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Minutes 03-14-01 20TM ANNIVERSARY POST GALA MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2001,2:30 P.M. CONFERENCE ROOM "C', WEST W~NG BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present Wally Majors, Recreation Director Melissa Vlaun, Special Events Manager GALA Committee Members Ms. Vlaun, Special Events Manager, thanked the Committee for his or her contributions to GALA and said that everyone's hard work was very much appreciated. She remarked that the outstanding teamwork demonstrated had helped to make the event very successful. Ms. Vlaun apologized to Streets, Facilities, Parks and Fire for leaving them off the agenda. The purpose of this meeting was to wrap up GALA and for the individual committees to give their reports. Ms. Vlaun asked that the reports be brief and include what was good about their area, what needed improvement, and their wish list for the next GALA. I. Financial Report In the interest of time and the large number of reports to be given, Ms. Vlaun asked that this item be bypassed unless someone had crucial information for the group. Ms. Vlaun thanked Sherri Claude for the very complete 2001 GALA Budget sheet and said that with the revenue from Kiwanis and the Chamber, the GALA account should be close to $22,000. Also, Ms. Vlaun asked that the members mail or e-mail her their financial reports. Ms. Vlaun planned to do an overall, final financial report, taking the other reports into consideration. II. New Business A. Committee Progress Reports George Mantell, Streets Mr. Mantell thought the support from the Police Department was rather lax. They had a hard time shutting the streets down because they lacked support and this was their biggest concern. Another concern was the large number of banners and signs that were requested just two weeks prior to GALA. This put a real burden on the sign department and he hoped that the Committee could give them more advance notice the following year. He suggested that the Committee decide in December what it needed in terms of signage and put in their requests at that time. Mr. Mantell mentioned some tripping hazards that he discovered. As for improvements, Mr. Mantell was going to try to get more barricades, cones, arrow, and message boards if he could get budget approval. He thought it was wasteful to rent them every year and that many departments could use them throughout the year. Meeting Minutes Post GALA Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida March 14, 2001 Oakley Ogg, Facilities Mr. Ogg thought his area had operated at a financial loss for the things they bought. Mr. Majors asked him to let the Recreation Department know the extent of it so they could factor it into next year's planning. Mr. Ogg suggested a big thank you be sent to the Utilities Department for the use of their two generators. Mr. Majors wanted to investigate purchasing a generator before next year. The good thing was that everything got up and running ahead of time. The negative side was that the requirements needed to be given to him ahead of time. He mentioned the street lighting and circuits and that he wanted to be involved in the planning stages much earlier the next year. Aisc, he stated that the electricity users needed to be centered around the electricity, for example. Mr. Ogg did not feel that the police were as effective this year as last. They seemed "put out" that they had to be there at all. He thought some of the safety factors could have been better and that Mr. Magazine wanted to have some input. For next year he said that he needed to know specifically what the electricity was to be used for. A microwave and an iron are different when it comes to electricity. He suggested that all the vendors be sent an "electricity request" to be filled out with their requirements and returned to the City two weeks prior to the event. If they did not return their requests, they would not be able to get electricity at the event. He said that when final layouts were done, the place within a particular location that needed electricity should be marked. This would save them a lot of time in setting up. They had many different lengths of electric cord and it would be helpful to know what was being plugged in and where it was physically on the layout. Glenda Hall, Parks Ms. Hall said that once set up was through, they did not have to move stages and bleachers as they did previously. She really appreciated the spirit of cooperation that prevailed among City employees. Ms. Hall stated that it would be helpful to get the preliminary site plans earlier and have them be more specific. She also asked that SWA be brought back for recycling. Ms. Hall said she needed recycling containers that people could put their cans in, not just big open trash bins where they dumped everything. Ms. Hall's staff was adequate in size