MILWAUKEE ARTS BOARD

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes MILWAUKEE ARTS BOARD ALD. MICHAEL J. MURPHY, CHAIR Ald. Nik Kovac, Vice-Chair William DeLind, David Flores, Donald Fraker, Marcela Garcia, April Heding, Vedale Hill, Tina Klose, Diane Kosarzycki, Emilia Layden, Sandra McSweeney, Polly Morris, Tim Murphy, Paula Phillips, Kantara Souffrant, and Oscar Tovar Staff Assistant, Yadira Melendez-Hagedorn, 286-2775 Fax: 286-3456, Y.Melendez-Hagedorn@milwaukee.gov Legislative Liason: Tea Norfolk, 286-8012, tea.norfolk@milwaukee.gov Staff to Arts Board: Sally Svetic, ssveti@milwaukee.gov Tuesday, December 14, 2021 4:00 PM This is a virtual meeting. The meeting convened at 4:00 pm 1. Roll Call Members present: David Flores, Donald Fraker, Marcela Garcia, April Heading, Tina Klose, Diane Kosarzyski, Vanessa Koster, Emilia Layden, Sandra Mc Sweeney, Mrs. Morris, Tim Murphy, Paula Phillips, Kantara Souffrant, Ald. Murphy, Ald. Kovac,and Jim Piwoni Sally Svetic and Terri Grote from CDC were also present. Members absent: William DeLind and Vedalle Hill. 2. North Holton Street Viaduct Rehabilitation Project Presentation by James Hagen - DPW - Infrastructure - Bridges & Buildings A presentation was made by James Hagen from DPW. Jonathan Thomas and Megan O'Connor from DPW were present as well. Ald. Murphy said that there must be a conversation between Ald. Coggs, Ald. Kovac and himelf to talk about additional lighting for the bridge to highlight the architectural significance. Mrs. Morris wanted to make sure that the public art piece at the deck of the bridge (the blue dress park) will be preserved. Mr. Hagen confirmed it will be preserved. Ald. Kovac moved to hold this item to the call of the chair. There were no objections. 3. Review and Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes Ald. Kovac moved approval of the minutes seconded by David Flores. There were no objections. City of Milwaukee Page 1 MILWAUKEE ARTS BOARD Meeting Minutes December 14, 2021 4. Public Art Subcommittee Report Mrs. Morris said that the subcommittee has nothing to report at this moment but they are working on the artist and residency program that will be reported in January. Tina Klose moved to hold the item open seconded by Donald Freker. There were no objections. 5. Grants Report -Application Subcommittee Report: Sally Svetic said that she has sent around a list of recommendations and discussion items as well as the link to the application itself. Mrs. Morris thanked the subcommittee for working hard and efficiently following up the ordinances and hitting all the marks in terms of accountability and explained that the program will go back to a based competitive system and will have two tiers (depending on the size of the budget) and that people will know in advance how much money they are applying for. Added that another purpose will be to collect some data like who is being served, where they are being served, how many artists are involved, etc. with the idea to have a concrete information on how people is using this money and to meet the goals of the art program. Also said that there a few things to discuss still like if to include or not broadcasting organizations because some of them are eligible for matching state funds for the federal money they receive (so they are not matching government money with government money) and some items that are not strictly art but they are architectural and design so it must be decided if both are part of culture as defined on the arts board ordinance. Mrs. Morris also explained that the state does not fund organizations that are not incorporated or re-incorporated in the state of Wisconsin at the time of the application and read the narrative questions that were sent by Sally Svetic by email. Regarding the interim report she said that they are looking to give organization 75% of the money up front and 25% after submission of the report and that looks forward to have a response back today because grants are due on March 7th. Donald Fraker asked what are the cons and pros are for broadcasting organizations. Mrs. Morris said that because we are not matching government funds and that 88.9 will be the only organization affected by this. Donald Fraker said that it will be safe to include them because they need to meet the same standards and are reviewed in the same fashion. Ald. Murphy asked for an example. Mrs. Morris said that 88.9 is the only example and that they have a complex relation with MPS. David Flores said that they not receive dollars from MPS but "in kind". Mrs. Morris said that they looked at the marginal cases: broadcasting and Historic Milwaukee and that this organization has done a lot of work that falls within the arts board. Ald. Murphy said that Historic Milwaukee play an important role and have great outreach to a lot of people who have not been exposed to the city's architecture and history. David Flores said that he looked at the ordinance and architectural is covered by arts and agrees to support this type of organizations and that regarding to religious organizations, that we are supporting the organization and all of its programming and efforts but that it is hard to keep track of the money because the money is not tied to an specific project and wanted to make everyone aware that this is a consequence of switching from a project base to a sustaining grant and wanted to add that the City of Milwaukee Page 2 MILWAUKEE ARTS BOARD Meeting Minutes December 14, 2021 supreme court has ruled on the past on public funds for religious organizations for playgrounds for religious based schools and it is doing it now. Ald. Murphy asked if we anticipate more applications now that we are offering sustaining grants instead of project based. Mrs. Morris said that the eligibility criteria is that organizations have to be primarily an arts organization. David Flores said that religious organizations are not eligible to apply at all and that if there is no concern, we would allow these organizations (88.9 and Historic Milwaukee) to apply and see what happens next year. Donald Fraker said that we should focus on what the organization is doing and where instead it was incorporated. Ald. Murphy agreed and asked for the level of funding. Sally Svetic mentioned that if the organization budget is over $100,000 they will be funded at $6,000 and $3,000 if the budget is under than $100,000 with the stipulation that we cannot fund that have a budget of less than $6,000. David Flores said that with this model there will be few awardees and the applicants will be ranked and will be funded down the rank until we ran out of money. Ald. Murphy asked what would be the competitive portion of it. David Flores said that it will be based on the responses to the questions. Terri Grote said that the interim report is always required by all grants and the only time that is not required is when the organization submits the final report instead. Ald. Murphy said that each