Naper Settlement Museum Board

City of Naperville 400 S. Eagle Street Naperville, IL 60540 Meeting Minutes - Final Friday, February 11, 2022 8:00 AM Municipal Center - Meeting Rooms A & B Naper Settlement Museum Board Naper Settlement Museum Board Meeting Minutes - Final February 11, 2022 A. CALL TO ORDER: Councilman Paul Hinterlong called the meeting to order at 8:03am. B. ROLL CALL: Also Present: Donna K. Sack, Vice President and Chief Program Officer; Kimberly Grazulis, Development Associate; Marcie Schatz, Deputy City Manager; Macarena Tamayo-Calabrese, President and CEO (on conference phone) Present 7- Paul Hinterlong, John Koranda, Bridget Kozlowski, Lee Quillinan, Julie Schremser, Susan Taylor Demming, and Greg Waite Absent 2- Steve Chirico, and Al Zucco Introductions of appointed Student Representatives. No student representatives were in attendance. C. PUBLIC FORUM: There were no comments in the public forum. D. OLD BUSINESS: Receive an update on grants. Tamayo-Calabrese summarized that she is still waiting for a decision on two grant applications that were submitted for funding for Innovation Gateway. One, from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, should have decisions released within the next month. The other, from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), will release decisions in the late spring. If the NEH grant is awarded, construction on Innovation Gateway will not be able to begin until July 1. Two grants are wrapping up in 2022 - Unvarnished and Museums Empowered. Quillinan asked about a private gift towards Innovation Gateway that had been mentioned at the last meeting. Tamayo-Calabrese responded that a gift totaling $250,000 was made by a private donor. With this gift, the brick and mortar for Innovation Gateway is 100% funded. The grant funding that we have been seeking would go towards interior elements including the digital experience. Receive an update on capital projects: Herman & Anna Hageman Memorial Thresher Hall, Benck Family Agricultural Interpretive Center, and Innovation Gateway. Tamayo-Calabrese informed the board that construction on the Ag Center and Thresher Hall is moving along as scheduled. Foundation have been poured and structural elements will be going up between now and April. Tamayo-Calabrese is hopeful that the Thresher Hall will be complete by May or June. She summarized City of Naperville Page 1 Printed on 9/2/2022 Naper Settlement Museum Board Meeting Minutes - Final February 11, 2022 that the capital campaign has entered Phase II which focuses on the interior elements of the buildings. Staff are meeting with the Illinois Soybean Association and have reached out to other private corporations, including the National Science Foundation, in hopes of securing programmatic funding. She added that the Learning Experiences team has started incorporating more Ag programming into this year’s summer camp offerings. Receive a building design update. Sack reported that most of the decisions being made about building design at this point are about small finishing details. Schatz asked for clarification on the timeline for construction of all three buildings. Tamayo-Calabrese explained that the Thresher Hall is on track to be finished by June, with the Ag Center finished later this summer. The Innovation Gateway groundbreaking will take place in July or August. Tamayo-Calabrese added some details about the design of the interior of Innovation Gateway, including a designated entrance for school groups. It will be divided into two main areas - one section with the digital experience and ticketing kiosks, and a large room that can be used for numerous educational purposes, including a lunchroom for students or a space for teacher workshops and lectures. The digital experience will have both indoor and outdoor components. Tamayo-Calabrese said that there are no major updates to the design of the Ag Center. Exterior colors have been chosen and the design for the interior is still being determined. E. NEW BUSINESS: Receive an update on the Unvarnished grant program. Attachments: unvarnished combined file Sack explained that Unvarnished: Housing Discrimination in the Northern and Western United States will be the first nationally launched exhibit in Naper Settlement’s history. She gave background on the grant that was issued by the Institute of Museum and Library Services that allowed Naper Settlement, along with five partner institutions around the country, to research discriminatory real estate practices and sundowning. She showed a preview of the online exhibit that will