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Minutes - Arts Commission - 03/07/2001 Boulder Arts Commission March 7, 2001 Arapahoe Meeting Room Boulder Public Library Members Present: Also Present: Don Berlin Donna Gartenmann Erich Hill Marcelee Gralapp Jude Landsman Tom Bache-Wiig Alan Rudy Emily Wadhams The meeting was called to order at 1:00. Wadhams opened the meeting with the need for the Commission to clarify the theater line item money for 2001. The Commission originally voted to have rent subsidy available to give to the theater community. At the February meeting, the commission voted to designate three months of the $20,000 to the Guild for rent. Berlin: Subsidy grants for 2001 would stay at the Dairy. Wadhams: No motion has been made yet restrict funding to the Dairy. Rudy: Bottom line is what we're going to say to Richard for 2001. . Berlin: If rent subsidy is given to theater groups, one subsidy per organization, not a penny goes to dark time. Landsman: I thought we were doing space subsidy grants but the space being subsidized was at the Guild theater. There were issues because of the differences in the dance and theater matrixes because the Guild has a lease. Berlin: One subsidy per production could be for as many as four weeks in the case of the Boulder Conservatory Theater. Wadhams: The Guild would have to shake the bushes to get additional groups in to rent the space to get all of the funds. Berlin: We just gave the Guild three months rent in good faith. Rudy: I have an alternative proposal. What if we were to say you have one year. We want the Dairy and you to know that everything is subject to change and you can't expect anything going forward. This is an opportunity for the community and the Commission. We have two issues: one is the narrow issue of the Guild, the other is what can happen to the Commission. What we do this minute relative to funding depends on what we're going to do next. I don't think we can make a short term decision without knowing what comes next. Landsman: Are we giving the money to the Dairy, is it taking it out of what the Guild theaters owe or are we giving it to the Guild saying we're going to fund you this year. Next year, things are subject to change. Berlin: I have no problem with leaving money in 2001 but with safeguards in place. Hill: Do we have to make a decision today? • Berlin: The theater is sitting empty. We are putting tax payer money in dark time. Hill: If we make a decision today, why can't we listen to what happens next week and decide on the meeting on the 21 st. We will have more information than we do now. Berlin: The concern is an opportunity to bring the larger community together and we should talk about broader items. We've given them three months worth of rent. We need to hear what theater people say on the 15th. Landsman: The meeting is to form and facilitate that the BAC is willing to come up with some new model. I don't want to continue more public debate. The Dairy and Guild need to know what is going on with the theater funds for 2001. Berlin: I would rather hear from the theater folks, how they're feeling, how they exist. We need to talk to them about what their needs are what would benefit the bigger picture. If the Bells think we come to this meeting with no decision, they will come with blood in their eyes. Landsman: I don't want this to be a wasted opportunity when we can use it for the theater groups to start creative problem solving together. Rudy: I make a motion that the BAC complete funding the Guild theater as originally done in 2000 with the understanding that this is the last time this will happen in this manner. Landsman: I second. I would like to know if it is possible to structure the groups in some way that meets the issues Don has made. There may be people in the theater community that feel they are entitled to piece of that pie. The motion passed unanimously. Rudy: Anything we do is going to lead to a fight. This will dissipate our energies and distract us from the long term goal. We have to stick our neck out. There are nine months left in the year. . To take energy away from the long term concern for the short term concern isn't a good investment. I think we should take the write off and look to the future. Hill: Alan, that is the most logical you've ever been. Tom: What do you want to accomplish in meeting of the 15th. Let's figure out how to run the meeting on the 15th, make it productive. Let's figure out the process. Structure: What is the Boulder Arts Commission's purpose and from there put together the pieces. Berlin: A first meeting is going to be awkward. How to use the funds is the action of the community meeting. Gralapp: The final analysis is that the Commission has the final say in how the funds are spent. Tom: What's going to be beneficial to you as the Boulder Arts Commission to make a good decision as far as what you want to do? Landsman: The keyword is criteria. It's important to say that what we're going to need is a new model, present us with a model that we feel good about funding. Something workable, charging the theater community to come up with a model that works for them, addresses their needs, fairly disperse the money. It's for theaters to come up with a model that suits them. Use the Colorado . Producers Gild as an idea and platform. The onus of the Arts