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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20231011 - PacketHastings Arts and Culture Commission Agenda October 11 2023 2.Approval of Agenda 3.Approval of Minutes –September 3rd OLD BUSINESS 4.Subcommittee Updates a)Policy &Procedures NA b)Finance &Fundraising Update by Kirk/Steve c)Outreach &Communications Update by Sherry &Jeannie Recap of Creative Convergence Update on Webpage 5.Updates from Commissioner Liaisons with City Commissions Civic Arena -Barb 6.Follow up on Collaborating on Events (2023 ) Christmas in the Park Update by Kirk Holiday Hoopla -Update by Barb 7.Create Subgroup to Select Artwork to Lease for Riverwalk NEW BUSINESS 8.Identify Community Groups and their Events to Collaborate on in 2024 9.Goals for Completion 2024 10..Announcements 11 .Adjourn Page 1 of 11 Hastings Arts & Culture Commission Meeting Minutes Wednesday, September 13, 2023 – 6:00 PM Hastings City Hall – Volunteer Room 1. Call Meeting to Order Meeting called to order at 6:02 p.m. Present: Commission Chair Hollenbeck; Vice Chair Read; Commissioners Humphrey, McCoy, McGinn, Skeba, Tribe; Staff representative Lee Absent: Commissioner Becker Also present: Pam Pontzer and Kathy O’Keefe from Hastings Prescott Arts Council (HPAC); City Administrator Dan Wietecha 2. Approval of Agenda Commissioner Humphrey asked to add a letter she received last night from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director and Superintendent at Hastings School District asking for help with event. Commissioner Skeba motioned to approve the item be added to New Business on the agenda for discussion. Commissioner Tribe seconded. Motion carried. 3. Approval of Minutes – August 9, 2023 Regular Meeting Commissioner McCoy motioned to approve; Commissioner Skeba seconded. Motion carried. Questions for City Administrator Chair Hollenbeck asked if anyone had questions for City Administrator Wietecha. Commissioner Skeba said the Finance subcommittee has questions about private donors and fundraising and the process the city would use to get donations correctly attributed and recorded. Wietecha clarified that donations need to be formally accepted by city council— which means it would need to go on their meeting agenda as a memo under consent items— and a thank you sent afterwards. No commissioners would need to be present but could attend if they wanted to. Upon approval, the donation would be forwarded to the Finance Department to assign accounting codes to set up and track funds. He clarified that donated goods would need some sort of process and would depend on the type of item and its value. He also stated that any grant application awards would have more pieces to the process. Skeba said commission should be able to write up some type of process for future use and present to city for review. Wietecha then stated he was in attendance to do a check in, observe, and perhaps offer any suggestions or advice (take it or leave it) on how things are going with the commission. Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 2 of 11 Hastings Prescott Arts Council (HPAC) Chair Hollenbeck transitioned to the next item on the agenda – special guests from HPAC, who were invited to give a brief introduction of their organization, followed by discussion on the artistic/creative community in Hastings. She said HPAC is one of the driving forces of this commission’s creation because of its similar goals and would like to discuss where goals could be the same or different. Pam Pontzer introduced herself as long-time Board member, Kathy O’Keefe introduced herself as President of HPAC, and commissioners introduced themselves as well. Hollenbeck then asked for a brief introduction of the HPAC organization. HPAC created in 2008 by people who saw the need for more community art and is comprised of two different organizations in two different states (Minnesota and Wisconsin), which presents blessings and curses. One example is they can get grants from either state, but it also makes things more complicated. HPAC’s simple mission is to promote art within the community, accomplished by supporting other agencies and groups—such as the River Valley Band, Hastings Art Center, Artspace, Rec+Arts+Police program/youth recreation, and the Orange Dragon Gallery in Prescott. They also provide scholarships to those who want to support and participate in the arts. HPAC is a group of volunteers who gets things done. They currently have nine board members and are in the process of adding five to six more. Funds are raised through donations, auctions, annual fundraising events, and grant writing. For example, they have been awarded money to lease three Dale Lewis sculptures for placement around the city for one year. Commissioners talked about its project with three Dale Lewis sculptures and stressed the need for coordination of these installations. O’Keefe referenced and distributed the Hastings Arts & Culture Plan for Community of Hastings 2020. She explained the study was done in the Hastings area to discover what the arts can do for us and the capacity for promoting art in community. The report reveals the potential of Hastings, as a river town, to be influential in the arts and solidified the belief that we can handle and do more. a) Strengths/Weakness in the community Hollenbeck asked HPAC for their views on strengths in the Hastings creative community. They believe we are making a lot of progress and are visible. We have a lot of artists in this town, and the variety and number of artists are a strength. We have a place now where they can display art and are coordinating with other programs. Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 3 of 11 Skeba inquired about the artist community versus the donor funding community for art in Hastings. HPAC raises money through fundraiser events and is trying to get away from donors because it’s not the easiest environment. Skeba asked how wealthy the art donor community is in this area. O’Keefe spoke of her donor experiences and feels businesses believe in the importance of the arts. They would love to have bigger sponsorships but are not there yet. Discussion was had about HPAC’s annual budget. Hollenbeck asked HPAC about weaknesses in the artist community at large—and what, in their opinion, needs work and where we all could do better. Pontzer responded that the biggest need is a group of volunteers to call on and share among organizations because volunteers are needed to do everything. HPAC is collecting a volunteer list, as well as a separate artist list. At HPAC events, they collect a list of artists for the database to draw from when they need something. Vice Chair Read, also an HPAC member, uses the database of artists for gallery and craft fairs – not necessarily what’s in the community. He feels we all need to work smart and not hard. Chair Hollenbeck believes everyone in the arts community operates in their own silos and bubbles, that we are not all working together to see what other groups are doing. We all need to show up and show support for other arts organizations and cross- reference and post events. She sees this as a huge gap. O’Keefe agrees that the community needs a hub, and that it would be valuable to know who is having events to avoid conflict. A central location for calendar would solve this problem. Hollenbeck said this is a goal of the commission in 2023. Discussion took place about what organization makes the most sense for this undertaking. Hollenbeck noted that the commission may not be the best choice, since people would not go to the city’s website for a calendar of arts events. Commissioner McCoy expressed that this doesn’t need to be a complicated undertaking, just a person to take it on. It could simply be a Google calendar that every organization has writing access to, on one site that would make sense. HPAC could host calendar on website. Other groups would then have writing access and be responsible for updating their events – that way one person wouldn’t have to be the designated “calendar person.” Hollenbeck suggested that volunteers could be shared in a similar fashion. Organizations need to figure out how to work together to recruit and gather volunteers as one pool. McCoy noted that volunteers are aging out and the pool is not replenishing with younger people. Pontzer believes that people want to be asked and need to know about events. She sees the Arts and Culture Commission as a central hub that helps coordinate Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 4 of 11 the arts community and arts groups within the community, as in “We’re the commission, come to us and we can help you.” b) Collaboration between HPAC and A&C Commission Skeba shared that the commission has the ability to work with other city commissions and has representatives that serve as liaisons to those commissions. He suggested that as we start to define projects and things we’re trying to do as a commission, we could loop others into those conversations. O’Keefe acknowledged that so much of what the commission does is tied into the city and recognized that arts organizations have more freedom by design because the commission must follow set processes. Both have positives and negatives. Skeba said that once the commission gets its policies and processes down, it sounds like it would be important to share those things—like installing sculptures in the city—with coordination and communication. HOLIDAY HOOPLA Saturday, November 25 at City Hall – same day as annual tree lighting (5:00pm) Hollenbeck introduced the idea of Holiday Hoopla and suggested this can be the first collaboration. She had been in contact with Mayor Fasbender, who would like to showcase the City Hall building’s beauty and history during the Holiday Hoopla event. She presented a 20- year-old article provided by the mayor describing a similar event that had been done in the past. One idea is to host a “Story Time with Mayor Mary” event, as well as enlisting volunteers from the Pioneer Room for the building’s arts and artifacts—which Commissioner Skeba has done an inventory of. The plan, too, is to host a tour of the building that is volunteer-based and does not include city staff. Skeba said he has gotten five to six stories from Pioneer Room volunteers to better anchor the related art pieces and their significance. He suggested incorporating this information into a handout that can be made part of the walking tour for the event and future self-guided and volunteer-led tours at City Hall. He asked HPAC to provide a point of contact so he could forward