Culture, Arts & Pride Commission

CULTURE, ARTS & PRIDE COMMISSION Wednesday, November 15, 2017 12:00 noon Municipal Complex, Committee Meeting Room (3300) 100 Ann Edwards Lane Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 MINUTES Members Present: Kenda Sweet, Chair; Rebecca Gosnell, Ann McGahey, Stephanie Members Absent: Ian Duncan, Charles Williams Staff Present: Nicole Harvey Ms. Sweet called the meeting to order at 12:09 p.m. 1. Approval of Minutes from the October 11, 2017 meeting Ms. Gosnell moved for approval of the Minutes of October 11, 2017. Ms. Meadows seconded the motion. All were in favor. 2. Public Comments None 3. Report from Subcommittees a. Artist Submissions Ms. Harvey said they are not ready to put any additional submissions out at this time. She said the next submissions would be poetry and murals. b. Beautification Mr. Duncan, Subcommittee Chair, was not in attendance.  Culture, Arts & Pride Commission November 15, 2017 Page 2 of 9 Ms. Sweet said they talked about having handouts at the nurseries possibly in February. Ms. Harvey said they did not receive any applications for the Tree Bank and said it historically has been an underutilized program. She said they need to evaluate how to make it more user friendly and said part of the issue may be the requirement for the installation to be in public places. Ms. Gosnell asked where the money originated from. Ms. Harvey said Public Services. She said she thought it was a Public Services budget line item. Ms. Gosnell said if the criteria spelled out where the grant came from and the fact that the Commission is implementing the grant that may help. Ms. Harvey said it originated with the Pride Commission, which is what the CAP Commission was formed from. She said they need to revisit the original intent and where the funding is coming from. Ms. Gosnell said they have been talking about this fund for years and said they need to revisit the origins and purpose as it may make more sense to designate beautification funds for selected areas that are entrance points to Mount Pleasant. Ms. Harvey said she will check with Public Services on where it came from, what the original intent was and if the Commission had the ability to alter that at all. Ms. Sweet said after Ms. Harvey gets that information she will request that the subcommittee meet to go over suggestions on how to streamline it or change it appropriately to keep it in the guidelines as it does not seem to be working as it is. She said they may be able to reach out to Abide A While or other nurseries and get information from them on how they may be able to help get the information out. Ms. Gosnell said the challenge continues to be in how to get the word out to people and nothing they can do is going to change that. Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride Commission November 15, 2017 Page 3 of 9 She said they have to go back to where the money is coming from to find out whether the origins are rooted in getting more trees planted or in beautification. She said if they could understand that they may be able to put together a more streamlined process for using those funds without this public action component tied to it. Ms. Sweet said she would get with Mr. Duncan about possibly working with the Park Conservancy. c. Sculpture Ms. McGahey said she will begin to reach out to the College of Charleston to get a meeting set up. Ms. Harvey asked if she could inquire when she speaks with them as to whether any further conversation had occurred regarding the sculpture department working with the computer science program and if they still have interest in moving forward with that. Ms. McGahey said they meet after the spring semester starts in January. Ms. Sweet asked about following up with the current sculptors on what their plans are and whether they want to keep them or donate them. Ms. Harvey said they will be taking down the big abstract sculpture while the Christmas tree is decorated and afterwards the sculpture will be put back. Ms. McGahey asked if she should be asking the College of Charleston or the sculptors on what to do with the current sculptures. Ms. Harvey said she will contact the sculptors who did them. d. Traffic Box Art Ms. Sweet asked when the five wraps will go into effect. Ms. Harvey said they received encroachment permits from the South Carolina Department of Transportation for the five traffic boxes. She said the high-resolution images have been sent to the sign company. Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride Commission November 15, 2017 Page 4 of 9 She said the installer is out of country and will be installed when he gets back or possibly early spring depending on the weather. Ms. Meadows asked what the temperature needed to be. Ms. Harvey said it could not be freezing or overly hot. e. Mural Ms. Gosnell said the Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee (ATAC) was interested in funding the mural project as a festival initiative. She said they potentially could commit $25,000 for a single project. She said the question was the timing on whether it could happen in 2018 as part of ArtFest. Ms. Harvey said ArtFest is in March and they had talked about getting the mural submission requests out in January or February as those months are not good times to paint. Ms. Gosnell said it could depend on the weather. Ms. Gosnell said it might be possible for ArtFest to launch the mural showcase each year and move around. She wondered if it was something they could pull off for 2018. She said she understands how busy Town events staff is and when they try to add things it becomes difficult at the current staffing level. She said to launch a mural festival it is going to take more than 20 man-hours. She said she feels the solution is to bring on an intern to manage the launch of the mural project. She said it could be managed for 2018 instead of waiting another year. She asked for feedback from staff. Ms. Harvey said they have had interns in the past and it is work, but if it was a group effort and they could pool resources to find the right person to be managed by the right people, it could be a great idea. Ms. Gosnell said if they did a scope of work for this project and set up a weekly meeting, they could get the mural project launched and tap into the ATAC funding and make it part of the 2018 ArtFest. She said the ArtFest is currently drawing $5,000 from ATAC. She said if they create an onsite installation as part of ArtFest and applied to Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride Commission November 15, 2017 Page 5 of 9 ATAC to fund a part-time intern position to manage that they could possibly increase ArtFest budget. She said they could run a congruent festival for the mural project which could draw from the $25,000 to pay the artists. She said they should take full advantage of whatever they can get from ATAC. Ms. Harvey said the deadline for March events for ATAC funding has passed and asked Ms. Gosnell if she thought this was something they might be able to work with the Commission on. Ms. Gosnell answered in the affirmative. She said this would be a special request and if it is Town-driven, she does not think there would be a problem. She said they are below where they need to be on distribution by the end of year, so there is a willingness to look at it. Ms. Gosnell said she would like to see a part-time public art position dedicated to working on the launch of the mural program with ArtFest. Ms. Harvey asked if she was thinking of getting an intern from the College of Charleston and if it would not start until January. She said she will check with Human Resources and asked if this would be a paid position out of ATAC. Ms. Gosnell answered in the affirmative and said it would be to help implement public art programs, expanding ArtFest to include the mural program, and other targeted projects. The Committee members agreed. Ms. Gosnell made a motion to direct staff to approach Human Resources to investigate the possibility of the Committee hiring a community art project coordinator to potentially be funded through ATAC to work on the Mount Pleasant ArtFest and the mural program to be supervised through Culture, Arts & Pride’s appointed staff. Ms. Meadows seconded the motion. All were in favor. Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride Commission November 15, 2017 Page 6 of 9 Ms. Sweet said they could first do the mural at the Jones Center as that is a venue that has been approved. She said they could have the community involved. Ms. Gosnell said she did not believe they had funds in the budget. Ms. Sweet said they could potentially coordinate the project at a minimal cost and get someone to sponsor the paint. Ms. Gosnell said if they could secure the ATAC funding ahead of time they could get it done. She said she will contact ATAC staff and pursue the possibility for CAP. Ms. Meadows asked about the time frame for this. Ms. Gosnell said she thought about a week. Ms. Harvey said if funding is approved by ATAC, an account would be set up for the event. Ms. Gosnell said it would be two applications; one for a part-time public arts coordinator and the other for the mural project. f. It’s Raining Art! Ms. Sweet said that the College of Charleston student who was going to work on this project has been unresponsive. She said she will involve Wando’s English Department for the poetry and the Art Department to create the stencils without having to use the laser machine. She said the guide we purchased shows it being done with cardboard and X-Acto knives. She said she will look into making into a local school project. Ms. Gosnell asked about the Dean at Trident. Ms. Sweet said he indicated that they were interested in working on the project and she will follow up. g. Take Pride Ms. Meadows said she needs to know when it is due. Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride Commission November 15, 2017 Page 7 of 9 Ms. Sweet said the next one will focus on Public Services. She said it will thank the Public Services Department and come out right before Thanksgiving. Ms. Harvey said it will be a Thanksgiving edition with lots of facts and figures on how much Public Services staff does to make our town a place to be proud to live in. Ms. Sweet said it is going out the day before Thanksgiving. Ms. Harvey said it would be helpful if they can come up with what they want to focus on for upcoming editions. Ms. Meadows suggested the Fire Department because they are concerned about fires with trees in the house for December. Ms. Gosnell suggested the holidays and January are when people evaluate resolutions and they could profile volunteer opportunities. Ms. Sweet said they wanted to put it on the Moultrie News online. h. Marketing No report. i. Civic Pride Award Ms. Sweet reminded everyone to look around town for nominees either from a business or community that has shown exceptional beautification of their space. Ms. Harvey said they received nominations of Charleston National, Brickyard Plantation, and Park West. Ms. Sweet said she noticed unique spaces around town such as the Pickled Palate and Elizabeth Stuart Design. Ms. McGahey suggested the Vintage Café along with the Coastal Crust addition. She said it is a great outdoor space. 4. New Business Ms. Sweet asked if there was anything they need to do to move forward on the trash truck wrap. Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride Commission November 15, 2017 Page 8 of 9 Ms. Harvey said Mr. Peele from Public Services will keep them posted on the process. She said he said the ones they have now are wrapped but the new ones being ordered have the option to put square “billboards” on the side of it. Ms. Gosnell said Mr. Timothy Banks and his wife, Elizabeth, have submitted several creative things to consider for the traffic boxes and probably would like to submit for the trash trucks. She said they are whimsical and creative more so than what the Commission could come up with internally. Ms. Harvey said they had discussed running it like the traffic boxes and consider art they already have for the traffic boxes and take new submissions. Ms. Gosnell said they could reach out to all previous submitters. She asked for a Power Point of previous submissions. Ms. Harvey said in December they will also be choosing the Mayor’s Office art and the Civic Pride award recipient. She said they are not in a rush on the trucks as it would be spring or later before they come in. Ms. Sweet said she had some ideas for the future. She wants them to come up with a way to do an art project with photographers. She said that the trash receptacles outside of Town Hall need some type of art or photographs on them. She also would like to do a sidewalk chalk project. Ms. Harvey said they had sidewalk chalk at some of their events. Ms. Gosnell suggested the space under the overpass on Bowman for a digital screen and rotated photography. Ms. Sweet said that may be something they could do with the College of Charleston as the sculpture people wanted to do something interactive. Ms. Gosnell said the installation of large pixel screens is becoming a lot more reasonable and especially if they wanted to incorporate photography. Ms. Meadows said she immediately thought of traffic and wrecks but on the interstate, there are large billboards that have movement. She Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride Commission November 15, 2017 Page 9 of 9 thought it was a good idea and asked if it would have to be approved by the South Carolina Department of Transportation. Ms. Harvey said it would have to be approved by the Town’s Transportation Committee first and then SCDOT. Ms. Sweet said she also wanted to look at flash art such as pop up art. She said some kind of function exhibit such as an activity at an event. She said she would have more information on this idea in January. Ms. Sweet said that Ms. Dixon has left the Commission and the vacancy was announced at Council the previous night. She asked for everyone to be thinking of people who have a love of culture and arts and want to bring that to the Town and the have the commitment, time and ability to help. Ms. McGahey asked about the flag project. Ms. Meadows said she now has the name of a person in Charlotte, North Carolina who started the project and will contact them for information. She said her goal was by Memorial Day or July 4. 5. Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 12:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Bedenbaugh, 11/15/17 Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com