Commission working with them sponsoring a series of meetings is not on us. Tom: Present some criteria you want and that you want them to come back with proposals. Landsman: I am looking for creative solutions from the theater community because I don't know what those needs are. Hill: It is not our business to tell the theater community or the Guild how to run their business. We fund them, we can give guidance. The reason for the forum is to solve the problem that came up last November. Personalities in the current Guild are not willing to do what we requested. Tom: So, one of the criteria is accountability... Wadhams: Broader representation Berlin: This is not a result of what happened in November, it kickstarted it. The theater community is not going to come together to decide what to do about the Guild. You're going to hear from people who produce in other venues. When we say the Guild, we're talking about one cluster organization that has two resident companies. Next week we're talking to a wide variety of people looking for the larger picture. If we banded together, what could we do for the city. Tom: What do you want to accomplish out of this meeting? The fundamental thing of effective meetings is where you want to be at the end. Rudy: What I would like to see is consensus, a process and it's not going to be one meeting. Consensus about what is needed. With one meeting you'll have all these people coming back with different plans. If we foster the process, we can assist in people beginning to talk to each other rather than themselves. I suggest three or four meetings. Impose order --we need consensus or we won't act. We can impose some order on the process. We do have the right to suggest some things we would like to see--an organization with a broad based board. An organization that raises three times as much as we give them, an executive director. A group to come together and say we offer you this entity to consider for funding. Tom: It takes time to create consensus. To do this you would probably need to have consistent attendance. You build a knowledge base. Get commitment for attendance. What are the key components you want to weigh? That would be something to consider whether it's one meeting or several. Wadhams: Encouraging a design of a new producers guild that represents more than one or two organizations. Citizens as well as members of theater groups. Create an organization that represents all theater groups. Berlin: Do they need to be a 501(c)3 to get City funding? Hill: We can set up a system where there are an infinite number of meetings. We're biting off way too much. One meeting is reasonable, if they want to meet after that, that's their right. Berlin: What can be accomplished in one meeting? Tom : That's why you define what needs to be accomplished. One meeting you can get a sense of what is there already, a discussion afterwards about things you hear, general entities. Let them know you are looking for proposals. Tell them that here is some of the criteria. Digestion process: Let them know that you hear them and discuss what you hear. Let the audience hear what you've heard. What you want to do in each one is important to be clear on. You want to end up with is "If I had this information, or this proposal, we could make a decision about this". Know that you want them to be financially responsible, maximum use of theaters, broad based use. Landsman: I would like to have alternatives to the Guild. What if we did get 3 proposals, we . can divide money however we want. Rudy: The process is not without risk. The BAC changes from an administrator and watchdog of city money to a power force in the arts community. It is an opportunity for our successors to be a real power in the community. This arts community flounders. Hopefully, the BAC will take advantage of the opportunity of the failure of the Guild and restructure the theater community and make the community much more powerful. If we have a good process, it will attract attention. If we succeed, people will come to us. Tom: What is your perspective of what that outcome should be? Rudy: When we're through, it would be good if we had community consensus on one or more vehicles to fund. If through that process the community recognizes the Arts Commission as a force in the arts, that's wonderful. Berlin: One meeting isn't enough. It alarms me that I don't hear what we're meeting for next week. Tom: That's what I'm trying to get at. Are there other perspectives? Wadhams: I see more than one meeting. I see an organization that represents the theater community. Tom: There are two things. 1) a self selecting process. A few groups formed that would come forward on proposals on how to use the money and theaters. Landsman: It's space money. Berlin: The Guild can save itself. I see bringing the theater community together to find what's helpful. Rudy: I am proposing a bigger budget and executive director. Landsman: I find it questionable that our involvement would be to create an organization we could then fund. We are listening to the needs of the theater community and bringing them . together. I would like to see what a larger community looks like. The possibilities would come out of that. We can't solve all those needs. Gralapp: You're being given money by council to support rental space for theater groups. You have to find a solution for that. The broader picture is great too, but the narrow piece is money in the budget to support theater space and the group that was given that money isn't doing that. To distribute in the most fair way is fine. The Guild started out as an umbrella with a little handful of groups and charge bigger prices to people who aren't part of them. Tom: One of the key criteria is maximizing the value of theater access of various groups so any proposal that came forward would have ability to maximize use of space. Gralapp: Have bigger picture. The issue is how to make the responsibility that the Commission has for an amount of money and be as responsible and fair as possible. Tom: There are two different parts to accomplish. 