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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-04-25 Commission on Cultural Development Minutes COMMISSION ON CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT April 25, 2012, 8 am City Council Chambers Minutes Attendance Commissioners: Chair Steve Ribble; George Kinghorn, Timothy Lo, Sandra Blake-Leonard, Judy Boothby, Jamie Ballinger Associate Members: Patricia Stowell City Representatives: Shirar Patterson Absent: Joshua Plourde (Associate Member), Councilor Charles Longo 1. Opening  Introduction of New Commissioners New Commission members were introduced and members introduced themselves for the record. 2. Brief Overview/History of Commission for New Members Steve Ribble gave an overview of the history of the Commission. New members were provided with information packets. 3. Approval of Minutes from January 25, 2012 Sandra Blake-Leonard made a motion to approve the minutes from January 25, 2012 as presented. Seconded by George Kinghorn. Unanimous Vote. 4. Review of Financials Shirar Patterson reviewed the financials for the Commission that shows the history of all of the Commission allocations. At the last grant cycle for this year there were 4 grants funded – Bangor Area Children’s Choir for $2,000; Bangor Museum & Center for History for $3,000; Bangor Symphony Orchestra for the youth orchestra for $9,350; Penobscot Theatre Inc. for $9,100. This left $1,500 that st the Commission wanted to have available for the April 1 grant deadline. There were no applications st received for April 1; so those funds will carry over. 5. FY 2013 Allocation Update Steve Ribble stated that at the City Council budget workshop held last week he recommended to the Council that $10,000 is the line item the Commission is advocating for the upcoming budget year. He added that the Council’s support for the Commission as they move forward is very important in economic development as far as attraction and retention of residences and businesses into the area. Sandy was adamant that the Commission should be getting more allocated for its work. Funding should be on par with organizations such as the Convention and Visitors Bureau. The commission does much more than fund grants, it also helps build capacity of non-profit arts organizations and seeks funding opportunities for collaborative arts projects. If funds are not available to fund grant matches Bangor will miss out on funding opportunities. The Commission also expressed concern that the Council rep. had not been in attendance since his appointment. It is important that this Council rep attends as he is an important key of communication between the Commission and the Council. It was suggested that this matter be followed up with Mayor Weston. Timothy Lo volunteered that he would also contact Councilor Sprague as well to see if he would like to be the Council representative on the Commission. Steve reminded the Commission that the Council rep is appointed by the mayor so it is not within the prevue of commissioners to invite councilors to sit on the commission and proper protocol needs to be followed in such matters. Timothy Lo shared an example study from The Maine Arts Commission. The group discussed the need to gather more appropriate data to use in their advocacy with the council. Need to determine what data is needed and go from there. Tim noted that he would like to have the consensus of this Commission to request through the City Manager that a workshop with appropriate City staff be scheduled in order to continue this effort of advocating for the arts in Bangor. Tim added that he will continue to advocate for the arts in Bangor as he wants the City to be a cultural and arts capital – the potential is there and it needs to happen because there are not too many sectors that Bangor can grasp on to and show significant growth. Bangor has been successful in the arts and is accessible; it needs to be presented in the correct manner in order for the Commission to advocate for larger budgets, resources and tools. Steve Ribble made a motion to develop a sub-committee comprised of Sandra, George and Tim (anyone else is welcome) for advocacy purposes. Seconded by Sandra Blake-Leonard. This new sub- committee can operate independently of the Commission and report back at the next Commission meeting. Judy Boothby asked when can this sub-committee get started in order to have a report back prior to the next Commission meeting. Sandra added that she would like to see it happen within days if that timeframe works for Tim and George. Steve replied that the sub-committee members can start within days but the reality of the process is the st final budget is probably not going to be approved until the July 1 deadline. However, members can start with the City Manager within days and perhaps progress reports, emails (or through Shirar would be fine). George requested that a list of everyone’s contact information be provided to him, Tim & Sandra. (Shirar will make sure this gets emailed after today’s meeting.) Discussion concluded. Motion was carried. Unanimous Vote. 6. 