Arts Commission

Middletown Commission on the Arts Minutes of Meeting – October 24, 2018 City Hall, Room 208, 245 deKoven Drive, Middletown Present: Also Present: Kisha Michael Absent: Bob Santangelo Barbara Arafeh Lee Godburn Julia Faraci Crystal Laffan Franca Biales David Bauer Cassandra Day Joyce Kirkpatrick Charlotte McCoid Councilman Sebastian Giuliano 1. Call to Order: C. Day called the meeting to order at 7:03 p. m. at City Hall Room 208 2. Public Session: No members of the public present 3. Minutes: a) Approved by D. Bauer, seconded by L. Godburn. It passed unanimously with one abstention by S. Guiliano 4. Agenda: Approved by Crystal Laffan and seconded by S. Giuliano 5. Remarks from the Chair: Day welcomed L. Godburn back after recuperating from surgery. 6. Old Business: a) Budget Review: Discussion about the budget and how it has been prepared similar to the previous coordinators spreadsheet. Some clarification was given to K. Michael about amounts that need to be spent or saved for committed programming and events. Discussion on the status of the Fourth of July expenditures. It was noted that the budget straddles two years for expenditures and income. Brief discussion on Arts net 90 role and interest for MCA. She will fill us in when more information is gathered. Overview consensus of the budget felt the spent items are in place for the end of the year (Kid’s Art and etc.) Public Arts needs to be used by May. Funds need to be encumbered to see what is available for programming and expenditures. D. Bauer suggested a wish list for any new future endeavors. b) Program Update: K. Michael reached out to Arts Stakeholders Group. She sent an email, received some congratulations and plans for the future direction of the group and a future meeting. The city of Middletown will be getting a new website. To date, ours has been edited with an additional feature options and has added links for the CT. State Troubadour. c) Other: Discussion of conflict of interest. Also, it was researched and confirmed that voice minutes are not necessary.  Middletown Commission on the Arts Minutes of Meeting – October 24, 2018 City Hall, Room 208, 245 deKoven Drive, Middletown 7. Committee Reports: a) Executive Committee: No report. b) Public Art Committee: Abby Carta’s “Carmela” will stay in place instead of being sent to the Sun Valley exhibit. Per conversation with risk manager, she decided to send another piece in its place. The Fran Patnaude sculpture is on hold. It was suggested that his proposal be sent and reviewed by the Building Committee. It was suggested that F. Patnaude’s son should view the site near the sewer pumping station. C. Day will send him some pictures for his viewing. c) Nominating Committee: A motion was made by D. Bauer to nominate C. McCoid as vice-chair and J. Faraci as secretary. It was seconded by S. Giuliano and passed unanimously. This lead to discussion on how agenda is composed and changes can be edited according to Roberts Rule and FOI Act. Noted that changes can be made to agenda at a regular meeting but not a special meeting. This would require a supermajority vote. Reviewed the number of Commission vacancies. D. Bauer suggested that a copy of Commissioners terms be made available. d) Planning and Projects: L. Godburn had no report but reminded Commissioners to keep an open mind for future arts advocacy nominations. e) Music Committee: B. Arafeh presented a list of research sources for a future exhibition. She reviewed four major resources to draw upon. The Middlesex County Historical Society has past musical programs and concerts. Most of their materials only cover the 1700’s and 1800’s. They do have a list of musical organizations but it is also limited to earlier eras. Secondly, historical materials are available in the Russell Library Middletown Room. Finally, both the Godfrey Library and the Wesleyan University Musical Library are two research institutions with pertinent musical materials. Other possibilities for resources are as follows. A book by Robert and Kathleen Hubbard called “Legendary Locals” was made available to the Commissioners to preview. It has a chapter on the arts. Reaching out to the public during concerts might provide new information. Lastly, she suggested adding background music recorded samples for consideration to the collection. The next Music Committee meeting will concentrate on what was gathered and any future information. Both B. Arafeh and J. Kirkpatrick reported on the classical film series of immigrant artists at the Russell Library. Rolande Duprey, Community Services Librarian, solicited well -selected films from other cultures for our MCA funding. In addition, they attended the music concert for dual piano highlighting eminent classical composers. Both events were very well attended. B. Arafeh was suggested that the Shoreline Arts Alliance should be aware of these opportunities. She offered to market this to them at future meeting. f) Public Relations Committee: No report g) Poet Laureate Committee: C. Laffan reported that we have 3 applications for Poet Laureate. Interviews are scheduled for Nov. 19 between 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Each poet will be limited by a time period that includes both a reading and interview. 8. New Business: a) Discussion on Categories 2 and 3 grants for projects taking place after Dec. 1. A motion was made by J. Joyce to fully fund $8000 for Artists for World Peace. It was not seconded and the motion failed. A motion was made by L. Godburn, seconded by C. Laffan, to fund future grant initiatives that will only involve the city of Middletown. This will not include the present grant period. It passed unanimously with one abstention by S. Giuliano. A motion was made by D. Bauer, seconded by F. Biales, to keep the $1000 grant award as presented to Jordan Dykstra. It passed unanimously. A final motion was made by  Middletown Commission on the Arts Minutes of Meeting – October 24, 2018 City Hall, Room 208, 245 deKoven Drive, Middletown S. Giuliano to accept the grants awards as recommended along with those passed by the previous motions. It was seconded by D. Bauer and passed unanimously. 9. Miscellaneous: a) Announcements: Two music announcements were made. New season will be starting for the Greater Middletown Concert Association with Carmen on Nov. 17. The GMC Choral will have a concert on Nov. 11 honoring Leonard Bernstein. Both will be performed at the MHS Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center. J. Kirkpatrick concluded the meeting with a suggestion for a community event called Main Street Window Wonderland. She will follow-up with an email. 10. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 9:27 p.m. Respectively submitted, Charlotte McCoid, Secretary