for this year's event but if it grew any more, they would have to hire outside help. Ms. Shea said a maintenance company had emptied trash in prior years but they did not do a very good job. Ms. Hall said the staff would have appreciated a staff hospitality area. Ms. Hall also mentioned that the vendors who had hot coals were not disposing of them correctly. She mentioned the fire hazard of dropping them into trash and putting them under things. They had to come up with a proper disposal method for them. Ms. Vlaun aisc suggested that the food vendors be advised they have to clean the tables, which would relieve Parks. Ms. Hall said they supplied them with a dumpster right behind the main food court and they did not use it at all. 2 Meeting Minutes Post GALA Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida March 14, 2001 Heather Spillane, Kids Korner Ms. Spillane thought things went well. She mentioned that the site plans and electric drops needed to be planned for and obtained in advance. The crafters in her vicinity all commented on how helpful staff was to them. The comments she heard were that they did not like the break in the show. Even the spectators did not like having to walk all the way down there. The vendors felt, either we are in the show or not. Ms. Shea said they had poor sales on GALA weekend. She mentioned that Delray put all the arts and crafts together. Several vendors mentioned how much they liked the Delray Affair and how well their sales went there. Ms. Shea said this was the first year they had sold tickets themselves but it had been a real burden having to make several trips to the Police Department pertaining to the money. She thought it could be worth having the amusement company handle this. Heather said that Nancy Conway had been very helpful to her. For her Wish List, she said the crafters needed to be with the artists and that Kids Korner needed to operate separately. The face painter did not make much money since there was a free face painter there, about ten feet away. She said the rides only grossed $8700 but they closed two hours earlier and they did not open Thursday night. She said there were a lot of problems with it being open till 11 p.m. People generally agreed that GALA was better without the usual games. Mr. Majors would be just as happy with a ferris wheel and a merry-go-round. The group discussed the pros and cons of having the event open in the evening hours. Most other cities do not run their festivals at night. Not having the event extend into the evening would also cut down on a lot of overtime. Mr. Oakley mentioned that there were only about 30 people in the stage area in the evening. Ms. Spillane thought there should be more paid staff at the event. The volunteers were great but they were asked to work very long hours. Mr. Majors said that if they were overextending their resources, maybe GALA needed to be a little smaller. Ms. Vlaun thought there should be more participation from other departments in the City. Ms. Beasley mentioned the idea of including the volunteer time in the 40-hour a year mandatory education requirement in the upcoming pay-for-performance program. The group liked the idea. It would be one way of compensating the volunteers who now had to work for nothing. Carey Siciliano/Janice Phillips, Youth Art Exhibit There was a good turnout for this event with over 50 schools participating. They asked for more time to hang the art. They also requested a place to store the artwork besides their offices. The Bloodmobile was mentioned and the fact that it would be good to get a Palm Beach County Bloodmobile next time as they would have records for Palm Beach County people. Frank Ireland, Non-Profit Organizations Mr. Ireland thought that mixing the non-profits with the Chamber businesses worked out very well. The solicitation of non-profit participation in GALA did not do as well, with only nine non-profits appearing. 3 Meeting Minutes Post GALA Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida March 14, 2001 Ginny Shea, Public Relations/Marketing Ms. Shea said she liked the layout of the Sponsors Garden 5ut wanted more sponsors. She also liked the layout of the artist's area and the stage. She had special praise for the golf carts, saying that they were lifesavers for everyone but that they needed even more for next year. The radio and cell phone access had been great with plenty to go around for everyone, and she thanked the beach guards for their help with this. They got a lot of media attention. The Post did an excellent job and provided better coverage than the Sun Sentinel. She said that if the Post wanted to underwrite the event next year, the Sun Sentinel would be totally out. They were looking for $25,000. Ms. Shea said that Thursday's set up was really great and she gave kudos to Facilities and Parks for that. She commented that there were too many