City of Lawrence

Lawrence Arts Commission

May 16, 2007 minutes

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Evie Rapport, chair; Donna Griffin; Elizabeth Hatchett; Tom King;

David Loewenstein; John Reeves; James Schaefer; Leslie vonHolten; Sandra Wiechert

 

 

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Liz Kowalchuk; Margaret Morris

 

STAFF PRESENT:

Michael Tubbs

 

PUBLIC PRESENT:

None

 

 

A. The meeting was called to order at 7 pm in the Jayhawk Room of Fire Station #5

by the chair, Evie Rapport.

B. The Minutes were corrected and an insertion made showing that the Americana Music Academy was awarded a grant of $72.50. Commissioners Hatchett and Reeves moved and seconded the Minutes be accepted as corrected. Motion passed.

C.1.a. Liaison Tubbs distributed packets with the minutes, the agenda, a report from the Men’s Art Project grant of last year, and a summation of our strategic planning retreat.

b. Commissioner Rapport, chair, reported that Lawrence’s Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Exhibit will be in the upcoming 1000 Places to See in the USA and Canada before You Die guide, scheduled for June publication. Pitch Weekly will soon feature ODSE.

c. Commissioner Rapport announced that Kelley Hunt of Lawrence will receive the Governor’s Arts Award on June 7 at Topeka’s Mulvane Museum.

d. The new Bloch building, a part of the Nelson-Atkins Gallery of Art, will soon be opening near the Plaza in Kansas City.

e. Those receiving grants from the Arts Commission should know they have 30 days to submit a report once their projects are over.

f. An LAC budget request for $27,000 has been submitted for 2008. This year’s budget is $23,400. However, LAC, like the rest of the city budget, may be asked to reduce expenditures by 6% by the end of the year. Remaining LAC projects include the ODSE, the Phoenix Awards, and administrative costs.

g. The LAC grants will be awarded at the City Commission meeting, Tuesday, May 22. Commission chair Rappport will present the checks to the winners. All LAC members are encouraged to come.

h. Likewise all LAC members are encouraged to be at the tour and reception for the ODSE Saturday, May 26, starting at 5:30 pm in the Lawrence Arts Center.

2.A. There was no Grants report, due to the absence of Commissioner Morris.

C. Due to the absence of Commissioner Kowalchuk, there was no Percent for Arts report.

D&F. Commissioner Wiechert gave updates on the Phoenix Award and reported on the many arts-related activities brought up at the noon Arts and Culture Roundtable meeting.

E. Commissioner Hatchett gave a progress report on the website. Commissioner King will be taking more photographs for it this weekend.

G. Commissioner King reported on the recent KREOS (Kansas River Expression of Soul) meeting he had attended as an LAC liaison. He felt there was a positive exchange of thoughts and goals. Most likely the proposed site will be changed. There has been flooding at this site. The group hopes to do some fence-mending and will proceed slowly.

 

Commissioners discussed the unfortunate cancellation of this year’s Art in the Park and the resulting frustration of artists and townspeople alike. They encouraged attendance at

Lawrence Arts Commission Minutes, May 16, 2007                                  Page 2

 

the Friday night dedication of the JAMS Van Go mural, and also at the June 21 opening of Stephen Johnson’s art exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art. Pictures of the two murals recently painted at the Skateboard Park in Centennial Park were passed around.

 

C.2.B & D.1. Commissioner Reeves discussed the Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Exhibit project. He will distribute flyers about the upcoming May 26 opening tour and reception to downtown businesses. The juror, Glen Gentile of St. Louis, will lead the tour, and several of the sculpture artists will be in attendance. He will invite City Commissioners.

The ODSE brochure is not yet done. Commissioner Rapport and Michael Tubbs have worked on this brochure with him. Commissioner Reeves then presented a PowerPoint program on the sculptures. If the ODSE tour is rained out, he will present an augmented PowerPoint program to attendees at the Lawrence Art Center.

D.2. Commissioners discussed the 2007 and 2008 budgets. All felt the Phoenix Awards budget for the designing artist and public reception must be kept. Several commissioners felt we need corporate sponsorships, subsidies, grants, and perhaps advertising. Commissioners Loewenstein and King will investigate fundraising options. All felt our name, Lawrence Arts Commission, needs to be fully displayed on all projects and kept more fully in the public eye. At the June meeting, we may discuss renaming the commission for greater clarity and to prevent confusion with other arts groups.

 

E. Commission chair Rapport distributed copies of the goals developed at our Strategic Planning Retreat with facilitator Carol Nalbandian’s assistance. She and Commissioner King had rewritten and shortened them to four goals. Commissioners Wiechert and King moved and seconded to adopt these goals. Motion passed. Commissioner Rapport commented that the Strategic Planning Retreat had been really important to our LAC work. Commissioners briefly reviewed Nalbandian’s written outline of goals, high priorities for building networks with other community groups, highlighting the Percent for Art program, cataloging the city’s art collection, and formalizing procedures for the various projects. We also reviewed the identified tasks, our roles as commissioners, our strengths as an arts commission, and our dreams for the arts in Lawrence.

Commissioner Rapport said we would fully tackle the entire Nalbandian report in June.

City Liaison Tubbs indicated he also had taken many notes from the Strategic Planning session, which he would email us and which we would also discuss.

Commissioner Reeves suggested the other ex officio members be invited to this June meeting to enhance this discussion. This would include the Mayor, and heads of Parks and Recreation and the Planning Commission.

 

F. Commissioners Griffin and vonHolten moved and seconded that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed and the meeting ended at 8:20 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Sandra Wiechert, Secretary