the art inventories and stories and they could see how the process is coming together. He is now working on templates for the tour. Hollenbeck suggested the tour start down the hallway past the Pioneer Room, since volunteers have put so much effort into the current exhibit there. Heidi, leader of the Pioneer Room, encouraged Hollenbeck to reach out to LeDuc mansion for artifacts of the era and the Hastings Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 5 of 11 Historical Society for costumes. She agreed, saying that Hastings’ history is fragmented, and this would be a great way to help integrate it and show a bigger picture. Hollenbeck asked commissioners if they were on board with this event. Some commissioners stated they will not be available the day of the event because they’ll be working elsewhere at Holiday Hoopla, but they are willing to help lay groundwork leading up to the event. Commissioner Humphrey asked if it would be a whole-day event or set hours. She offered to help with volunteers. Hollenbeck said it is all preliminary at this point, to see if the commission should proceed with the event. She also suggested that, to get more people involved, we consider getting materials about the infamous fire on Christmas in 1899 and bring them to the HPAC writers’ group and have them craft a story. Pontzer asked if City Hall would be decorated for the event. Hollenbeck said the mayor talked about getting a bunch of decorated trees donated and placed around City Hall. City Administrator Wietecha intervened and said discussions with staff need to be had, and trees throughout City Hall would create maintenance and cleaning concerns. Skeba suggested the group discuss Christmas in the Park at this point—rather than later in the agenda—as these two topics seemed to be overlapping. He explained that Christmas in the Park is proposed as an outdoor event we sponsor where we have Christmas trees donated and then decorated by individual groups. He said he had spoken with the Parks Department, and they had been trying to launch such an event since 2016—though it never got going due to lack of volunteers. He recommended that Christmas in Park be held outside in the City Hall courtyard where the annual Christmas tree lighting event is held. Discussion turned to logistical questions: • Should we have artificial or live trees? If artificial, should we figure out how to store, or donate? • Should we have trees donated to disseminate to groups, or funded by the groups themselves? How many groups? How are they chosen? • What is the best location for tree display—downtown, City Hall, or creating a pathway between the two to connect them? Skeba said the logistics are still being figured out. Pontzer said HPAC doesn’t have the capacity to solicit donations. Skeba suggested the commission fund its own. Humphrey asked for clarification on the commission’s involvement in the Holiday Hoopla event because the idea is so new. Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 6 of 11 Motion by Vice Chair Read for the commission to continue Holiday Hoopla conversation, determine its involvement in the event, and the level of collaboration with the city. Commissioner Skeba seconded. Motion carried. HPAC members Pontzer and O’Keefe and City Administrator Wietecha left the meeting at 7:00pm. OLD BUSINESS 4. Subcommittee Updates a) Policy & Procedures Subcommittee did not meet. Finance & Fundraising Subcommittee did not meet. b) Outreach & Communications 1. Meeting with Dawn Skelly/Website Commissioners Humphrey and Tribe, along with staff member Lee, met with Communications Coordinator Dawn Skelly to discuss the city website and decided the following: • Skelly will create a separate tab or subpage for commission accomplishments, as well as write press releases and contact other media outlets (such as Hastings Journal, Star Gazette, and KDWA radio). She will also add this same information to the events page. • Skelly will create a separate page to showcase everything the commission is working on, both visually and with text descriptions. • Skelly can add a group or individual photos of commissioners with biographical information to the commission’s member page. • Skelly can add a fillable form to the site for artists to submit art proposals, etc. Any submissions need to be directed to an email account, so commissioners must decide who will be responsible for submissions. • Commissioners would also like to add a mission statement to the site. Humprey said they will need to come up with language that fits their mission, as well as goals, implementation plans, and policies. • Commissioners requested a logo for the commission. Skelly provided one to use in the interim. Skelly stressed that all content must be provided to her by the commission in order for her to add the information to the commission webpages and city events calendar. Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 7 of 11 2. Commissioners Meeting with Ashley (Red Wing) Commissioner Humphrey reported that a meeting was held with Ashley, the city liaison for the Arts and Culture Commission in Red Wing. Questions were asked from the questionnaire previously created by commissioners. Her takeaway from the meeting was that Red Wing’s arts commission is doing great things without an operating budget. Hollenbeck, who attended the meeting, reported Red Wing has money left over from Covid relief funds and is also receiving one percent of the city’s Capital Improvements Program (CIP). Next year Red Wing also plans to implement a program called “One Percent for the Arts,” which she said was originally put in the Hastings City Charter, but it got taken out. She found it fascinating that Northfield funds its arts commission that way as well. They learned the Red Wing Arts Commission has been in existence for three to four years, and they are struggling with the same issues, mainly that things are done through separate entities—such as city commissions and area arts organizations. Many of their commissioners sit on arts boards too, and they need to be cognizant of any conflicts of interest. Hollenbeck suggested the commission borrow Red Wing’s Private Use of Public Property (PUPP) form for public events that require special considerations to look over and tweak to fit our organization. Skeba said it would be great to get it settled through our legal process and make it ours with signoff from our people. Humphrey offered to type up notes from the meeting and share on the commission’s shared Google drives. Humphrey added that she has not yet heard from Prairie Island but knows other Indigenous/Native American artists affiliated with arts and culture who she can reach out to and invite to a commission meeting. She said Adrian Benjamin from Mille Lacs would be a great candidate and spoke highly of her qualifications and experience. 3. Hastings Creative Convergence a) Discussion of Event Topic immediately led to potential name change of event. b) Name Change from Hastings Creative Convergence to Hastings Creative Community Humphrey suggested the current “Creative Convergence” event name may not appeal to creative people. Tribe asked if that name was decided by the Arts Task Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 8 of 11 Force and suggested to go forward with one chosen by the Arts and Culture Commission and asked how we can set the name/event apart. Vice Chair Read explained that the name had been workshopped extensively, with the purpose to get all arts organizations into the same room for cross- collaboration, that “convergence” means bringing everyone together. He said the name had been discussed by the task force, but it wasn’t for the task force. Further discussion took place about the name, clarifying the audience the name needed to attract and stressing the importance of branding. Commissioners agreed the name seemed “clunky” and suggested other options. Some felt it was important to associate the name to the commission and proposed that be done in the tagline. Motion by Vice Chair Read to change the name from “Creative Convergence” to “Creative Convergence Hosted by the Hastings Arts and Culture Commission” and to approve the event flyer as amended. Seconded by Commissioner Skeba. Motion carried. 5. Updates from Commissioner Liaisons with City Commissions a) Parks Commission Commissioner Skeba said he already spoke of conversations with Parks Department about the tree event earlier in the meeting. b) HEDRA Chair Hollenbeck had nothing to report with HEDRA. 6. Follow up on Collaborating on Events (2023) a) Halloween event with static performers Hollenbeck reminded that the commission had talked about collaborating with existing events and discussed having static performers for the city’s Halloween event. McCoy said he did not have luck making contacts on such performers. The idea of a live pumpkin carver was proposed, and Hollenbeck reminded of commission timeline restraints. Everything needs to go before City Council for approval, so there is not enough time. She said this is the reality the commission needs to consider when it does projects and that the process has a long timeline. She gave the example that the commission started working on Dale Lewis sculptures in June, and they’re not installed yet. Read suggested Holiday Hoopla is a better focus, or even Rivertown Days that would provide a six-month lead time. Hollenbeck circled back to Holiday Hoopla and asked Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 9 of 11 where that leaves the Christmas in the Park idea. Referring to Christmas in the Park, Skeba said the commission needs to declare a deadline for its work and suggested by next meeting the idea be well vetted so we know the steps, strategies, and funding so it can be put before the City Council. They again discussed logistics of the event including location, access, quantity, duration, security, maintenance, and funding. Commissioners agreed that they would like to proceed with this event and said, at the very least, if it doesn’t succeed, at least the groundwork has been laid for next year because it is too good of an idea to toss out. Tribe suggested a subcommittee be formed to determine exactly what the commission is looking for, expectations, and finding answers to what the commission needs to know. Skeba reiterated everything needs to be fleshed out, including budget considerations, by the next meeting on October 11 and ready to forward to the City Administrator the next day for placement on the City Council agenda for approval. Read will contact the Confluence. Skeba will check out City Hall. Humphrey