Loading...
Minutes 03-11-21 Minutes of the City of Boynton Beach Arts Advisory Board Meeting Held on Thursday, March 11, 2021, at 6:30 — 7:30 p.m. Via Zoom Online Meeting Present: Courtland McQuire, Chair Kathryn Matos, Assistant City Manager Marcia Levine, Vice Chair Glenn Weiss, Public Art Manager Jehana Zell Nicole Blanks, Public Art Assistant Clovis Moodie Saddam Silverio Martin Klauber Robyn Lorenz Ace Tilton Ratcliff, Alternate (Arrived 6:59 p.m.) Absent: Ellen Jones, Alternate I. Call to Order Courtlandt McQuire, Board Chair, called the meeting order at 6:31 p.m. a. Roll Call Self-introductions were made. A quorum was present. b. Introduction of Ellen Jones (Exhibit A) New Alternate Board Member Ellen Jones, was not present. c. Agenda Approval or Amendments Motion Vice Chair Levine moved to approve the agenda. Mr. Klauber seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. II. Approval of Minutes Ms. Moody noted on page two, the second paragraph under Action Items the sentence should read, " . . . that are Black that are of African dissent descent." Meeting Minutes Arts Advisory Board Boynton Beach. Florida March 11, 2021 Motion: The January 11, 2021 meeting minutes are approved as written or amended. (Ex. A). Motion Mr. Silverio moved to approve the minutes as amended. Mr. Klauber seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Informational Items from the Board Mr. Klauber commented on his mural research. He was disappointed with the City of San Francisco mural site, but he found Muralarts.org, which belongs to Mural Arts Philadelphia. Mural Arts Philadelphia was started in 1996. They have 127 employees, and are responsible for over 4K murals. They will contact him. He advised some of their programs are astounding: they have an art education program, a public art engagement program, a porchlight program for people with behavioral health issues, and a program for incarcerated people. He invited the Art Advisory Board and the City Commission to review it. Their outreach is a possible blue print for the City. The program is located in the Department of Recreation. It is public art, it comes to the advisory council and there is a budget involved, so the City may want to have a fully established administrative department for it as they do in the Philadelphia Recreation Department. Chair McQuire thanked all who worked tirelessly on the show, it was a borderline flawless family event the community came out and embraced. The weather held out except for a short time late Saturday afternoon and thousands of people attended. He thanked all for their hard work and not giving up on doing something great for the City. Vice Chair Levine agreed and also thanked the Board members and volunteers. She went to Barb Lenz's Artisan Fair, which was great. She had a fantastic turnout and all the artists there did very well, which was a good sign. She thought they could move forward with their own art and juried events on Ocean Avenue and the amphitheater. She is enjoying going to botanical gardens and museum stores and was enjoying the afterglow from the Kinetic event. Mr. Silverio spoke with Jean Heavilin from Sister Cities, about the Sister Cities annual artist event. This was the 17th year, and each year they have three Board members serve as judges as they have awards and prizes. He asked if anyone wanted to volunteer. The judging will be held on April 9th. Mr. Silverio will send information to Mr. Weiss to distribute. Chair McQuire will consider volunteering. Mr. Weiss explained they are looking for assistance from the Board to encourage high school students to participate, not only from Boynton Beach, but from other Sister Cities around the world. The exhibition will be held online. 2 Meeting Minutes Arts Advisory Board Boynton Beach. Florida March 11, 2021 III. Announcements/Reports A. Taco Bell Installation and Landscaping Visuals of the mural at Taco Bell were viewed, which showed the landscaping obstructed the mural. After speaking with management, they will remove three palms and plant low-level landscaping. Taco Bell has had other tree and plant violations, so it may be a few weeks before the landscaping is corrected and it will work out. Chair McQuire commented there needs to be upper and lower lighting because the mural will not be visible from the street level and Mr. Weiss agreed to discuss it with them. Vice Chair Levine was unsure if they approved the mural's location on the building and thought there was no way it met the objective the Arts Advisory Board approved. A driver cannot even see the mural, and she hoped they could speak with Taco Bell to elevate the mural so people could see it. She asked if the artist was aware the art