Arts and Culture Commission Meeting

November 18, 2014 MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING URBANA PUBLIC ARTS COMMISSION APPROVED DATE: November 18, 2014 TIME: 4:30 p.m. PLACE: City Council Chambers, Urbana City Building, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, Illinois MEMBERS PRESENT: Robin Douglas, Kevin Hamilton, Barbara Hedlund, Ilona Matkovskzi, John Morrison, Pat Sammann, Ginny Waaler MEMBERS ABSENT: Eric Jakobsson STAFF PRESENT: Brandon Boys, Economic Development Manager, Pauline Tannos, Public Arts Intern; Sukiya J. Reid, Recording Secretary OTHERS PRESENT: Isabelle Collazo (by phone) 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM The Urbana Public Arts Commission was called to order at 4:32 p.m. by Ms. Sammann. Ms. Reid took roll and a quorum was declared present. 2. CHANGES TO AGENDA Ms. Tannos stated that her introduction would be moved to the first item under Communications. She also stated that the Collazo and Pierson presentation needed to be postponed to at least 4:45 p.m. She stated that there would be no Arts in the Schools Program Presentation as listed under Communications, but rather an update on the item. . 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the October 14, 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. 1  November 18, 2014 5. COMMUNICATIONS • Introduction of Public Arts Intern: Pauline Tannos Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. Mr. Boys introduced himself as the new Economic Development Manager to replace former manager Tom Carrino. He also introduced and welcomed Pauline Tannos as the new Public Arts Intern. Ms. Tannos gave a brief summary on her arts background. Members of the Commission welcomed Ms. Tannos to the Commission. • Presentation by Staff: Monthly Progress Report Ms. Tannos 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. Tannos reported that she had been hired to help with the Grants Program. She stated that grant workshops and more marketing efforts to increase participation were being planned. • With regard to the Fundraising subcommittee, Ms. Tannos reported that the committee was fundraising for additional support for Arts in the Schools to supplement the programming to an additional school as well as funds to increase the pool of money available for Urbana Arts Grants. She stated that with both of these projects, they would be looking to raise an additional $5,500-$8,000. $3,000 for Art in the Schools and $2,500-5,000 for Urbana Arts Grants. She also stated that in terms of a fundraising event, the committee was looking at holding an event in conjunction with the opening of the Boneyard Park in the spring. • With regard to Marketing, Ms. Tannos reported that City staff had been regularly updating the Public Arts Program’s Facebook page, which as of this meeting had 754 fans. She also stated that the Urbana Public Arts Twitter account, which could be followed @urbanapublicart, as of this meeting had 1,229 followers. She stated that Staff had also been promoting various Urbana Arts Grants Projects and the temporary sculptures through social media and various press contacts. Once all the sculptures are installed by mid-November 2014, staff will create a marketing brochure highlighting the public art in Urbana. She reported that an Instagram account had been created with the username @urbanapublicarts. • With regard to Downtown Arts Subcommittee, in updates for downtown sculpture Ms. Tannos reported: 1. Whirlwind is in Thorntree by V. Skip Willits (Camanche, IA) was installed in front of Cinema Gallery on September 26th. 2. Athirst by Sarah Deppe (Madison, WI) would be installed in the Boneyard Creek area mid-late October. 3. Maelstrom II by Craig Snyder (Plymouth, MN) would be installed at the corner of Philo and Florida Streets in October 23rd. 4. Stranger Reduction Zone would be installed October 31st around the perimeter of the Urbana Free Library. 2  November 18, 2014 5. Twistah Tous by Bennett Wine (West Kill, NY), is the final temporary sculpture coming to Urbana. The location will be near the corner of Washington and Philo Rd and will be installed in early November. • With regard to Artist of the Corridor, Ms. Tannos reported that the current exhibition of self-taught artist Jill Stroberger was up through November 2nd. She stated that the current exhibition (November-end of January 2015), features the watercolors of Carol Diss Farnum. She also stated that the library had approached Staff about a small exhibition space within the library, and the idea was to mount a small exhibition of the current artist of the corridor and put them both on the same schedule. • With regard to Art Now!, Ms. Tannos reported that in the October episode, painter Beth Darling was profiled with her paintings of Urbana’s gardens and views of the American Southwest landscape. This month’s episode was the ground-breaking 50th episode of Art Now! Thank you to all of the Commissioners who have made this program such a success over the years. Episodes can be seen at: http://www.urbanaillinois.us/artnow • With regards to Art in the Schools, Ms. Tannos reported that Staff met with