will check on specifications for the riverwalk and under the bridge. Hollenbeck suggested the commission should be part of the annual ice sculpture event sponsored by the Downtown Business Association in January. NEW BUSINESS 7. Create Subgroup to Select Artwork to Lease for Riverwalk Hollenbeck asked if the commission needs to form a subgroup to solicit new art or just go with more Dale Lewis art if we want to fill all five pads on the river walk. If the choice is to go with another artist, that would need to be tackled soon because time is running out. Read suggested that be something the commission work on over winter for possible spring installation. Over winter too, he said, the commission could also work on how to replace current Dale Lewis sculptures when the lease expires one year after installation. The group agreed to table this item for now. 8. Goals for completion 2023 Hollenbeck opened discussion about commission goals and accomplishments for 2023: McCoy said he could develop the shared events calendar by end of year using Google so other organizations can access it. He will provide an instruction sheet and all would have writing access. Hollenbeck requested he bring a mockup to our next meeting. Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 10 of 11 Read brought up the creation of an artist database but said it’s tricky for this commission to do because of government regulations for the city to hold information pursuant to the Tennessen Warning. The database would need to be housed elsewhere to avoid this and help people feel safer when sharing their personal information. Travis at the Hastings Arts Center has expressed interest for this undertaking in the past. Read suggested we table this item for next year. Hollenbeck said she will be giving a commission update/report to the City Council in January and would like to have a number of things to present. Commissioners stated the following: • Secured lease agreement for three Dale Lewis sculptures for installation • Created inventory of art within City Hall • Will host Creative Convergence on October 5 • Will host Holiday Hoopla tour of City Hall • Will create City Hall tour handouts (one for Holiday Hoopla event and one for general everyday use) As for strategic planning, Hollenbeck said that the city and organizations can do similar things, and both are needed to do the work, but they move at different speeds. 9. (ADDED) Request from Hastings School District for Event Help Commissioner Humphrey shared an emailed document she received yesterday from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director at the Hastings School District. She shared that Minnesota passed legislation that schools are now required to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 9th and recognize students/culture in school on this day for at least one hour. The School District is asking the commission for help in any way it can – such as a monetary donation for a performer/speaker, volunteering time, etc. She informed that the school district does not have a designated budget for this event. Skeba reminded that any commission expenditures must be approved by City Council, and the timeline is too tight. It was proposed that commission members could volunteer individually, though the timeline is tight for that as well. There was discussion that the commission in general can celebrate this day, at minimum— because of the tight turnaround time--with posts on social media to recognize the holiday and land acknowledgement. They agreed to plan ahead for next year. Hollenbeck asked Humphrey to draft a post for commission feedback and input. Read asked if the city has something in the works for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Commissioners acknowledged it was a huge win to be contacted, but we need to let people know our timeframe when reaching out with such requests. Humphrey agreed to respond to the school district to tell them some commissioners are open to volunteering in person at the event and to find out what they need for volunteers. Arts and Culture Commission September 13, 2023 Minutes Page 11 of 11 Motion by Tribe to create a social media post for Indigenous Peoples’ Day to be shared across city channels. Seconded by Read. Motion carried. 10. Announcements McCoy reported that Black Dirt Theater held the last of its auditions for the upcoming Finding Nemo performance. Black Dirt will also be hosting improv auditions and a free workshop at the end of the month. They’ll be kicking off the season with a holiday show at the Arts Center in December and improv performances downtown at the Public House. Read shared that he has a new job as scene shop supervisor at Hamline University. The Hastings Art Center has subscriptions available a five-concert series, which features bluegrass music this season. They will also present Prairie Home Christmas in December and their regular Tuesday concert series. Hollenbeck said that when we talk about supporting arts in the community, attending events like these are what we mean. 11. Adjourn Vice Chair Read made motion to adjourn at 8:11pm. Seconded by Commissioner Skeba. Motion carried. The next Arts and Culture Commission meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 11th at 6:00pm in the Volunteer Room at City Hall.