was hidden and it would be rectified. Mr. Weiss explained in the future, the Board needs to see a rendering of the image. Ms. Zell asked about the size of the mural. When she drove by, she thought it would be a lot bigger. Chair McQuire agreed it seemed smaller. The mural was originally supposed to be on the drive-through, but the traffic circulation pattern changed and they turned it toward Federal Highway which pleased the Board because it had better visibility. Chair McQuire recalled seeing a drawing, but it was difficult for the Board to get an idea of the grade of the site, the highway and the building. He was glad Taco Bell was interested in working with them. Mr. Weiss thought all would be fine. It was a lack of coordination on all's part and it is not unusual for this type of development. He worked as a city planner and as a planner for architects. It was an error and they are willing to fix it. The size of the piece is the size on the last set of drawings the Board saw. They will be more careful in the future. Ms. Moodie asked if they could request a picture of the art against the building. Mr. Weiss responded they could, the process is loose and they could tighten it up. Mr. Silverio commented he specifically asked at a meeting if the art would be the same size and the answer was yes. The piece does not fit the theme shown to them in the plan and he thought it did not match what was presented. Mr. Weiss will check and report back at the next meeting. Mr. Klauber explained the visual point of the building is not where the mural is located. The location of where it is now was probably lower than it should be. Mr. Klauber thought the mural would be visually prominent. Mr. Weiss advised in the future he can assess the circumstances and the scale. Chair McQuire thought in the future a member can walk the site. Mr. Klauber volunteered to help write regulations to tighten the rules. Taco Bell ison the northwest corner of Federal Highway and Southwest 23rd Avenue, across from the Marathon Gas Station. B. Boynton Beach Cultural & Arts Center Exhibitions 3 Meeting Minutes Arts Advisory Board Boynton Beach. Florida March 11, 2021 a. Nicole Galluccio Exhibit, Through April 24 Chair McQuire thought the exhibit at the Cultural Center was very successful and the exhibit went well with the Kinetic Event. Many saw her art, and she sold smaller pieces at her pop-up art event. She was excited to move to a new studio with Zero Empty Spaces and will hold an event at the end of March. Staff will forward information when it is received. Ms. Blanks explained the current exhibit will run to the end of April. (Mx. Ratcliff arrived at 6:59 p.m.) Mx. Ratcliff requested information on how the artists are obtained. Chair McQuire explained that is part of the purview of Mr. Weiss and the Board. Ms. Galluccio's and other artist's work came before the Board and her art was selected as an opening exhibit for 90 days. Mr. Weiss explained they should have a process for artist to apply and the Board should have a way to evaluate them. At the moment there is no process posted. b. Artist with Autism Exhibit, April 2021 Ms. Blanks explained this exhibit will run the entire month of April and so far, they received 10 submissions. She is working with Debby Majors, ADA Coordinator, on selecting the pieces. It will be in the flex room because they have a range of videos, paintings and drawings, but they may be exhibited on the second floor. They have a meeting with ADA at FAU in a few weeks. The submissions ended the first of March. Chair McQuire was aware of someone who may be interested and it was requested he forward them Mr. Weiss's information. c. Reuse and Recycle: Clothing from Leftovers. Sonya Sanchez Arias and others: May & June, 2021 Ms. Blanks announced the above, which she calls upcycling. She explained they have Sonya Sanchez Arias dresses in storage. At Nicole Galluccio's event, she met artist Aidana Baldassarre who makes fashion from rubber tubes and plastic. They will try to have Eco Art exhibit in the Cultural Center when Ms. Galluccio's exhibit ends. If the members know of any artists, they should let Mr. Weiss and Ms. Blanks know. Ms. Blanks will send a link showing the artists' work to the members and noted it is a collaborative effort. Vice Chair Levine noted Ms. Arias uses the word upcycled and she suggested changing the word "leftover." She commented there was an exhibit by Aidana Baldassarre at the Cornell Museum and advised her work is great. She will try to find other artists. IV. Discussion 4 Meeting Minutes Arts Advisory Board Boynton Beach. Florida March 11, 2021 A. Report and Evaluation / Lessons Learned from 2021 Kinetic Sculpture Exhibit Opening