Arts and Culture Commission Meeting

September 9, 2014 MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING URBANA PUBLIC ARTS COMMISSION APPROVED DATE: September 9, 2014 TIME: 4:30 p.m. PLACE: City Council Chambers, Urbana City Building, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, Illinois MEMBERS PRESENT: Robin Douglas, Barbara Hedlund, Eric Jakobsson, John Morrison, Pat Sammann, Ginny Waaler MEMBERS EXCUSED: Kevin Hamilton STAFF PRESENT: Lisa Hatchadoorian, Public Arts Coordinator; Sukiya J. Reid, Recording Secretary OTHERS PRESENT: Ken Paxton (by phone) 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM The Urbana Public Arts Commission was called to order at 4:31 p.m. by Ms. Sammann. Ms. Reid took roll and a quorum was declared present. 2. CHANGES TO AGENDA There were none. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the August 12, 2014 meeting were reviewed by the Commission. With no changes proposed, Mr. Morrison made a motion to approve the minutes. Ms. Waaler seconded the motion. All Commission members present were in favor of approval and the minutes were unanimously approved as presented. 4. PUBLIC INPUT There was none. 5. COMMUNICATIONS • Presentation by 2014 Urbana Arts Grant Recipient: Ken Paxton-Leal Elementary 1  September 9, 2014 Ms. Sammann introduced artist, Ken Paxton. Mr. Paxton gave a brief presentation on his project titled, “Heroes and Dreamers”, which was the production of a short film that depicted a course of study for a diverse group of third and fourth grade students. The students studied noteworthy individuals from the Civil Rights movement, then they identified a particular hero/heroine of their own choosing. Mr. Paxton reported that the video was made from mid- December-mid May. He stated that Mark Landsman came out and documented the project in the various stages and at the end he got together with Mr. Paxton to put together the completed project. Forty-one students and five staff members from Leal were involved with the project, and the presentation itself drew in over 400 students and approximately 100 family members and community supporters. Mr. Paxton stated that the video could be found on the Urbana School District website, and UPTV. He thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard. . • Presentation by Staff: Monthly Progress Report Ms. Hatchadoorian presented the City staff’s monthly progress report to the Commission, outlining projects in process, recent requests and recommendations from the public, staff activities, and upcoming events. For an update on current projects, she reported the following: • With regard to the Urbana Arts Grants Program, Ms. Hatchadoorian reported that the process had been started to hire an intern for the Fall and Winter 2014 (Oct-early January) with the goal to have the intern work heavily on the grants program (presentations to the community, creating forms, working on the grants database, managing the application process). She stated that Staff was continuing to work with IT to streamline the grant application process and move it to our website. She also stated that Staff was continuing to work with IT on a comprehensive database on the City website of all grant projects from 2009-present. • With regard to the Boneyard Creek Public Art, Ms. Hatchadoorian reported that the final invoice from Jack Mackie was submitted for payment at the end of August as he was satisfied with the production and installation of the public art component of the Boneyard project. Planning for a spring opening and activities would be underway. • With regard to the Fundraising subcommittee, Ms. Hatchadoorian reported that Staff was in the middle of drafting a foundation agreement between the Community Foundation of East Illinois and the Urbana Public Arts Program and was working on possible fundraising ideas for Citizinvestor. • With regard to Marketing, Ms. Hatchadoorian reported that City staff had been regularly updating the Public Arts Program’s Facebook page, which as of this meeting had 732 fans. She also stated that the Urbana Public Arts Twitter account, which could be followed @urbanapublicart, as of this meeting had 1,156 followers • With regard to Downtown Arts Subcommittee, Ms. Hatchadoorian reported that the subcommittee was in the process of reviewing three new sculptures for 2014-16 for the Urbana sculpture program. The call ended on September 5th. In other updates for downtown sculpture Ms. Hatchadoorian reported: 1. Asteray by Nicole Beck was installed on August 20th at the corner of Cedar and Green. 2  September 9, 2014 2. Fortitude was deinstalled the week of August 18th. 3. The Wind in the Trees (outside of Cinema Gallery) will be deinstalled September 20th. 4. Stranger Reduction Zone will be installed October 31st. • With regard to Art at the Market, Ms. Hatchadoorian reported that the final Art at the Market for 2014 would be on September 13th with an art workshop creating Nature Mobiles with Traci Pines and a performance with local favorites, The Curses with their unique blend of gritty old-school Rock & Roll tinged with Americana, Blues and Honky Tonk flavors. • With regard to Artist of the Corridor, Ms. Hatchadoorian reported that the current exhibition of self-taught artist Jill Stroberger would be up through November 2nd. She stated that the next exhibition (November-send of January 2015), would feature the watercolors of Carol Diss Farnum. • With regard to Art Now!, Ms. Hatchadoorian reported that in the September episode, Savoy painter, Barbara McDonnell was profiled. Episodes can be seen at: http://www.urbanaillinois.us/artnow • For upcoming events, Ms. Hatchadoorian stated that the movie, Up! would be shown in the Busey Bank parking lot that Friday, September 12th at 8:00 pm. She also stated that the date for the next Public Arts Commission meeting was set for Tuesday, October 14, 2014 at 4:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. 6. OLD BUSINESS • Summer Movie Series Update Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. Ms. Hatchadoorian shared that the movie, Up! was the movie chosen for the Summer Movie Night because they wanted to show something a little more mainstream and family-oriented. 7. NEW BUSINESS • Discussion of public input guidelines as per the Open Meetings Act Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. Ms. Hatchadoorian briefly summarized the proposed changes from the legal department for all City Boards and Commissions to be on the same page as far as bylaws, and public input. She stated that for the next meeting, she would be drafting a set of bylaws for the Public Art Commission. In regard to public input, she asked that the Commission members think about how the 5 different aspects of public input covered in the memo should be depicted in the bylaws. Ms. Hatchadoorian stated that the proposed bylaws would be reviewed at the following meeting. Questions and comments from the Commission were addressed • Discussion of PAC subcommittees for FY14-15 Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. Ms. Hatchadoorian reported on the current subcommittee assignments and discussed a few changes regarding them. Two changes to the 3  September 9, 2014 subcommittee list were: Eric Jakobsson is in fact on the Fundraising subcommittee, and the Downtown Arts Planning Subcommittee would be now be called the Downtown Arts/Boneyard subcommittee. Ms. Sammann then stated that the MLK Jr. subcommittee was no longer active now that the project was over, and that there were several vacancies on some of the committees. Ms. Sammann announced vacancies on the following committees: Arts in the Schools, Joseph Royer, and stated that there would be a Corridor Beautification subcommittee in the near future. Mr. Morrison expressed interest in the Art Now! subcommittee and volunteered to replace Ms. Sammann on the Grants subcommittee. Ms. Waaler volunteered for the Arts in the Schools subcommittee. A discussion of the matter by members of the Commission and staff ensued. 8. ANNOUNCEMENTS Ms. Hatchadoorian announced that Staff had applied for and received a grant for $4,250 from the Illinois Arts Council. Ms. Waaler announced that the C-U Symphony Guild was sponsoring a house walk fundraiser to provide music education to the students in the schools of Champaign- Urbana. She stated that the walk would take place on Sunday, October 5th and that tickets would be available at Art Mart in Lincoln Square and at Milo’s on Philo Road. 9. ADJOURNMENT Ms. Hedlund made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. Mr. Jakobsson seconded the motion. With no further business, Ms. Sammann declared the meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m. Submitted, Sukiya J. Reid, Recording Secretary 4