staff people sitting in the hospitality tents for too long. She did not like some of the activities behind the Civic Center. She loved the rock wall but thought the whole area could have looked better. The information posters need to be out at least two weeks in advance. She did not recommend using Seacrest Boulevard at all. Visibility is less in that area and too many streets have to be closed up to allow people to get in and out of their driveways. It was detrimental to have one block open. Although it looked nice, she did not think it was in the best interest of the event to have a break in the show. Signage needs to be coordinated and requirements completed two months ahead of the event. Ms. Shea praised Mark Pyne for getting the signage done in such a short period of time. She also suggested they close the show at 6 p.m. and save the overtime money, particularly Police overtime. Some of the money paid for security could be saved. Ms. Shea spoke of the need for a television sponsor and more than one radio station. She said that Sunny 104 had been very happy with the exposure they got and with the money we spent. Ms. Shea expressed understanding for the "new crew". She went on to say that for next year it was vital to have stage schedules, entertainment schedules, and all of the press releases out by the deadline date of February 1. Ms. Shea called on everyone to meet his or her deadlines so she would have enough time to get the information to the press. She also said that the directional signs needed to be redone. She thought Ms. Vlaun had done a great job and expressed appreciation for her hard work. Nancy Conway, City Display The City Display had not had their wrap-up meeting yet but Ms. Conway shared some observations about the event. She said it had been great being ~n the museum but that some people had complained that there was not enough traffic. They planned to brainstorm and try to think of ways of getting more money from the individual departments. There were a lot of great people on the committee with a lot of creative ideas. Ms. Conway's Wish List item was more money. They had no money this year. Ms. Conway mentioned that the artists' displays in the Delray Affair were the same from year to year and the group discussed the advantage of having the event at a permanent 4 Meeting Minutes Post GALA Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida March 14, 2001 site. It was generally felt the move had hurt them. She felt that this year's layout had emphasized the kiddie/ride kind of thing with the artists on the fringe. Diana Johnson, Chamber of Commerce Ms. Johnson advised that the Chamber wrap-up had not yet taken place but that she would get back to Ms. Vlaun with the results. She thanked everyone for the cooperation that was demonstrated. She mentioned that the Chamber fell short of their monetary goals by $2,000, but that this was because they had only 25 business booths instead of 45 as in the past. They are trying to determine-why they could not sell more booths. The two-block gap in the middle was the thing she heard the most negative comment about. She stated that a fire truck blocked the intersection and you couldn't even see if anything was at the other end. They wanted to see the gap closed up so the event was more cohesive and people knew where things were. Their beer garden was a washout because of the "valium" type of music that was played there. She thanked Linda Coyne and said she had been a pleasure to work with. Teresa Zabik, Hospitality Tent & Shuttling & Parking Ms. Zabik said the volunteers were the best part of GALA. They had done a great job of greeting people and welcoming them. The sponsors were very positive. She offered the suggestion for next year of advertising a schedule of specific events, She also thought there should be a separate hospitality area for the staff, The feedback Ms. Zabik got on shuttle parking was mostly positive. They had some people who had to wait 30 to 40 minutes for a ride but had solved this by Sunday when they had the Shopper Hopper going along with the bus. She said they had gotten $941 in revenue. For next year the bus hours of operation should be limited to the key hours of 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It was good to work with the mall. Mr. Majors said that 900 riders told him a lot and he thought that could be tripled the following year. Mr. Majors commented that a lot of people heard about the shuttle through the Post. Community Transit had done a great job and all of their people were very professional. Mz. Zabik's Wish List for next year included having Shopper Hopper buses all weekend and an ad advising the community about it ahead of time. Steve Lulkin, Security Mr. Lulkin thought security had been better this year. There were a lot of guards and they all got to their posts on time. Next year they should come with their