City of Lawrence

Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission (LCAC)

Monthly Meeting, August 14, 2013

 

Members present:        Chair: Patrick Kelly, Christie Dobson, Mandy Enfield, and John Hachmeister, Jerry Johnson, Jane Pennington, Grace Peterson, Kathy Porsch, and Katherine Simmons.

 

Members absent:          Lois Greene and Richard Renner

 

Also present:               Diane Stoddard, City Liaison; Tanya Evans from American Fallen Warrior Memorial Foundation, and Jon Josserand.

 

MINUTES

 

Chair Patrick Kelly called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. in the Lawrence City Council Chambers at Lawrence City Hall

 

Action Items:

The May 1, 2013 minutes were approved with 2 changes correct spelling errors in a name.

 

Jane Pennington made the following motion, which was seconded by Mandy Enfield and approved unanimously by the LCAC members present:

 

Motion to recommend that the Lawrence City Commission thank the American Fallen Warrior Memorial Foundation for the opportunity to honor our fallen soldiers by hosting the GoldStar Mission 11 artifact, but respectfully decline the offer due to the lack of an appropriate venue.

 

Jane Pennington made the following motion, which was seconded by John Hachmeister and approved unanimously by the LCAC members present:

 

Motion to begin a serious of presentations at the beginning of each LCAC meeting by one arts organization per month, in an effort to be more inclusive of the Lawrence Arts community.

 

It was a consensus of the LCAC members present to ask Mandy Enfield and Grace Peterson, LCAC representatives on the Cultural District Task Force, to convey to the task force that the LCAC recommends that the Task Force keep focused on meeting the charge to the Task Force established by Resolution 7021 (see http://www2.lawrenceks.org/boards/cultural-district-task-force).

 

Discussion:

 

New Business:

The Commission considered a request by the American Fallen Warrior Memorial Foundation that the City of Lawrence exhibit the GoldStar Mission 11 artifact from the World Trade Center within the city, possibly on the grounds of the Lawrence Visitor’s Bureau or in another easily accessible city park. Foundation representative Tanya Evans explained that the Foundation intends the ultimate home of the artifact to be at a memorial site in Kansas City, which has received City approval and is now pending completion of a campaign to raise $30 million to fund the memorial.

 

Diane Stoddard said Lawrence City staff advised that the size and weight of the artifact limits the site possibilities, but that the parking lot at the Lawrence Visitor's Center in North Lawrence could work. She said they also considered the newly rededicated park to all firefighters at 19th and Haskell, but access is a concern. The advantage of the Visitor's Center, she said, is parking and easy vehicular access. She added that City Staff recommended that if the City did agree to temporarily host the artifact, there first be an agreement between the City and the Foundation specifically defining the period of the exhibit and eliminating all City liability related to the artifact.

 

Ms. Evans was asked why the Foundation wished to bring the artifact to Lawrence rather than siting it in Kansas City. She said the Foundation is located in Lawrence and Lawrence is centrally located. She said others have been interested in hosting the artifact, including Ft. Riley and The Legends, but do not have the infrastructure to support it, and several corporations have emailed asking to host the artifact, but these were all inappropriate. When asked if the Foundation had approached Junction City after Ft. Riley declined to host the artifact, she said the Foundation did not offer it to Junction City. Later, when asked what places, specifically, had expressed interest in hosting it, she said that the Foundation has approached or considered Junction City, Kansas City, and Topeka, but none have an appropriate location. When asked whether the Foundation had approached the Dole Institute of Politics, which has 9/11 artifacts and a memorial, she said the Foundation was told there was no space for it there. She said if the artifact was sited in Lawrence, it would remain there until the $30M goal is raised and the Kansas City site is prepared.

 

In discussion, LCAC Commissioners expressed concern that the City would be responsible for the artifact in perpetuity if the Foundation does not achieve its $30 million fundraising goal, even if there is a term limitation in the exhibition agreement. Concern was expressed about possible vandalism and about how the artifact would fit with the two permanent sculptures already on exhibit at the Lawrence Visitor’s Bureau site. Concern also was expressed that recommending this request be approved would open the door to additional requests for sculpture placement outside of the City’s outdoor sculpture selection and approval process.

 

The Chair called for a motion to recommend that the Lawrence City Commission thank the American Fallen Warrior Memorial Foundation for the opportunity to honor our fallen soldiers by hosting the GoldStar Mission 11 artifact, but respectfully decline the offer due to the lack of an appropriate venue.  Motion was made, seconded, and approved unanimously.

 

Old Business:

 

Committee and Liaison Reports:

City Owned Art Maintenance Committee: Chair Katherine Simmons reported she has been looking for online cataloging capabilities to manage information about the City Owned Art and recommends the LCAC consider using the open access free application CollectiveAccess.org. She said this is the software that museums often use to manage and publish museum and archival collections; it operates like a museum archive. The system allows users to publish to the web, it has search engine capabilities and display and reporting tools, allows the print out of any kind of information and even can handle video and film. The system has public vs. private aspects for each item so it is possible to designate what is kept private in the City’s inventory of City Owned Art. It automatically updates, has geo referencing, and allows users to categorize and link items such as all paintings or all sculptures. It even would be possible to upload to this cloud-based application the City’s already active sculpture website materials. The next step is to determine how CollectiveAccess.org might be implemented by the City and LCAC.

