Cultural Council

FITCHBURG CITY CLERK Mar 18 10:16 am Fitchburg Cultural Council Monthly Meeting Monday, January 6, 2025 MEETING MINUTES In attendance: Joe Bowen(chair), Shara Osgood(secretary), Liz Murphy (treasurer), Catherine Healey, Mike Amadeo, Dan Dow, Jen Hemenway, Lily Gomez Fernandez, Tamar Russell Brown (view recording for details of meeting) CALL TO ORDER: Joe called the meeting to order at 5:08 p.m. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS: Joe spoke: Welcome, Mission, public meeting guidelines & protocols Public Comments: No comments. No one online MEETING MINUTES: Motion: Liz - to accept meeting minutes from 12/2, 12/9 & 12/16 2nd: Dan In Favor: 9 Opposed: 0 Pass unanimously FORMAL FUNDING VOTES: (see charts attached for details) Some of our Council members may appear to have conflicts of interest in various grant proposals. Conflict of interest forms have been completed by all Councilors and have been filed with the City Clerk’s office. Those in conflict will recuse themselves for their applicable votes. Joe: We voted, in the last meeting, to authorize a funding cap of $990, to fund as many as possible. We proposed to fund all eligible grant applications that are seeking $990 or less to receive the full amount requested and those over $990 will receive $990. There is a small funding gap that will be adjusted after these votes are taken. Joe left the room & Liz will conduct. VOTE #1: 6 applications: FY25-LLC- 100566 - Broadway Karaoke - $990 FY25-LLC- 102998 - New Waves |Contemporary Music in Fitchburg - $990 FY25-LLC-86672 - Monthly Performances of Thurston Consort - $990 FY25-LLC- 87212 - Accessible Art Studio - $990 FY25-LLC- 94803 - Openest Mic - $990 FY25-LLC- 99021 - Free Pop-Up Escape Room at Events in Fitchburg - $990 Mike: Why has Joe recused himself from these votes? Liz: I know for at least some of them, the Fitchburg Cultural Alliance is involved, and he is the president of the Alliance. Motion :Mike to approve these grant awards Second: Jenn In Favor: 8 Opposed:0 Joe recused Motion Passes Shara left the room. VOTE #2: 2 applications: FY25-LLC- 103354 - First Thursday Free Workshops - $990 FY25-LLC- 94497 - Lowe Park Chalk Art Festival - $990 Motion :Mike to approve these grant awards Second: Tamar In Favor: 7 Opposed:0 Joe & Shara recused Motion Passes Shara & Joe return. Joe takes over leadership. VOTE #3: FY25-LCC- 104910 - City of Fitchburg - Trick or Treat on Main Street - $990 Motion :Catherine to approve this grant award Second: Liz In Favor: 9 Opposed:0 Motion Passes Unanimously Tamar left the room. VOTE #4: FY25-LCC- 96769 - Fitchburg Art Museum 89th Regional Art Exhibition - $990 Motion :Dan to approve this grant award Second: Shara In Favor: 8 Opposed:0 Tamar recused Motion Passes VOTE #5: ALL REMAINING GRANTS (see below list containing all 63 remaining grant proposals) Motion :Shara to approve these remaining grant awards Second: Jenn In Favor: 9 Opposed:0 Motion Passes Unanimously ADJUSTMENTS: Joe shared the spreadsheet on zoom. There was a mathematical error. We had the amount of $65,165 as the amount of funds from MCC, when it was actually $65,195. When we subtract $65,195 from the amount that we are proposing to grant, we have a $19 deficit. We spoke at the last meeting about using local funds to make up that difference, so we can make all of the awards as agreed. At the time we were seeking to use local funds to cover $49. Tonight, we are reducing that amount to $19. Motion :Tamar to use local account to add $19 to our funding account Second: Mike In Favor: 9 Opposed:0 Motion Passes Unanimously Joe: Congratulations. We have completed our review and award procedure for FY25. Congratulations to all the grantees. We will be in touch soon. Keep in mind that it may take a month or two for the Council to process these and get things started. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Samuel Luxama’s term expired on January 1. He is no longer a council member. We thank him for his service. No other comments Below is the listing of ALL approved/funded grants for FY25. Motion; Mike- To adjourn 2nd: Shara In Favor: 9 Opposed: 0 Motion passes unanimously Adjourn @ 5:32pm Submitted by Shara Osgood