Public Art Commission

Salem Public Art Commission 98 Washington Street Salem, Massachusetts 01970 (978) 619-5685 KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL MAYOR Public Art Commission April 19, 2022, 6:30pm Meeting held via Remote Participation MEETING MINUTES Note: All proposals, presentations, and/or documentation to be reviewed and discussed at this meeting can be viewed online at the following link: https://bit.ly/SalemPACProposals • Meeting called to order at 6:36 pm. • Roll Call PAC: Norene Gachignard, Janine Liberty, Kurt Ankeny Beauchamp, Catherine Bertrand, John Andrews, & Carly Dwyer-Naik in attendance. Absent: one absent chair. Also in attendance is new councilor Caroline Watson-Felt, who is our new commission liaison for this council in taking information with the city council to keep the conversation going. • Meeting Minute Approvals: March 15th meeting minutes- Norene entertained a motion to approve the minutes. Motion made by Janine. Motion was seconded by Catherine. Voting was unanimous. Motion approved. • Conflict of Interest Paperwork and Training: Reminder to make sure you are caught up on your annual training. Julie will be able to send individual reminders to everyone, but if you do need help or have any questions, please let Julie know. If it was completed last year, you are all set, it doesn’t need to be done again this year, just sign the paperwork and send it in. • Clarifying roles: Norene has suggested that all commission members meet with Julie and Tom about clarifying their roles in the commission. Julie will be reaching out to everyone individually to figure out what drives everyone to continue on in this commission, what does each individual hope to accomplish within the city. Ideas like this will help us broaden our collaborations and help give more opportunities to each member to state their ideas and ambitions.  • Artists Row Finalist Review & Selection: - Previously the PAC reviewed artists individually, and met together for voting, however this year there was another committee to view and rank submissions for residency on Artists Row. PAC’s goal is to keep Artist’s Row thriving, fun and lively. John believes that that could be achieved by giving the applicant a clear rubric, and tangible examples of what this commission is looking for. The commission has the next couple of years to structure the ask for artists row applicants, but John suggests having a serious conversation of refining the goals for this program. -For the Public Artist in Residence for 2023 there were two recommendations, the most votes from the sub committee went to Claudia Paraschiv, and the runner up was Robert Odell. Only one offer for 2024 was submitted, and Julie suggested opening up the submissions for 2024 again to get more submissions. John entertained a motion for Claudia to become Artist in Residence, Norene made the motion, motion was seconded by Catherine. Motion passes unanimously. -The PAC gives 3 units for the makers spaces in Artists Row under a two year contract, starting in 2023 through 2024. Part of the requirement for these spaces is for the owner to take workshops by Salem State, or other business workshops if they are not familiar with being an arts business. This platform is meant to be a springboard for a business, to either deepen their business skills selling their art, or helping them decide that this business is not for them. Either way, it is beneficial in the growth of the artist, and both ways are okay. Makers have to be at least a year into their craft before being eligible. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t exceptional at it, but rather if it's a viable art business. - Catherine entertained a motion for the new Tenant in the makers space unit #1 “Chagall PAC”. Motion made by Janine. Carly and John abstained. Motion passes. - The vote for the makers space unit #2 going to Maia Mattson with “ROBBERSDAUGHTER”, for the activation 2023-2024 tenant cycle. Norene entertained the motion, Kurt motioned, and John seconded. Motion unanimously passes. - The vote for unit #4 is between Monique Illona with “Vignette Graphica” and Kathleen Sheridan with “Shindig”. Norene entertained a motion to approve “Shindig” in Stall #4, Carly motioned to approve. Seconded by Catherine, John abstained. Motion approved. • Carlton School Mural Design and Review: Carlton School has hired artist Bruce Orr from Beverly, MA to paint a mural at the underpass by the park. As a community beautification project, Bruce focuses on the community aspect of the area. This project was collaborated with the students and classes in Carlton School, and Bruce showed us the image they have come up with drawn to scale. These images were sourced by 6 sessions of meetings with the students. There has been a change in design as the arrows and mushrooms will be replaced with a message of Cartlon innovation school and thumbprints as signature from all the students. This park is about a block from the school, and the students will have a chance to paint, which will be set up by Bruce. The area was previously a mural but has since faded. Carly voiced her concerns about skin tones in the mural, and Bruce explained the tones on the shown picture were completed with colored pencils and will be better represented in paint with plenty of diversity. Norene entertained a motion to approve the mural, Carly motioned and John seconded. Motion passed unanimously. •Mural Slam Finalists: The Mural Slam Review Committee consisted of Julie Barry, John Andrews, Kylie Sullivan, and Anna Dugan, who has participated in the Mural slam multiple times. Julie showed the commission a spread of the proposed murals. This year artists were allowed to submit sketches as their proposal as some of the artists from last year voiced that they came upon undue hardships as they were not being paid for their work. Artists were told to submit sketches or even