City of Lawrence
Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission (LCAC)
April 11, 2012 minutes
MEMBERS PRESENT: Eric Kirkendall, Kathy Porsch, Mandy Enfield, Mari Russell, Jane Pennington, Richard Renner, Patrick Kelly, Christie Dobson, Darin White (via telephone),
STAFF PRESENT: Cynthia Wagner for Diane Stoddard
Kathy Porsch called the meeting to order.
The minutes from the March meeting were approved pending the addition of Eric Kirkendall to "Members Present".
Kathy spoke about the 2013 budget request. It will be the same as the 2012 budget request, including the new Arts Coordinator position. LCAC members agreed to submit the request. Jane noted that an amount needs to be added to the Arts Coordinator portion.
Kathy asked if the study session request had been granted. Cynthia stated that there has not been a response.
Eric briefed the group about the Arts Sustainability Task Force. He has spoken with Mayor Cromwell, Commissioner Schumm, Commissioner Dever, and Commissioner Carter. They had read the Final Friday report and were all supportive of the arts and understood the importance of the arts in our community. In regards to the Arts Coordinator position, their concerns were budget related. Eric emphasized to the commissioners that of our 9 comparison cities, all but one supported the arts through a city staff position.
Jane reported that the ODSE sculptures have been chosen. The walking tour and unveiling will be June 9th, 5:30-8:30 pm.
Mandy reported that she is continuing communication with Paul Hotvedt regarding the addition of a "Creative Placemaking" category to the Phoenix Awards. In addition, she reported that Gould Evans Architects presented at the April Arts Round Table. They spoke briefly about the percent for the Arts portion of the project.
Eric announced that he is working to secure an Arts Incubator space in the "t-shirt building" which is part of the Poehler Building renovation. He invited everyone to visit the space for an open house, Thursday, April 12th, 4-7 pm.
The grants portion of the meeting began. Mandy, Richard, and Eric excused themselves from the discussions and voting, declaring conflicts of interest with the grant application discussion.
The grant applications for 2012 were discussed. John Wysocki was in attendance and asked questions after the vote about the relationship of those who recused themselves from the deliberations. He suggested that the next time, the LCAC should use the state grant process. Commissioner Porsch responded that though the grants predate all of the current Commissioners, the grant program was modeled after the state program. He asked about the evaluation process. It was stated that there had been other point factoring systems in place before, but that the dot polling method had worked well, though no system is perfect. Commissioner Russell thanked him for his concerns and interest. After discussion, the following grants were selected to be recommended to the City Commission for approval:
|
Project Title Organization |
Amount |
|
$1,700 |
|
|
2. Lawrence Busker Festival |
$2,000 |
|
3. Douglas County Senior Services, Inc. – Douglas County Senior Services Oral History Quilt Project |
$2,000 |
|
4. Family Promise of Lawrence: Family Art Nights |
$500 |
|
5. VanGo, Inc.: JAMS Summer Benchmark session |
$1,000 |
|
Total: |
$7,200 |
Commissioner Pennington moved to adjourn. Commissioner Dobson seconded. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:50 pm.