rain gear because some guards left their posts when it began to rain. When the rides closed on Saturday night, they funneled everybody down Ocean Avenue and a couple of tents were vandalized. All the vendors need to be totally secured. Ms. Shea said the application says the City is not responsible for any of their items and that they should pack their things up every day. Mr. Lulkin mentioned a need for improvement in the traffic signage. There was a lot of confusion about where to go. They had no idea. They were all trying to get down the two main streets we had open. There was a lot of difficulty until we got it.under control on Saturday. There was a problem at 1st Street and Boynton Beach Boulevard i'n that the Police changed the conditions three times. The 5 Meeting Minutes Post GALA Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida March 14, 2001 color-coded maps that were sent out were great for the security people. He also suggested having color-coded posters at strategic points saying, "You are here" with a list of the locations of the various activities. Mr. Oakley thought the security people should be asked to wear uniforms as it enhanced their image of authority. Sharon Golden, Physical LayOut Ms. Golden thought the event ran smoothly due to closing the streets at 10, and allowing the rental companies to come in and place the Port-a-lets, tents, tables, and chairs in places where the crew knew they were supposed to go. They gave them a map and the tower lights were placed as they should be. The big strength was the support from other departments like Facilities, Parks, Public Works and the Police. In the future she heard comments that the Kids Korner being in the middle of the street kind of blocked the view going east or going west. Someone commented that this had been done in part because the Post was sponsoring it and they wanted it to be in a prominent location. Still, some traffic needs to be allowed to go by. The back staging area with banners and flags needed to be redesigned. Parking cars behind it was an eyesore. Outside organizations with trucks and trailers on the roadway such as the Chamber's beer trucks and the Kiwanis soda trailer need to be monitored and coordinated. These need to be removed before the streets re-open and they were not this year. They almost had to have the beer truck towed. Ms. Hall suggested that if vendors had to leave the site and come back that they notify Facilities. The vendor parking needs to be redesigned on South Seacrest. Melissa Vlaun, Entertainment Ms. Vlaun said that her report Would be included in the final report. Arleen Dennison, MuSeum/Library Ms. Dennison reported that the donated gladiolus had been sold out by 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. They sold 4,714 bunches. She said there had been about 847 visitors to the museum during the event. The museum's web site was up in time and that probably helped. Some memberships were sold to the museum. It was nice seeing the amphitheater used the way it was. She said from the street it was hard to tell there was a stage there but when you got around the corner it was neat. She remarked that working with the other departments like Facilities and Parks had been very rewarding. They need to do more planning earlier in order to meet the February 1 deadline. Last year the layout was tents in a circle in front of the museum and it tended to help draw people in. This year it was almost like a barricade on Ocean and there was a bigger gap between the front door of the museum and the street. Last year's entertainment being held right on the front steps was a big help. The gladiolus sales were helpful but they have not solved how to get people from the street into the building yet. Some people thought a red carPet would be a good idea. Ms. Dennison's Wish List for next year included looking at the Library as part of the event, possibly for an art exhibit. The Library is air- conditioned and has bathrooms, two things visitors always want. Mr. Majors stated that if the Library were to become a focal point, they would have to close on Sunday. 6 Meeting Minutes Post GALA Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida March 14, 2001 Ginny Shea, Sponsors Ms. Shea said that this had been discussed and was included on the budget that Sherry Claude had distributed to the members. There were three paid sponsors in the sponsor garden, not including the Post, and they need to get twelve for next year. They had to discuss the amount they could reasonably ask from the sponsors. If they dropped the price a little, they hoped to get more sponsors. Ms. Shea recommended that the City make a monetary commitment from the General Fund for the event to help out with expenses. Three years ago they had a reserve balance of $42,000 and now it had shrunk to about $21,000. Bob Howell, Food & Beverage Concessions Mr. Howell