previous work which could prove their skills. It was a nice spread of first time applicants and previous applicants, as well as a nice balance of genders making a diverse group. It was suggested that going forward, each review committee consist of previous slam artists to help pick final contenders. Norene Entertained a motion to approve the selected group of applicants, John motioned, Janine seconded. Motion carried unanimously. •Making It Public Temporary Public Art Discussion: We have been granted a $10,000 grant to commission a temporary public art piece. We can do one of two things, we can use the $10,000 as is, or pair it with remaining funds to do something bigger. The only requirement for this grant is that it is in the budget we have established, and that it is a temporary piece of public art. This does not need to be set in the downtown area. Does not have to be a mural, a sculpture or a performance, it could be for a series of classes, or something not seen before; something “out of the box”. John suggested asking artists to submit rough sketches or having a budget of $1,000 to pay artists for their submissions. We want the conversation to be handed over to the artists to dictate their own offers with a call for proposal. If the PAC put together some framework to lead others to more creative thinking. John suggested having applicants present to the commission their ideas and plans for the grant. Perhaps having a smaller group of applicants present a one sheet pitch event, would serve for saving time, and getting to see the public. It was suggested that we have no more than 20 submissions. Julie is willing to draft a call, and will plan to release the call sometime around August or September 2022. Agreed upon parameters are as follows Call for Artists- Request for ideas. The city has 10,000 to put towards a temporary art piece. What are your Ideas for public art to activate the city? - All applicants must live or work in Salem. - Must be a city owned property, or must present a letter from a landlord on private property. - Within the city limits of Salem, yet not occurring downtown. - Must be completed before the end of June 2023. - $10,000 budget includes all expenses, such as fabrication, design, installation, implementation, ect. or all inclusive stipend. - Each artist will get two minutes of airtime to pitch their idea. - Please submit a one page submission of their project idea, a resume of past work and 5 examples of previous work. •Public Arts project overview: Current/Ongoing Projects - Forest River Public Art Project (Completion Delayed until Summer 2022) - Naumkeag Portrait Project (Expected Completion Summer 2022) - Harbor Connector Path Sculpture Garden (on display Nov. 2021 – Nov. 2022) - Higginson Square Lighting Repair – (C&M Funding) - Artists’ Row Call for & Selection of new PAIRs & Tenants - 2022 Arts Fest Mural Slam- (June 2022) Projects Slated to Begin in 2022 - Making it Public: Public Art Training & $10K for Temp Public Art - Commission Community Life Center Mural (CBDG Funding $30K) - Restoration of the Shraft Mural on the side of the parking garage (Spring 2022 C&M) - Painting of 2 art boxes (Downtown Improvement Funds $1k) - Commission Painting of Bus Shelter on Washington St. (Mayor’s Downtown Funds $5K) - Charlotte Forten Project (Memorial & Shade in partnership with MAPC TAP) - Commission and Fabricate a Monument in honor of Charlotte Forten - Commission and Fabricate an Artist designed shade structure and/or load bearing foot bridge structure across canal for Charlotte Forten park - $75,000 Fed Grant Submitted in March 2022 (Funding Pending) - Partnership with MAPC for Call and Community Engagement - Repair of Wall at Mill Street and the commissioning of a new mural/banner for that space (Funding unknown but directive given to figure it out) Potential & Pending Projects - Installation of LED Light Orbs around the South Harbor Canal (PAC Funding?) - Asphalt Art Project (as part of larger City-wide traffic calming initiative as requested by Mayor Driscoll) - Expansion of the Art Box program to paint more new boxes and restore & conserve existing (PAC Funding?) - Commission and Fabricate Mural for the Underpass at the intersection of Bridge & Washington (Funding Secured – Pending MBTA Approval & Completion of North Salem Connection Project) - FootPrint Public Art Project (Funding Secured – Pending Site Completion) • Other Business: Budget This coming fiscal year the budget will be combined. From now on the public art plan will be set around this time, late April. Again, the fiscal year is from July 1st through June 30th of that next year going forward. Decisions can be made on our own timeline, unless we request for an increased budget. Those requests have to be in for November, and hard requests need to be in by early mid-January. Substantial amount of money is still available  in the budget that has not been allocated or earmarked. The commission has $5741 left to allocate and use before the end of June. A special meeting can be set up to figure out how to spend this money. This conversation is suggested to be tabled for a special meeting for later on this week as the meeting is approaching 2 hours. In the meantime, all members are asked to brainstorm ideas of how the commission could spend this money. ● Adjourn- Norene motioned to adjourn. Moved by Catherine, seconded by Janine. Meeting Adjourned at 8:32 pm. Persons requiring auxiliary aids and services for effective communication such as sign language interpreter, an assistive listening device, or print material in digital format or a reasonable modification in programs, services, policies, or activities, may contact the City of Salem ADA Coordinator, as soon as possible and no less than 2 business days before the meeting, program, or event. Know your rights under the Open Meeting Law M.G.L. c. 30A § 18-25 and City Ordinance § 2-2028 through § 2-2033.