Lawrenceville Arts Commission

LAWRENCEVILLE ARTS COMMISSION MINUTES Tuesday, August 10, 2021 Third Floor GWMA Large Conference Room 6:00 PM 70 S. Clayton St, GA 30046 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:01 PM recognizing a quorum. Commission Member Chitwood arrived at 6:04 PM Approval of Agenda Motion to approve the agenda was made by Commission Member Fellows, Seconded by Commission Member Walden. Voting Yea: Commission Member Clark, Commission Member Fellows, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes 1. Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes Motion to approve the July 13, 2021 meeting minutes was made by Commission Member Walden, Seconded by Commission Member Stone-Collins. Voting Yea: Commission Member Clark, Commission Member Fellows, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders Motion to approve the July 23, 2021 meeting minutes was made by Commission Member Walden, Seconded by Commission Member Fellows. Voting Yea: Commission Member Clark, Commission Member Fellows, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders General Discussion 2. Outreach Committee Event Recap The Community Outreach Sub-Committee participated in the School of Rock event at the Lawrenceville Lawn by setting up a table and providing supplies for people to paint their own rocks. Although there were not a lot of people at the event, they felt their first event went well. Amber advised that people expected that they had to pay to paint a rock and they will need to make sure they know it is free. They had one table at the event, but will have two tables at the next event. They do expect a lot more at Free Comic Book Day and will be looking for some volunteers to help with the additional participants. Two members of the Women's Club were present and were thanked for their help during the first event. 3. Website Update Jasmine Billings advised that Melissa Hardegree and Alaina Tullis with the Community Relations Department have created the webpage and will be fine tuning the headshots and bios. If any member would like a different headshot, they will need to let Jasmine know. Amber Walden asked if they can post what they are doing and Jasmine advised that Alaina has pictures that she can post, and will also include the hashtags #Lawrenceville and #DTLRocks on the Social Media page. 4. Art Walk for Vacant/Occupied Spaces Jasmine Billings met with Linda Campbell to find out how many vacant spaces are available to place art pieces in. There are currently 4 vacant spaces along Perry and East Crogan. Jasmine will send those addresses to the group so they will be able to go look at the locations and see what kind of pictures they would like to hang. Planning & Zoning is fine with placing art in these locations as long as there is nothing stuck on the windows. The Arts Commission members will source the first round of art to be installed, and Aura-Leigh Sanders has a potential group of paintings they can choose from. Information will also be provided in the window to advise artists how they can get involved. Linda will need to be consulted if an item would need to be hung from the ceiling, but ideally art items should be able to be brought in and put in place easily. 5. Budgeting Update Jasmine Billings spoke with Finance to ensure payments were being made correctly for Arts Commission expenses. A portion of the overall budget has been set aside for items like supplies that are needed for Community Outreach. Members should continue to send Jasmine links and costs of expenses that she will update on a spreadsheet. 6. Depot District Sign Update Jasmine Billings sent Arts Commission members an e-mail with the information on Council Work Session that will take place tomorrow (August 11, 2021). The e-mail contained a rendering for the Depot District that will be shared with Council. The Alleyway Project will also be shown to Council along with Matt's concept on his building adjacent to the alleyway. These items will be #2 and #3 on the list for the Council Meeting. 7. Alleyway Name Suggestions  Part of the presentation at the Council Work Session tomorrow (August 11, 2021) will be suggesting names for the alleyway to Council. Shoehorn Alley, name suggested by Mayor Still, was set as a placeholder while the LAC determined a suggested name. Jasmine Billings advised she would like to get three names, and the group discussed names that were presented at a previous meeting and responses that were taken from a social media post regarding the history of the alleyway. After discussing the names, the group felt it best to present one name to Council. The group scaled the list down to three choices, and ultimately decided on one name to present to Council at Work Session. The alleyway is slated to be open in December and the name is a big piece of that. The members discussed the list and determined which names they would eliminate. Motion to present one name to Council for consideration was made by Commission Member Sanders, Seconded by Commission Member Clark. Voting Yea: Commission Member Clark, Commission Member Fellows, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders The members discussed the names and their personal opinions of each as they went through the list that was previously provided. Motion to present Perry Pass to Council for consideration was made by Commission Member Sanders, there were no seconds. Motion to present Boots Alley to Council for consideration was made by Commission Member Sanders, there were no seconds. Motion to present Shashay Way to Council for consideration was made by Commission Member Sanders, Seconded by Commission Member Clark. Voting Yea: Commission Member Clark, Commission Member Fellows, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders 8. Future Retreat Aura-Leigh Sanders discussed having a future retreat for the Arts Commission members. This would be a half day meeting with lunch to work on planning projects the Commission would work on, as well as working on 1, 3 and 5 year plans. Artworks Gwinnett (www.artworksgwinnett.org) will be meeting with Jasmine Billings to talk about their plans for Gwinnett. The Commission hopes that will help to build their plan at least for the next year, and Jasmine will share that information with the group. The retreat will be a Special Call meeting, and it was suggested that a facilitator familiar with the process can help with the retreat to provide guidance on the commission's plans. Other Business Amber Walden asked to add a lantern parade to the next meeting and she will bring information. This would be a bring-your-own-lantern participants would make, and added that other lantern parades offer workshops. Jasmine Billings shared that Gwinnett County has recently approved a sculpture project for the Bicentennial Plaza and the start of the Heritage Trail (at Culver and Constitution). She provided renderings on what they will be installing and a timeline showing the project would take about a year to complete. This project will begin sometime this summer. It was asked if they have a RFP (Request For Pricing) and Jasmine advised she would ask the County. The County did provide their budget for the project and what that includes. Jasmine also reminded the group of the tour at Central Gwinnett School of the Arts that will be Wednesday, August 11, 2021 at 9:00 am. Citizen Comments Comments will be limited to two (2) minutes per person. Arts Commission members will not respond to comments. Two members of the Lawrenceville Women's' Club were present. They had members volunteer at Downtown Lawrenceville Rocks and will also be volunteering at Free Comic Book Day to assist Commission members with the rock painting. Final Adjournment Motion to adjourn was made by Commission Member Sanders, Seconded by Commission Member Fellows. Voting Yea: Commission Member Clark, Commission Member Fellows, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders The meeting ended at 7:30 PM. Minutes Signature ___________________ Aura-Leigh Sanders, Chairman ___________________ Jasmine Billings, Secretary