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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-04-28 Commission on Cultural Development Minutes Commission on Cultural Development City Council Chambers April 28, 2010 @8 am Minutes Commissioners in Attendance: Steve Ribble, Commission Chair; John Rohman, Sandra Blake-Leonard, Susan Carlisle, Susan Jonason and Geoff Gratwick. Others in Attendance: Shirar Patterson & Bud Knickerbocker Commissioners Absent: Robert Zavaleta Next Meeting Date: July 14, 2010 @8:30 am 1. Welcome & Introductions Commission Chair Steve Ribble opened the meeting. Those in attendance introduced themselves for the record. 2. Approval of Minutes from January 21, 2010 meeting Minutes from the January 21, 2010 meeting were approved as presented. So voted. 3. Review Commission Financials Shirar Patterson reviewed the Commission Financials that cover the current fiscal year 2010. The total available for this fiscal year including a carryover from the last fiscal year and the appropriation for this fiscal year was $96,950. There have been 3 grants awarded – one to Penobscot Theatre (Spunk) $15,000; one to The Downtown Countdown through the Bangor Center Corporation for $2,000; and the Bangor Symphony for $20,000. This totals $37,000 for this fiscal year, and the remaining balance is $48,000. John Rohman expressed that he feels that the Commission should have a game plan for the next couple of years – should consider having a dialogue with the City Council as well to see where we will be; may have only $48,000 for the next couple of years. Need to think in terms of how this impacts our grant schedule and grant opportunities. Geoff Gratwick added that he concurs that these are difficult budget times; he informed members that today and tomorrow the Council is taking on budget discussions to potentially take on major cuts in fire and public works and the library. There is no appropriation for this coming year - the $48,000 will have to at least serve for the next 18 months. There is a great deal of support for the concept of this commission, on the other hand there is also varied support for the concept of public arts, so we have to become very significant advocates. This item will be coming up for discussion before the Council in about 2 weeks; Commission should make a concerted effort to have as many members there as possible. There is also a major push for a new arena which has implications of economic development, etc. but it’s also a different way that cultures are brought to the City but I feel we need to balance that off so that we become an articulate voice for the many, many dollars we spend on that, are we spending our money appropriately. Sandra Blake-Leonard added that she feels it would be good to have the opportunity to speak with the City Council. The activities that the Commission support and fund in part are revenue drivers in terms of tax revenues and other ways. Steve Ribble added that there have been some discussions with various Councilors and City Finance Director, Debbie Cyr, regarding our balance here and the various states of the economy for the City and the future projections. It is currently the concept that we would be carrying over our amount yet again – there are no guarantees at this point and time, the budget is not completed but that is the game plan. He concurred with John’s initial comment that we probably should be looking at this amount ($48,000) as lasting at the very minimum through the 2010 fiscal year and possibly into the next as we make our determinations moving forward. 4. Discussion of the Grant Application received April 1, 2010  Bangor Book Festival Bud Knickerbocker, a volunteer for the Bangor Book Festival, presented background about the festival stating that it has been active for approximately 3 years, and in their first year they received grant funding from the Cultural Commission. They are now requesting another grant in the amount of $2,000. Their event is planned for the first weekend in October 2010; their purpose is to create and continue an on-going literary festival centered in downtown Bangor -- this event brings about 500 people each weekend. Up to now it has been with Maine authors or those who have come to Maine in the summers for many years. They would also like to move the venues back out into the downtown at local bookstores, not just have them at the library. About 20 authors have been confirmed at this time to participate and more are expected; there have been over 80 in past years. The Commission feels that the Book Festival is a good cause. Councilor Gratwick congratulated Bud and the Bangor Book Festival on their efforts and hard work – lots of energy shown. He asked Bud to relate what lessons have been learned so far – how are they getting more people involved and spreading the word; secondly, what outreach do they have to schools to promote reading. Bud replied that some school librarians are engaging youth with interactive author presentations, computers, and iphones. It is hard to engage the 20-something population however; need to advertise better each year; working to find media that appeals to them; need to enhance web page with a more interactive link to all authors that have been involved. 5. Grant Recommendation to City Council A motion was made by John Rohman and seconded by Susan Carlisle in favor of moving a recommendation to the City Council for approval of funding the $2,000 grant request to the Bangor Book Festival. So voted. 6. Maine Arts Commission Capacity Building Grant Update Shirar Patterson updated the Commission on this item stating that she has met with a small group of the Bangor Arts to determine the areas where they’d like to spend funds. They have purchased the inside-back, full page, full color in the Bangor Visitors and Meeting Guide through the Convention and Visitors Bureau. The guide will be distributed throughout the state of Maine in such places as information centers, rest areas and hotels; it’s an 18-month publication. Morel Marketing did the design of the ad in-kind; they have done a lot above and beyond what they have been contracted to do and this was an additional piece that they signed up to do. Bangor Metro is also interested in partnering with Bangor Arts and have offered them a full page in their upcoming summer guide at a half page price; they want to build an on-going partnership. Final materials/discs from Morel Marketing are expected soon. Shirar has been working closely with the Bangor arts group to finalize the map and last minute details. With regard to the web page, several quotes have been solicited and have received a nice offer from a local web design company – Links On-Line Solutions – they are going to do everything in-kind, will take the design from the Morel program, the web site, host it, no charge to the arts group. We are on track to meet the June 30 grant period end. The next large piece that the group needs to discuss is the actual launch. Once all of the materials are received will then plan a big launch, press conference and will invite Morel Marketing to attend that so they can receive credit for all of their great work. 7. Potential Grants Review & Discussion Suggestions from Commission members on who to contact regarding grant funding are: The Maine Community Foundation; The Local Arts Agency (LLA), because the Commission is a City organization that reaches out to multiple organizations as well as Bangor Arts; Grant Makers in the Arts (GIA) – they have a publication of all of the opportunities for different organizations through a listing; Americans for the Arts (AFTA) – lobbying organization for granting opportunities; and The Maine Humanities Council National Endowment for Humanities. Steve Ribble added that perhaps the Commission should probably look at their strategy in this discussion of what to do relative to funds for the next year or two or even beyond, then come back to a list like this and decide how these organizations could assist the Commission. Perhaps there also needs to be partners – need to have a discussion to decide if the Commission should go out and solicit the help of the Bangor Arts group to further this process or is it going to be done completely by the Commission. Steve added that this should be on the next agenda. 8. Other Items Councilor Gratwick briefly commented that there are two new associates coming on to the Cultural Commission Board and then there’s a move by some Councilors to not have the City Council represented on this Commission however, thinking that the logic behind it is that the Councilors represented on the Folk Festival Board did not know what was going on and there was thought to be a potential conflict of interest. The Council views this as being erroneously an independent body, where my concept of this is that this is just an extension of the Council committee just like any other committee. It may be helpful to have others come to that meeting should the topic come up. Commission members expressed that they would like to encourage the City Council to continue to have a representative from the Council on the Commission for Cultural Development. Steve Ribble asked Shirar to put on the next meeting agenda to create a Welcome/History item that can be discussed. Shirar was asked to look into the procedures on enforcing the by-law or rule that once 3 meetings are missed by any member we need to deal with that particular situation as well. Also, add the item of Grants & Strategies to the agenda. Steve read to the Commission a thank you letter from the Bangor Symphony Orchestra on the grant awarded to them from the City of Bangor in the amount of $20,000 in support of the orchestra’s 2009 & 2010 season – (they received payment on April 5, 2010). Meeting adjourned. Next meeting is July 14, 2010 @8:30 am.