HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_05.18.2010Minutes of the Meeting of the
Arts and Culture Board
City of Georgetown, Texas
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Members Present: Charles Aguillon, Philip Baker, Steve Proesel, Dar Richardson, Mandy Solin
Members Absent: Kaki Bassi, Karen Lange
Staff Present: Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant
A. Charles Aguillon called the meeting to order at 4:37 p.m.
B. Steve Proesel reminded members that the Festival of the Arts begins May 29 with the Haydn
concert. Aaron Copland is the subject of this year's Festival. Tickets are available by mail, at the
gate, at the Sun City Activity Center, and at the Williamson County Sun office.
Charles mentioned Eric's email regarding Pat Berryman's compliments to the Board that she
made at the May 11 Council meeting.
C. There were no citizens wishing to address the Board.
D. Dar moved to accept the minutes as distributed and Philip seconded the motion. Motion
passed unanimously.
E. Consideration of and possible action on
1. Report on Georgetown Sculpture Tour
a. Ribbon- cutting ceremony, 4/23 — Eric Lashley. Eric reported that the mayor cancelled the
April 23,d ribbon cutting due to threatening weather about one -half hour before it was
scheduled to begin. However, about 20 people arrived for the event, including a
photographer from the Sun, so the ribbon - cutting took place. The photographs have never
appeared in the Sun and Eric asked whether the Board wanted to reschedule the event. Other
options were discussed, such as a long newspaper article, either in the Sun or in the
Community Impact, and there was consensus that this would be good PR, but ultimately the
group decided to reschedule the ribbon cutting to June 5 at 7:15 p.m., prior to the Festival of
the Arts free concert in San Gabriel Park.
b. Brochure for Tour —Judy Fabry. Tudy reported that she'd learned after the last meeting
that the "local" printer that the Board had agreed to use does not do their work inhouse, so
she contacted Cari Miller again about the Internet printing company that Cari had
recommended. Cari inquired about how many brochures we wanted and when she learned
that we would be adding more sculptures in October, she questioned the wisdom of
investing now in a brochure that would have to be significantly revised in just a few months.
Judy talked with Dar Richardson about the number of sculptures that would be added in the
fall and the two of them agreed that it is necessary during this first round to keep the original
borrowed pieces longer than a year. They should be retained until October 2011, when all of
the pieces would rotate. Dar said he would contact the artists to make sure this change is
okay with them and Judy decided to stop production of the brochure until after the
additional sculptures are in place. She notified the photographer/brochure designer of the
change in plans.
Discussion followed about how large the full brochure would need to be and possible costs.
Mandy suggested modifications to the original content to include more information about
each piece. Philip suggested that the brochure should have a larger presence online than on
paper, if possible. Mandy agreed, as did Dar, who, said paper should be the last means of
communication with the public about the sculptures. However, all agreed that a print
brochure is necessary for distribution at the Visitors Center.
2. Cooperative sculpture project with Southwestern University/Ben Pierce /3M grant - Eric
Lashlev. Eric said Ben Pierce had advised him that there had been some last - minute grant
applications from SU students, so that the amount of money available for a sculpture
purchase had been reduced to about $4,000. Ben was going to do an audit of previous grants
to determine whether there was unspent money in any of those budgets that could be added
to the sculpture project. Eric and Judy are preparing to take the request for permission to
accept a grant, not to exceed $5,000, to City Council at the May 25 meeting.
3. TSOS sculpture show at the library - Dar Richardson,-Tudy F Dar reported that
attendance at the opening reception had been very good and that many of the artists stayed
most of the afternoon. Having the music in the lobby was a positive addition to the event
and Dar said next year's reception should be timed to coincide with the library's live music.
Dar also said that if he is able to advertise prizes for the 2011 show that are as generous as
this year's were (due to the Board's donation of $1800), the entries in the show would be
much better. Dar also commended the guidelines for judging that Kaki had created. He said
he would be distributing them to TSOS members to use for assessing their own work.
4. Current budget and upcoming expenses - Eric Lashley, Tudy Fa bry. udy announced that
there is $5,600 left in the Board's budget. She reminded them that they may need to keep
some money in reserve if they want to support October Art Month as they did last year.
Eric brought up a project that Heather Brewer, City forester, had proposed. There are six
pecan trees in the Bark Park that must be cut down. Heather knows of a chainsaw sculptor
who will carve the discarded wood into sculptures for a cost of $500 -600 per piece. He makes
an event of the process, inviting people to watch him work. The Board thought this was a
worthy project but the consensus was that they didn't have the money to fund the project
now. If the Council approves new funding, they could support the chainsaw sculpting after
October 1.
5. Report of the budget subcommittee — Charles AgLiillon. The recommendation of the budget
subcommittee, which met on April 20, is to request $130,000 for fiscal year 2010 -11. Of that
amount, $100,000 would be used to continue making grants to arts nonprofits. The increase
over the amount granted in fiscal year 2009 -10 is necessary because more applicants are
expected for a second round of granting due to the longer time period for which grants could
be requested and the success of the initial program, which has increased awareness of it in
the arts community. The remaining $30,000 would be used to promote public art in
Georgetown. The committee also recommended submitting a second budget proposal that
includes the possible reuse of the old library building as some sort of arts facility. They
recommended asking for $50,000 to cover a feasibility study and a dedicated staff person for
that project.
Charles moved to send two versions of the proposed budget to Paul Brandenburg. Mandy
seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Charles said he would draft a letter to
Paul Brandenburg outlining these requests and justifications. Paul had indicated to Eric and
Charles when they talked with him in April that the Board's request would not go through
the regular budget proposal procedure and that he would present the Board's request with
the City Manager's budget.
6. Application for Cultural District Designation — Charles A uillon. Charles announced that he
and Eric will be meeting May 19 with the chair of the Convention and Visitors Bureau Board
(Ty Gibson) and the chair of the Main Street Board (Connie Watson) and their staff liaisons to
discuss working together on all downtown issues. Charles and Eric believe the Cultural
District application would be instrumental in developing a unified plan for bringing the arts
to downtown and they will bring it up in the discussion.
7. Old library facility — Eric Lashley. Eric had just received a copy of a letter Paul Brandenburg
sent to Judy Ommen, responding to her request to have Paul's blessing in pursuing a plan
for turning the old library into an arts facility. Paul told Judy that it is too early to talk about
an Arts and Cultural Center because he is still developing his facilities plan.
The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
LSecre teve Pro e 1, y
Charle guillon, Chair