Lawrenceville Arts Commission

LAWRENCEVILLE ARTS COMMISSION MINUTES Tuesday, May 14, 2024 Third Floor GwMA Conference Room 6:00 PM 70 S. Clayton St, GA 30046 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:01 PM, recognizing a quorum. Approval of Agenda 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 Voting Abstaining: Commission Member Spinks (arrived at 6:02 PM) Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes 1. Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes Motion to approve prior meeting minutes 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 Voting Abstaining: Commission Member Spinks (arrived at 6:02 PM) General Discussion 2. Budget Update Jasmine Billings provided an update on the budget. The Crogan Street Mural has been paid. The remaining funds in the Capital Budget are $160,937.63. Art supplies were purchased for several events, and the remaining supply budget is $3,399.91. Jasmine will  advise if additional funds for FY2025 will be added once the final budget approval is completed. 3. Subcommittee Updates Community Outreach and Branding met and discussed what to order for Free Comic Book Day. Passive marketing with items being placed in the Arts Commission tent has been working well. They will try to meet in the next several months to plan for events they will participate in later in the year. Grants and Funding was unable to meet prior to this meeting. Graduations are almost complete, so they should have time to meet within the next few weeks. Aura-Leigh is working on grant writing. 4. Lawrenceville Blooms Mural Extensions Jasmine Billings provided the contract that she shared with the artist. This is basically the same contract she signed before, with several small changes pertaining to the new locations. The contract has been through legal, and the artist is currently reviewing. Once she signs, we can obtain City signatures and move forward with permitting. Her preference is to work on the whole project at one time, to avoid coming back. She believes it will take her approximately a month to complete the project. Gwinnett Department of Transportation has pre-approved the project, but will require the signed contract to be submitted in order to obtain final approval. 5. Georgia Gwinnett College Highway Ramp Mural Jasmine Billings reached out to Jonathan Peevy to discuss this project. Access to the wall will not be a problem, and no roads will need to be shut down. It is unclear who will need to provide approval for this project and Jasmine is waiting on that information. Jonathan indicated that they are not able to provide pre-approval since they do not know what the project will look like. Due to the surface and the request that this not be distracting to drivers, the design should be an abstract, calming design. This project will be a community based mural. A Call for Art is being prepared that will include the parameters of the design, and that draft was sent to Jonathan so he is aware of the project details. Details of project, like the wall dimensions, will need to be obtained. Discussion regarding regional or nationwide distribution of the call was discussed and it was determined that this will be a local/regional call for art. Jasmine will finalize the Call for Art and send to the Board members for review. She hopes to have this completed by Memorial Day, with the deadline for submissions set on July 26th by midnight. Once finalized, Jasmine will work with the Communications team to advertise. 6. Georgia Gwinnett College Roundabouts Aura-Leigh Sanders provided an update, indicating that she has spoken to Laura Ballance, Hudgens Center for Arts, regarding the Call for Art for the roundabouts. Laura is working on an updated call and once completed Aura-Leigh will share with the group. The Hudgens  Center has a large database that we will be able to utilize for distribution for a national call. Aura-Leigh will also gather some additional information on Hudgen's system they use to create and receive/store their Calls for Art. In addition, Aura-Leigh will check with the Aurora Theatre and Lawrenceville Arts Center to see if they would be willing to utilize their contacts to distribute this as well. Aura-Leigh is meeting with Laura Ballance, Hudgens Center for Arts, and Lisa Anders with Explore Gwinnett to discuss this project and any grants that may be available for this project. Explore Gwinnett does have $18,000 they are holding from Lawrenceville Tourism and Trade, and this project may be a good use for this money. Jasmine mentioned a TMobile Grant in the amount of $50,000 that may be possible to apply for as well as grants available from the Georgia Council for Art, possibly working with Georgia Gwinnett College as a non- profit to apply for grant money. Aura-Leigh will provide an update regarding her conversation with Laura and Lisa to the Board. Casey Spinks discussed topiaries and shared some of the information she has been gathering. She is waiting to hear back from some contacts. The group discussed the time frame for distribution for this Call for Art, and it was determined that it should go out after the close of the Call for Art for the Georgia Gwinnett College Highway Ramp Mural. The time frame set for the close of the roundabout Call for Art was 6 months. 7. Other Projects Updates Aura-Leigh Sanders advised that she has applied to Paint a Tile as a host city. This is a global project from an international group. If chosen, they will send tile kits for community members to paint. Once the tiles are painted, they will come arrange the tiles into a larger image. An exterior location for this installation will need to be determined as well. If chosen as a host city, we would then determine if we would want to move forward with the project. There is a $5,000 cost, with additional costs if we choose other options. Brad, with Coca-Cola, reached out to Aura-Leigh and Jasmine to discuss the possibility of collaborating on a future mural with the Arts Commission. Jasmine and Aura-Leigh will meet with Brad and team to discuss this project. If it is decided that we will move forward with this project, a location will need to be determined. Aura-Leigh attended The Honest Alley Advisory Committee kickoff meeting, as a representative of the Arts Commission. She will provide an update to the Board members after each meeting. Other Business There is still a vacant seat on the Arts Commission Board that needs to be filled. A new member has been recommended however they must be approved by Mayor and City Council. The Retreat/Planning Meeting will take place at either the August or September meeting, and that meeting will be extended. This will be confirmed prior to the June meeting, as well as the possibility of cancelling the July meeting if no Retreat will take place, and attendance will be minimal. Citizen Comments Citizen Comments will be limited to two (2) minutes per person. The Arts Commission Board members will not respond to comments. There were no Citizen Comments. Final Adjournment Motion to adjourn was made by Commission Member Stone-Collins, Seconded by Commission Member Chitwood. Voting Yea: Commission Member Chitwood, Commission Member Stone-Collins, Commission Member Walden, Commission Member Sanders, Commission Member Spinks The meeting adjourned at 7:28 PM. Minutes Signature ___________________ Aura-Leigh Sanders, Chairman ___________________ Jasmine Billings, Secretary