1) the funding piece. What are you going to do with it. Get a sense from the different groups. Rudy: The only visible group is the Guild. There is no alternative. We are looking for alternatives. We're looking for alternatives on the 15th. I feel it is appropriate to give guidelines. Distribution of funds. Tell them we are interested in proposals. Offer another meeting, not participate, but offer a forum. We hope to have a consensus that we can fund. Berlin: We have a model that works effectively through dance. Landsman: Make space grants for groups, Gralapp: Accomplish Council's goal. Tom: One conversation is a proposal on how to specifically address getting the distribution • of money in a different way that it has been. Are you proposing announcing this model? Lay out criteria you're thinking of. Where do you want to be at the end of the meeting? Berlin: That's one option. The theater community could come together and say subsidies, . "yeah", but if group comes together... Rudy: An entity that made subsidies for performances. Tell them we're going to have meetings on these dates and would appreciate you working with each other on the meetings. Come to us with your suggestions. Maybe one other forum. Tom: What do you want to do with the meeting? Rudy: Explain the situation, give them marching orders Landsman: Explain the situation. Say we have several options. See how the theater community reacts to space subsidies. I would also like to know how they feel about a model of a real producers guild as well. Tom: Those are two different kinds of models that you might approach. You would like reactions from audience. Gralapp: First tell them what the Commission's responsibility is. The method used to fulfill that responsibility has changed. The Commission has agreed to go along with the funding distribution for one more year. The BAC's recommendation is the model that has worked for the dance community. We would like to have a reaction or input. Do you think as a starting place, this works? The second piece is taking that and making it bigger into the producers guild. The theater producers guild can come out of that and be something more than what the BAC is doing with the money --a cooperative effort. You can encourage and nurture but you wouldn't have to do the organizing. Present it in such a way that they will live with it. . Tom: What you're saying is to start by telling people what you think the duty of the BAC is. Right now we don't see the funds being distributed as broadly as the Commission would like. How you frame that is real important. Gralapp: You're finishing them off with one more year of money. Rudy: If you take the subsidy as the foundation and say we would be interested in giving it to an agency that would utilize as programmed, but in addition will do the guild type things. We're not denigrating the value of the money going to rent. We're building on it. The $20,000 has to go to rent. Gralapp: The Commission can encourage and help. Tom: The way I'm understanding the meeting is: 1) Someone will say the purpose of the meeting is for the commission to explain their role as they see it. Next is a background on the mandate of the funding to be used the way the Commission sees it fitting into the BAC's role. 3) The BAC is considering how to better fulfill your charge to distribute dance funds and in that process you are considering basically whether it's the dance model or something else, but you're considering this option and part of the goal is putting out that criteria i.e. broad based, maximum use of space. It will be an opportunity for the theater community to hear the Commission's thinking, you hear their thinking and other groups cans come back to you. The purpose is to hear all of that. There should be a certain amount of time for input. You need to decide whether you want to digest in front of the audience--additional questions, interact or just listen. You are ultimately going to make a decision but you need an information base, analysis and decision. Get some level of basic information to start with. • Landsman: Where do we present the possibility of the larger vision of a producers guild? Gralapp: You come to the conclusion on how. What you're trying to solve at this meeting is the guild and the money you're responsible for. If they want to have a bigger group come . together that's another thing that you can be the nurturer for. Figure out how you can deal with your responsibility for theater rental space in a way that has fallen by the wayside. Rudy: This money is dedicated to the theater community for the use of space. Absent any