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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-04-09 Commission on Cultural Development Minutes City of Bangor, Commission on Cultural Development Minutes April 9, 2015 8:30 a.m. City Council Chambers Commissioners Present: Kierie Piccininni (Vice Chair), Tom Avila, Judy Boothby, Mary Budd, Emily Burnham, Ulrike Guthrie, Kat Johnson, Josh Plourde, Elissa Young, and Caitlin Brooke (staff) Excused Absence: Jamie Ballinger Guests: Gerry Palmer, Normand Martin, and Christopher Peary 1. Welcome and Introductions 2. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes A motion was made by Mary and seconded by Judy to approve the previous meeting minutes. The motion passed by a unanimous vote. 3. Grant Applications Before any discussions took place, Caitlin updated the Commission on their budget. As of April 9, 2015 available funds to support grants was $1,033.21. A payment was made, with authorization from the City’s Finance Director, to renew domain names for Bangor Arts. Gerry Palmer and Normand Martin presented the grant application to assist in funding a model of Babe the Blue Ox. The model would serve as a 1/8 scale model made of clay that would be an exact model of a full-sized statue of Babe the Blue Ox to be completed at a later date, to accompany the statue of Paul Bunyan. Grant funding would be used to offset the cost of materials Mr. Martin would use to create the model. Gerry presented the Commission with a budget which detailed the amount of funds requested and adjusted the amount of grant funds to $550. The new material provided an additional request for the Commission’s endorsement of the full sized statue. Emily clarified that the amount of the request was $550, not $1,000 as outlined in the original application. Questions from the Commissioners included:  Why was the Commission asked to fund the full-sized statue? Gerry state that they thought it was important for the Commission to participate in funding at the ground level of the project and he anticipated they would have plenty of money, even may risk too much money. If that is the case, they are looking at an endowment for the overflow funding.  What are the other funding sources? Gerry did not feel comfortable disclosing that information at this time.  What other City Departments have been coordinated with in regards to the full sized sculpture? Caitlin noted that questions should be considerate of the application for the model. (Later in the conversation, Caitlin noted that Gerry had begun conversation with other City Departments.)  Kat respectfully disagreed with Caitlin’s direction to focus on the model and noted that it was important to look at the model’s role within the larger scope of the project. She asked if consideration would be given to placing that statue of Babe in another area of the City.  What will it look like? Normand described his inspiration and vision for the model as well as the full sized statue. Christopher Peary, a Bangor area artist presented his grant application to assist in funding production of Detritus, a periodic journal of comics, writing and art published in Bangor. Questions from the Commissioners included:  How was pricing information obtained? Has the applicant considered opening up applications to include a wider array of artists? Chris said he would certainly consider an application format to include artist who he may not be familiar with. He also said he does shop around for art supply prices. Printing will be done at UMaine where Chris is an employee of the print shop.  What do you expect the price of the next issue to be? That figure will be dependent on the final cost of production. While this is certainly not a money making venture, it is important to cover costs. The current issue is $6 and he anticipates the next issue will be a bit more expensive because it will be about 1/3 larger. Also, he’ll be hand screen-printing about 200 covers.  What is the timeline for the release? Summer 2015.  Will copies be available at public institutions? Chris said absolutely.  How is this work/application a public work of art? Discussion surrounded the definition of public art, the role of the Commission in funding local artists versus public art, and what is the charge of the Commission. Discussion on each application ensued. Elissa made a motion to partially fund Detritus at an amount of $250. Kat made a friendly amendment to increase the funding to $252.50. After some discussion, Elissa withdrew the motion. Elissa then made another motion to fully fund Detritus in the amount of $425, Tom seconded. More conversation and Elissa, again, withdrew her motion. Another motion was made by Elissa to fully fund Detritus in the amount of $425, Emily seconded. The motion passed by a unanimous vote. Judy moved to fund the model of Babe the Blue Ox at an amount of $510. (Caitlin provided insight on the budget items listed that $40 for a tent rental was not an acceptable expense because it was not a cost of material associated with production of the artwork.) There was no second to the motion. Uli moved to fund the model of Babe the Blue Ox at an amount of $160, Emily seconded. Four Commissioners supported the motion; four did not, resulting in a tie. The motion failed on the table. 4. Final Report of Downtown Countdown/Downtown Bangor Partnership Caitlin presented the final report of Downtown Countdown, a Commission funded event that was held on New Year’s Eve. She noted that this event was the largest, free public New Year’s Eve celebration in the state of Maine. The funds from the City were used to host the Bangor Symphony Orchestra in Central Gallery. So, ultimately, the funds were used to support three cultural non-profits in the area. Mary asked how many businesses were involved in support of the event. Caitlin answered that around 20 businesses in the area provided support. 5. Discussion of Recurring Work Session Day/Time Tallying results from a survey sent out to Commissioners, Caitlin found that the time most people could meet for an additional work session would be Wednesdays at 5:15 p.m. She will work to set this up on the City calendar. 6. Committee Updates Marketing is working on ARTober. A press release went out in mid-March and another reminder will go out mid-April. They are in the process of figuring out a process for posters—whether a submission/design contest should be the route taken. Cultural Vibrancy is looking to meet at one of the upcoming work sessions to decide on which goals to move forward with and how to support the efforts of ARTober. Education has a workshop scheduled for May 6. The time and location are TBD. Panelists include Matthew McLaughlin (Fusion/EMCC), George Kinghorn (UMMA), Cathy Ziegler (St. Joseph’s Healthcare), and tentatively, Ray Bolduc (WBRC). Funding is in a holding pattern as they wait for approval from City Council to move forward with writing grants to the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation as well as Bangor Savings Bank. Advocacy is brainstorming methodology to obtain cultural census data. 7. Arts and Culture Forum/Survey Summary Kierie presented a summary of the Arts and Culture Forum that was hosted in March to give Bangor’s creative community an opportunity to provide feedback to the City about arts and culture in the region. 8. Committees To-Do Lists and Deliverables This item was summarized in conjunction with item 6. 9. Other Business Being no other business, the meeting was adjourned. To watch a full version of the Commission on Cultural Development’s April 9, 2015 meeting, please visit: http://bangormaine.pegcentral.com/.