said the setup had been good this year. He thought communication was good and the use of the golf carts was very effective. He recommended going to a percentage for all the food vendors next year and have all the vendors in one area. The west side always did better than the east side. The price of the food should be reduced and posted. He thought vendors should be allowed to sell any item. There were too many restrictions. Ms. Shea said there was an exclusive agreement with the Kiwanis and that this was a political situation. He said the food and menus needed to be reviewed and the quality of the food needed to be upgraded. The food was priced high and the quality was only "so-so". He suggested that having the vendors clean the tables be put in the bid package. He heard it was this way at other city festivals. He also mentioned having a big tent with fans and misters. Cleanup was a problem this year as the vendors left a mess behind them. Mr. Howell said the security deposit should have been withheld from them. Ms. Hall said that when the layouts were done, space needed to be allotted to the dumpsters and/or cardboard recycle boxes. Mr. Howell wished that the site would settle down and not change every year. Linda Coyne, Volunteers Ms. Coyne stated that the volunteers had come early and stayed late and that this had been very rewarding. The t-shirts were very well received this year. The new volunteer hospitality area was great. All the volunteers got welcome bags and there were door prizes and she thought this would serve as a good incentive for next year. The separate radios they used worked very well in helping relieve congestion from the regular radios. Ms. Johnson's Chamber volUnteers had a totally separate check-in this year and they just gave them the ribbons and t-shirts. This worked out well. In prior years they had the problem of getting waivers since their volunteers came in and went out at different times. Also, Carisse Weise and Debbie Majors worked very hard on vendor hospitality. She wanted to see it continue and be improved on every year. The hospitality and booth sitting were two items she received much positive feedback about. There had been a misunderstanding about the bagels and coffee that are normally donated and at the last minute, these had to be procured and everyone pitched in. She wanted to see the vendor hospitality go under the visual arts budget or get food for that from visual arts or through donations. Meeting Minutes Post GALA Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida March 14, 2001 Ms. Coyne wanted to see the City invest in an insulated coffee server, believing that many other areas in the City could share and use it. She also wanted to see the Volunteer Committee broken into sub-committees. She Suggested putting the Information Booths as a subcommittee under the Public Relations and Marketing Committee. Ms. Shea was in favor of that if Wendy Hollien committed to it. If the Information Booths stayed under Volunteers, each would have to be a separate one with the Information Booth that is closest to the artists also have the booth-sitting out of there. Ms. Shea said she would come to their first committee meeting and help to work that out. Ms. Coyne also wanted to target more groups that they found at the end of this year such as Target, Wal-Mart, and Lowes whose employees are asked to do community service~ Ms. Weise suggested the Senior Girl Scout troops who were in the 11th and 12th grades. MS. Coyne did not think the paid ad for volunteers was fruitful. Ms. Coyne also suggested that one person be dedicated to collecting and handling money. Between the poster money and the shuttle bus money and people wanting to make their deposits before 6 p.m,, there was too much confusion. Thank You from Wendy Hollien In appreciation of their outstanding effort, Linda Coyne and Carol Beasley were given flowers. Ms. Beasley said the artists were not reading the information in their packets and suggested putting a checklist of contents on the front of the packet. Debbie Majors, Carisse Weise and Teresa Zabik, Artists Ms. Weise referred to page 2 of the report she distributed to the members, with the projected budget and actual budget for the event. They took in about $1,800 less than projected for a total net of $8,611.52. Part of the problem was the location and the sales tax. After the applications had already gone out they found out they would have to charge sales tax which took away from the amount they sent in. Next year they would anticipate that and raise the amount accordingly. Also, they could not fit as many artists in the street due to construction and the way the sidewalks were put together. They lost about $7.64 per booth to sales tax. Out of the 90 artists who attended there were 73 who responded to the Post Festival Evaluation forms. There were 32 return artists and 39 first-time