson, and Diane Wright. Tyler will send final grading sheet to CAC. Wendt and Mayor’s Arts Awards Discussion A double program for 2020 and 2021 awards – Likely between 10-12 awards given out. For program length, we shouldn’t do videos for every winner but only do Richard Wendt award winners to make them extra special. The Commissioners will then read something about each winner. Diane encourages us to acknowledge Nancy Wendt who passed away. Nancy’s daughters are supportive of anything we’d like to do to honor her. Tyler would like Diane to connect him with Nancy’s daughters. Could be apropos to rename the award for Richard and Nancy – Ask Nancy’s daughters? Could bookend the night with a large video and an official announcement (maybe with Mayor Franklin making the announcement) that we will rename the award the Richard and Nancy Wendt Award. This suggestion was received very warmly by the group. Upcoming historian Richard Porter found some great history of Richard Wendt and CAC/1% for the Arts creation. Maybe tie in historically significant of Wendt family to this commemoration. May need to storyboard this video. Would like to have event filled with entertainment. Want to cross-pollenate different art forms and age groups. Wendt Week would have different open houses at different arts organizations/venues/institutions (i.e. Lucky Dime, Black Labs, Schack Art Center, etc.) for networking. Then ceremony to cap it off. [The group discussion was] back and forth on mood for award ceremony. Overall it should feel like a celebration. Council Liaison Report No updates. Wintertide See Staff Updates. Meeting Adjourned 6:33P.M. Next Meeting: October 12th, 2021. Respectfully Submitted Aaron Alonso Chair, Cultural Arts Commission City of Everett