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Minutes - Arts Commission - 05/16/2001 Approved 6/20/01 Boulder Arts Commission May 16, 2001 Boulder Public Library Members Present: Also Present: Don Berlin Donna Gartenmann Patti Bruck Ken Bloom Erich Hill Kevin Brown Jude Landsman Leslie Durgin Catherine Underhill Member Absent: Alan Rudy The meeting was called to order at 5:30 P.M. Minutes of the April 18, 2001 meeting were approved as amended. The November meeting will be held on the 14th instead of November 21 because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Final reports for the Arts Paper and Colorado Mahlerfest were approved as received. Upstart Crow received an Organizational Technical Assistance grant for cd-rom's. One of the requirements of the grant is to share information with the Boulder arts community. Upstart Crow is limited to sharing the information because of copywrite issues. Timothy Reed is working to find a way to share the information with members of the Guild Theater. Peak Arts requested two nights of rent free space at Macky Auditorium for May 18 and 20. Hill made a motion to approve the request. The motion passed unanimously. 2002-03 Budget: All City departments are being asked to submit the 2002-03 budgets with a 5% reduction. The Commission agreed to reduce the Arts in Education grants and mini-grants. Cultural Master Plan Update: Berlin and Gartenmann met with Dick Devin and Rita Kotter to initiate the update of the Master Plan. The group proposed including two AHAB members, 2 Arts Commissioners (Berlin and Bruck), members of the original task force and new community members. Gartenmann will send a letter of invitation to AHAB's board president. 28th Street Art/Transportation project: A task force is being assembled to begin the first phase of public art on the 28th Street construction project. Hill will not be able to make the first meeting. Gartenmann will represent the Arts Commission. The first task force meeting is scheduled for June 14. Commissioners were asked to submit agenda items for the June planning meeting. Quarterly Financial Reports Colorado Dance Festival: Katie MacDiarmid introduced CDF's new public relations director hired with the Technical assistance grant. Brochures for the 2001 Festival were distributed. New additions this year include free informances and lecture demonstrations. Free Flamenco and Hip Hop symposiums will be held at the Boulder Public Library. A paztial distribution of dance space subsidy has been complete. The remainder will be awazded after the festival. The subsidy helps equip the dance space at the Dairy. This year CDF is soliciting on-line for the festival and is ahead of schedule for income compared to last year. Festival goers can purchase tickets on-line. Collage Children's Museum: New executive director, Leslie Durgin is in the process of catching up with all the requirements at Collage. Durgin distributed the architectural design of the new facility at 9th and Canyon. Collage will be housed on two floors of the building. Village Arts Coalition will reside in the top floor. Collage is preparing for the site review which is scheduled for September. Durgin anticipates raising $6.8 million just for Collage. VAC already has its funding in place. Durgin is trying to change the perception of Collage, that it is a place for wealthy women to drop their kids off. The audience at the Museum is one of incredible diversity. Collage is embarking on a program called Bears to Benefit Children in collaboration with others to meet the needs of low income kids. One hundred beazs will be decorated by artists through competitions, placed azound Boulder and auctioned off to raise funds for Collage as well as other youth organizations in the community. The sculptor has been selected to design the four different bears and Durgin hopes to raise $500,000.00 for charitable organizations. Collage is beginning a traditional capital campaign and will try to raise half of the needed money in the silent phase before going to the public phase. The anticipated schedule for the 9th and Canyon site: In October, the City will start excavation for the two story parking garage. August 2002 is the target date for hotel construction to begin. The value of the property for the Civic space is $2.2 million. Guild Theater: Board President, Kevin Brown, gave an overview of recent accomplishments for the Guild. The Guild paid back a $12,408 bank loan which clears the theater debt. Wendy Befeler also forgave a $20001oan. Changes are in full swing. The Boazd voted to implement an executive director position from the Technical Assistance grant received from the Arts Commission, with a starting date of June 1. Brown hopes to raise $8,000-10,000 by the end of the year. He has gathered a list of 3000 names from all companies that have worked at the Guild. Brown wants to give people an opportunity to help financially and with sound issues. The Board is looking at upgrading the light boazd, etc. The Guild did not have a donor base or mailing list. Death Till You Party productions will collaborate on a benefit for the Guild. A new One Act Festival will also raise funds for the theaters. Space is available to rent during the slow summer months. Mystyk Hand theater is now a resident member of the Guild. The Board has changed the rental fees so it is the same for all theater companies in the community. Four new board members have been added. An evaluation of by-laws is next on the agenda which will officially create the executive director position. Brown wants to create a new kind of membership for individuals and audiences. Anyone will be able to rent on an ad-hoc basis. The Guild will offer member discounts for any Guild show. Brown would like to create one program for all Guild productions. The Dairy: Catherine Underhill reported that the Dairy completed its first poetry reading. The dance space is fully booked through the middle of December which speaks to the demand for this kind of space. The newsletter has undergone a redesign. The board is busy raising money. The goal is to raise $250,000 to pay off the last renovation phase. The final phase of construction will begin in 2003. The Board named the lobby, cafe and gallery for donors. There are remaining chairs to be purchased for the dance space. The Nuts and Bolts Ball is scheduled for November 2. Cleo Parker Robinson will perform for the event. Underhill's personal goal is to make the organization self sustaining. She is keeping the staff small in order to keep the operating side low. The Dairy currently does not have a full time development director. Underhill is working on a way to craft a membership program. BMoCA: Ken Bloom, new executive director, praised the staff for the outstanding job done at the Museum under an acting director. The Board is looking at greater ownership. The Board will evaluate interests and needs when looking for a new direction. Bloom is proposing a revised membership drive and the need to begin a board development process. The board is going to try to take amore active position. Priorities include stabilizing the staff, programming, planning and funding. The organization is over extended and needs a serious review of commitments and the mission. The base of the organization is solid and has a wide range of professional contacts around the country. From a mission standpoint, the organization is going to take more initiatives in establishing relationships with artists and patrons. BMoCA is not going to abandon objectives of showing cutting edge art but Bloom wants more programming that engages local and national artists. Additional plans include more artist residency, employing guest curators and physical changes to the building. Bloom feels it is his job is to get the organization on its feet. The Museum is running behind about $30,000-40,000. Bloom needs to figure out ways to take care of the volatile cash flows. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.