item will be taken separately. -Mrs. Morris moved to disband the interim report seconded by David Flores. Ald. Murphy objected. The motion is sustained. -David Flores moved for broadcasting organizations to continue applying for funding seconded Mrs. Morris. Ald. Kovac and Emilia Layden abstained. There were no objections. -Mrs. Morris moved approval of the narrative questions seconded by David Flores. There were no objections. -Recommendations for the 2022 Sustaining Grant Application: Mrs. Morris said that they will go ahead to fill out the rest of the application and to present it to the common council. Ald. Murphy said that he likes project based management because it encourages the board members and highlights very important projects throughout the city. 6. Old Business -Application Subcommittee Report: Sally Svetic said that she has sent around a list of recommendations and discussion items as well as the link to the application itself. Mrs. Morris thanked the subcommittee for working hard and efficiently following up the ordinances and hitting all the marks in terms of accountability. The program will go back to a based competitive system and will have two tiers (depending on the size of the budget) people will know in advance how much money they are applying for. Added that also the purpose will be to collect some data like who is being served, where they are being served, how many artists are involved, etc. with the idea to have a concrete information on how people is using this money and to meet the goals of the art program. Also said that there a few things to discuss still like if to include or not broadcasting City of Milwaukee Page 3 MILWAUKEE ARTS BOARD Meeting Minutes December 14, 2021 organizations because some of them are eligible for matching state funds for the federal money they receive (so they are not matching government money with government money) and some items that are not strictly art but they are architectural and design so it must be decided if both are part of culture as defined on the arts board ordinance. Mrs. Morris said that we do not fund historical organizational and that the state does not fund organizations that are not incorporated or re-incorporated in the state of Wisconsin at the time of the application and read the questions that were sent by Sally Svetic by email. Regarding the interim report said that they are looking to give organization 75% of the money up front and 25% after submission of the report and that looks forward to have a response back today because grants are due on March 7th. Donald Fraker asked what are the cons and pros are for broadcasting organizations. Mrs. Morris said because we are not matching government funds and that 88.9 will be the only organization affected by this. Donald Fraker said that it will be safe to include them because they need to meet the same standards and are reviewed in the same fashion. Ald. Murphy asked for an example. Mrs. Morris said that 88.9 is the only example and that they have a complex relation with MPS. David Flores said that they not receive dollars but "in kind". Mrs. Morris said that they looked at the marginal cases: broadcasting and Historic Milwaukee and that this organization has done a lot of work that falls within the arts board. Ald. Murphy said that Historic Milwaukee play an important role and have great outreach to a lot of people who have not been exposed to the city's architecture and history. David Flores said that he looked at the ordinance and architectural is covered by arts and agrees to support this type of organizations and that regarding religious organizations we are supporting the organization and all of its programming and efforts but that it is hard to keep track of the money because the money is not tied to an specific project and wanted to make everyone aware that this is a consequence of switching from a project base to a sustaining grant and wanted to add that the supreme court has ruled on the past on public funds for religious organizations for playgrounds for religious based schools and it is doing it now. Ald. Murphy asked if we anticipate more applications from religious organizations now that are sustaining grants instead of project based. Mrs. Morris said that the eligibility criteria is that organizations have to be primarily an arts organization. David Flores said that religious organizations are not eligible to apply at all and that if there is no concern, we would allow these organizations to apply and see what happens next year. Donald Fraker said that we should focus on what the organizations is doing and where instead of where it was incorporated. Ald. Murphy agreed and asked the level of funding. Sally Svetic mentioned that if the organization budget is over $100,000 they will be funded at $6,000 and $3,000 if the budget is under than $100,000 with the stipulation that we cannot fund that have a budget of less than $6,000. David Flores said that with this model there will be few awardees and the applicants will be ranked and will be funded down the rank until we ran out of money. Ald. Murphy asked what would be the competitive portion of it. David Flores said that it will be based on the responses to the questions. Terri Grote said that the interim report were always required by all grants and the only time that is not required is when the organization submits the final report instead. City of Milwaukee Page 4 MILWAUKEE ARTS BOARD Meeting Minutes December 14, 2021 Ald. Murphy said that each item will be taken separately. -Mrs. Morris moved to disband the interim report seconded by David Flores. Ald. Murphy objected. The motion is sustained. -David Flores moved for broadcasting and historic organizations to continue applying for funding seconded Mrs. Morris. Ald. Kovac and Emilia Layden abstained on the Historic Milwaukee part of it.. There were no objections. -Mrs. Morris moved approval of the narrative questions seconded by David Flores. There were no objections. Ald. Murphy suggested a letter to inform the council about the changes on the sustaining project applications. -Recommendations for the 2022 Sustaining Grant Application: Mrs. Morris said that they will go ahead to fill out the rest of the application and to present it to the common council. Ald. Murphy said that he likes project based management because it encourages the board members and highlights very important projects throughout the city. 7. New Business New Business: -Review major dates 2022 Sally Svetic said that she sent the dates around and it is pretty much the same as the past and that some of the language must be change. 8. Announcements Ald. Murphy said that he had a great opportunity to see the "Little Shop of Horrors" and encouraged everyone to see David's Flores performance. Also thanked the committee as it was his last meeting after serving the committee for over 22 years. The meeting adjourned at 5:09 pm Yadira Melendez-H Staff Assistant. City of Milwaukee Page 5