 

Lawrence Community Arts Grants Committee: Chair Kathy Porsch asked Diane if all the FY2012 reports, which were due Aug. 1, had been submitted. Diane said she had been in contact with all of the 2012 winners and two reports remain outstanding. One recipient provided an intermediary report and the other will provide a report after the grant-related summer activities are over. Diane said she will alert LCAC members when the reports are ready for review.

 

Nominating Committee: Chair, Christi Dobson said the committee will submit a slate of nominated officers at the November meeting.

 

Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Exhibit Committee: Chair John Hachmeister reported one sculpture was slightly vandalized and the artist fixed it within the week. The opening program and sculpture was well attended, and the ceremony was meaningful.

 

Percent for Art: Chair Grace Peterson reported that work is progressing and the artists have invited her  to view some of the pieces in September or October.

 

Phoenix Awards Committee: Chair Mandy Enfield reported that Saralyn Reece Hardy, Director of the KU Spencer Museum of Art, has agreed to serve as the keynote speaker. Invitations and lists are in process. She urged the LCAC members to help encourage nominations. Winners will be selected during the September LCAC meeting and the presentation of the 2013 Phoenix Awards will be on November 3rd at the Lawrence Arts Center. Diane report that here have been some inquiries and one nomination has been submitted. She said the City will send out another request for nominations.

 

Lawrence Arts Roundtable Liaison: Kathy Porsch reported there was no outside speaker at the 8/13/13 meeting. Members in attendance shared information about their upcoming events, which were largely centered on the 150th anniversary of Quantrill’s Raid in which several member organizations were involved. She circulated a poster that was handed out at the Roundtable meeting publicizing the collaborative Quantrill’s Raid-related art exhibit put on jointly by Watkins Community Museum and the Percolator that was funded in part by a Lawrence Community Arts Grant.

 

Lawrence Arts Center Liaison: Patrick Kelly reported that he talked with LAC Director Susan Tate and learned that the LAC received an NEA Our Town Grant and that there has been no decision on the $75,000 state grant for which the Center applied to help fund development of a community-wide art plan.

 

Percolator Liaison: Grace Peterson reported that the Percolator will be doing the Arts Caravan in September at the homeless shelter, another project funded in part by a Lawrence Community Arts Grant.

 

Cultural District Task Force: Members Mandy Enfield and Grace Peterson reported that the task force has been holding regular meetings and there was progress made before the members became distracted by issues that are not part of the Task Force’s charge. Mandy and Grace both expressed concern, however, that the Task Force members have become sidetracked from the City Commission’s charge to the Task Force by issues unrelated to achieving the mandate of the charge.

 

The charge is posted at http://www2.lawrenceks.org/boards/cultural-district-task-force (the resolution is at https://www.lawrenceks.org/assets/boards/cdtf/Res7021.pdf) and reads as follows:

 

Established by Resolution no. 7021, the Task Force shall have a primary focus on identifying three (3) cultural arts district models that combine private, public and grant funding to support improvements to the district, as well as initiating a broader community-wide cultural arts plan. The Task Force shall organize its work in such a way to provide a report on findings and recommendations by October 31, 2013. The work of the Task Force shall include identification of three (3) cultural district models that combine private, public and grant funding to support improvements in cultural districts. Additionally, the following questions will be examined: What are the best practices for making necessary improvements in cultural districts? How can the cultural district maintain its unique cultural and socio-economic mix? What existing cultural organizations play a role in the creative economy of Lawrence? What existing policies currently govern the creative economy? What recommendations for changes in policies and practices are appropriate to enhance the creative economy in Lawrence?

 

Mandy said discussion at the three most recent meetings focused on sidewalk lighting and the location of a corridor from Mass St. to the arts-related developments near the Poehler Building. We were asked, as the LCAC representatives on the Task Force, to ask LCAC if Ninth St. seems like a good idea for the corridor and what LCAC thinks about lighting. LCAC only represents a portion of the task force, so we cannot drive the agenda.

 

Grace agreed that at this time the Task Force seems to have veered away from the charge and gotten bogged down on the corridor and lighting questions. She said that initially the Task Force members were asked to review and discuss a list of communities. Their reviews need to be moved to the top of the agenda for each meeting and the focus kept on research into models other cities have used to develop cultural districts, she said. There has been brainstorming and a survey and big categories have been established. The survey had 17 responses and suggestions were all over the place. Then we got bogged down with lighting and corridor concerns. Because Ninth St. has the majority of the commercial development, some East Lawrence Neighborhood Association (ELNA) members are okay with lighting there, but not elsewhere; others do not want more lights because of light pollution concerns.

