Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
CC:	Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager
Date:	June 11, 2010
RE:	Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission Recommendation to Utilize $10,000 in 2009 Carryover Funds to Support the Establishment of the Downtown Lawrence Arts District and a “Final Fridays” Art Program

Please place the following item on the consent agenda for the June 22, 2010 City Commission meeting agenda:

Consider approval of the request from the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission to allocate $10,000 in 2009 Cultural Arts Commission carryover funds in the Special Recreation Fund to be used for the purpose of establishing a Downtown Lawrence Arts District and a “Final Fridays” art event in downtown, with Downtown Lawrence, Inc. administering the project. 

Background:

In 2009, as a result of uncertainty in the early part of the year about possible impacts to alcohol tax funding from the State of Kansas, the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission decided to suspend the 2009 Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition and instead held the sculptures over for an additional year.   This enabled slightly over $10,000 to be carried over from 2009 into the 2010 year, once the alcohol tax issue was resolved so that City funding was not impacted. 

Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission Recommendation:

Over the past 10 months, the Cultural Arts Commission has had a number of discussions about possible ways to utilize the carryover funds, including avenues for using these funds as seed money for larger programs with a significant community impact.  Most recently, it was proposed that the funds be utilized to match a $10,000 grant application to the National Endowment for the Arts which proposed the establishment of a Downtown Lawrence Arts District and other related activities.  Unfortunately, the City was not successful with that grant application. 

At its meeting on June 9, 2010, the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission received a proposal from Downtown Lawrence, Inc., with the support of the Lawrence Arts Center, the Convention & Visitors’ Bureau, and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, to establish the Downtown Lawrence Arts District and a “Final Fridays” monthly art event to be held in downtown.  The proposal calls for $10,000 of the carryover funds be utilized to begin this effort.  The Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission voted in support of this Downtown Lawrence Arts District proposal.  It then voted to grant the carryover funds to Downtown Lawrence, Inc. to serve as the administrator of the funds and the project.  The first “Final Fridays” event is slated for the end of August 2010. 

Requested Action:

Approve the request from the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission to allocate $10,000 in Cultural Arts Commission 2009 carryover funds in the Special Recreation Fund to be used for the purpose of establishing a Downtown Lawrence Arts District and a “Final Fridays” art event in downtown, with Downtown Lawrence, Inc. administering the project.