Arts and Culture Commission Meeting

June 11, 2019 MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING URBANA ARTS AND CULTURE COMMISSION APPROVED DATE: June 11, 2019 TIME: 4:30 p.m. PLACE: City Council Chambers, Urbana City Building, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, Illinois MEMBERS PRESENT: Courtney Becks, Barbara Hedlund, Sara Jones, Jared Miller, Jenelle Orcherton, Patricia Sammann, Jessica Snyder MEMBERS EXCUSED: Katie Harrell, Stacey Robinson STAFF PRESENT: Brandon Boys, Economic Development Manager; Rachel Storm, Arts & Culture Coordinator; Sukiya J. Reid, Recording Secretary OTHERS PRESENT: Nichole Boyd, BJ Gailey, EK Hennequet, Lisa Kesler, Nika Lucks, Tatiana Shustova 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM The Urbana Arts and Culture Commission was called to order at 4:30 p.m. by Ms. Sammann. Ms. Reid took roll and a quorum was declared present. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the May 14, 2019 meeting were reviewed by the Commission. With no changes proposed, Mr. Miller made a motion to approve the minutes. Ms. Sammann seconded the motion. All Commission members present were in favor of approval, and the minutes were unanimously approved as presented. 3. CHANGES TO AGENDA Ms. Sammann announced that Ms. Snyder would not be renewing her term for the Commission that ends on 6/30/19 and that Mr. Robinson would be taking a one-year hiatus due to a fellowship at Harvard University for the 2019-2020 academic year. She thanked both Commissioners for their dedication and hard work on the Commission. 4. PUBLIC INPUT There was none. 1  June 11, 2019 5. PRESENTATIONS  Presentation by Staff: Monthly Progress Report Ms. Horwitz presented the City staff’s monthly progress report to the Commission in Ms. Storm’s absence, outlining projects in process, recent requests and recommendations from the public, staff activities, and upcoming events. She also introduced John Ji, Leona, Wu, and Kay Crushshon, three new interns for the Urbana Arts & Culture Program. They each addressed the Commission and shared a little bit about themselves.  Presentation by 2018 Grant Presentation: Nichole Boyd Ms. Sammann introduced Nichole Boyd, of the Native American House. She gave a presentation on their event titled, Bzihiki Culture and Dance Company. This event took place on April 13th and highlighted contemporary Native American dance through Pow Wow. Pow Wows consist of 6 main dance styles. Ms. Boyd stated that they were able to bring in 3 dancers and 4 singers for the event in which about 45 people attended. The event allowed them to interact with people in and out of the community. She thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard.  Presentation by 2018 Grant Presentation: E.K. Hennequet Ms. Sammann introduced visual artist, E.K. Hennequet. She gave a presentation on her project titled, The Magic Lantern, which is an ongoing series of an animation project. This project explored the art of animation and debuted on March 25, 2019 at the Urbana Free Library. Ms. Hennequet stated that the animated discs are composed of 32 drawings rotating at 45rpm. The goal of the project was to introduce the art of animation to a general audience. She thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard.  Presentation by 2018 Grant Presentation: Lisa Kesler Ms. Sammann introduced artist, Lisa Kesler. She gave a presentation on her project, UHS Residency where she was able to be a visiting artist for two of Ms. Westerman’s Art II classes at Urbana High School. Ms. Kesler was able to work with 39 students total; 5 days a week, for 3 weeks on linoleum block reduction printing. Each student brought in a photo to use as a reference to create a drawing with three different colors of ink of their choice. Ms. Boyd then summarized the remaining process of the project. The whole project, which included planning, classroom instruction, and exhibit preparation, spanned from April 29- June 30. She thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard.  Presentation by 2018 Grant Presentation: Nika Lucks Ms. Sammann introduced artist, Nika Lucks. She gave a slideshow presentation on her project titled, People of Speech III that was a play on the parts of speech. For the project, she had people over the age of 55 pick an insightful word that represented them as an individual. She then photographed them expressing that word. Ms. Lucks targeted this age group because she 2  June 11, 2019 feels that they are not represented enough in art. The event to showcase the project was held at 25 O’ Clock Brewery and about 20 people were in attendance. Ms. Lucks thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard.  Presentation by 2018 Grant Presentation: Tatiana Shustova Ms. Sammann introduced musician, Tatiana Shustova. She gave a presentation on her project titled, Chambana Music Competition in which 52 people competed in 10 musical categories from March 30-31. The piano and ensemble competition originated in 2016 and there is no age limit for the contestants. Local professors and musicians volunteered as judges for the event. They were able to use the Music Building Auditorium at the University of Illinois, Good Shepherd Church in Champaign and Urbana High School for the competition. Ms. Shustova thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard.  Presentation by 2018 Grant Presentation: Rebecca Knaur Ms. Sammann introduced committee member, BJ Gailey presenting on Rebecca Knaur’s behalf. He gave a presentation on their project titled, CUDO Plays Season Six. This was the 6th year of the local game design competition. Mr. Gailey stated that their goal as an organization is to foster design thinking and learning through game design. In their 6-month program participants learn about ideation, prototyping, playtesting, and maker skills as they complete their board game. There were 16 complete games submitted at the end of the season. There were several events for the project. The student kickoff was held on September 6th at Lincoln Hall with about 30 people in attendance. The community kickoff was held on September 4th at the Champaign Library with about 50 people in attendance. Pitch Night, which is where ideas are presented to the audience, was hosted by Pixo and about 75 people were in attendance. The Playtest Convention was held at Lincoln Square Mall. It was the first major event for teams to show their game to the community and receive feedback. A little over 200 members of the community were in attendance. The Grand Exhibition was held on March 31st at Broadway Food Hall. At this event, all the teams come out and demo their final games to the community. There were about 200 people in attendance. Mr. Gailey thanked the Commission for the grant received. At the conclusion of the report, questions and comments from the Commission were heard. 6. NEW BUSINESS There was none. 7. ADJOURNMENT Ms. Sammann made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. Ms. Snyder seconded the motion. With no further business, Ms. Sammann declared the meeting adjourned at 5:58 p.m. 3  June 11, 2019 Submitted, Sukiya J. Reid, Recording Secretary 4