2012-2013 Leadership Steve stated that the Commission has adopted a policy that it is probably not efficient for the continuity of leadership in the Commission to have the Chair in their last year be the Chair and that they would therefore be in a past chair capacity helping a new person that could fill this position for a year or two. Sandra Blake-Leonard nominated Tim Lo as Chair and George Kinghorn as Vice-Chair. Seconded by Judy Boothby. Discussion Patricia was in favor of the motion but wanted to assure that Tim would be on time as Chair. Tim said he would be there but wanted to explore alternative times. The group decided to vote and discuss meeting times separately. Unanimous vote. Tim Lo put forth the suggestion to meet for shorter periods but on a monthly basis with less strict attendance procedures or rules. The purpose of the monthly presence would be to upkeep and maintain some sense of continuity of discussion. Also suggested increasing electronic communication, and teleconferencing; He feels that the quarterly process is difficult. Steve replied that this Commission has met at different times and it is up to the Commission to decide when they meet; this isn’t anything produced by statute or by City ordinance. The Commission has also met on a monthly basis for a long time when there was purpose to do it. As the Commission began to lose budget and the function was primarily to deal with the grants, quarterly meetings were scheduled. There’s a lot of latitude – it is up to the Commission when and how often to meet. However, must meet at City Hall Council Chambers as these meetings are available to the public and must be recorded. Steve replied to an inquiry with regard to the difference on the Commission Board between Associate and a Commissioner. If a Commissioner is not present at a meeting, then the Associate would fill that sit for voting purposes. It was then suggested that when there are openings for commissioners the Associate member should be contacted by City Clerk’s office to see if they would like to apply for a full Commissioner position. Shirar added that in terms of meeting more frequently her availability is somewhat limited. She does agree that the Commission should meet more than quarterly. She also agrees with George’s suggestion to meet bi-monthly to start; then we can see if there’s a need to meet more quarterly. Sandra Blake-Leonard made a motion that the Cultural Commission meet on a bi-monthly basis as of July 25 at 8:30 am. George Kinghorn seconded. Discussion: Patricia Stowell stated that (as Tim had made previously) to consider afternoons. She can do early afternoons. No other members would be available for afternoon meetings. Steve – the bi-monthly meetings would be more so – there’s two grant deadline dates that are on the odd months. So this would make for 8 meetings per year instead of 6. It was decided that the next meeting will be on May 23, 2012 at 8:30 am - this can be the start of our every other month schedule. Tim Lo inquired if changing the grant deadlines would have to go through a process such as through the City Clerk’s office. Shirar replied that the grant deadlines are set in the ordinance that the Cultural Commission has to accept grants quarterly. If a deadline falls on a weekend or holiday they are accepted the next business day. Discussion concluded. Motion was amended through discussion beginning in May 2012. Unanimous vote. 7. Update on Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium Judy Boothby stated that the City of Bangor is required to raise $20,000 for this symposium. Doing fairly well – have had some speaking engagements set up at Bangor civic organizations. Still need to raise a minimum of $5,000. In addition to raising funds Bangor is responsible for recruiting volunteers and providing lunches to artists August 12-18. The volunteers will work in two-hour segments from 9 am – 5 pm daily. Shirar added that donations can be submitted to her; checks should be made out to The Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium. She then will forward them onto the symposium. 8. Other Items a. Shirar - the Ordinance requires that the Cultural Commission conduct a cultural survey every 5 years. Now will be a good opportunity to start gathering some of the statistics locally for the economic development indicators. She suggested to Tim and George that this will a project for them to move forward on– maybe set up a sub-committee for this. Shirar will look at previous records as to what sort of questions to ask (the previous survey had been done before she was on staff). b. Sandra thanked Steve Ribble for his excellent service on the Commission as Chair. c. Tim Lo inquired about the possibility of a ‘Logo’ to be used on the Commission’s print materials. Shirar will contact the City’s in-house printing/graphic department (Central Services) to see if they could work up a logo that possibly could incorporate the City colors so that we can start the discussion at our next meeting. d. Shirar will send Commission members the link to the City’s web site where it describes what the Commission is about and what their goals are. If there’s anything members would like to see added, or if anything that is missing, just let Shirar know and she’ll get it updated. Meeting adjourned.