Weekend (Exhibit B) Mr. Weiss had asked volunteers for feedback about the event. He sent a modified questionnaire to the artists, those who were invited to the premiere event, and one to City employees, which have not been answered well. In general, the quality of the event was rated highly and the promotions were not as high. At the next meeting, Mr. Weiss will have a more formal report, such as how many people saw the promotion, how did it work on social media and the newspapers so they have a good understanding of where their successes and failures were as it pertained to promotions. He noted friends and relatives were a number one focus regarding how they heard about it. Mr. Weiss heard many people at the event say they heard about it from a friend or family member. Chair McQuire also handed out flyers. They had good TV coverage although they did not receive any feedback from attendees about TV exposure. Ms. Zell asked if word of mouth as an advertising campaign was a positive thing. She thought the advertising campaign was a failure and further commented if you pay someone to do a marketing campaign they should bring people in. Mr. Weiss thought the idea of getting friends and relatives to talk about an event and encouraging people to come was a key part of Delray's marketing strategy. He sees it as something to focus more on and to send social media to friends. The idea it happened naturally reinforced it to him. Chair McQuire noted there were only 11 responses to that question. Ms. Zell commented the event never came across her Facebook page. Chair McQuire was disappointed how it was handled. They hired a company to handle it and at the last minute the company gave it to another company to handle. He does social media for a living and he questioned them and was told they did not have approval to spend. Chair McQuire explained they did have approval. This was a week before the show and promotions normally begin two to three weeks before the event. The social media launch was late or delayed or it may not have even ran. He agreed with Ms. Zell. Mx. Ratcliff agreed they did not see much except for Vice Chair Levine's post on Boynton Beach Raw. Either the Arts Advisory Board needs to get moving earlier or it is not the right forum. Chair McQuire worked pre, during and post the event and was impressed with the organization from Mr. Weiss and his team and the way it was laid out for traffic flow. The plan was very specific regarding the count due to COVID, the separation needed and was very well organized and structured. The thought next time was they could have more volunteers, but it was very well structured and organized. They sold five or six pieces, and the City will receive a commission on the sales. At the last kinetic art show, they did not sell any. One objective of the event is to sell working artists' art. There was news coverage, but TV ratings were zero there. Several of his friends saw coverage of the event on WPTV. He thought it went off professionally. The information 5 Meeting Minutes Arts Advisory Board Boynton Beach. Florida March 11, 2021 booth, the First Aid Kit was great and Nancy Greenblatt, was the number one star volunteer. There were compliments about the amphitheater show as well. Chair McQuire asked, because there were last minute drop outs due to COVID, if they could add kinetic cultural pieces to the Avenue to fill it out. A kinetic artist who attended the show wanted to display. Mr. Weiss noted there are no available pads. Chair McQuire commented the spinner pieces that were curated had no backing. He thought some of the pieces could be doubled up on the oversized pads and they could bring in other pieces. There are pads in front of the amphitheater and down the Avenue and reiterated it felt like the art was not filling out the area. Mx. Ratcliff thought having kinetic on the Avenue was appropriate. Ms. Moodie went to the Avenue on the Friday and felt the need to see more art on the Avenue than what was there. She will be giving some tours and having more art might would make it more worthwhile. Mr. Weiss explained the Avenue has 20 pads, and most have 10 pads. Ms. Zell felt the eastern part of the Avenue was way too sporadic. She gave tours in the golf cart for attendees that were not that mobile, and even in the golf cart, the distance was covered quickly and she was trying to make conversation between the pieces. If they want to continue to include the Avenue of the Art, they should beef up the quantity of work on the Avenue in that distance. Mr. Klauber thought they should have an overall diagram, with the Avenue of the Arts, the Library and City Hall and figure out ahead of time where the pieces should go and