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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Arts Commission - 10/20/2004Approved 11/17/04 Boulder Arts Commission October 20, 2004 Boulder Public Library Members Present: Patti Bruck Ann Moss Michael Smith Ginger Zukowski Member Absent: John Decker The meeting was called to order at 5:45 p.m. Also Present• Liz Abbott Donna Gar.tenmann Lawrence Kampf Minutes of the September 15, 2004 were approved as received. Budget update: The General Fund Arts budget did not receive any additional cuts for 2005. Abbott reported that the Cultural Programming manager position for the Library will be eliminated at the end of 2005. The remainder of the cultural programming staff will stay in place. The arts piece of Library programming will fall under the Arts Liaison. This will allow 2005 to be a year of learning and transition. 2005 Meeting Schedule: The proposed meeting schedule for grant deadlines was approved as submitted. Gartenmann will try to reschedule the June planning meeting to June 8. Boulder County Arts Alliance Susiness of the Arts Workshop Proposal: BCAA submitted a proposal to continue the Business of the Arts Workshops. This is a highly collaborative proposal and a real need in the arts community. Smith moved to approve the $5000.00 requested by BCAA for the Business of Arts workshops. Zukowski seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Blue Moon Dance Final report: The final 20% for the Blue Moon Dance major grant was unanimously approved. Boulder International Fringe Festival: Per the BAC's request at the September meeting, Lawrence Kampf presented an update on the Fringe Festival. The progress to date: • A festival timeline and articles of incorporation for the International Fringe Festival have been drafted. • Potential corporate sponsors have been identified and the "ask" letters have been written. • Letters of recommendation have been received from arts organizations and businesses. • A private donor has come forward. Commission Expectations: • Monthly updates. The Commission would like to continue to help in any way it can. • Present a spreadsheet of organizations and amounts solicited, what funds have ,been received, what funds are pending, additional potential donors. The BAC hopes the $5,000.00 is looked upon as a gift to motivate and keep the project moving forward. Kampf: The structure is being put in place for the basic Fringe Festival. Artists will pay $350.00-$400.00 for registration fees to participate, but will then take the gate at the door. The benefit for business collaboration is exposure and selling goods. If the dollars are not forthcoming, a final decision to postpone unti12006 will come by the artist submission deadline of February 15. Commission Comments: • If you water down the Fringe concept too much, you wouldn't know if it was a success. • Bruck: The funding issue is of great concern. Major funding sources may not open up in Boulder. Response from Kampf: All the work to date has been gratis. The level of interest from the community now needs to be matched with financial assistance. • Zukowski: I have confidence it will work well with the momentum the project has going. • Bruck: I have so many questions beyond the articles of incorporation. There is no money yet. The group needs to do the due diligence that makes it work. Other arts organizations also need money. It would be disingenuous of the BAC to fund that much in the beginning stages. Friendly means asking the hard questions and challenges. The BAC is the group you can pitch things to and find out what's working and what, parts are weak. You can't be weak with corporations. • Moss: Would like to consider whether the BAC can contribute additional funding to help kick this off with each monthly update.. • Zukowski: If the project is worthy of tax payer money, the BAC needs to know it is benefiting the arts community. This could be another premiere arts event such as Open Studios or the Boulder Creek Fest. I am interested in the event and how it will benefit Boulder, the community that attends, and the local artists place in the festival. I don't want to shut out the local artists. Response from Kampf: Local artists will have the benefit of an education process. The Fringe will be encouraging local artists. Kampf ~s anticipating that between the quality of the local arts and the education process, it will be a little harder for visiting artists to compete. This is about Boulder. Continued engagement will be crucial in the success. Smith made a motion to go forward with the promise of $5000 because you have returned with the information the Commission requested. Moss seconded with the motion passing unanimously. Arts in Education Grants Blue Moon Dance Company: The Dance Company will work with Manhattan Middle School of Arts to create a participatory program using dance to reflect cultural change, history and ethnic diversity. Blue Moon was unanimously awarded $3,000.00. Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art: BMoCA requested $3,000.00 to implement a visual literacy program that will include docent tours, artist-specific talks, education guides and a visitor library. The proposal failed for lack of a motion. Comments: The grant was not very clear and seemed passive as far as letting the community know about educational opportunities. Boulder Public Library: BPL Teen Arts Education is a pilot program that will educate students from Boulder Preparatory High School in the logistics of creating work for and installing an exhibit in the Library Teen Space. Students will also attend workshops that teach portfolio development, writing artist statements, public relations skills and raise awareness among teens of arts resources within the community. The project was unanimously awarded $2,810.00. Jack Collom: "Creative Writing Explosions" are hands-on writing workshops focused on three Boulder Valley Schools. The final project will be a published book of poetry. Collom was unanimously awarded $3,000.00. Dairy Center for the Arts: Art Happens involves creative workshops with the Boulder Valley School District. The programs are specifically designed to help children acquire self-confidence in a safe and supportive environment while developing the intellectual skills needed to pursue positive, productive futures. Failed for lack of a motion. Comments: Non-violent conflict resolution - is it art? None of the support letters refer to this year's Art Happens. e-town: etown, in collaboration with Thorne Ecological Institute and the Watershed School, has developed eteens live. The shows will be produced by and for teenagers and will. allow students to learn how to create their own live show and to take this show "on the road" to schools in Boulder. The performance will be modeled after an e-town show. Failed for lack of a motion. Comments: Did not feel the proposal was fully thought out. The Commission would consider the proposal if it came back to the BAC after a measured success of the Watershed school. How~will these kids better their arts skills by this project? There were no letters of support from the hosting schools. Isolde Hathaway: "My Own Story" is an arts and literacy based program, designed for . children who are first language Spanish speakers, as well as children who speak English as a first language. Children are encouraged to find their own story from within, and create a character from their own story. Doll making techniques will be taught. The grant did not include letters of intent from participating schools. The request failed for lack of a motion. Helander Dance Company: Project Live is a performance that explores and exhibits the process of truly living, not merely existing, to touch lives that would otherwise not experience the art of living. Failed for lack of a motion. Comments: The proposal feels like entertainment and performance, not education. The project does not directly involve enough students. The proposal has a very large budget for what is being presented. Imagination Makers: Imagination Makers requested funds for the rehearsal and production costs of two plays and to subsidize fees for performances of the plays at Boulder Valley elementary schools and the Boulder Public Library. Failed for lack of a motion. Comments: The Commission felt the proposal is an offshoot of Imagination Maker's production season. It is a performance grant. Suggest that part of the production could include activities with the kids rather than teachers and to involve the, teachers and teacher's guides in the production. What is the education component? Lemon Sponge Cake: The Off Stage outreach program will provide the community with high-quality educational programs, enliven schoolrooms by bringing professional ballet to schools and inspire under-privileged youth with on-site visits and performances. Failed for lack ofa motion: Comments: No letters of commitment from schools were included with the proposal. The grant sounds like a project grant. Lyric Ensemble: The Ensemble will introduce string inst ruments to public school 4th graders, who will be selecting an instrument to play in grade 5. Lyric Ensemble will perform, instruct and answer questions. The Ensemble was unanimously awarded $3,000.00. Many Mountains Moving: The group would like to host a series of educational events spotlighting the contributions of poets around the world. A variety of presentations, panel discussions, lectures and slideshows will be presented. Two public readings will be held. The request failed for lack of a motion. Comments: The details of the proposal seemed vague and incomplete. How will they educate the students? Who will be attending? Mimi Mather: Chronicles of Place: Recording Boulder's Most Coveted Dutdoor Spaces, Native American High School Students is an artistic celebration of Boulder's outdoor spaces through the lenses and voices of visiting high school students~from reservations across the U.S. Mather was unanimously awarded $3,000.00. Maria Neary: Downstream Tile Mural will be created by Casey Middle School students for the bus shelter on Broadway in front of the Municipal building. Neary was unanimously awarded $3,000.00. i New Horizons Preschool: The Preschool is requesting funds for a multicultural, multi- sensory approach to learning. The School will offer a series of seven half day workshops open to the community, focusing on the diversity of learning styles and techniques for early childhood. New Horizons was unanimously awarded $600.00. Open Studios: Education Links will bring professional artists into Boulder Valley School art classes providing approximately 900 students with an opportunity to learn about art directly from working artists. Failed for lack of a motion. Comments: How do the artists involve the students? The explanation was very vague. It is very hard to understand how the students are directly involved. What does ahands-on lesson mean? Commission members had too many questions. Onye Ozuzu: Skeleton Dance is a production and performance of a concert of new, collaboratively developed dance works representative of Skeleton's signature cross- cultural and inter-disciplinary style. Failed for lack of a motion. Comments: The proposal is a project grant, not education. Joanna Rotkin: The focus of Spontaneous Combustion is to. foster relationships between adolescents and elders through the medium of improvisational dance and choreography. Rotkin was unanimously awarded $3,000.00. The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.