 

Mandy agreed and suggested that the Task Force review the charge at the start of every meeting to help the members avoid veering off into super specifics. We are supposed to be asking questions like: Here is what Portland, OR does, how does affect our ideas about a cultural district in East Lawrence? Not trying to answer zoning questions. There was a map provided by Diane that designates "residential zone" but the terminology caused issues; there was some confusion over whether the Task Force would have input into zoning changes, but the task force has agreed not to meddle in zoning, she said.

 

Patrick said it is within their role as representatives of the LCAC on the task force for Grace and Mandy to recommend that each task force meeting begin with a restating of the charge and then focus discussion on that charge. I do support continuing to look at these models used by other communities. It is not in the LCAC’s purview to make a recommendation on lighting or zoning; that is up to City staff. It appears that the Task Force is skipping over some fundamental starting-point questions that need to be addressed before any recommendations related to lighting or a corridor can be made, such as: Should there be one access point or multiple access points? and Why do you need lighting? He suggested that Mandy and Grace stress to the other members of the Task Force that they cannot obtain advice from the LCAC without models of what other cities are doing to look at. The point needs to be made that the charge is to examine models and recommend a model for Lawrence, not that they make specific recommendations for lighting treatments, he said. I encourage both of you to take on the leadership role and that may mean asking really tough questions. That may mean telling someone "That's enough." and “If we continue to do the same thing we're doing we're going to get more frustrated. This is a tremendous thing for our community and we need to do it right.” He asked if the structure of the task force itself is working.

 

Grace said the task force lacks leadership to keep us on track. We have a lot of smart people who show up at every meeting who are committed and willing to work, but need direction, she said. Community members attend every meeting. Commissioner [Bob] Schumm is good about asking them for input and they are responding. Some of them have asked for respect for the neighborhood as a neighborhood rather than just a space between the Lawrence Arts Center and the Warehouse Arts District. So far the Task Force is skipping the issues of gentrification, which is a major concern of some East Lawrence Neighborhood residents.

 

Patrick pointed out that October is the deadline for the report. We have to feel like something was accomplished out of the task force, he said. If we don't think the Task Force can meet the charge as a group, the deadline can be extended, but there needs to be a push to return to the charge and keep the focus on the charge. He suggested the feedback that Mandy and Grace should take back to the Task Force from the LCAC is that the LCAC wants to see the research and the models and that addressing the charge given to the Task Force needs to move to the top of the agenda. We set this in motion for a specific reason, he said, to bring all the ideas and the models together before we talk about details like lighting. Maybe presentations can be assigned with those reports to be given first thing every week followed by discussion.

 

Grace said, there is a draft report with the big overarching ideas, but no one has done the research to actually develop the model. On the positive, we've gotten to share a lot of our overarching ideas of what we've gotten to see. There is the desire by the committee to see what the report will look like, which is how the outline was developed. There was a lot of consensus on some of the recommendations about what should happen within the district and what is the vision of the district. The big gap is the part of the report that says here are three models and here is why we recommend them. It is difficult to go back and report on all of the cities reviewed. But maybe everyone can be asked to submit a brief paragraph on the cities they've been assigned and say which they favor and why.

 

John said that whatever draft report the Task Force has should be set aside until the research is completed. Before you do anything else you have to do the research and you must have the research first before you begin to develop potential working models, he said.

 

Mandy said it is very positive that a City Commissioner is highly involved. Mike Logan made a comment about Lawrence, Inc., being in favor of the City Arts staff position and Leadership Lawrence set aside a whole day to discuss the Cultural District. We are talking about arts in a different way than we have since I moved here 15 years ago, she said. Our hopes for what this committee can achieve are pretty audacious.

 

It was a consensus of the LCAC members present to ask Mandy and Grace to indicate to the task force that the LCAC recommends that the Task Force refocus on the charge.

 

Patrick said he would call the City Commission representative (Bob Schumm) on the Task Force to express concern about the Task Force refocusing on the charge, and that he will attend the next Task Force meeting, which is August 27 at 4 p.m. in the City Commission room at City hall.

 

Commissioner Items: No commissioners brought additional items before the LCAC.

 

Staff Liaison: Diane Stoddard reported that Mary Kate Ambler donated a scrapbook about Lawrence arts materials collected over the years. She reported that the City Commission did not approve the budget increase request by the LCAC.

 

Chair Items: The Chair expressed regret that the budget was not funded to the extent requested, given that other budget lines were increased, some significantly. He called the members’ attention to the Lawrence Magazine for August, which focused on the arts: http://magpile.com/lawrence-magazine/aug-13/. The Chair suggested shifting from multiple individual liaison assignments and instead inviting Lawrence arts organizations to address the commission at the beginning of each monthly session. The members agreed that this would be potentially more useful as the whole commission would be able to learn together about current Lawrence arts and cultural organizations’ strategies and needs. Jane Pennington made a motion that the LCAC initiate a serious of presentations by one arts organization per month, in an effort to be more inclusive of the Lawrence Arts community, which was seconded by John Hachmeister and passed unanimously.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.