the type of concentration they think is appropriate so they can plan density. Mr. Weiss explained in a normal year, all those decisions would be made in October or November for a March event. Ms. Zell recognized Mr. Weiss was thrown in at the last minutes and she thanked him for his efforts. If he was not brought on, the event would not have been as good. Mr. Weiss explained he was on the job nine weeks and he agreed about the density. It will require more pads and discussions with the property owners to add additional art. Chair McQuire noted there is a centralized pad, one by the Historic Magnuson House and one across from the co-op apartments where they previously had 15 to 16 feet tall pieces. The pieces with the poles are something one really does not see. He thought some of the beautiful sculptures brought in at the end could go on one of the larger pads and put four on one pad with backing on them and then open up two pads in the middle of the Avenue and that would be enough. He thought they were very close to having the Avenue full. Two large-scale pieces on the Avenue would be game changers and he did not know if they could do something over the next 60 days. Mr. Weiss explained it is very difficult to get artists to bring in work at no cost. Chair McQuire noted it is a new year and they have a new budget. Paying artists to ship the pieces offsets the cost. Chair McQuire suggested it be put on the agenda as Future Business. Ms. Moodie explained the survey showed on the various items, the weaker ones were the children's art event, the walking tours were not very strong and the outdoor art was 6 Meeting Minutes Arts Advisory Board Boynton Beach. Florida March 11, 2021 less strong than some of the other indoor art. Mr. Weiss noted the indoor art was less kinetic, but very high quality, which he thought should be discussed in the future. Mx. Ratcliff asked how many people visited, and who was part of the audience. They counted more than 3K people that went through the indoor exhibit. They did not have demographics. Mx. Ratcliff thought it may be helpful in the future. Chair McQuire thought Google Analytics may help and analytics from social media would provide reporting and audience information. Ms. Zell noted a question about the food truck paying for their spaces. She was curious how it came about and the commented Boardwalk Ice Cream were not present. Mr. Weiss explained the people from Boardwalk got COVID. They did not charge for the food trucks and they have not spoken about the economics. Ms. Zell thought it is difficult to charge a food truck when you do not know how many people will show. Ms. Zell thought they could pay a commission based on a portion of the proceeds. This event was the first time they had food trucks and they were concerned if they would have them at all. Chair McQuire noted there was a question about having a kinetic event annually, and he liked the idea. It has become a signature event. The community participates and the turnout was better for this one than those in the past as he had to turn people away. Mr. Weiss noted every event in Florida is an annual event. He listed Art Basel, the Coconut Grove Art Festival and the Delray Affair. Vice Chair Levine thought it was a larger event. Delray Affair is a certain type of event. This is a large event and every two years is what makes it special. She did not know if City residents distinguish between a kinetic event and a juried art show as they just like to go out. If they had a juried or non-juried art show, she would be curious to see how many people would go the Boynton Mall and join the Boynton Affair. She would like to put juried art shows and others on their future agenda, keep kinetic every two years and put other events on the calendar annually. Ms. Zell mentioned in a typical year, they are inundated with juried art festivals and there are a billion of them in Florida. She liked incorporating that into kinetic and she thought it should be solely about kinetic works of art. The major thing is everything is for sale and is mostly economically unreachable for the average person. She would like to see small kinetic art offered that is more economically viable. They could have a section of the event with the kinetic as the main feature. Ms. Lorenz did not think they had enough actual kinetic pieces to do this every year. Chair McQuire noted the off year of kinetics can have anything goes art. Mx. Ratcliff thought it was a cool concept and liked it every other year with in between art each year. Mx. Ratcliff also liked the idea that there would be some type of event every year.. 7 Meeting Minutes Arts Advisory Board Boynton Beach. Florida March 11, 2021 Vice