HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_06.17.2014Minutes of the Meeting of the
Arts and Culture Board
City of Georgetown, Texas
June 17, 2014
The Arts and Culture Board met on Tuesday, June 17 at 4:30 p.m. in the small conference room
of the Georgetown Public Library, 402 W. 8th Street
MEMBERS PRESENT: Gary Anderson, Philip Baker, Shana Nichols, Betty Ann Sensabaugh,
Amanda Still, and Melissa Waggoner
Regular Session — began at 4:30 p.m.
A. Citizens who wish to address the Board. None were present.
B. Announcements of upcoming events — Betty Ann Sensabaugh announced that the
Williamson Museum will be having a show in July about Williamson County artisans,
past and present. Eric Lashley said that Ellsworth Peterson will speak to City Council
on June 24 regarding the grant that the board gave to the Festival of the Arts. Melissa
Waggoner reminded everyone that the artists reception for this month's show at the
Art Center — "The American Dream" — takes place on Saturday, June 21, 7-9 p.m. At
least nine of the 15 artists will attend.
C. Consideration and approval of minutes of the May 20, 2014 Board meeting. Melissa
Waggoner moved to approve the minutes as distributed. Betty Ann Sensabaugh
seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
D. Report regarding the operation of the Georgetown Art Center from April 15 through
May 19, 2014— Eric Lashley, Gary Anderson. Lashley reported the door count from
4/28 to 6/3 was 2,485 and the total since installing the counter in February was
10,233. He had attended the Georgetown Art Works board meeting and said that
although there was no treasurer's report, it appeared that the group has about
$10,000 in the bank. However, the art shows are costing about $4-5,000 each.
Children's summer camps have begun and the two-day adult workshop that was held
last weekend was full and extremely well received.
E. Report reaardina the expenditure of funds from the Arts and Culture Board budaet —
Judy Fabry. Fabry reiterated the expenses that had been paid during the previous
month: $1800 to the Texas Society of Sculptors for prize money for their summer
show at the library; $2500 to the Palace Theater, their grant for their Inclusion Show;
$2,125 to the Georgetown Art Center for the Snell reception and the ad for the Benini
show; and $550 to IntroVisuals TX for the Google virtual tour of the Art Center and 40
photos from the tour that are appropriate for use in web applications.
F. Consideration and possible action to select a painting by Don Snell to purchase for
the City of Georgetown — Gary Anderson, Eric Lashley. All of the Board members
present told which of the three paintings they preferred from among those under
consideration: Kafka's Castle (a very early work); Flower Girl (a colorful work that is a
�� departure from most of his work); and Red Striped Tie (a late work). Four preferred
Flower Girl and two had chosen Kafka's Castle. Discussion followed about the pros
and cons of each, with the consensus finally being that Flower Girl is the one they
would purchase.
G. Consideration of purchasing a PA system for the Georgetown Art Center — Eric
Lashley. Waggoner, who is a member of the Art Center's events committee,
presented the case for acquiring a portable, wireless PA system, with at least two
speakers. Lashley said he had spoken with the owner of Ken'z Guitars to find out
what he would recommend and then did more online research on the
recommendation, the Samson XP40iw—Channel 8. He said the system can operate
completely wirelessly with batteries or may be plugged into alternating current. The
vendor suggested purchasing two systems. While only one mike may be used at a
time, both speakers can broadcast from that mike, so one speaker could be placed in
the gallery and the other in the studio. Sensabaugh moved to purchase two of the
recommended systems. Still seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
H. Consideration of proposal to create Cultural District banners that would hang on the
Square during October 2014 — Eric Lashley. Lashley explained that Assistant City
Manager Laurie Brewer had proposed creating new banners advertising the Cultural
District and using them to decorate the downtown Square during October Arts Month.
Lashley showed two different banner concepts (attached to these minutes) to the
board members and said that there are two options for creating images for either of
the banner concepts: photographs or original graphics. The consensus was for the
simpler of the two concepts and for images created by a graphic designer. Lashley
said he would contact some designers and ask for prices for 8 desigyns representing
the district's cultural assets (e.g., live music, art, theater...) and a 9t design
incorporating the Texas Commission on the Arts' logo for a State Cultural District. He
will report at the July meeting.
Consideration and possible action regarding a new contract with Georgetown Art
Works (GAW) for management of the Georgetown Art Center for the next three years
— Eric Lashley. Board members had copies of the existing management agreement
that Lashley had marked up. Most of the changes involve no controversy, but he
asked the board to consider three topics. The first was whether GAW should pay for
the Art Center utilities. The consensus was that was a good idea, although perhaps it
should be phased in, but since no one knew how much the utilities cost, making a firm
decision was not possible. Lashley said he'd been trying to find out what utility
charges had been since October, but it appears that the billing is combined with the
utilities for the City offices on the second floor of the building. Lashley's understanding
is that a separate meter was installed for the space on the first floor. He will have
historical costs for the July meeting.
The second topic for discussion was operating hours. The first operating agreement
designated that the Art Center would be open 44 hours per week plus two extra hours
for First Friday and two more hours for another evening event. Lashley questioned
whether the extra hours should be mandated at all, and if yes, whether First Friday
should be mandated. Considerable discussion followed with the upshot being that
mandating an extra four evening hours per month would be appropriate, but that
GAW should be allowed to determine when those hours would be.
Finally, Lashley had added an alcohol policy. He said that the City is agreeable to
alcohol being served in the Art Center as it's been done this past year—no alcohol is
sold and it is served by caterers whom TABC has trained and licensed. He also said
that since the City is the owner of the building and is the entity that TABC would hold
responsible for any violations of state regulations, before any event is held at the Art
Center at which alcohol will be sold, permission to do so must be obtained from the
City.
Melissa Waggoner then suggested that she believes the contract should require GAW
to submit monthly written reports containing specific metrics such as website traffic,
door traffic at the Center, an accounting of evening events, gift shop sales, and
number of memberships added. Receiving information such as this on a monthly
basis, instead of the anecdotal evidence that has been presented for the past year,
would make evaluation of the project and planning easier. She also recommended
adding an annual meeting of the Arts and Culture Board and the GAW executive
board, at which time annual benchmarks, which had been established in the operating
agreement, could be discussed. While she admitted that the art center project may
not be mature enough yet for benchmarks, an annual report should be required.
Lashley will present a more finished product at the July meeting. He will be taking the
revised agreement to Council on August 12.
J. Consideration of proposal by the Palace Theater to put a mural on the back of their
building on Austin Avenue or on the Tin Barn — Eric Lashley. Lashley reported that he
had met with Marissa Austin, executive director of the Palace Theater, who wanted to
discuss her idea for a mural to decorate one of the Palace's buildings that are on the
alley between Austin Avenue and Rock Street. She has not discussed the idea with
her board but was just gathering information about how the Arts and Culture Board
might be involved and what funding options the Arts and Culture Board might be able
to offer.
The board members generally agreed that they would be interested in helping with a
mural project and said that the Palace would be eligible to apply for a grant from the
Board for such a project. Lashley said he would convey the Board's interest to Ms.
Austin.
All board members but Philip Baker are able to meet on the regular July 15 meeting date.
Chair Baker adjourned the meeting at 5:55.
Respectfully submitted,
..,��
Liz S art, Secretary
ePhi(ipBJakOChair