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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-04-27 Commission on Cultural Development Minutes COMMISSION ON CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT Wed., April 27, 2011, 8:00 am Council Chambers, City Hall Minutes Commissioners Present: Steve Ribble, Chair; Susan Jonason, Vice-Chair; Susan Carlisle, Sandra Blake-Leonard (via phone), Judy Boothby, and Tim Lo Absent: Patricia Stowell and Karen Stiles Staff Present: Shirar Patterson, Art Morgan and Peter Witham Others: Dana Lippett, Bangor Museum & Center For History; Bangor School Students; Niles Parker, Executive Director at the Maine Discovery Museum; Rep. from Pecha Kucha Chair Ribble called the meeting to order. 1. Welcome & Introductions Those present introduced themselves for the record. 2. Approval of Minutes of March 29, 2011 The Minutes of March 29, 2011 were approved as presented (with typos corrected as noted). Unanimous vote. 3. Review of Financials Shirar Patterson reviewed the current financials stating that they have not changed since the last meeting as the previous grant cycle was January 1, 2011 (April 1, 2011 applications will be reviewed at today’s meeting). For this fiscal year the Commission has funded programs for a total of $33,000. The remaining current balance for the Cultural Commission is $24,950. Chair Ribble added that at this point in time the City budget for the next fiscal year has not been approved. Currently the Commission has a line item of $10,000 for the year and, as the Commission was directed last year, we don’t know what the following year might bring. Conceivably for the next 15 months we could be looking at a total of $34,950 – that would be today’s grant cycle along with 2 other small grant cycles and 2 other large grant cycles, aside from anything that we might want to contribute to leverage our funds towards grants that we either apply for or obtain with the help of other groups. 4. Continuity of Community/Sister City Monument Locations Discussion  Presentation from Planning/Engineering Peter Witham from the City’s Planning Dept. made a presentation on possible locations for the Continuity of Community sculpture /Sister City Monument (he also gave those in attendance a detailed handout on the subject). Possible sites for location are at the corner of Cedar and Summer Streets near the new police station or at the Bangor International Airport; but specifically along the West Market Square and waterfront connection route there are several spaces such as at the Merchants Plaza. He added that some time ago the City began discussions on what to do with West Market Square. In 2002 they asked CRJ Associates of Boston, MA to do a plan for W. Market Sq. CRJA came up with a concept connecting W. Market Sq. to the Bangor waterfront with standardized features and spaces. The final concept is known as “The Waterfront Master Plan”. This plan broke up the waterfront conceptually into specific areas to plan in detail what each would be designated for along with coordinating the funding to accomplish this. Peter further described the results of the design features that CRJA had proposed for the water’s edge plan as part of the Waterfront Master Plan. He also described the features of the Bangor landing area stating that however this area is now in need of renovation. He added that the exact location of the proposed monument should be decided before the monument is designed so that it fits in with its setting. For Sister City memorials, Peter suggested statues flanking the Penobscot River or the Stream. He concluded by saying that the Norumbega Park site is also a good idea as that is where a sculpture of the World War I Veterans is currently locate, so perhaps The Continuity of Community sculpture (a sculpture to friendship) would be appropriate there as well.  Objective Feedback from Commissioners & next steps Steve – - considering what the sculpture could look like at the Merchants Plaza location, yet still leaning towards the waterfront site as a good location but it needs to be done well. - by creating this one overall sculpture we can in effect have the locations of several monuments right there so that we don’t end up cluttering up the waterfront. - want to make sure we don’t set a precedent. Sandra – - the visibility of the waterfront is better than the Merchants Plaza. Art – - the idea of an engraving probably would be my recommendation rather than a bronze plaque; on the seat wall stones it would create the spiral. - asked how the Commission feels about the idea that the actual Sister City monuments would be incorporated into a seat wall. Responses on the engravings: - over time they tend to fade due to weather conditions, whereas bronze plaques are much more permanent. - with today’s technology engraved pavers or stone are filled with colored epoxy to make them stand out. Concerns were: - that the individual pieces would get lost in a more random organic setting. - the relocation of the statute to the waterfront would need to have a hefty base. - is the land at the waterfront deep enough, permeable enough to hold it. Art replied that he’d have to look into the geo-techno reports available to determine what the depth is there. Chair Ribble concluded the discussion by saying: - we’ll have to go to the next level before we can say yes or no about anything. Perhaps some kind of design development or concept, not necessarily a final plan, would be appropriate to come back with at a point when staff is comfortable. - know also that there is some concern from the applicant that this should happen in a timely manner but we also realize staff has other obligations too. It was asked by a Commissioner what should we expect at our next meeting with this item’s progress. Chair Ribble replied: - he’d accept/entertain perhaps a conceptual sketch which is more than a bubble diagram but something to show scale and proximity and give the Commission some kind of idea of a small site plan type of thing at both the waterfront location and Merchants Plaza if that is the other most desirable location. - he feels both of the items should be together (that’s what came out of the last meeting); the message of the sculpture married with this relationship of other communities is very important. Will leave this to staff to make the recommendations. 