Chair Levine commented in the off year and with Covid and Ms. Coles-Dobay, they were behind. She has been contacting artists like Amos Robinson who was unable to participate, but there are a lot of large and small-scale kinetic artists around the country that could be getting ready for the next event. With a team effort and with Mr. Weiss and Ms. Blank's lead, they could make a concerted effort to secure a lot of kinetic art because there are a lot of kinetic artists. When she worked at the Cornell, they had the opportunity with the amphitheater, which Boynton Beach now has, they had Beatles on the Beach. While it was not art, it was an event held in conjunction with the Museum for an art show and they mounted a show with Rock Star Art including art by Ringo Starr. With the City's marketing team, they have the ability to do a lot more creative events with Diane Valentini and the Cultural Art Center. Mr. Klauber thought flexibility was key. They can vary and have kinetic as a standard. The concentration on kinetic has to be every year. Mr. Weiss explained he is used to having a five-year plan and a one-year plan they can prioritize it each year. It would have to be done at a separate time. Mr. Weiss has written a lot of Art Master Plans. Mx. Ratcliff, wanted to have a presentation and discussion about diversity with a process. She asked if they could discuss it at the next meeting and learned they could. V. Action Items A. SouthArt Cross-Sector Impact Grants Motion: The Arts Advisory Board approves the potential expenditure of up to $20,000 in matching dollars for a SouthArt Cross-Sector Impact Grants (Exhibit D.) Chair McQuire read the item. Mr. Weiss explained this is an unusual circumstance. The person in charge of the grant contacted him asking if Boynton Beach would apply because he worked with her in the past. Federal government agencies set up by the National Endowments have grants for each regional area and SouthArt is one of them. Those organizations also raise funds. The funds for this grant came from the Mellon Foundation. It is a small grant up to $1 OK requiring a two to one match and if interested, they would need a letter of interest. The grants are intended to be inclusive with community-based organizations to engage in dialogue about diversity and inclusivity and the issues addressing those communities. The Board would need to find at least one grass roots organization to partner with. The result would be unknown as they would facilitate that organization to speak out about how they felt. In Boynton Beach the group would likely be African Americans, Caribbean and Central Americans. If they receive the grant, they have 18 months to use the funds and make something happen. If the Board is interested in pursuing the grant, Mr. Weiss would find partner organizations. The grant was announced two weeks ago and he needed a general letter that Boynton Beach would like to participate. If they said yes, the Board would 8 Meeting Minutes Arts Advisory Board Boynton Beach. Florida March 11, 2021 have two months to put together a proposal to implement the plan within the next 18 months. Boynton Beach would be in control of the money because they will receive it. It was noted Mr. Weiss has had cross cultural conversations for many years. Motion Ms. Zell made a motion to move forward with the grant. Vice Chair Levine seconded the motion. Ms. Moodie supported the grant and embraced what Mr. Weiss said noting that with what is currently occurring, there is a need for dialogue. If art is the foundation, it will help move into diversity. She supported it and wants to move forward. Vote The motion passed unanimously. VI. Business: Action Items (None) VII. New Business: None VIII. Public Comments IX. Future Agenda Items Chair commented these items were requested to be put on the agenda. A. Future Mural Program Discussion B. Diversity in Public Art Program C. Future Art Events: Sailfish, Riverwalk, Tour of Town Center Artworks. D. Creation of: Boynton Beach Art Walk E. City of Boynton Beach Mobile Application (MyBB) F. Updating and Marketing of the Map of Public Art G. Zoom events: Talks, tours, etc. Mr. Weiss advised they will add a selection process for the Cultural Art Center. Vice Chair Levine wanted to add a discussion of juried art shows and possible artisan events, fairs in general on the Avenue and the Amphitheater. Ms. Moodie would like to see strategic planning for the arts in Boynton'as a separate item. 9 Meeting Minutes Arts Advisory Board Boynton Beach. Florida March 11, 2021 X. Adjournment Motion Ms. Lorenz moved to adjourn. Mr. Klauber seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:56 p.m. Catherine Cherry .� Minutes Specialist 10