Arts and Culture Commission Meeting

May 12, 2015 MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING URBANA PUBLIC ARTS COMMISSION APPROVED DATE: May 12, 2015 TIME: 4:30 p.m. PLACE: City Council Chambers, Urbana City Building, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, Illinois MEMBERS PRESENT: Robin Douglas, Eric Jakobsson, Ilona Matkovszki, John Morrison, Jason Patterson, Pat Sammann, Ginny Waaler MEMBERS EXCUSED: Kevin Hamilton, Barbara Hedlund STAFF PRESENT: Pauline Tannos, Public Arts Coordinator; Sukiya J. Reid, Recording Secretary OTHERS PRESENT: Amira Davis, Jeff Glassman, Julie Kierski, Tim Peters 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM The Urbana Public Arts Commission was called to order at 4:33 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 April 14, 2015 meeting were reviewed by the Commission. Mr. Jakobsson noted that he was marked as absent in the minutes, and asked if he had not communicated his reason for missing the meeting at that time. Ms. Reid stated that he had not. Mr. Jakobsson shared the reason for his absence and it was deemed excusable by the Commission. Ms. Waaler moved to approve the minutes as corrected. Ms. Douglas seconded the motion. All Commission members present were in favor of approval and the minutes were unanimously approved as corrected. 4. PUBLIC INPUT There was none. 1  May 12, 2015 5. COMMUNICATIONS • Presentation by 2014 Urbana Arts Grant Recipient: Tim Peters Ms. Sammann introduced artist/writer, Tim Peters. Mr. Peters gave a presentation on his project titled, Good Old Wallace, which was a booklet he wrote to commemorate award-winning, fiction-writer and essayist, David Foster Wallace. Mr. Wallace, who tragically passed away in 2008, was raised in Urbana and attended Urbana High School. Mr. Peters printed 200 copies of this free booklet and distributed them to various stores and coffee shops around Urbana. Mr. Peters thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard. • Presentation by 2014 Urbana Arts Grant Recipient: Fay | Glassman Performance Ms. Sammann introduced artist, Jeff Glassman. He gave a slideshow presentation on his project titled, Theatre of the Hummingbird, which was a community-based, youth-driven participatory theatre project made up of a dynamic group of six young women. The project took place over the weekend evenings of February 6th-March 8th 2015, and ended with two free performances open to the public on March 8th at Pizza M. The performance was created solely by the participants, and included scene work, spoken word, movement, poetry, and original live music. Mr. Glassman thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard. • Presentation by 2015 Urbana Arts Grant Recipient: Amira Davis Ms. Sammann introduced artist, Amira Davis. Ms. Davis gave a presentation on her project, Jewelry Making for Self-Empowerment, in which she worked with women who were clients of the local domestic violence shelter, Courage Connections. The goal of the project was to demonstrate the therapeutic and economic benefits of crafting for women at a crisis point in their lives. The project consisted of a 90 minute classes for 8-12 women weekly, over the course of 4 weeks. Ms. Davis thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard. • Presentation by 2014 Urbana Arts Grant Recipient: 8 to Create Ms. Sammann introduced Julie Kierski, primary contact for 8 to create. Ms. Kierski gave a presentation on her project, 8 to Create, which was a live-drawing event that took place from 10 am-6pm, with a reception following, on Saturday, March 14, 2014 at the [co][lab] in downtown Urbana. There was one featured Artist from Chicago, 3 local artists, and 3 selected from a regional call-for-artists. The seven artists who participated had 8 hours to create their drawings. Over 300 people came to the event. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard. 2  May 12, 2015 • 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 Artist of the Corridor, Ms. Tannos reported that Beth Darling’s exhibition at the City Building lobby and the Urbana Free Library opened on May 4th. Her landscape and garden paintings are on view until July 6th. The opening reception will be at the City Building lobby on Thursday, May 21st from 5-6pm. • With regard to Art at the Market, Ms. Tannos reported that this series offers free and family-friendly workshops and performances by local artists at Urbana’s Market at the Square every second Saturday, from May to September. Ten artists or artist groups have been scheduled to perform or lead workshops. On May 9th, Neutral Cycle will lead a jewelry-making workshop using old bicycle parts from 8am-noon, and the C4A String Band will perform from 9:30-11:30am. • With regard to Art Now!, Ms. Tannos reported that the April episode of Art Now! featured artist Jerry Savage. The May episode reruns an old episode featuring Beth Darling, from October 2014. Episodes can be seen at: http://www.urbanaillinois.us/artnow • 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 789 fans. She also stated that the Urbana Public Arts Twitter account, which could be followed @urbanapublicart, as of this meeting had 1,410 followers. She stated that the Program’s Instagram account, which was created last month with the username @urbanapublicarts, has 45 followers. A new template for the program’s e-newsletter, which currently has 669 subscribers, has recently been completed by design firm VE Websites, and was used for the April newsletter. A brochure of the Urbana Sculpture Project has been printed. • With regard to Murals on Glass, Ms. Tannos reported that this call for entries was announced on April 30th. All Champaign County artists are invited to apply by filling out a form and uploading their images online. June 19th is the deadline for all application materials. Three works will be selected by jury in June, then printed on adhesive vinyl sheets, and displayed on downtown Urbana windows. One work will be installed on the Urbana Business Association office, and two works will be on the east windows of the Civic Center. The existing murals on the Urbana Parking Deck and the Civic Center are still in great condition and will be kept as they are. • For upcoming events, Ms. Tannos stated that the date for the next Public Arts Commission meeting was set for Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 4:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. 3  May 12, 2015 • Discussion: Urbana Art Expo Ms. Tannos introduced this agenda item. She reported that the Urbana Art Expo would take place on September 13th at the Urbana Civic Center. About 15-20 local artists would be invited to set-up shop and sell their works for a day. The Expo would feature fine and high quality arts as opposed to crafts. Ms. Tannos stated that earned income would hopefully be raised from this event due to the charge of booth rental and commission fees. Mr. Patterson shared a few of his thoughts on the event. Ms. Sammann asked the Commission members to share the word with anyone they knew that may be interested. 6. NEW BUSINESS There was none. 7. OLD BUSINESS There was none. 8. ANNOUNCEMENTS Ms. Tannos announced that this would be Ms. Douglas’ last meeting as she was leaving to move to California. She thanked Ms. Douglas for all of her hard work while on the Commission. 9. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Jakobsson made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. Ms. Sammann seconded the motion. With no further business, Ms. Sammann declared the meeting adjourned at 5:36 p.m. Submitted, Sukiya J. Reid, Recording Secretary 4