artists in attendance. Of the returning artists, 44 said they would return the following year; 16 said they would not return;'and 12 said maybe; and the rest were waiting for the result of their sales for the weekend. The most universal comment was about the great hospitality offered by the City. This item needs to be Continued the following year. Ms. Weise expressed her gratitude to Carol Beasley and her mother, Pat Frick, who did such a great job with vendor hospitality. Ms. Weise's Wish List item was to have sponsors for the hospitality tent. The downtown vendors had great sales due to the GALA and perhaps they could be approached for $200 next year. They loved the booth sitting, the morning breakfast, and the pizza party. Meeting Minutes Post GALA Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida March 14, 2001 There were some mixed comments on organization with 8 of 28 saying the event was well organized. At least 9 comments were for shortening the event to a two-day show. They did not think Friday was necessary and wanted only Saturday and Sunday. They also did not like the event being on St. Patrick's Day due to competition from other events in the area. The artists were very critical of the layout, not liking the location because it was too spread out. There was a perception of being two separate shows. There was not enough storage for them due to booth spacing. All of the issues and concerns of the artists should be taken into consideration when doing the following year's layout and site plan. The artists liked the quiet music that was played. They thought the shuttle bus was great. The artist next to theThird Street bus drop-off area had the best foot traffic. Ms. Weise suggested re-doing the application for the artists and making changes by separating judging categories and trying to have more high-end artists apply. She would like to see four people next year for registration. With an early site plan in place they could create a traffic flow chart for set up and breakdown to be included in artist packet and distributed to Police. They should also include vendor badges in the packets. Artists complained of Iow sales and Iow attendance and Suggested that the time of booth closing be advertised and posted. At least 50 people showed up after 6 p.m., wanting to buy art but the booths were closed. They also suggested targeting the western subdivisions where residents were more affluent, specifically homeowner's associations. She felt signage needed to be put in prominent locations in the visual arts area for opening and closing times, with booth maps posted around the area showing booth location, artist name, and media. Ms. Weise had enjoyed working with the Committee and looked forward to the next year. Ms. Vlaun observed that the committees needed less individual and more group activity. She said that Ms. Weise had been a Godsend and that she had done a great job. She believed more people needed to be recruited for this committee and others and that was her goal for the following year. She also wanted her supervisor in Special Events to be her Co-Chair to split the responsibility of running the festival. Mr. Majors commented that the length of the meetings would have to be kept in check if they wanted to recruit members from other departments. He knew that today's meeting could probably not have been done faster but if they were going to ask other departments for a commitment of time, the total time commitment would have to be explained and taken into account. Mr. Majors had been talking to various department heads and they were not going to give up people to go to two and three hour meetings. Two or three meetings a year may have meetings of that length but not as a general rule. His point was that as much as they loved GALA, there were other things that were going on in the City. He asked that people come to the meetings prepared to speak and to do so as succinctly as possible, with Ms. Vlaun monitoring the situation to keep it on track. People suggested having a priority list with those who had to leave first having their items early on the agenda. Some meetings could just be Police and Support Services. Ms. Shea and Mr. Majors both spoke in favor of small meetings with no more 9 Meeting Minutes Post GALA Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida March 14, 2001 than 5 - 7 people. It was suggested that there be individual Committee meetings with communication between the groups by other means. Not every person on the entire GALA Committee would need to go to every meeting. Mr. Majors stated that he and Ms. Vlaun would be thinking of ways to re-shape the Committee. He asked that everyone take the comments in the spirit in which they were offered, not as personal criticism but as observations for improvement for the overall success of the event. They needed a commitment of funds from the City and a larger commitment from the Police Department in terms of traffic planning. At 4:15 p.m. the meeting was adjourned. Recording Secretary (3 tapes) 10 I1. II1. 