5. Grant Discussion and Review  See April 1, 2011 memo and applications mailed in advance  Objective: presentation from applicants, Q&A Tim Lo excused himself from voting on the Bangor Museum & Center For History item as he is a member on the Board of the Bangor Historical Society. Chair Ribble reviewed the grant applications as follows: a) Bangor Museum & Center For History for the project of a Children’s Great Fire of 1911 Walking Tour Dana Lippett, Director at the Bangor Museum & Center For History presented their request for $2,000 from the Commission on Cultural Development in order to print at least 1000 Great Fire of 1911 Walking Tour Maps and to purchase letter boxes and tamps for completing the interactive treasure hunt portion of the map.. Students from the Bangor School system also spoke on behalf of this application for the project of a Children’s Great Fire of 1911 Walking Tour. b) Maine Discovery Museum Susan Jonason or Susan Carlisle (not sure which one as she did not identify herself) excused herself from participating on this item due to her involvement with planning the next auction for the Maine Discovery Museum and she’s also on their Capital Campaign Committee. Niles Parker presented the Maine Discovery Museum’s grant application for $2,000 to assist with their “Art in the Heart of Downtown” project. This grant will enable them to expand Art in the Heat of Downtown for the 2011-20112 school year (September 2011 through June 2012) with 10 local artists participating in the new program. c) Pecha Kucha Organizing Committee’s Project Grant Application for $2,000 to assist them to establish a series of Pecha Kucha Night (PKN) events in Bangor. Pecha Kucha is a collaboration between Fusion Bangor, The University of Maine Museum of Art, and River City Cinema. Purpose of their grant request is to establish a Pecha Kucha Night in Bangor with the first PKN set for May 30, continuing quarterly thereafter. d) Wabanaki Mental Health Association, NPC Grant Application for $2,000 to allow for Native American tribes to regain this important ceremonial dance and continue an almost lost tradition with the younger generations. They plan to complete the project between May 15, 2011 – August 31,2011. 6. Commission recommendation on grant applications  Objective funding recommendation to City Council for grant applications a) Wabanaki Mental Health Association – general consensus of the Commission is that although this is an excellent project, it does not have a connection with the Bangor Cultural Development Commission that would justify funding. It does not fall under the parameters of the Commission’s granting. It was suggested that if they can do the project and continue with it for example bringing it to the Bangor schools, the Commission would be willing to look at it again. A motion was made to not recommend funding the Wabanaki Mental Health Association’s request as presented. Seconded by Tim Lo. Unanimous vote. b) Bangor Museum & Center For History – A motion was made to recommend to the City Council for full funding of the Bangor Museum & Center For History’s project “Children’s Great Fire of 1911 Walking Tour”. Seconded. Unanimous vote. c) Maine Discovery Museum A motion was made to recommend to the City Council for full funding of the Maine Discovery Museum’s project “Art in the Heart of Downtown”. Seconded by Sandra Blake-Leonard. Unanimous vote. d) Pecha Kucha Event Night A motion was made to recommend to the City Council for full funding of the Pecha Kucha Night Events, co-sponsored by Fusion Bangor, University of Maine Museum of Art and River City Cinema. Seconded. Unanimous vote. Shirar added that the recommended grant applications will now go to the May 4, 2011 Business & Economic Development Committee (BED Committee) for their consideration and then will go onto the City Council meeting on May 9, 2011. 7. Introduction of Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium As an information piece, Shirar stated that this item is something that the Cultural Commission will be involved with. The City of Bangor has been invited to participate in a potential Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium that would be in the Summer of 2013 (she handed out a brochure regarding). This symposium is organized by an independent non-profit. For about 6 weeks (every other summer) at Schoodic Point they have international artists come and make granite sculptures. A number of communities participate; communities are charged with doing fundraising to support the overall process. There are local committees that would advise the process – in Bangor it would be the Cultural Commission. They would look at possible locations for the public art, it may also bring in other people from the community if the Commission so chooses. The possible locations would serve as inspiration for the artists and they would create a sculpture that would fit that location. Bangor’s City Manager, Cathy Conlow, had participated in Orono and wanted Bangor to part of this. Shirar attended a meeting last week and realized it was a great project, so the project in 2013 will be on the UMaine Campus where the symposium will be held. Other participating communities at this time are Old Town, Orono, Bangor, the University of Maine as well as the University of Maine Foundation, and Veazie may be participating and perhaps a couple of other communities. There may be 7 sculptures involved. This is a good opportunity to get exposure for this type of artistic and cultural work. The City of Bangor will be participating in the process. There has only been one initial meeting but there will be more to come. Chair Ribble commented that he is familiar with this; he knows they look for $20,000 from each community and a site so that the artist can come and get inspiration for the piece. The cities do not get to select which piece they would like or what it will look like. There are some good things they have done; it is done with indigenous stone so there’s a native component to it. We will need funding for it; that funding will be beyond our budget at that point. Shirar responded that we will have to fundraise to participate and that could mean requesting funds from the Commission’s budget. As details are worked out this will become more of a discussion agenda item of how do we make this happen in Bangor. 8. Schedule next meeting (if needed) Commissioners expressed that they would like to meet sooner than the previously scheduled July 27 meeting in order to continue the Sister City Monument process and to also get into the meat of the Commission’s 5-year strategic plan. Chair Ribble asked that Shirar communicate with Engineering and Planning to see when they might be able to have something ready. Shirar will let the Commission know a meeting date and time asap. 9. Other Items a) Tim Lo stated that he has drafted his suggestions for the strategic plan; he handed copies out to those Commissioners in attendance. He will send a copy to Shirar. Meeting adjourned. Meeting to discuss Strategic Plan and Sister City Monument: TBD Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting: July 27, 2011 Next grant deadline: July 1, 2011 (small grants and large grants)