Culture, Arts & Pride Commission

CULTURE, ARTS & PRIDE COMMISSION Wednesday, December 11, 2019 12:00 noon Municipal Complex, Committee Meeting Room (3300) 100 Ann Edwards Lane Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 MINUTES Members Present: Bren Romano Monteiro, Chair; Ann McGahey, Frank Sonntag, Kelly Trager, Kathryn Whitaker Members Absent: Charles Williams Staff Present: Nicole Harvey Ms. Monteiro called the meeting to order at 12:06 p.m. 1. Approval of Minutes from the November 13, 2019 meeting Ms. McGahey made a motion to approve the November 13, 2019 minutes. Mr. Sonntag seconded the motion. All were in favor. 2. Public Comments None 3. Report from Subcommittees a. Town Hall Art Ms. Monteiro said they would be voting on the selection of the art and the switch over of the art would be on December 19. Ms. Harvey said they would switch out the art before the Mayor’s Art and Music Reception on December 19 which is at 4 p.m. She said they have 41 submissions. She shared submissions from Ms. Becky Hurwitz, Mr. David Harrison, Ms. Deborah Palmer, Mr. Don Sturdivant, Ms. Fer Caggiano, Ms. Fran Davies, Ms. Gloria Union Smith, Ms. Jennifer Battalin, Ms. Julia Kelly, Ms. Kathryn Parker, Mr. Konstantin Voronin, Mr. Larry Gale, Ms. Mary Helzer, Ms. Nan  Culture, Arts & Pride December 11, 2019 Page 2 of 5 Catherine McGully, Ms. Vanessa Grebe, and Ms. Phyllis Malpas. The Commission was given the dimensions of the art submissions. Ms. Monteiro said they were all great and she did not see anything to exclude because of the content. She said she was confident they could fit them all in with maybe an exception of the quilt and two other pieces. The Commission discussed the layout of the pictures. Ms. Harvey said they will do their best to accept them all and she would let the artists know. The Commission discussed using new wall labeling for the art. Ms. Whitaker made a motion to move amend the agenda to move the Culture subcommittee as she needed to leave earlier. Ms. Trager seconded the motion. All were in favor. b. Sculpture Ms. McGahey said she had not heard back from the College of Charleston as to when they would like the Culture, Arts & Pride Commission (CAP) to look at their models for the upcoming year’s selection for sculpture. Ms. Harvey said there were also six sculptures at Waterfront Park that the Town worked with the South Carolina Wildlife Exposition (SEWE) to get put in and this would be an annual project. Ms. McGahey said she just heard from Mr. Jarod Charzewski at the college and he said they could meet on February 7. c. Art on the Half Shell Ms. Harvey said they have ten new sculptures and they will be selecting the art at the January meeting. She said Council Member G. M. Whitley said that Metto Coffee was very interested in sponsoring a sculpture and a law firm next to Town Hall would like to sponsor one outside. d. Traffic Box Art Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride December 11, 2019 Page 3 of 5 Ms. Harvey said she checked with the Transportation Department on the encroachment permit that was submitted October 29 and the sign company is ready to install as soon as the permit is received. e. Paint the Town Ms. Harvey said Mr. Karl Beckwith Smith would begin painting the restroom building at the Farmers Market and they are moving forward with plans for the Jones Center wall. She said that Ms. Kris Manning’s painting was on the side of Fulton Hair and Mr. Quintin Chapman’s painting would be ready for install on the fire station next week. f. It’s Raining Art Ms. Harvey said she and Mr. Sonntag need to schedule a meeting to talk about how they want to make this happen. g. Marketing Ms. Harvey said the number of Instagram followers was 170 and Facebook followers was 284. h. Emerging Arts Mr. Sonntag said he met with the Wando High School’s Auditorium Administrator and his district supervisor. He said they were very receptive and are holding the dates of March 6 and 13. He said they talked through the financial obligation and they agreed to waive the rent but there was cost recovery which he thought would be less than $1000 to staff it. He said if CAP wanted to use ensembles, the band, or choir from Wando he had the contact’s name. He said other issues would be the cost of a ticket and paying professional artists an honorarium. He suggested getting the Moultrie News to sponsor it which would give CAP some presence in the paper along with marketing by social media. Ms. Harvey said it sounded fantastic but thought they needed to schedule a subcommittee meeting. She said they should involve Mr. Sergio Fedelini from Mediterranean Shipping Company who had the violin concert at Town Hall and was very supportive of arts. She said there was earmarked money for something like this in CAP’s Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride December 11, 2019 Page 4 of 5 budget. She said the murals are funded as an Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee (ATAC) community arts project grant, and some funding for this could possibly come from there if needed. Mr. Sonntag said they were not talking about a lot of money but there was the issue of a ticket charge as things that do not have a price also have no value. He said if they charge too much then people would not come. Mr. Gergick asked if it would be musicians. Mr. Sonntag said he thought instrumental and choral performances as theatre would be difficult due to logistics. Ms. McGahey asked if this would be something that was held once a year. Ms. Monteiro said this would be a trial. She said she would like something done during the holidays as she did not feel that Mount Pleasant had enough of Christmas themed performances. She said the idea was to set a precedent with the first event and establish a relationship with Wando. Mr. Sonntag said that Wando was very receptive. He said it may be a matter of CAP helping to promote what was already happening at Christmas. Ms. Whitaker said they could also use it to promote the new fund for the Town’s cultural arts. Ms. Harvey said that was also part of the discussion that this could show that there really was a need for a performing arts center. Mr. Sonntag asked Ms. Harvey to set up a subcommittee meeting and said he would reach out to the arts dean and let her know of the interest. Ms. Harvey said she thought they could find a way to do this and could find sponsorship. i. Culture Ms. Whitaker said that Town Council approved the creation of a fund to accept tax deductible donations to support the creation of an art Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com  Culture, Arts & Pride December 11, 2019 Page 5 of 5 center. She said she assumed that Culture, Arts & Pride (CAP) would help solicit donations at some point. She said there was also approval of new ways for settlement communities to be classified as historic districts in the Town. Ms. Harvey said she knew that was something that Council Member G. M. Whitley was trying to work on. Ms. Whitaker said they had previously discussed a video about sweetgrass basket makers and wondered if they should talk more about the African American culture in Mount Pleasant with the Sweet Shop’s anniversary in April. She wondered if they could do something a little broader than just the sweetgrass basket makers since CAP had this potential designation happening as well. She said she wanted to stay on top of that in case there was some synergy with what Town Council and CAP was trying to do. Ms. Harvey said she and Ms. Whitley spoke briefly and they were going to talk more about the funding application for the films and some other things. 4. New Business Ms. Harvey said a Commissioner to replace Ms. Gosnell would be selected at January 14 Council Meeting. She said that Council voted the previous night to amend the CAP bylaws and allow for one member to live in an unincorporated area of Mount Pleasant. Ms. Harvey said that she would be out of Town on January 8 which would normally be CAP’s meeting and thought it would be nice to schedule January’s meeting after Council Meeting so they could invite the new member. She said the CAP meeting would be on January 16 at noon. 5. Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Bedenbaugh, 12/11/19 Telephone (843) 884-8517 - Fax (843) 856-2180 www.tompsc.com