Lawrenceville Arts Commission

LAWRENCEVILLE ARTS COMMISSION MINUTES Tuesday, April 12, 2022 3rd Floor GwMA Large Conference Room 6:00 PM 70 S. Clayton St, GA 30046 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:04 PM without recognizing a quorum. Commission Member Chitwood arrived at 6:06 PM Commission Member Abuaisheh arrived at 6:07 PM Commission Member Hammonds arrived at 6:16 PM Approval of Agenda At 6:06 PM a quorum was recognized and a motion to approve the agenda was made by Commission Member Walden, Seconded by Commission Member Stone-Collins. Voting Yea: 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 prior meeting minutes was made by Commission Member Walden, Seconded by Commission Member Alhabashi. Voting Yea: Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders, Commission Member Alhabashi General Discussion 2. Grants Committee Members were trying to meet but have been unable to. They are currently working on a proposal for sponsorships that is not yet complete. This agenda item will defer to next month's meeting. Katrina Fellows was going to provide an update on Grants from her discussion with the Downtown Development Authority and Lee Merritt. They will look at the possibility of getting developers involved in art installations, either by earmarking a certain percentage for the Arts Commission or including artwork in their development. The subcommittee is working on standardizing the process for sponsorship to ensure that sponsorships are being distributed in a fair and equitable way to avoid favoritism. It was decided that at this time, the Arts Commission will not be able to sponsor the Sponge Bob Play. Jasmine Billings will talk to Keith Lee in Finance to obtain additional sponsorship information. 3. Community Outreach Committee Amber Walden advised that the committee has not been able to meet, however, they are moving forward on beginning DTL Rocks again and have provided a supply list to include a tent. They are also waiting on the volunteer sign up form. Aura-Leigh Sanders met with Lindsey Curnow, Event Coordinator, to add this into the City's Eventeny page to ease the process of obtaining volunteers. Aura-Leigh advised she has successfully used Eventeny for calls for art. A list of events that DTL Rocks would like to be involved in was provided and additional events can be added as needed. Jennifer Hammonds arrived at 6:16 PM. The subcommittee will need to work on logistics for Free Comic Book Day since it will not be held at the Lawn. Other events were discussed, including The Wiz, the Car Show and Prelude, but fall will have more events they will participate in. 4. Branding Committee Updates Alicia Chitwood indicated the Branding Subcommittee has not been able to meet due to schedules. During a previous meeting, they complied a wish list of items to purchase. One wish list is business cards and Jasmine Billings reminded the group they were going to sit down with Melissa Hardegree, Director of Communications, to help guide the branding process. Logo'd notecards were also discussed so Thank You notes can be sent. Aura-Leigh Sanders will provide an updated Committee assignments list to the group. 5. Georgia Council for the Arts Tina Lilly with Georgia Council for the Arts can be a huge resource for the Arts Commission. They have Grant opportunities available that Aura-Leigh will share with the subcommittee. The Community Mural project was discussed and asked if other groups in Georgia had done anything similar, and Tina indicated she will check around. The Georgia Council for the Arts is the official clearing house to distribute funds that come from the State for art projects. 6. Depot District Sign Update Jasmine Billings provided an update to the Depot Sign project, indicating that the original bidder found out that the material costs were well over what he bid for. The project was re- bid and has been awarded to the Bayne Development Group LLC with the cost not to exceed $500,000. Letters were mailed to Depot businesses, they were sent e-mails and the area was canvassed advising businesses that may be affected, including the waste transfer station. There is one school bus that utilizes that area and the Public Works Director worked with the school transportation department to ensure that the bar that hangs down was high enough to allow the school bus to pass under. 7. Community Input Mural Jasmine Billings provided an overview of a draft for a Call for Art for the Community Input Mural and the group provided feedback. Pricing was discussed to determine what the budget will be for the project. The cost of supplies would need to be budgeted separately. The shape of the wall may be difficult to design, but the group felt that they needed to paint the complete wall and incur the cost due to its visibility. Since the document is not yet ready to be released, the group will do some additional research, forward the updated document for feedback, work on finalizing the budget for this project, and look to vote on the final document and budget at the May meeting. This will be an invitation-only call for art. Once approved, the Arts Commission members will be able to send it out to the artists they would like to submit their ideas. 8. Georgia Mural Trail Jasmine Billings provided an update on the Georgia Mural Trail and showed a sample of art as a starting point. The Grant is for a mural that is 10 feet by 20 feet, and an additional cost of $25 per square foot will be incurred for anything larger, which will add $875 to the cost of the project. McCray's wall has already been painted and their current mural will be redone but not as a part of this project. The 10 X 20 area covered by the grant and the additional area being proposed to include for the Grant mural were shown. Murals from other cities were shown as well as a list of possible staples that could be included within the lettering. Jasmine asked the Commission members to provide additional staple ideas, and will forward the current list to them. Approvals on the final design will need to be obtained from Council and McCray's before work can start on the mural. Motion to approve expanding the area of the mural at an additional cost was made by Commission Member Chitwood, Seconded by Commission Member Walden. Voting Yea: Commission Member Hammond, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders, Commission Member Alhabashi Other Business Jasmine Billings shared that Engineering will be doing raised crosswalks at Seminary St. and Clayton St. and asked for some ideas on types of artwork that can be done on brick pavers. This can possibly expand to the square and would like synergy within the crosswalks. Jasmine advised she would provide more details for their review so they can start thinking about crosswalks and artwork. Citizen Comments Comments are limited to two (2) minutes per person. Arts Commission members will not respond to comments. A question was asked on how individuals will be alerted to Eventeny volunteer opportunities. Final Adjournment Motion for final adjournment was made by Commission Member Walden, Seconded by Commission Member Chitwood. Voting Yea: Commission Member Hammond, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders, Commission Member Alhabashi The meeting adjourned at 7:38 PM. Minutes Signature ___________________ Aura-Leigh Sanders, Chairman ___________________ Jasmine Billings, Secretary