City of Lawrence

Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission (LCAC)

Monthly Meeting, March 13, 2013

 

Members present:    Christie Dobson, Lois Greene, Jane Pennington, Grace Peterson, Kathy Porsch, and Katherine Simmons

 

Members absent:     Mandy Enfield, John Hachmeister, Patrick Kelly, Richard Renner

 

Also present:           Diane Stoddard, City Liaison

 

MINUTES

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:06 p.m.

 

Action Items:

The February 13, 2013 minutes were approved as presented.

 

Jane Pennington made the following motion, which was seconded by Lois Greene and approved unanimously by the members of the LCAC:

 

The Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission will donate $200 to help offset the costs of advertising and promotion for the Lawrence Art Guild’s 52nd Art in the Park, an event held annually on the first Sunday in May, which is attended by more than 10,000 members of the local community each year.

 

Discussion:

 

New Business:

Kathy suggested that the Cultural District Task Force be added to the monthly agenda under Committee and Liaison Reports. There was a consensus of agreement with this suggestion among the members present.

 

Kathy suggested that a regular schedule for review of the LCAC’s webpages on the City’s website be established, and that perhaps the LCAC Committee chairs might take responsibility for reviewing the pages associated with the programs their committees manage. There was a consensus of agreement with this suggestion among the members present. Any issues will be reported to Diane, who will communicate them to the City’s IT staff.

 

Old Business:

No old business was discussed, outside of committee and liaison reports.

 

Committee and Liaison Reports:

City Owned Art Maintenance Committee: Chair Katherine Simmons deferred to Diane to report on her contact with Artist Jon Havener, who created the sculptural piece “Occurrence,” installed at the Prairie Park Nature Center, 2730 Harper. This piece has damage, which will require the artist to repair. Diane contacted him to ascertain whether he can repair the damage and, if so, learn the cost of repair, and establish a timeline for restoring the piece. Diane said she had contacted him and that he agreed to provide an estimate by March 15th, which she will bring to the April meeting for the LCAC’s consideration.

 

Lawrence Community Arts Grants Committee: Chair Kathy Porsch reported that a press release was sent out again, the information was re-posted on the Lawrence Arts Facebook page, and that the program is now highlighted with a link on the LCAC’s page on the City’s Website.

 

Nominating Committee: Chair, Christi Dobson reported no further activity. Kathy reported that she knew of one person who has volunteered and asked about a timeline for consideration by the Mayor. Diane indicated that it may take some time because the Commission doesn’t meet during Spring Break week, it has a full agenda the following week, and there will be a new Mayor following the April 2nd election.

 

Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Exhibit Committee: In Chair John Hachmeister's absence, committee member Grace Peterson reported that the juror has made the suggestions plus alternates to draw from in case a sculpture ends up being unworkable at any of the outdoor sites or is already committed elsewhere. Diane is in the process of contacting the sculptors to ascertain availability of the pieces selected.

 

Percent for Art: Chair Grace Peterson deferred to Diane for a progress report. Diane said the artists met with the Lawrence Public Library architect and contractor on the agreement. She said she has been in contact with the artists and there appear to have been no issues, but she has been unable to connect with the architect for final confirmation that the contractual agreement with the artists is satisfactory.

 

Phoenix Awards Committee: There was no report for this session.

 

Lawrence Arts Round Table Liaison: Kathy Porsch reported that the Roundtable has invited Brad Anderson, Executive Director of Salina Arts and Humanities, the City of Salina, to make a presentation on the impact of the creative economy in Salina and how Salina has provided arts and culture support since 1966. This public event will take place on April 25 from 6-8 p.m. at the Lawrence Visitor's Bureau Train Depot. The Roundtable plans a presentation by Mr. Anderson addressing specific questions about how Salina funds arts activities, related economic implications, and community engagement with the arts and artists, followed by a question and answer session.

 

Lawrence Arts Center Liaison: In Patrick Kelley's absence, Kathy Porsch reported on a discussion on Creative Placemaking hosted by the LAC at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 2 that she attended. She handed around her notes on the discussion.

Christie asked about progress with grants for which the LAC and the City are applying. Diane reported that the Art Center is a finalist for a $450,000 grant from Arts Place and has had a site visit that went well. She said the intent of the grant is a little nebulous to her at this time, but it is her understanding that two artists who have most recently been working in Canada would come to Lawrence as part of the grant and would be placed in different ways in the community to try and make suggestions about different ways for art to be infused into our regular lives. She offered the example of a project in Calgary, where these artists were embedded in the city water department and were trying to make suggestions about how to infuse art in their city in unexpected ways. In that case, they did different things with a water tower, such as covering it with mirrors. In another case, they replaced the heads of streetlights with spotlights aimed at the sidewalk like a stage and watched and recorded what people did in those spotlights. The intent was to show how art is interactive with people. People, with no other prompting than the “spotlight,” posed and danced in the light. She added that the LAC submitted the Arts Place grant proposal directly, not in partnership with the City.

She said the letter of intent for the grant that was brought before the LCAC in February is being submitted to the Kansas Creative Arts Industries, which has replaced the Kansas Arts Commission, and that the deadline has shifted to April 8. On the LCAC’s recommendation, the City Commission has authorized the city to proceed with applying for the grant. If the letter of intent results in an invitation to apply, the City and LAC will develop a full grant application for submission. The City has to be a partner for this with two other partners, a non-profit arts organization and a private business. LAC approached the City in partnership with Callahan Creek as the business partner. Diane said the grant budget will show the match through the investments that the City is making in the Cultural District. The request to the State is for a significant percentage of that money to be directed at developing a city-wide cultural plan, including hiring a consultant to work with the community to document all of Lawrence’s cultural assets and then outline some strategies. There would be focus groups and public meetings as part of this process. A portion of the grant would be dedicated for implementation. Callahan Creek would do a marketing plan to dovetail with the cultural plan.

 

Percolator Liaison: Grace Peterson reported that she talked briefly with Rachael Perry, Chair of the Percolator Board of Directors about teaching classes there. She said the Percolator has written several grant proposals that have resulted in funding and a lot of activities for the Percolator.

 

Cultural District Task Force: Members are Mandy Enfield and Grace Peterson. Diane pointed out that the seven-member Cultural District Task Force has not yet been appointed by the City Commission. The LCAC made its two recommendations at its Feb. 13th meeting, and Diane is now awaiting the remaining five nominations: Two from the East Lawrence Neighborhood, one from the Lawrence Arts Center, one from Downtown Lawrence, Inc., and one at-large. She said the City Commission will have to receive the full slate of nominees in order to approve the task force. She indicated she has not received recommendations from any other stakeholders, who are asked to submit their nominations directly to her. She noted that this delay has placed the goal of having the task force activated by March 1 behind schedule. Diane said that, although the LCAC has suggested the at-large member be appointed from among the City Commissioners, anyone may nominate someone for the at-large position by submitting the recommendation to her. She said anyone wanting to self-nominate must use the volunteer form at http://www.ci.lawrence.ks.us/advisory_board_volunteer.

 

Commissioner Items:

Christie Dobson reported there is a lot of film activity in the Lawrence area.

 

Staff Liaison:

Diane reported a request from the Lawrence Art Guild for a $200 sponsorship of Art in the Park and said there is funding available for this in the miscellaneous line of the budget. A Motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to donate $200 to Art in the Park.

 

The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.