Public Art Commission

Salem Public Art Commission 98 Washington Street Salem, Massachusetts 01970 (978) 619-5685 KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL MAYOR Public Art Commission January 17, 2023, 6:30pm Meeting held remotely via zoom 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, John Andrews, Janine Liberty, Carly Dwyer-Naik & Gwen Rosemond in attendance. Currently, there are two open chairs as Catherine and Kurt have given their notice of leave. • Meeting Minute Approvals o December 20, 2022 Meeting Minutes- Norene entertained a motion, Janine made a motion to approve the meeting minutes, Carly seconded. Motion carried unanimously. ● Jim Chisholm Proposal for Gift of Art Jim is a Salem resident and local artist. He would like to donate a drawing/painting of the Friendship of Salem to the City. Some of the questions posed during the discussion from PAC members include: -Where does it go? -What is the process of who gets it? -What are the accession rules? -Where would we store items donated? -If the item is donated to the city, does it need to be displayed in a public space? Julie is interested in waiting to accept the gift until our gifts and accessioning and deaccessioning policies are in place. Gwen listed her concern for waiting until the policies are in place. Norene and John both  sought to agree to the gift as to not offend and or turn away such a beautiful piece from a very talented artist. Janine would love to be fully transparent with the artist and be forthright, “we love the art, give us some time to find the proper place for it, as this is a start of a much needed process.” Carly agreed with Janine to accept the piece with the agreement to wait on handing it over until we can find a place for it. Norene entertained a motion. Carly motioned to accept the donation from Jim, but defer receiving the painting until we have a location for the painting and until formal accessioning protocol policies have taken place. Seconded by Janine. Voting was unanimous. ● Chagall PAC Public Piano Proposal Dennis has a piano that is nearing the end of its life. He would like to donate the piece to let it live out the rest of its days on Artists Row. The piano would potentially be painted and sealed by a local artist as well to be played all summer long. Dennis is also committed to disposing of it once it is ‘gone’. Carly is interested in getting Salem students involved as this could be a rough canvas for those that are interested in getting into the public arts scene. John asked if the piano was going to be covered up with something, or if it was going to be inside as the last piano down there was heavily affected by water and rain. Dennis was brought into the panel to discuss his ideas for maintaining the piano. He suggested a dolly (which can be purchased for $300) for the large upright piano. He agreed that yes with the rain and weather, if not taken inside or covered, the piano will only last a season, but could have the potential to last two years if taken care of properly. Norene stated that there is no one on the PAC that would be able to commit to moving the piano at every chance of inclement weather. Norene suggested a tarp to cover the piano instead of moving it with a dolly. Julie suggested a large grill cover to preserve the piano from the elements as much as possible. John suggested PAC use some of its funds to invest in a dolly to have the piano moved in case of inclement weather or other piano donations. Norene asked Julie to run the dolly idea past legal to see if this is a viable option. PAC asked Dennis if he would be willing to be in charge of the grill cover when it rains and he agreed just as they take care of furniture and art pieces in their display. PAC asked Dennis when he would like to bring out the piano and it was mutually agreed upon in April. Julie asked for a two part motion, one for approving the piano to be donated to the Row, and another for funds to be allocated to the beautification of the piece. John asked to wait on that second vote as Art Fest was coming up and there might be a way for him and Kylie to incorporate that into the festival. Dennis also agreed as he may have people interested in painting. Norene has entertained a motion to accept a piano to be acquired for Artist’s Row, and for Dennis to be responsible for preserving the piece by covering it during inclement weather. Janine motioned, and John seconded. Voting was unanimous. ● Public Art Work Plan Updates & CLC Mural Design Vote -Making It Public: Julie is still trying to confirm the panelists. It’s coming together slowly. Right now she is focusing on all panelists confirmed and having the meeting scheduled by early February. Julie ideally would like PAC to confirm the finalists at the February meeting. Julie also spoke to NEFA about the public voting on the place and piece, and because it wasn’t articulated in the call as part of the process, we are not allowed to change the review process once posted due to procurement regulations. So unfortunately, because it wasn’t built in on the onset, we won’t be able to bring this for public vote. This is good food for thought as in the future, if we would like to involve the public in voting processes, we would need to be deliberate in the call about such ideas. Janine brings up once the piece has been decided, and if it lasts more than one season, if THEN we would be able to bring it to the public to ask where it would go next. Julie confirms that that would be completely legal as the piece has already been procured, and PAC would already own it, therefore if would be our choice. Gwen, Janine and John are all still interested in being on the panel. -Charlotte Forten Park Memorial Project: On January 10th the NEA announced their grants and we were one of them. We have received a grant for $30,000.00 from the National Endowment of the Arts towards this project. We have $50,000.00 in City Lost ARPA revenue funds. In total we have about $80,000.00 but we need $125,000.00 so we are looking to do some fundraising to close that financial gap. Gwen is working with the MAPC now to articulate Charlotte's story and how we are going to tell that story in the call for artists. Julie will bring that call for artists for PAC to review at the next meeting, before making it live. Before the call can be released publicly, we will have to close the gap in funding first. Julie is currently working on that and there are a couple of grants that she is currently seeking and possibly some other avenues within