Cultural Council

Methuen Cultural Council 2023-2024 Ellen Baranowski - Secretary Karen Broscoe - Member John Broscoe - Member Jennifer Loiselle – Chair Carey Smith- Member Catherine Zembruski – Member Meeting Minutes Monday, May 13, 2024 6:30 PM Location: Nevins Memorial Library Video call link: https://meet.google.com/kxp-hbbt-vkr 1. Roll Call- Ellen Baranowski, Karen Broscoe, John Broscoe, Carey Smith, Catherine Zembruski Jennifer Loiselle was absent. Meeting commenced at 6:30 PM 2. Public Participation- none 3. Vote on Minutes – April 8, 2024 – Motion to accept: John; seconded: Karen; vote: unanimous 4. Financial Report – Ellen shared with the group the paperwork sent to Jen and Ellen by Kathleen Beam at Methuen City Hall. The group discussed it. 5. Council Business a. Direct Granting- Based on the paperwork from the financial report, the group discussed leaving the granting reimbursement model because people seemed to be reimbursed in a timely manner. However, opposing points of view were that it would benefit many artists if they could be paid ahead for their projects (rather than “fronting” the money). As the discussion moved forward, we all agreed that the direct granting model seemed the most sensible and that with the regular grant amount ($37,700) it would not be that hard to “track”, as we will be fulfilling fewer grants. We discussed the Lawrence model (editor’s note: I will invite Pat Mariano to our June meeting to answer questions). Motion to move to direct granting: Karen; seconded: Catherine. The vote was unanimous to make it a preliminary vote with the provision that if Jennifer Loiselle has concerns or question, we will revisit the vote. b. Summer Night Music Series Planning 5 Nights - 4 @ Riverwalk, 1 @ Forest Lake 7/12, 7/26, 8/9, 8/23 & 9/7 Call for Bands, Band Payments, Marketing $$  We looked at the MCC budget for council-sponsored events, with an eye toward the Summer Nights Music Series. Of our $5366 in that bucket, we thought we might offer the five bands $800 each. We looked at last year’s advertising/marketing monies spent… It was agreed that FREE advertising would be better via an article(s) in Methuen Life, Eagle Tribune, and MCTV. We spent about $80 on flyers last year. We wish to double that money so that we can give the bands some flyers (perhaps half-sized versions?) and they can hand them out at their gigs leading up to the Music Nights (hoping to generate more of their fans to attend.) We also wanted to put money aside for art supplies so we can offer an art table at each event. Preliminary thoughts on budget: Bands $4000. Advertising ~200. (flyers) Art Supplies ~500. ($100 each event) POBox renewal ~250. Total $4950. Other discussion items included: We assume the city is paying for police and porta- potties. Food trucks are very needed. That was a big disappointment last year. John suggests to buy a popcorn machine and either sell popcorn and water (discussion of both for profit and not for profit) or give out free popcorn. Karen looked up the price of a machine… about $250. (we should have ~$400 left over in our budget?) No vote was taken on any of the above. We want the full council for that vote. And, we still have some questions about the popcorn/water sales. 6. Meeting with Mayor Perry- no discussion, but Ellen wondered if we missed the window to ask the Mayor to include MCC as a budget line item for $3770. 7. Miscellaneous a. Methuen 300 Year Anniversary Planning - Organizational Chair, Ryan Hamilton - Get Involved today- Karen shared some notes from the Methuen 300 Committee Meeting held in May. b. 8. Look Ahead/Next Meeting- June 10, 2024 (virtual) Ellen will invite Pat Mariano to join as a guest to discuss direct granting in Lawrence. We will revisit the Summer Nights Music Series (see notes) and get update from Jennifer. Continue discussion of our role in the Methuen 300 events 9. Adjourn- The meeting adjourned at 7:28. Motion to adjourn: Ellen; seconded: Karen; vote: unanimous Anyone needing an access accommodation to participate in City of Methuen programs or services, please contact Sandy Almonte, ADA/DEI Coordinator at 978-382-2123 or salmonte@ci.methuen.ma.us at least two weeks in advance, or two business days before a board or commission meeting. This notice is available in alternate formats upon request.