Public Arts and Culture Advisory Council

PUBLIC ARTS & CULTURE ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, December 8, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. Electronic Meeting Members Present: Joseph Steinfels – Niles VFW Post 3579 Janet Spector Bishop – School District 63 Lindsey Kmetty – Niles Park District Susan Lempke – Niles-Maine District Library Barbara Karawacki – Niles Historical Society Marina Samovsky – Photographer Alicia Bermes – Niles Chamber of Commerce Debi Gajewski – Artist Members Absent: John Kosirog – School District 71 Ed Eubank – School District 207 George Alpogianis – Niles Sister Cities Kathleen Gallegos – Artist/Art Station Studio Carol Luc – Artist Village Officials/Staff Present: Katie Schneider – Community Engagement Coordinator I. Call to Order: Chair Lindsey Kmetty called the meeting to order electronically via Zoom audio/visual conferencing at 4:08 p.m. on Tuesday, December 8, 2020. II. Public Comment The electronic meeting is open to the public. The public may submit public comments in advance either by email, phone or voicemail. No public comment was submitted in advance of the meeting. No public comment was made at the meeting. III. Approval of Meeting Minutes Susan Lempke made a motion to accept the November 10, 2020 meeting minutes as presented. Barb Karawacki second the motion, all were in favor. None opposed. Minutes approved. IV. Organization Representative Reports Alicia Bermes (Niles Chamber of Commerce) - The Chamber will be hosting a virtual legislative roundtable with Jan Schakowsky, Brad Schneider, Peter Silvestri, Ram Villivalam and Andrew Przybylo with break out rooms via zoom. They continue to promote restaurants with the 15 for 15 program. In addition, for the holidays, a dozen businesses are participating in a Make Niles Shine holiday decorating contest. Joseph Steinfels (Niles VFW Post 3579) – The Veterans Day live ceremony was successful on Nov 11 at the Veterans Memorial Waterfall in Niles as was the Marine Corp Birthday Celebration. The VFW collected 315 pounds of food donated to the Niles Food Pantry and the Maine Township Food Pantry. Toys were also collected and delivered to the Marine Corp in Chicago for distribution as part of the Toys for Tots campaign. Construction is moving forward at the Caldwell facility. All events are canceled and the VFW post is closed in compliance with State Covid-19 protocols. Susan Lempke (Niles-Maine District Library) - The library will not be reopening until late January however pick-up is available. Staff is reorganizing to quickly adapt to meet these needs. Technology items and appointments are still available. Debi Gajewski (Artist) - Niles Artisan Guild continues with Facebook Live on Wednesday evenings and also did a Cyber Saturday event to kick off for Christmas. Two projects the Guild is working on for next year - an online auction to promote the arts using larger items like quilts, paintings and wooden sculptures. The other project will be in February, they want to launch a Love Niles event with a picture of the leaning tower, cut into sections/squares and then offered to parts of Niles to be painted. It would then be put back together printed as a poster, postcard, and various other mediums for distribution. Debi also informed the group that she has some health problems and will be having surgery in January. Everyone wished her the best. Barb Karawacki (Niles Historical Society) - Exhibits are nearly completed and staff is anxious for the museum to open to the public again. Staff is considering virtual options to highlight the new exhibits. Mil Run photos are being digitized, there are over 100 including Dionne Warwick and Bob Hope amongst others. An intern at the Historical Society is working on a website where visitors will be able to search online for museum artifacts and pictures. The Skokie Library recently donated shelves to the Historical Society. Marina Samovsky (Photographer) - There was nothing new to report from Marina. Katie Schneider (Village of Niles) - Katie thanked everyone that participated and supported the Jolly Drive-Thru event. Farm on Franks received a donation of 48 birdhouse kits. They are asking people to assemble the birdhouse and paint it. Completed birdhouses will be hung along the fence in the spring. Katie will make sure to send the information to the artisan guild. Lindsey Kmetty (Niles Park District) - Lindsey also thanked people for the Jolly Drive Thru event, people were so grateful that we were able to offer it. The Park District is offering a couple of drive-in movies at Notre Dame. They are also having a virtual Letters to Santa and visit from Santa. There are very few sports offered right now. V. Niles Artisan Guild Debi Gajewski reported that the Niles Artisan Guild will be submitting a proposal for the Love Niles project. VI. Old Business a. Bus Benches – The application is updated and ready to go. There are four benches that will need to be replaced: Starry Night (Dempster and Greenwood), Love All Over (Milwaukee and Harts), Space Swim (9333 Milwaukee) and Eye of Niles (Four Flaggs Shopping Center). Artist can either paint directly on the MDF board or they can submit digitally and the Village will have it printed. The Council agreed to use the February meeting to review designs and determine the top four. Artists will then have about 30 days to complete. b. Utility Boxes - The Council will discuss once they receive pricing, hopefully this will be available at the January meeting. The Council identified three that are in high traffic areas: SE corner Milwaukee and Harts Road, in front of Civic Center Plaza, 6960 Oakton (bus stop by the library), NE corner of Oakton and Milwaukee. c. Twinkle and Lights – Currently, there are 14 nominations for seven homes so there is probably much more coming in. As responses grow, we will need more judges. The Council agreed to ask village employees to be judges if needed. Katie will send out the judging criteria and point system as we have used in the past. She asked Council members to join her on December 21 to present the winners with their yard sign and gift card. VII. New Business a. The Council discussed ways to encourage businesses to incorporate art. The Council considered the Village’s current façade program and if there were ways that the Public Arts and Culture Council could offer something similar. Katie Schneider will look at other towns and what they may offer and report back to the Council. VIII. Open Discussion Ed Eubank who is the District 207 Director of Fine Arts will be retiring from his position and no longer participating on the Council. He would like to recommend his replacement be considered to represent District 207 Fine Arts Department, Ed will keep us posted. IX. Next Meeting The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. X. Adjournment Janet Spector Bishop made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:05 p.m. Alicia Bermes second the motion, all were in favor. Meeting adjourned. Minutes submitted by: Katie Schneider, Community Engagement Coordinator