City funding. In the same aspect, we are working with the City to come up with a separate shade structure of some sort for that space, as well as putting out a call for activation of the space. Over the next month you may see a RFQ or RFP coming from the city calling for a bid to activate the space. A call for engagement, we are looking for community members to join the artist selection committee, the commemoration committee, and the technical review committee who will be working with DPW and legal as well as possible landscape architects to advise on the technical aspects of it (ADA accessible, weight and structure of concrete, ect). Janine and Carly both stated their interest in the Commemoration Committee. Rotating Sculpture Garden: The application has been submitted to the Parks and Rec Commission and Julie will let PAC know when we are going to be on their agenda. Artists will be contacted soon with installations happening in April. Ana Dugan and the CLC Mural Project: Ana has already begun her preliminary work with the Community Center. She has done about 4 workshops total in allowing the community to vote and have input in the piece getting their opinions. She has been meeting with CLC staff to direct the project. There are two design options that she has presented. One of which she has gotten the favor of the CLC staff. PACs weigh in and approval of the design is now needed in order to move forward. Julie pulled up the two proposed designs. PAC has agreed on the proposal of the first piece presented, however the second one is admired, but it was agreed that it may be too busy for the space. Norene entertained a motion to approve the “Four Seasons of Salem” piece. Gwen moved, and Carly seconded. Voting was unanimous. John vows to make it over to the CLC while Ana paints to capture the process. -Winter Activations: Kylie is working on what fits best with Salem So Sweet, live window painters during the festival, and potentially an added performance. John is hoping that we are able to bring back window displays “Love Letters for Salem”, a collection of love letters that are still on some windows two years later. Artists would complete one small window in advance and complete one large painting live during the festival, 4 murals in total. Selected windows would be on Washington Street or Essex Street, live painting would be scheduled on Friday, with a rain date for Saturday. This would be a way for PAC to sponsor art during the festival. -Spring activations: Julie asked for thoughts regarding activations in April and May. She has reached out to the Lynn Music Foundation for a hip-hop showcase, which is just conversational, and very preliminary. John loves the idea of working with Lynn Music, but he would like to look into local Salem projects instead. Norene and Gwen commented that is their preference as well. Janine inquired about Drag shows, and John expressed interests in supporting young performers. Julie suggested a young performers showcase. PAC is interested in including performing youth up to 21 years old. We are also working with SPS to get  information out about working with Salem United and getting young Salem artists to work with them too. Julie likes the direction of the call. As she starts to develop the call to be released in February, she will send it out to this body via email since we will not have another meeting to discuss it internally. She asks for all feedback to be directed to Julie, so that there isn’t a discourse via email. But if there is a need for a special meeting, we can arrange that. However, there will still be plenty of time to get the word out through March if the event is in April. Julie will bring this to the February meeting after all. Artists Row Updates: Julie just gave the new tenants the keys today and Claudia has her contract, and Chagall PAC and Shindig have already signed theirs, so we are on track to a new residency on Artists Row. The 2024 Public Artist in Residence is not selected. So possibly in April or May of this year we will put out the call. -Gift of Art Policy: Julie will do her best in moving this forward. March or potentially February would be a good timeline to look over those policies. ● Public Art Policies Roll Out Plan - Publicity and Community Outreach We have the individual proposals policy, but it hasn’t been publicized at all. Julie would like to know how PAC members envision these policies rolling out whether it be a press release, or reinvent the “Meet the PAC” event. March first is the deadline for submitting proposals to be reviewed at the March meeting. The next view period isn’t until September. If these policies are going to be rolled out this year, Julie suggests announcing them as soon as possible, hopefully before the end of the month. PAC may even consider postponing the deadline until March 15th if so desired. Norene likes the idea of a press release and would like to have another go at the “Meet the PAC” event possibly during one of the activations as mentioned above. John likes the idea of the press release as Julie has had major success in the past. PAC members have agreed to spread the news to their various outlets about the policy changes as well. ● Vacancies to the PAC- We have two chairs open, and postings were put on the Salem website. Please spread the word for new PAC members. ● Other City Updates: -Old Town Hall: Tom Daniel and Julie Barry are currently working with the finance department to work out the funding strategy to raise money for the needs of this project. Predevelopment work is moving forward, to make sure that the predevelopment paperwork is the right size for the project to get the best quote for getting the project financed. She will be working with councilwoman Caroline Watson-Felt to reach out to the abutting neighbors in the area to make sure they are aware of the drilling in the area to test the geothermal. Moving forward they will be operating the building as normal through June 2024. However, we may be looking to do more programming and call for artists to populate and build out the programming in that space, creating different opportunities and projects for that space for groups to engage. ● Public Comments- Dennis wanted to share that his bands the brass quartet and the Dirt Munchers are going to be performing at Salem So sweet on Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening. ● Adjourn- Norene motioned to adjourn. Moved by John, seconded by Carly. Meeting Adjourned at 7:45pm. 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.