Arts and Humanities Council of Falls Church

Page 1 MINUTES OF the Arts and Humanities Council (A&HC) of Falls Church Approved 4-20-2023 PURPOSE OF MEETING: To discuss arts and humanities matters across the City of Falls Church. DATE OF MEETING: March 16, 2023 PLACE OF MEETING: Dogwood Room, City Hall 1. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY: Laura Connors Hull at 9:40 am 2. THOSE PRESENT: NAME Staff Member: Maureen Budetti Name: Holly Irwin and Amy Youngs Member: Laura Hull Member: Elise Bengston Member: Ronald Anzalone Member: Ellen Gross Member: Katharine Stewart Member: Mary Sellers Member: Ariadne Autor Member: Keith Thurston ABSENT Member: Nikki Graves Henderson Liaison: Jacqueline Connors OTHERS PRESENT: Regan Davis (FCEF Liaison), Letty Hardi (City Council Liaison), Jessie Labukas (Library Liaison) TOPICS OF DISCUSSION: 3. Organization Round Table Members from Mary Riley Styles Library, FCEF, Falls Church Arts, Chamber of Commerce, VPIS, Victorian Society, Historical Commission, Friends of Cherry Hill, Creative Cauldron, and the Art Walk project gave updates on their organization and upcoming events. 4. Minutes for Approval: January 2023 and February 2023 No changes to either set of minutes were submitted. Maureen Budetti moved to approve the minutes; Ron Anzalone seconded. Unanimously approved. 5. Ongoing Business: A. Public Art Policy Amy Youngs explained that since the last A&HC meeting, City staff had an opportunity to discuss the Council’s Public Art Policy draft. She reminded everyone that in April 2021, the City adopted the public art section of the Comprehensive Plan, officially called: ENRICHING FALLS CHURCH: PUBLIC ART SECTION OF THE COMMUNITY CHARACTER, APPEARANCE, AND DESIGN CHAPTER OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. In other words, what is already included in the City’s Comprehensive Plan is what is needed for the Public Art Policy. The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This document will be made available in alternate format upon request. Call 703 248-5014, (TTY 711). Page 2 Development of this part of the Comp Plan was reviewed by the A&HC in December 2020 before being presented to City Council and the Planning Commission. Amy recommends that at this point, the A&HC should focus on the remaining sections of the draft policy that are called “Program Guidelines.” This is equivalent to what the Comp Plan calls out for as “Establish Procedures for Reviewing and Accepting Public Art.” Another strategy listed in the Comp Plan is Create a Maintenance Plan for Public Art, which Amy believes we planned to include in our “Program Guidelines.” Amy and Holly agreed to draft these Program Guidelines for our review. 6. New Business: A. Approve New City Virtual Participation Procedures a. Members discussed and adopted the new 2023 policy adopted by the State of Virginia. Please refer to the “City of Falls Church Arts and Humanities Council Policy for Remote Participation in Meetings.” B. Art Walk Update and World Art Day a. Ari spoke about her work to write and edit all the copy that will go with the public art to be installed this year in the City. b. Mary reported on different aspects of World Art Day to be celebrated on April 15. c. Ari brought up importance of cross promotion of various events put on by A&HC organizations. Laura reminded all of the goal in our Strategic Plan to fund a communications professional to carry out marketing and publicity for all of our ongoing activities and special events. d. Letti spoke about the Virginia Tourism grant that the EDA has received for Falls Church City and suggested that we have a liaison from the A&HC to the EDA. Elise Bengston volunteered. C. Eden Center Involvement in AHC a. Laura reminded group that we have 2 positions open on the Council. We need representation from the Eden Center. Mary and Ari will follow up. D. Arts and Economic Prosperity Survey (AEP6) Deadline a. Surveys can still be sent for events and programming through May 2024. There was a question about who is the official AEP “Point of Contact” for the A&HC organizations. Holly will send her list of “Point of Contact” out to everyone. 7. Other Business: a. Veronica Prince in the City Clerk’s Office will contact Maureen and Laura about renewing their term. Nikki needs to be sworn in. b. Laura Connors Hull has been Acting Chair. She was nominated to be Chair, and Ron Anzalone was nominated to be Vice Chair. We will vote at the April meeting. MEETING ADJOURNED AT: 11:07 am SIGNATURE OF RECORDER: Katharine Stewart The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This document will be made available in alternate format upon request. Call 703 248-5014, (TTY 711).