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Minutes 10-03-05 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE ARTS COMMISSION BOARD HELD AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM, 129 EAST OCEAN AVENUE, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2005 AT 6:30 P.M. Present: Debby Coles-Dobay, Chairperson Richard W. Beau Lieu, Vice Chair Angela Budano Cheryl Arflin Suzette Urs Deborah Nesbit, Alternate Arleen Dennison, Board Liaison Absent: Barbara Lentz Anita Remer I. Call to Order/Announcements Chair Coles-Dobay called the meeting to order at 6:37 p.m. The board waited for James Barretta, the liaison between the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Arts Commission and when he did not appear, the meeting started. Chair Coles-Dobay encouraged all those present to recruit a member for the opening on the board. Ms. Dennison distributed a book entitled Animaus Amusant given to her by former board member Rick Brightfjeld. The book was much appreciated. II. Public Art Ordinance/Development Projects Chair Coles-Dobay said that the public art ordinance was scheduled for second reading at the upcoming City Commission meeting on October 5. A lot of development projects are "in the pipeline," and the ordinance states that any project that was going to get a permit would be eligible. There is big gap between "in the pipeline" and getting a permit. If an application has already been submitted, the developer is exempt from the ordinance, once it is passed. Ms. Dennison confirmed that all developers who had already submitted applications would not be subject to the impact fee. All the projects on the list in the members' possession would be exempt since they had already made application. There was some feeling of disappointment at this situation. Ms. Urs commented that the ordinance pertained to projects over $250K and she felt the Arts Commission was missing a lot of potential revenue and impact from smaller construction/renovation projects in the City. She felt there were smaller projects that were in places where there should be public art but the Arts Commission would not see them since they were under the statutory guideline of $250K. Ms. Dennison commented that when the ordinance was under discussion, a meeting was held with the Chamber of Commerce. The result of that discussion was that the small businessperson should not be funding a citywide program. Ms. Urs said they would be funding their own program. Ms. Dennison responded that, hopefully, the Arts Commission would be able to educate everyone to do that. Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida October 3, 2005 Chair Coles-Dobay asked Ms. Urs to bring some clear-cut examples to the board for consideration. Ms. Budano summed up the feelings of the board by saying that a lot of work had gone into the preparation of the ordinance. Due to circumstances beyond the board's control, there was a delay in getting the ordinance to the City Commission for approval. The consequences of that delay were unfortunate in that Boynton Beach could have "captured" several major projects that were now lost due to the timing issue. There was a period of time dating from the board's final presentation to the Commission and the issuance of the ordinance when some of the projects had not made application to the City and could have been included in the Art in Public Places program. This brought into question whether or not the Arts Commission would be able to meet its previously stated goals. The board looked forward to working with Jim Barretta, an architect and member of the Community P.edevelopment Agency. They thought his insight into what was going on in the City would be very useful to the Arts Commission. Chair Coles-Dobay thought it would still be possible to approach the developers to facilitate art in their projects, even though they would not be obligated to pay the impact fee. The board could help the Promenade developer to do a call to artists, for example, if they did not already have that covered. The board could also help developers visualize the public art they might have in mind and see how their art projects would fit in with Boynton Beach and the Public Arts program as a whole. Also, the board had been asked to put together a brochure about what the Arts Commission can do and what it can offer to project planners and developers and this would help facilitate the program as well. III. Brochure/Presentation Chair Coles-Dobay distributed some pages from the Arts Commission's Guidelines and Recommendations document for consideration by the board. With a little work, this could be made into a presentation and given to people like Mr. Barretta and Doug Hutchinson. Even though the board did not have a graphics or marketing budget, they could use a similar format and put together a presentation that would serve the different project managers and developers and let them know what the board could do for them. This would still be true if the developer was going to do his own art. It had to be done sooner than the next meeting so Chair Coles- Dobay asked the members to work on the "draft", add, delete, or modify it to their liking and return their comments to Ms. Dennison as soon as possible. The comments would then be considered and the document would be edited down to a one or two page document. Ms. Dennison will also email the source document to everyone. Everyone wanted to see "Art the Turtle" on the brochure/presentation. Vice Chair Beau Lieu recommended having another brochure slanted towards the developers who had already applied and would not be paying the impact fee, inviting them to partner with the City in terms of art in public places. Ms. Dennison explained there was a lot to be done, by people who already had full-time jobs. Her focus at present was to secure the services of the Public Art Administrator. She agreed that two items were necessary: 1) a PowerPoint presentation to go out and speak to the developers on the list (of active projects), and 2) the marketing brochure. 