Public Art Commission

Salem Public Art Commission Meeting October 18, 2016 The Public Art Commission (PAC) was held on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, in Room 312, Third Floor, at 120 Washington Street, Salem, MA. Norene Gachignard, Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 6:05pm. Roll Call: Members Present: Norene Gachignard, Lillian Hsu, James Fallon, Amanda Moore and Deborah Greel, Public Art Planner Absent: Austen Barron Bailly, J. Michael Sullivan Approval of August Minutes: Hsu made a motion to approve. Moore seconded the motion. Discussion: Hsu’s name was not recorded as attending the August meeting. Motion passes: 3-1 Abstention Abstention: Fallon, as new member of PAC, was not present at the August meeting. Discuss and Vote on Public Art Work plan 2016-2017 Documents and Exhibitions: Public Art Work Plan 2016-2017 New Initiatives Programs/Forums/Talks – Moore suggested expanding or modifying the model of the art summit that took place two years ago. She said it would be combination of Pecha Kucha and those that represent the arts in Salem. Names suggested were Claudia Paraschiv of Salem Public Art Space, Salem State University, Opus Restaurant, and Trevor Smith from the Peabody Essex Museum. The presentation would follow with the speed dating model with everyone networking. Goal of the initial conversation is to bring people in the community into a public art discussion. Hsu said that the Public Art Planner can have the role to inform about public art at this forum. She also suggested an outreach component and to devote a budget line item to it. Moore said that we would need a small committee to work on the programs. Hsu said that if there was a larger public art staff they would be forming the outline and bringing ideas to the PAC. Moore said part of the mission of PAC is to promote public art and help it grow. She also mentioned the idea about ambassadors to help people learn about public art and to raise the profile of the commission. Gachignard said she will help work on the committee. Moore suggested that the forum happen in the next quarter, sometime in January. This section of the work plan will be edited to keep the first paragraph only. Hsu said that Programs/Forums/Talks/Social Media come under Outreach in New Initiatives on the work plan. Hsu said that we have to use the $10,000 for all of our initiatives. The work plan includes what we can afford and another category would be aspirational if we had more funding. Moore said if we had an intern we could do more outreach. She also suggested that we add Social Media to the Outreach category to be summarized in one sentence. “PAC uses and maintains social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, shared calendar for events) to communicate activities with the public.” PAC could use a Google calendar to keep organized. Community Art – Greel mentioned using some of the PAC budget for community grants to local artists. Hsu asked how that would that differ from what our call is now for public art. Hsu asked if it has to be used to create art with the public Moore said that we could have three or four calls a year and give different perimeters. The theme could be community, reaching out and wanting to connect. Gachignard suggested having a summit to bring in community ideas and also to use the red line to bring more people to the ‘art area’. Hsu suggested also consolidating Community Art and Celebrating the Urban Environment under Community Art. Moore suggested one call for proposals, date not yet determined and a second one for Celebrating the Urban Environment. And that there could be a small revolving account for a third contingency for public art. Greel suggested an Artists’ Selection Panel be used for determining the various public art and locations. Hsu asked about the budget for the Mural Slam program and Greel said it was $1800.00. PARKing Day – With all of the initiatives for this year, Greel suggested that PARKing Day not take place this year. Hsu suggested it be moved to aspirational programming to be reviewed at another time. Ongoing Programming Artbox – Greel would like to have an intern for the inventory of the artboxes. Hsu mentioned that ongoing programming is a category that we support but don’t fund. We can support Artbox as a program. Gachignard suggested a public art cleaning day and get the community together and clean the Artboxes. Greel noted that we do not have a maintenance program for the boxes. Moore asked about the outreach call for ambassadors, what is the protocol? Gachignard mentioned to reach out to Salem State University and Fallon mentioned that he would look for the right department. Greel said there is a newly formed City of Salem Youth Commission. Greel informed the PAC about an upcoming meeting with the art teachers from the Salem School system. Hsu mentioned having funding to employee youth and a subset to focus the art in the parks and maybe have a program of their own. Greel will ask about the city program that employees youth in the summer. Moore asked if we can draw more youth in who might like to work outside. She also suggested a Public Art Youth Council. Gachignard mentioned that we should see how the meeting goes with the art teacher. Site Specific Public Art – Hsu suggested keeping the same process of selecting site specific public art. Artists’ Row – Greel suggested a subcommittee to evaluate Artists’ Row programs, with the idea of aligning with the Salem Framework. Moore noted that programming shouldn’t be a problem with all of the non-profit performance groups in the area. And she suggested hiring someone that is more specific for performance, something for youth. Fallon suggested a teacher or faculty from SSU once each week and said that students do a jury jam or a community event on the Row. PAC could also put out a call for activation. Moore mentioned a curator in residence program. How do we program in Artists’ Row now? Hsu said to have a structure to the programming. Public Art Inventory – Greel has not been successful finding an intern to do the public art inventory but will continue to solicit volunteers. Collections Management – Greel also noted that a collections management, without more staff, is also a challenge. Vote on Public Art Work Plan: A vote was not taken for the Public Art Work Plan 2016-2017 and Gachignard said that edits will be made based on this meeting’s feedback and the plan will be presented for a vote in November. Public Comments: No comments Adjourn: Moore made a motion to adjourn. Fallon seconded the motion. Adjournment: 7:40 pm