Lawrenceville Arts Commission

LAWRENCEVILLE ARTS COMMISSION MINUTES Tuesday, November 14, 2023 Third Floor GwMA Conference Room 6:00 PM 70 S. Clayton St, GA 30046 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:07 PM, and no quorum was recognized. Approval of Agenda After a quorum was recognized at 6:14 PM, the meeting moved back to the Approval of the Agenda. Motion to approve the agenda was made by Commission Member Walden, Seconded by Commission Member Hammond. Voting Yea: Commission Member Hammond, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders Approval of Agenda 1. Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes Motion to approve the prior meeting minutes was made by Commission Member Sanders, Seconded by Commission Member Chitwood. Voting Yea: Commission Member Hammond, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders General Discussion 2. Budget Update Jasmine Billings provided an update on the budget and reviewed remaining balances. Teresa Abboud will be submitting her final receipts for reimbursement for the Community Mural project.  Jennifer Hammond arrived at 6:09 PM Swag bags have been ordered and received, and Jasmine will provide a more detailed budget view so the members can see where the funds have been spent. A budget transfer was completed to bring the supply portion of the budget back to $5,000. Alice Stone-Collins arrived at 6:11 PM. Inventory of the remaining supplies will be completed after the first of the year to determine what will need to be ordered. The meeting moved back to agenda and meeting minutes approval since they now had a quorum. 3. Sub-Committees Update Aura-Leigh Sanders provided an update for the sub-committees. Grants and Funding is still in a holding pattern, with no new updates. Community Outreach update was provided by Amber Walden. The Lantern Parade during BooFest did not really work out as planned, and it seemed like it was more arts and craft centered. There were approximately 6,000 people that attended the event overall, and it will be hard to have a parade with that many people. The Arts Commission purchased approximately 200 lanterns that were all used. It was nice to piggyback on BooFest, but it took away from the lantern parade, and there were not a lot of people that showed up with their own lanterns. Reaching out to schools and other organizations will possibly help build the lantern parade, as well as tweaking the advertising to help build interest. Other ideas were discussed, including commissioning a lantern, not focusing this event on children, but including them, and work on planning a stand-alone lantern event to take place in 2025. Jasmine will provide them with a budget from BooFest so the commission members can get an idea of what the overall expense of this type of event would look like. 4. Community Mural Project Update Jasmine Billings provided an update on the Community Mural Project. She shared that there are two walls in the immediate vicinity of the community mural. The City owns the wall that runs behind the Post Office, and we can move quickly on that wall. An artist can be commissioned to paint the wall, do an open call or work with Teresa to paint the wall, which would keep a similar style since the walls are so close. The railing on the top of the wall was discussed regarding the possibility of painting that railing, and Jasmine will check with Engineering to see if it would be possible to include the railing in with the mural. Jasmine is working to determine who owns the wall cattycorner to the community mural. Once she has determined that she will find out if the wall and the stairs are able to be painted. If GDOT (Georgia Department of Transportation) owns the wall and stairs, she is already familiar with the process to obtain approval. The color pallet should be the same as the Community Mural. A budget will need to be determined, and it was suggested that for future projects the Arts Commission sets the price they are willing to pay for a project. In addition, it was suggested  that the Arts Commission include a requirement for all future artists to include an "Easter Egg" in any mural. Jasmine will measure the wall and forward that information on to the Commission members. With the holidays, she will wait to send this information to Teresa to get her feedback. 5. Crogan Street Mural Jasmine Billings provided an update on the Crogan Street Mural. She indicated that Leah will begin sometime in January. She has just received the Easement agreement and will send that on to Scott McCray. The contract has been updated and reviewed by Legal. Jasmine will present the project to Council on Wednesday. 6. Retreat Planning Aura-Leigh Sanders discussed Retreat planning. She envisions a retreat to plan the next 3-5 years. Gwinnett is working on their plan which can help in our planning process, but we do need to work on our own plan. She would like to meet in January and asked members to be prepared with information to decide on what projects they would like to undertake, what goals they would like to plan for (like roundabouts, etc), projects they would like to plan out, and projects they feel they can cross out and not put their time and energy into. The meeting would be 1/2 day with a break, and she will work on a time and location. It was mentioned that it may be helpful to review long term plans from other cities prior to the retreat, as well as considering a consultant to help with the planning. They can start out with a 2-3 year plan with an Arts Master Plan 5 years out. It may be possible to send out a survey to see what residents would like to see the Arts Commission do, and Jasmine will work with Marketing to find out the details. The Arts Commission can possibly work with GIS to be able to map out their projects. 7. Georgia Gwinnett College Corridor Project Jasmine Billings provided an update on this project. Due to the texture of this wall, the Arts Commission asked Teresa Abboud, the Community Mural artist, to look at this to determine if it was possible to complete a mural. She indicated that this could be accomplished using a sprayer. Since this is GDOT's wall we would not have to involve GGC and it was suggested to include the President of GGC in discussions and possibly include the Art Committee from GGC in the project. 8. Business Updates CoHatch will be opening hopefully at the end of next year, and have already opened several locations in Georgia. They are currently working with Planning and Development obtaining permits. Jasmine will keep the group updated on their progress. 9. SouthArts’ Creative Placemaking Summit Aura-Leigh Sanders provided information to the Arts Commission members via e-mail on this Summit, which will take place March 5-8, 2023 at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta this year. Two members expressed interest in joining Aura-Leigh this year, and once the agenda is finalized, they will choose which sessions they will attend. In order to take advantage of the early bird registration, Jasmine will purchase three tickets at $325 each, plus fees. This  amount is over the pre-approved spending threshold, and the group voted to give her the authority to make this purchase. Motion to grant Jasmine Billings the authority to purchase three tickets to the SouthArts' Creating Placemaking Summit in an amount not to exceed $1,050 was made by Commission Member Chitwood, Seconded by Commission Member Stone-Collins. Voting Yea: Commission Member Hammond, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders Other Business Since the Crogan Street Mural has already been approved and retreat planning underway, Jasmine suggested that they cancel the December 12, 2023 meeting. Any necessary updates can be communicated through e-mail. Motion to cancel the December 12, 2023 meeting was made by Commission Member Stone-Collins, Seconded by Commission Member Chitwood. Voting Yea: Commission Member Hammond, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders Citizen Comments Citizen Comments will be limited to two (2) minutes per person. The Arts Commission Members will not respond to comments. There were no citizen comments. Final Adjournment Motion to adjourn was made by Commission Member Sanders, Seconded by Commission Member Walden. Voting Yea: Commission Member Hammond, Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders The meeting adjourned at 7:32 PM. Minutes Signature ___________________ Aura-Leigh Sanders, Chairman ___________________ Jasmine Billings, Secretary