other model, the BAC is going to grant that money, $1500 per group for use of space - one shot a year. We will consider other options if you come to use with them. Among them would be a theater producers guild. They will leave there knowing what the best case or worse case scenario is. If nobody wants to do anything, we'll do it ourselves. Gralapp: You've got the theater people together now. Say now that you're here how would you like to organize? Wadhams: We're giving them an idea of what they should do but they can come up with another idea. Rudy: Next year absent any better proposals, this is how it will be done. Tom: How many people do you expect? Berlin: 25-30. Tom: With a propensity to talk. All attendees are dependent on what the outcome is. If you want interaction it takes more time and to have in depth discussions, break up in round tables. Berlin: There is no reason someone couldn't offer their facility and have further talks about a producers guild. If someone would step up a lead. Tom: You should say at some point in the meeting, there seems to be interest in x y z. If your interested in x go in this corner. It is an opportunity for people who normally don't interact. . Maybe you should put it out there that part of the reason is to make connections. What the BAC role is: Put out proposals Time for reactions from a variety of perspectives. Limit talk time. Also say this is an opportunity for people to meet and interact who normally don't. At that point, you can say, if you have an interest in creating a group to approach the commission about funds, this is also an opportunity to connect with those people. Have a break, interact, Repeat what people say. The value of having the Commission speak back to the audience is that they will feel heard. If they have a reaction from the BAC, they will know where the BAC stands. "These are the key things we have heard", "these are the concerns we've heard" you can reiterate we would love to see you folks come back together. Berlin: Let them talk without any agenda from the commission. I want the theater community to see the BAC as a resource, not adversarial. By doing that and providing a forum, to gather them again, we are taking advantage of a large theater community together to make an impression of the commission. Tom: How to structure the conversation. We've got the basic setup. Some kind of introduction of roles and models. At that point start getting reactions from audience. Gralapp: They need to say we're interested in what you think but come up with some conclusion. Rudy: In Emily's opening statements, let them know we're here because of a problem. Absent • someone coming up with a model, BAC will allocate funds in the following manner. Give floor to Don on here's a model that would work. The money is not going away. Make it clear that it will be allocated much more fairly than the past 16 years. . Tom: It's on the table, if someone else comes to us with a proposal we will consider it. Part of this introductory statement is that this is an opportunity to hear from you, but also hear each others perspective to create whatever you need to create. Afterwards there will be an opportunity for you to hear and meet. Rudy: The motion said that absent the community coming together with a better plan this is what we're going to do. Tom: For somebody coming to a meeting, to give input into a process, the more they think the process is closed, the more they are frustrated. Let them know this is the best proposal right now. We don't know what else to do that is good. Would it be useful to you and get you what you want? Give an opportunity for the arts commission to give initial reaction and the BAC put on the table that the option is to come back to you with something else. And then from there you say we also want to have some time in this meeting for you to meet each other and gather. Informally break up and talk to each other. The only other thing you could accomplish is that if there are questions you would like the group to discuss. To do that is pretty difficult. Gralapp: Ask if they want a long term bigger organization. Landsman: How do we wrap it up? Tom: How to come to a conclusion. If we had the Commission reiterate what key things were heard. Not that you've made a decision, but this is what you've heard and these are the concerns you've heard. Berlin: Have someone at a flip chart. Write what we're hearing. Draw people back by going over. Tom: If you have 40 minutes of input, you'll have a lot of flip charts. The thing that I can do is paraphrase was we go along. Landsman: At the end do we ask if they want to continue on the broader issue? Rudy: It is unlikely that there will be an obvious consensus in that meeting. If there isn't one, we should be prepared to say that we have initiated the process and if you would like to continue. Tom: To encapsulate what is said, a summary, we can go to each of you and ask if there are other things you want to add. They can get a sense of the commission that way. You can extend the invitation that if other ideas are put forward, you can consider them. You can reiterate we hope that you will use this opportunity to meet with each other. Rudy: Do we have the option of modifying it mid year? Gralapp: If you are where you feel competent as a commission that you are fulfilling Council's goals. •