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Home My WebLink About2010-08-03 Commission on Cultural Development Minutes Commission on Cultural Development City Council Chambers August 3, 2010, 8:30 am Minutes Commissioners in Attendance: Chair Steve Ribble; Susan Carlisle, Susan Jonason John Rohman, Geoff Gratwick and Timothy Lo Others in Attendance: Shirar Patterson, Councilor Gerry G.M. Palmer, Dr. James Kenny of Bangor Chinese & Cultural Learning Center Commissioners Absent: Sandra Blake-Leonard (excused) and Robert Zavaleta Next Meeting Date: Sept. 1, 2010, City Council Chambers @7:30 am 1. Welcome & Introductions: Chair Steve Ribble called the meeting to order. 2. Approval of Minutes from July 14, 2010 meeting: The Minutes of July 14, 2010 were approved as presented. So voted. 3. Sister City Monument Discussion/Review: Dr. Kenny & Gerry G.M. Palmer reviewed several items relevant to the monument project. The item was also discussed in detail at the July meeting (see minutes)  American tour from Sister City in Sept and would like to have a celebration/groundbreaking at that time  City staff from several departments have been helpful through this process  A lot of support from community and City o Worked with engineering to set appropriate location and way to affix to ground o City Forrester to discuss plantings o Public Works is also assisting  Council supports Sister City relationship  No cost to City  Dr. Webb supportive of school’s involvement (via Skype)- Children from both cities will communicate with each other  Supports development of Culture, education and commerce  Waterfront Bangor door to the world. Historical significance  Maintenance support will be conducted by the Chinese language and cultural center  On-going relationship – educational exchange.  48x22x20 granite with flat surface and lettering Commissioners weigh in on monument  Some like the location and would like to see future monuments to Sister Cities in the same area  Ceremony, media event for Sister City representatives when they arrive.  Consider setting design standards for waterfront monuments with consultant Pam Shadley  Some have reservations about setting a precedent and negating the work done on the waterfront to date without a specific policy. Also no site plan  Information provided is not a specific site plan; schematic is rough and needs more detail.  Perhaps provide tentative approval to placement of monument w/ understanding of flexibility to move monument to more appropriate location.  Suggest a high quality master plan at groundbreaking.  Site plan – support concept and waterfront full site plan showing this as part of an overall master plan.  Decision at this time is that there will be no installation in Sept and the Commission needs to see a more detailed plan. 4. Trevor Sprague Memorial  Item is being proposed by community member Eugene Dawes  Shirar has provided him with the monument/public art guidelines  Chair Ribble noted that Trevor Sprague will likely not meet the criteria set forth for monuments under the guidelines.  No representative. Item not discussed 5. Commission Strategy/Grants Discussion  Focusing on grants with 4-5 collaborative groups and a strong outreach component.  More in vein of capacity building grant/matching to leverage greater funds rather than individual grants to organizations  Consider smaller seed grants for new projects ($2,000)  Leverage Cultural Commission funds for solid ideas and capacity  Cultural Commission support of events such as Art walk, Book Festival, Penobscot River Revival provides a “seal of approval”  Due to limited funds it is difficult to support large organizations to the level as has been done in the past. Ability to commit large grants hinges on collaborations on larger projects  Encourage smaller grants and spread funds around  Bangor Arts is a perfect example of the direction we can move – would like us to be more aggressive.  Encourage groups to collaborate to leverage Cultural Commission funds for a larger award.  Start-up with standard of $2K rather than larger grants.  Strong collaboration in range of 10K with matching components.  Operational funding available in areas of marketing promoting, et, not really administrative support  It was noted that the next grant deadline is October 1, 2010 so it is important to finalize this item at the next meeting  Shirar will revise application based on this discussion and present to Commission prior to the next meeting 6. Discussion of Grant Applications received July 1, 2010  Major discussion on this item took place at the July meeting (see minutes)  Maine Discovery Museum: John Rohman made a motion to approve Maine Discovery Museum’s request at the level of $8,000 for seed dollars for capital campaign. Seconded by Susan Jonason. Vote was unanimous.  River City Cinema Susan Carlisle made a motion to not support this project with funds at this time. Seconded by Susan Jonason. Vote was unanimous. Rationale below o Comprehensive project o Question on how to quantify success o Incomplete budget submitted o Susan J. not in support. App incomplete; didn’t meet criteria to level expected. o John – whole new endeavor; unsure of ongoing letter or support. With limited funds not a good use of Commission dollars. o Susan C. – agrees o Steve – 3 year request but all 12,000 will be used upfront. 7. Commission Membership Update  Shirar reported that Commissioner Zavaleta must officially resign before the City Council can appoint a new voting member. Shirar had emailed and called Commissioner Zavaleta to request a resignation letter so a new member can be appointed. Shirar had not yet heard back from Commissioner Zavaleta. 8. Other Items  None