teachers from Prairie Elementary on Tuesday, October 14th and a proposal was submitted for FY 14-15. She stated that the subcommittee had some concerns about this project and proposed that we go in a different direction. • For upcoming events, Ms. Tannos stated that the date for the next Public Arts Commission meeting was set for Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at 4:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. • Update on the Arts in Schools 2014-15 proposal from Prairie Elementary Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. Ms. Tannos gave an update on the proposal from Prairie Elementary. She stated that she had met Ms. Waaler and Ms. Hedlund who make up the Arts in the Schools subcommittee regarding this proposal. They reviewed the proposal and felt it was great, however they felt that the Arts in the Schools subcommittee lacks clear goals and that not enough schools are being reached through this program. Ms. Hedlund and Ms. Waaler commented on their thoughts on the matter. Ms. Tannos and the Arts in the Schools subcommittee stated that they felt that maybe the proposal should be reconsidered in light of clearly defining the subcommittee’s goals, and establishing an opportunity for more schools to benefit from the program. A discussion of the matter by members of the Staff and Commission ensued. Following discussion, it was the consensus of the majority of the Commission members that due to the time and effort put forth by Prairie Elementary on the proposal, that the proposal be approved and that any talk of changes could occur after that fact. It was also requested that Prairie School be informed of the possible changes in the program itself, unreflective of their proposal. The Commission members decided that they would like to move forward and have the presentation given at the December Public Arts Commission Meeting. • Presentation by 2014 Urbana Arts Grants Presentation: Collazo and Pierson Ms. Sammann introduced artist, Isabelle Collazo, who joined the meeting by phone. Ms. Collazo expressed her gratitude for the grant received. She gave a brief presentation on her 3  November 18, 2014 project titled, “The BLUEPRINTING Project presents The Housewarming Sessions”, put on by a Chicago-based interdisciplinary collective consisting of herself and a dedicated group of artists that she founded. She stated that the artists all had an interest in figuring out a way to connect movement and sound as well as other multimedia elements in performance. The group offered five total performance dates for the project. The first three took place in Chicago, and the final two took place on September 5th & 6th at 505 S. Race St. in Urbana. University of Illinois Visiting Lecturer and Dance Educator, Kate Kuper lead the post-performance discussion on the evening of September 5th. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard. 6. NEW BUSINESS There was none. 7. OLD BUSINESS • Public Arts Commission By-laws Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. She stated that Ms. Hatchadoorian consulted with Legal and that the changes specified by the Public Arts Commission regarding public input had been made. A brief discussion of the matter by members of the Staff and Commission ensued. Following discussion, Mr. Hamilton moved to approve the agreement as presented. Mr. Morrison seconded the motion. With no further comments or questions from the Commission, Ms. Sammann called for a voice vote. All Commission members were in favor of approval and the motion carried unanimously. • Non-Endowed fund agreement between the City of Urbana Public Arts Program and the Community Foundation of East Illinois Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. Mr. Boys gave a brief update that the Council had approved the agreement with the Community Foundation, and that the agreement had been provided for execution. He stated that Staff was waiting to receive the signed agreement at which point it would be fully executed. A conversation regarding fundraising would need to be had following that. • Mural Project in the Boneyard Park Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. Ms. Tannos reported that Mike Hosier decided not to go forward with the mural project. 8. ANNOUNCEMENTS Ms. Sammann announced that the 2015 Urbana Arts Grants application process was open with a deadline of January 16, 2015. Mr. Boys announced that there would be a ribbon cutting for the major completion of the Boneyard on Friday November 21st at 11am. He stated that there would also be a spring event in conjunction with the Boneyard Arts Festival when the project is 100% 4  November 18, 2014 complete. Mr. Boys also announced that Champaign-Urbana had been recognized as a Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community. He stated that a celebration was currently in progress at Pizza M that evening. 9. ADJOURNMENT Ms. Sammann made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. Ms. Hedlund seconded the motion. With no further business, Ms. Sammann declared the meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m. Submitted, Sukiya J. Reid, Recording Secretary 5