City of Lawrence

Cultural District Task Force

June 11, 2013 minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT:	Commissioner Bob Schumm, Grace Peterson, Cindy Maude, KT Walsh, Mike Logan, Jacki Becker, Susan Tate
MEMBERS ABSENT:	Mandy Enfield
STAFF PRESENT:	Diane Stoddard
PUBLIC PRESENT:	Several citizens

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Commissioner Schumm called the meeting to order. 

There was discussion about the draft minutes.  It was decided to change the minutes to add distinctive branding and signage to the list of district assets and refer to history as just history.  Ms. Walsh made a motion to approve the minutes with those changes.  The motion was seconded by Ms. Maude.  The motion was unanimously approved. 

Mike Logan and Susan Tate presented a draft narrative about the cultural district.  There was a discussion about adding an outcome of the cultural district to be encouraging retaining local businesses and attracting independent businesses.  There was a question about the audience for the narrative.  It was stated that the narrative would be part of the report from the task force.  There was also a desire to make sure to preserve the historic identity of the area.

The narrative as edited during the meeting is:

The Lawrence Cultural District identifies a concentrated area of historic interest and innovative creative investment.  A well designed and marketed Cultural District will capitalize on Lawrence’s cultural assets, increase economic investment, and broaden the municipal tax base.

The Lawrence Cultural District will:

• Inspire revitalization while preserving historic identity
• Build community identity
• Stimulate the growth of the creative economy
• Retain residents and local businesses
• Attract visitor and independent businesses
• Improve community health by investing in shared use pathways and outdoor gathering places
• Encourage public, open access visual and performing arts
• Host regularly occurring events.

Ms. Tate reported that she is working with Callahan Creek and the City to submit a grant from the Kansas Arts Industries Commission for the development of a cultural plan for the City.  Ms. Tate stated that feedback on this grant process and other grants identified the need to sustain the plan and implement it.  She stated that Callahan Creek worked on a branding campaign through the Chamber of Commerce that was the “City of Arts” and it did last a few years but was not sustained. 

Ms. Tate provided funding examples from Wynwood neighborhood in Miami (a business improvement district/BID), the 125^th Street BID (in Harlem/NYC), an arts district in Los Angeles, and a north Charleston area in Charleston, North Carolina. The Charleston one was funded through a hotel bed tax. Commissioner Schumm said that a number of years ago, the community explored a BID for the downtown to support promotion activities. That proposal was met with some resistance.  He just wanted the group to know that background.

There was a discussion about Salina’s funding and they fund 14 city employees to run the Smokey Hill River Festival and other arts/cultural activities.  Ms. Walsh thought it would be helpful to have someone set out the tools that could be used for funding.  Commissioner Schumm did state that this year there are a number of budget requests and so funding is good to discuss, but it may be a while. There was an emphasis on identifying funding options in the report. 

There was a desire to have a report on municipal funding options to include business improvement district (BID), bed tax, community improvement district (CID), special benefit districts, city/county joint funding and any other funding mechanisms that could be used.  It was requested that staff put this report together for the next meeting. 

Brenda Nunez, a citizen from the neighborhood, asked if the history would be the real history or a watered down version and she had some concerns about a lack of people of color on the task force. Commissioner Schumm indicated that someone of color would be welcome to participate, and Ms. Tate also responded that there were many discussions about history leading up to the creation of the cultural district. 

There was discussion about ideas from other cultural district.  It was decided that this would be an ongoing item on the agenda to provide an update on other cultural districts/other information. 

It was mentioned that having John Hachmeister and Molly Murphy to discuss the experience at the Crossroads District in Kansas City could be interesting. Ms. Becker stated that she would look into festivals. 

Ms. Walsh reported that there was a large oak tree that was growing in east Lawrence that was cut down by the City several weeks ago. 

The next meeting was set for 4:00 pm on June 25th.  It was agreed that the meeting would include a report from city staff on funding options. 

Ms. Peterson stated that it would be important for the public to have ways to share ideas and successful models, etc. with the task force.  She suggested a suggestion form on the City’s website.

The meeting adjourned at 5:05 pm.