Lawrence Arts Commission

Minutes of April 9, 2008

Commission Room, City Hall

Present: John Reeves, Chair; Leslie vonHolten, Vice-Chair; Matthew Herren, Secretary;

Donna Griffin; Elizabeth Hatchett; Lora Jost; Amy Kelly; Tom King; David Loewenstein; Evie Rapport, Immediate Past Chair

Absent: Jane Pennington

City Staff: Michael Tubbs, Staff Liaison

Public: Andy Stowers and Jerry Salisbury of EMU Theatre; Andrea Wertzberger. 

A.  The meeting was called to order at 7:06 PM in the City Commission Room at City Hall by the Chair, John Reeves.

B.  The Minutes of March 12, 2008 meeting were approved, with the following spelling corrections: Agenda Items, 2.  G, Roundtable: ‘reported’; G.  Other Business 3: ‘501(c)3'.  Also, in F. Commissioner Items, King, the website url was missing. 

C.  New Business

            1.  Andy Stowers and Jerry Salisbury of EMU Theatre gave a brief description of their company, its history and current projects.  They requested advice on how to obtain a permanent and appropriate carpentry, rehearsal and performance space.  Commissioner Hatchett advised them to approach Douglas County Community Foundation and perhaps private donors. 

            2.  Andrea Wertzberger presented the website in its current, unfinished but very impressive state to the acclaim of all.  She encouraged all Commissioners to look closely at it and offer corrections where needed. 

At 7:40 PM a five minute break was taken for food provided by the City. 

            3. At 7:45 PM meeting was re-called to order and Community Grant applications review commenced.   It was announced by the City Liaison that approximately $6,700 was available for awards.  Commissioners Hatchett and vonHolten read the titles of each application and gave a summary description of each.   After much consideration by all, Commissioner Rapport moved to reject applications 7 (Women of Color Quilters Network) and 8 (Voices of the Homeless) as they did not meet grant guidelines. Motion Seconded by Commissioner Griffin.  Vote was 4 yea, 6 nay, and applications remained in the running.   At 8:55 PM Chair Reeves redirected the meeting to Regular Agenda Items in order for Liaison Tubbs to tally scores for grants. 

C.  Regular Agenda Items

1.  Announcements from the Chair

            A.  Applications for Outside Agency Funding were distributed.  Chair Reeves asked that all sub-committees formulate statements of their strengths and weaknesses and potential changes and submit them to him by May 2, 2008, for distribution to all by May 14, 2008, and discussion at June 11, 2008 Arts Commission Meeting. 

2. Sub-committee Reports

            A.  ODSE: Commissioner Griffin distributed Minutes of the March 26, 2008 ODSE Meeting, and a presentation of the chosen works and their locations was given by Mr. Tubbs.  It was noted that the future of Hedgehog House will be determined at the April 17, 2008 meeting of the Historic Resources Committee.  

            B.  Phoenix Awards: Commissioner Loewenstein reported that the Phoenix Committee will meet in the near future to choose a designer of this year’s award.  The date for the Award Ceremony is November 2, 2008 at Lawrence Arts Center. 

            D.  Fundraising and Project Development: Commissioner Jost reported that the meeting scheduled for April 13 would likely change due to the events surrounding KU’s NCAA Basketball triumph.  The meeting of the ad-hoc committee on Accessability is scheduled for May 5, at Lawrence Arts Center. 

            F.  Roundtable: Commissioner Hatchett announced several upcoming events and distributed literature about them.  April is National Poetry Month.  Arts Commission work was encouraged and appreciated by Roundtable attendees.  Commissioner King noted that Terry Rombeck will advertise us and our work in The Journal World and a ‘Meet the Commissioners’ event was again proposed and received much interest from all. 

C. New Business (continued)

            3. Grants: A list in order of descending total votes was produced by Mr. Tubbs.  Discussion ensued about amount of each award.  Commissioner King moved to approve the top 7 applications, which would total $6,733.70.  Commissioner vonHolten seconded this and it was passed unanimously.  Mr. Tubbs stated that he would inform awardees by phone in the following days.   In May, letters and checks will be distributed.  Awardees will be listed publicly on the Arts Commission website, and they will be invited to an upcoming City meeting.  Attachment of awardees and amounts granted. 

D. Unfinished Business

            1.  City Manager’s office will communicate figures regarding Percent for Art to Arts Commission via Mr. Tubbs. 

            2.  A letter  from Cynthia Boecker, Asst. City Manager, to Thomas Fritzel regarding Arts Commission’s involvement with Oread Hotel Project and offering to facilitate communication between Fritzel and Commission was distributed. 

            3.  LAC Resolutions Letter has been received by City and will be reviewed in the near future. 

            4.  Draft Policy Manual changes will be discussed at May 14 Arts Commission Meeting, with Toni Wheeler present to advise. 

Meeting adjourned at 9:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Matthew Herren, Secretary