City of Lawrence
Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission (LCAC)
Monthly Meeting/Retreat, February 23, 2014
Members present: Chair: Grace Peterson, Christie Dobson, Mandy Enfield, Lois Greene, John Hachmeister, Jerry Johnson, Patrick Kelly, Kathy Porsch, Richard Renner, and Katherine Simmons.
Also present: Diane Stoddard, City Liaison
MINUTES
Chair Grace Peterson called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. in the Theatre Lawrence Conference Room at 4660 Bauer Farm Drive.
Action Items:
· The January 8, 2014 minutes were approved as presented.
· The Percent for Art Committee will meet to begin developing a re-draft of Resolution No 6774 prior to the March meeting.
· Diane will provide information about how the City employs TIF funding and tax incentive programs for economic development for the March meeting.
· In consultation with Saralyn Reece Hardy, Director of the KU Museum of Art, which commissioned the Pollinators mural, Jerry Johnson and Mandy Enfield will seek a discussion with Doug Compton, developer of the project on the northeast corner of Ninth and New Hampshire, about mitigation for destruction of the mural that will result from removal of the existing building in order to construct a multistory apartment building.
· Christie Dobson will select some of the best photos from among those she has taken at the Phoenix Awards and provide them to the City Liaison for exhibit on that section of the LCAC’s website.
· John Hachmeister will ask a representative of the KU School of Visual Arts to present at the beginning of the May meeting.
· Christy Dobson will ask a representative of Americana Music Academy to present at the beginning of the June meeting.
· Lois Greene will ask Laura Lynn Bodle to present at the August meeting on the conference on regional dance to be held in Lawrence next fall.
Mandy Enfield made the following motion, which was seconded by Christie Dobson and approved unanimously by the LCAC members present:
The Percent for Art Committee will work with the City Liaison to rewrite Resolution No 6774 in order to clarify the resolution and broaden the scope of Percent for Art funding; and present a draft to the full Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission at the March 12, 2014 meeting.
New Business:
1. Open Meetings Act refresher. Diane presented an overview of the Kansas Open Meetings Act and asked the members to keep in mind that the purpose of the Open Meetings Act is to ensure open government. If a majority of the LCAC members are present and discussing LCAC business, that is a meeting subject to the open meeting act, which requires prior notification of the public. This includes email communications. If a majority of the LCAC members discuss commission business via email encompassing the whole group, this constitutes a serial meeting and violates the Open Meetings Act. If there just happens to be a majority of LCAC members at a public event and the event is not for purposes of discussing LCAC business, that is not an issue so long as they do not discuss LCAC business.
2. 2014 Committee Organization. The LCAC members discussed the configuration of the standing and ad hock committees. Some committees are mandated in the bylaws, including the Executive, Nominating, Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Exhibit, Phoenix Award, and Community Arts Grants Committees. Others are ad hock, such as the City-Owned Art Maintenance Committee and the Percent for Arts Committee, they exist for a period of time for a specific purpose and when the purpose is accomplished are disbanded.
Grace said Percent for Art should be a standing committee so there is an active watch on city programs and early identification of projects appropriate for Percent for Art. There was consensus agreement on this and further discussion was postponed for later in the meeting.
Diane said the nominating committee is tasked with nominating officers on the LCAC, not with recruiting LCAC members. Kathy said recruitment of new LCAC members has been a function of the Chair, with assistance from all LCAC members, and the aim has been to attract volunteers to fill gaps in representation; for example, for a period of time there was no music representation and so there was a specific focus on attracting a volunteer from that constituency. Currently there is one open position and Grace said she had written the Mayor to call his attention to the applications submitted by volunteers to fill the opening.
Mandy suggested that LCAC add a volunteer committee that would get members more engaged in arts events in the committee. We could pick events throughout the year that we would send members to as outreach, she said.
Patrick said we have liaisons to the Lawrence Arts Roundtable and Lawrence Arts Center now and we bring people into our meetings to talk about their organizations. What about combining this and making it an outreach committee that handles getting people in to talk at the commission meetings and organize going out to raise the visibility of the LCAC?
Kathy expressed concern about the time commitment the proposed new committee would require. LCAC members regularly appear at community arts and culture events, she said. I am afraid that formalizing such a committee might cause recruiting issues and overburden existing members. This is an active all-volunteer committee, if the time burden seems too daunting, people may not be willing to make the commitment.