2 Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida October 3, 2005 IV. Program Planning A. Public Art Administrator Position Ms. Dennison said the budget for fiscal 2005-06 had been approved. The job description was going through final approval. The salary is still being evaluated in light of the City's current survey. The City is comparing how its salaries compare to those paid in neighboring cities. It appeared that the position would be located in the City Manager's office area. The board reviewed the interview questions. Ms. Dennison asked the board members to put checks next to the questions they felt were imperative to ask. The questions should help draw out the information they were looking for. She wanted to get this out the day after this meeting. The next step will be posting and advertising the job. Some felt it was necessary for the art administrator to have an all-inclusive knowledge of different types of art, methods, and processes. Others felt this could be learned and that it was more important to be personable, enthusiastic, organized and articulate. Some other attributes desired were: . Ability to write a budget . Ability to write a brochure . Ability to speak in public . Ability to run a meeting . Local contacts a distinct advantage . Experienced in writing brochures, presentations . Experienced in managing and coordinating complex projects . Vision to see what "could be" and the determination to do what it takes to get to the realization of that vision . Able to guide event planning . High energy . Charismatic Ms. Budano felt it would be necessary to prepare a matrix listing the desired attributes, weighted by relative importance. V. Minutes of September 7, 2005 On page 4 of the minutes, Ms. Arflin was given credit for making a donation and it should be changed to Ms. Lentz. No other changes were made to the minutes. VI. Announcements Art Show for Palm Beach County Artists. Community HiQh School. JOQ Road Vice Chair Beau Lieu announced that Gloria Waldman was going to have an art show for Palm Beach County artists at the Community High School on Jog Road on January 7 and 8, 2006. There will be 100-110 artists participating. Ms. Arflin had spoken with her and gotten the impression she wanted to be included on the Arts Commission's Call to Artists/Communications list. Vice Chair Beau Lieu thought she was also looking for sponsors and for help getting the word out about the event. 3 Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida October 3, 2005 Downtown & Small Towns Forum Ms. Dennison and Chair Coles-Dobay are registered to attend a Downtown and Small Towns Forum on October 13-15 about the preservation and conservation of cultural assets. This Forum is working through Visit Florida on a national marketing campaign to bring culture to South Florida. They would be visiting Delray Beach and West Palm Beach also. One of the things the board would be working on in the near future was a budget and a list of organizations it would be joining. One of the foremost would be, of course, the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. Picturing Florida Community Partners Proqram Chair Coles-Dobay distributed a flier about a program Florida Atlantic University was bringing to South Florida called Picturing Florida Community Partners, where two artists would create work in and on the walls of the Schmidt Center Gallery in January/February 2006. This project involves meetings/presentations to community groups in Palm Beach County. The works they produce for FAU will be designed to reflect perceptions and experiences of life in Florida provided by community interactions. There will be a lecture and discussion on Thursday, October 20, 9:30 - 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 - 3:30 p.m. at the Boynton Beach Senior Center. The City of Boynton Beach Arts Commission and Boynton Beach Recreation and Parks are listed as community partners. The flier has also been sent to City Hall in the Mall, the Art Center, the Library, Schoolhouse Museum, the Hester and Wilson Centers, the Senior Center, Woman's Club, and the Historical Society. Chair Coles-Dobay encouraged the members to advertise this verbally to their friends and contacts. VII. Subcommittee Reports A) Raiders of the Lost Art Subcommittee - Suzette Urs & Deborah Nesbit The subcommittee members discussed the amount and type of donations they had received to date as well as their solicitation results and experiences. It was felt that in the future, a letter should precede them to the places targeted for donations. Badges or business cards were also suggested. It was thought it might be better for each of the board members to visit four specific potential donors instead of having just two people do the soliciting. Chair Coles-Dobay offered to prepare and print a flier that would acquaint the participants with the mission and activities of the Arts Commission. Ms. Urs said that this event was an opportunity for the Arts Commission to sell itself and she asked for representation from the board members for the day of the event, October 8, 2005 and for the reception on October 15. Several people offered to be present. A subcommittee meeting will be held at the Museum on October 10, 2005 at 1:00 p.m. Ms. Dennison will see that the City Clerk's office notices the meeting. The board expressed its thanks for the hard work of Ms. Urs and Ms. Nesbit on this project. B) Carolyn Sims Memorial Proiect Ms. Dennison shared a letter addressed to Frank Varga and copied to the City in which Mr. Varga was informed that his project was not selected for funding this year. The Palm Beach County Cultural Council reviewed various projects and although they were impressed with the quality of 4 Meeting Minutes Arts Commission Boynton Beach, Florida October 3, 2005 Mr. Varga's work, his project was not selected to receive a grant. Since the Wilson Center renaming and renovation will proceed regardless, Mr. Majors will be invited to the next meeting to discuss funding alternatives. Ms. Dennison felt that although the rejection was disappointing, it still served the purpose of announcing that Boynton Beach and the Arts Commission were now "players./1 Ms. Arflin advanced a suggestion from a grants workshop to have a package of information ready to go on short notice. The package would have the basic information requested for all grants such as: financials, history of organization, and so forth. She felt it would help if the Arts Commission had such a package. Ms. Dennison commented that the City had a very aggressive grants program and recommended that interested parties contact Ms. Debbie Majors. Ms. Arflin volunteered to do so. Ms. Dennison asked to invite Frank Varga to the next Arts Commission meeting and the board concurred. Vice Chair Beau Lieu felt the project would still work but the timetable and method of funding might change a little. VIII. Adjournment Since there was no further business before the board, the meeting duly adjourned at 8: 16 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ....--, / /7/,.. ~C41-~lJ Susan Collins Recording Secretary (100705) 5