20th Anniversary G.A.L.A. Meeting Wednesday, March 14, 2001,2:30pm Agenda Financial Report A. Committee Financial Reports B. Account number 691-5000-590-0492 (expenditures) C, Account number 691-0000-247-0492 (revenue) A, Committee Information Books New Business A. Committee Progress Reports 1. Kids Korner- Heather Spillane and Janice Phillips 2. Youth Art Exhibit- Carey Siciliano / Co-chair: Janice Phillips 3. Non-Profit Organizations- Frank Ireland 4. Public Relations/Marketing - Ginny Shea and Wayne Segal 5. Website- Melissa Vlaun and Ginny Shea 6. City Display- Nancy Whitney-Conway 7. Hospitality Tent- Teresa Zabik 8. Shuttling & Parking- Teresa Zabik & Melissa Vlaun 9. Security- Steve Lulkin 10. Physical Layout - Sharon Golden and Melissa Vlaun 11. Chamber of Commerce - Diana Johnson - business exhibitors - wine and beer garden - sponsors 12. Entertainment- Melissa Vlaun and Brent Rolle 13.Artist- Debbie Majors, Carisse Weise and Teresa Zabik 14. B.O.D.A.- Kristen Conti 15. Museum/Library- Arleen Dennison 16. Sponsors - Melissa Vlaun, Ginny Shea, Wayne Segal and Wally Majors 17. Food & Beverage Concessions - Bob Howell 18.Volunteers - Linda Coyne and Wendy Hollie Next Meeting: T.B.A. GALA 2001 Visual Arts Evaluation Debbie Majors, Co-chairperson Carisse Weise Co-chairperson Describe your responsibilities, what did you do. Did any other staff support your area of GALA (i.e. Parks, Finance) Co-chair responsibilities: Attend all committee & departmental assistance meetings. · Prepare application, obtain printing quotes. · Update mailing list for bulk mailing. · Prepare bulk mailing. · Work with Marketing Manager to prepare magazine ads for Sunshine Artist magazine. · Select screening committee, set up date, time, location, collect screens, slide projectors and carousels from the Library, Fire Dept. and Civic Center. Prepare slide carousels, score sheets and applications for screening. · Prepare applications for screening, deposit application fees. · Update judging rules and procedures. · Order ribbons for awards and judges. · Meet with local businesses/residents for morale and support. · Prepare volunteer request for chairperson. · Prepare artist letters of notification following screening. Deposit booth fees of accepted artists, notify those not accepted and return slides, fees, etc. to them. Send letter to accepted artists (include directions to check-in, list of hotels, etc. see artist correspondence file). · Select three judges with varied backgrounds. Send correspondence to confirm location, date and time. Include judging rules and procedures. · Prepare site plan & booth space layout, assign spaces. · Coordinate equipment and tent needs with Physical Layout Chair. · Coordinate signs and beautification needs with Gala Chair, sign shop staff and Parks Dept. representative. · Prepare press releases for general information and featured artist. · Prepare artist packets for check-in. Include judging rules, booth sitter sign, artist hospitality flyer with ticket, coupons, goodie bag, commemorative pin, evaluation survey, info on GALA in general. · Prepare check-in materials, signs, etc. · Be on site for early check-in Thursday afternoon (2 p.m. - 5 p.m.), early morning check-in Friday. (7 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.) throughout the day and at the artist reception if possible and coordinate hours for full coverage of site on Saturday (9:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.) and Sunday (9:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.). · Meet with judges and assistants to review judging process. · Be available to artists & committee throughout the show, on radio and cell phone. · Prepare evaluation report for committee. · Prepare thank you letters/memos. GALA 2001 Visual Artist Committee Post-Festival Evaluation Responses Attending Artists (90) 73 Returning Artists 32 First Time Attending 39 No Response 2 Attending Artists (90) 73 Returning Next Year Yes 44 No 16 Maybe 12 No Response 1 # of Comments Layout (Critique) 25 Narrative: Most of the artists did not like the location. They viewed the layout as being too spread out. One observation was that there were two separate shows that needed to be consolidated. The location did not allow for adequate parking for artists and the booth spacing did not allow for adequate storage. It was too noisy next to the railroad tracks and too dusty next to the parking lot. Artists want to be closer to the food, but not too close. Others do not want any vendors near the artists (food, buy/sell or otherwise). All artists need to be located on main thoroughfare. Side streets and off-shoots are detrimental to foot traffic and sales. Analysis: Very special attention need s to be given to the