launch in late April. An on-site exhibit will be presented at Naper Settlement at the same time. The grant participants are also developing a middle and high school curriculum on this history that will be integrated into the website. Sack expressed excitement at Naper Settlement joining many other museums that have presented virtual exhibits, especially since the start of the pandemic. Sack described programming that will tie into Unvarnished, including community workshops about how to remove restrictive covenants. City of Naperville Page 2 Printed on 9/2/2022 Naper Settlement Museum Board Meeting Minutes - Final February 11, 2022 A discussion was had about how the collaborative aspect of this grant and how the participating organizations worked together. F. REPORTS: Receive and approve the minutes from the November 05, 2021 Naper Settlement Museum Board meeting. Attachments: DRAFT Meeting Minutes NSMB 11.05.2021 The minutes were approved with a motion by Lee Quillinan, seconded by John Koranda. Motion carried 6-0. Susan Taylor Demming abstained. A motion was made approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 6- Hinterlong, Koranda, Kozlowski, Quillinan, Schremser, and Waite Absent: 2- Chirico, and Zucco Recused: 1- Taylor Demming Receive and approve the Naper Settlement financial report as of October 31, 2021. Attachments: Financial Reports September 2021 and October 2021 Tamayo-Calabrese stated that Naper Settlement ended 2021 under revenue and under expenses. Salary and benefits were close to plan. Overall, there were no major surprises on the financial report. A lot of Naper Settlement revenue comes from school tours, which are coming back, but are still not at pre-pandemic levels. Tamayo-Calabrese added that numbers for summer programming, including Camp Naper, were good in 2021. Schatz suggested that the “other rentals” line be segmented to give a clearer picture of the financials as the amounts under this line are so large. Tamayo-Calabrese explained what kinds of rentals that fall in that category. A discussion was had about the exhibit in the lower-level of the Pre-Emption House. When the Brushstrokes exhibit was damaged by a flood in 2020, staff filed an insurance claim and then renovated and refreshed the exhibit. It will reopen within the next month as Building Naperville: Tallgrass Prairie to Today and an exhibit reception will be held on March 8. The updated exhibit tells more of Naperville’s 20th and 21st century stories, including new displays about the lyceum and suburbanization. More seating has been added and the space is more ADA-friendly. Tamayo-Calabrese praised the work staff had done in refreshing the exhibit on a limited budget. She and Sack shared that Dina Spoerl, Exhibits Team Leader, recently had an article about some pieces of our collection published that was picked up by numerous media outlets around the world. City of Naperville Page 3 Printed on 9/2/2022 Naper Settlement Museum Board Meeting Minutes - Final February 11, 2022 The financial reports were approved with a motion by Greg Waite, seconded by Lee Quillinan. Motion carried 7-0. A motion was made approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7- Hinterlong, Koranda, Kozlowski, Quillinan, Schremser, Taylor Demming, and Waite Absent: 2- Chirico, and Zucco Receive the attendance and demographic report through December 31, 2021. Attachments: CY21_Master_Attendance Tamayo-Calabrese presented the attendance and demographic report. A discussion was had about the ratio of Naperville to non-Naperville residents at events, especially building rentals. Sack and Tamayo-Calabrese explained that ideally, the visitor ratio to Naper Settlement would be about half from Naperville and half from outside Naperville. This would ensure that we are bringing non-Napervillians to the downtown area that will support other local businesses and allows us to show on grant applications that any awarded funding will affect residents of a whole region, not just a single city. Tamayo-Calabrese stated that the 2022 Naper Nights lineup would be released soon. Kozlowski praised the marketing and Learning Experience teams for their cutting-edge digital content. G. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:54 AM with a motion from Susan Taylor Demming, seconded by Lee Quillinan. Motion carried 7-0. A motion was made to adjourn the Meeting of. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7- Hinterlong, Koranda, Kozlowski, Quillinan, Schremser, Taylor Demming, and Waite Absent: 2- Chirico, and Zucco City of Naperville Page 4 Printed on 9/2/2022