layout of next year's visual arts area. All issues and concerns of the responding artists are valid and should taken into consideration when setting site plan. Hospitality (Kudos) 39 Narrative: The artists greatly appreciated the special attention they received all weekend. Co-chairs and volunteers made frequent rounds daily to access artists needs. They especially liked the booth sitters, morning breakfast and the pizza party on Friday. They said the volunteers were all friendly and helpful and the committee people "scored a 10". An alysis: Overall the hospitality was a very positive experience for the artists throughout the entire weekend. We need to continue with all programs and processes implemented this year. One good suggestion was for a different kind of booth-sitting sign - more of a flag that can be seen from a distance. Organization (Mixed Comments) 28 Narrative: There were 8 comments out of 28 that felt the event was well organized. At least 9 comments were for shortening the event to a 2 day show. Some thought that having it on St. Patrick's Day created a conflict for festival attendees and that it should be changed to a different weekend. There were positive comments for the music at the east stage (one musician was thought to be too loud). The shuttle bus was very successful - artists nearer to 3rd street had tremendous foot traffic from the drop-off. They appreciated the sandbags for extra weight ( to compensate for not being able to bolt to the street). Some complained that the crafters allowed in show were too Iow end and we need to attract a better quality of artwork. Judges backgrounds should all have professional/academic credentials with varied media experience. Crafts need to have a separate judging from Art. Although they all loved the pins, the artists would still like to have name badges. Advertising Analysis: Continue use of shuttle bus next year with drop-off at far end of visual art area to force foot traffic to walk through entire section to get to other areas. Re-do next year's application to stress fine arts - separate judging catagories and booth sections for crafters and fine artists - perhaps add criteria to encourage "high end" participants. Having 3 persons at registration was very helpful, 4 was great. Try to schedule at least 2 volunteers next year for registration. Breakdown went well - can do better. With early site plan in place we can create a traffic flow chart for set up and breakdown to be included in artist packet and to be distributed to police. Review contents of artist registration package - add vendor badges - list contents on outside of registration package. (Critique) 8 Narrative: Artists complained of Iow sales and Iow attendance, possibly due to not enough advertising that the artists section closed at 6:00 p.m. There was evidence that buyers were showing up later in the evening when booths were closed because they thought the entire GALA stayed open to 9:00 p.m. There was also concern that not enough advertising was targeting the west subdivisions where there are more afluent residents with more buying power. Analysis: Coordinate next year with the committee in charge of advertising to help target certain areas that could be beneficial to artist sales. Ask that advertising be clear about closing time for artists. Post visible s~gnage in visual arts area for opening and closing times. Have several booth maps posted around the visual arts area showing booth location with artist name and media. 0 r~ o Z 2001 Visual Arts Evaluation Page 2 What was good/bad about GALA · Please see attached GALA 2001 Visual Artist Committee Post - Festival Evaluation. What changes would you make to your area of responsibility · Include sales tax amount on booth space fees charged to the artists. We lost potential revenue due to this. · Have two or three volunteers throughout the check-in process on Thursday and Friday. Approximately how many hours a week/day/month did you spend planning/working on GALA during the following time frames: a) GALA weekend (Thursday-Sunday) - Deb 17.5 total b) March 2001 - 40 total c) Jan-Feb 2001 -25 total d) Aug-Dec 2000 - 15 total e) Apr-July 2000 - 5 total a) GALA weekend (Thursday-Sunday) - Carisse 27..___~5 total b) March 2001 - 40 total c) Jan,Feb 2001 - 15 total d) Aug-Dec 2000 - 12 total e) Apr-July 2000 - 5 total What was the projected budget for your section of GALA? · Projected Revenue $15,810 · Projected Expenses $ 5,339 · Projected Net $10,471 What was the actual budget? · Actual Revenue $13,611.05 · Actual Expenses $4,999.53 · Actual Net $8,611.52 Why the difference? · Revenue was down due to location and sales tax. We could not fit as many artists into the art area due to the new construction of the sidewalks. Booths could not fit back to back in the street as they have in the past in the same location. We lost $7.64 per booth space due to sales tax.