John asked if the aim of such a committee would be to raise visibility or gain information. Mandy said both. John asked how LCAC members would self-identify at events. Having people come in helps give stakeholder buy-in and the Liaisons seem to be designed to get us out to learn what members of the community are doing, he said. Why don't we have a liaison with Theatre Lawrence and School of the Art?
Kathy said liaison relationships are limited by the amount of time they require. Liaisons were established with the Lawrence Arts Roundtable because it encompasses a large cross section of Lawrence arts organizations and with the Lawrence Arts Center because it occupies a central place in the City’s arts programming. The purpose of the Liaisons is to establish and maintain relationships with specified organizations on behalf of the LCAC and bring back relevant information that would not otherwise be easily attainable. It could be argued that the L-Arts Roundtable is the only necessary liaison since it encompasses the Lawrence Arts Center, Theatre Lawrence, and most other arts organizations, she added.
Grace said as Chair of the LCAC she intends to meet with the Mayor or a City Commissioner regularly and focus on making stronger connections to the City Commission. She asked if LCAC needed to create a formal liaison for that purpose. Diane said she didn't think so.
Diane said anyone who has a personal connection to a City Commissioner should definitely make connections, as well. All of the commissioners have equal power, she said. Christie agreed, adding that we need to know what they need from us. Diane said it is like any relationship building and a great way to catch all five of the City Commissioners is to regularly attend the weekly Commission meetings and actively participate. They notice when people are there and speak up, she said.
Kathy suggested that each year when the new mayor comes on board, the LCAC chair or a designated LCAC member sit down with him or her to talk about arts in Lawrence and the mission of the LCAC. This would help to raise the profile of the LCAC and bring home to the new mayor the impact that we have in the community, she said.
Grace asked Katherine to be the Lawrence Arts Center Liaison and she agreed. Jerry Johnson and Christie Dobson joined the Phoenix Award Committee; Patrick Kelly and Jerry Johnson joined the Percent for Art Committee. Lois Greene joined the Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Exhibition (ODSE) Committee. The 2014 committees are as follows:
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Executive Committee Grace Peterson, Chair (gpeterson320@gmail.com) Christie Dobson, Vice Chair (christiedobson@hotmail.com) Kathy Porsch, Secretary (kporsch@sunflower.com)
Outdoor Sculpture Committee John Hachmeister, Chair (hachmeister@ku.edu) Grace Peterson, Vice Chair (gpeterson320@gmail.com) Katherine Simmons (ksimmons@lawrenceks.org) Lois Greene (greene@ku.edu)
City-Owned Art Maintenance Committee Katherine Simmons, Chair and Art Maintenance Liaison with City Staff (ksimmons@lawrenceks.org) Kathy Porsch (kporsch@sunflower.com)
Percent for Art Grace Peterson, Chair (gpeterson320@gmail.com) John Hachmeister (hachmeister@ku.edu) Katherine Simmons (ksimmons@lawrenceks.org) Patrick Kelly (pkelly@usd497.org) Jerry Johnson (jerryfjohnson@gmail.com) |
Nominating Committee Christie Dobson, Chair (christiedobson@hotmail.com) Mandy Enfield (mandy@van-go.org)
Phoenix Award Committee Mandy Enfield, Chair (mandy@van-go.org) Richard Renner (rrenner@vodvill.com) Jerry Johnson (jerryfjohnson@gmail.com) Christie Dobson (christiedobson@hotmail.com) Patrick Kelly (pkelly@usd497.org)
Community Arts Grants Committee Kathy Porsch, Chair (kporsch@sunflower.com) Patrick Kelly (pkelly@usd497.org) Lois Greene (greene@ku.edu)
Lawrence Arts Roundtable Liaison Kathy Porsch (kporsch@sunflower.com)
Lawrence Arts Center Liaison Katherine Simmons (ksimmons@lawrenceks.org)
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3. City Resolution No. 6773, which formed the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission. The LCAC members discussed the enabling resolution and how the role of the LCAC might change with the addition of a city staff position focused on arts and culture. Diane said she sees the new City Director of Arts and Culture position as the city staff member replacing her as the City liaison with the LCAC and the LCAC continuing to fill its current role. The new position would not replace the LCAC, she said. The resolution gives you all a fairly broad scope. It calls upon the LCAC to comment upon anything related to art or that would have an impact on the esthetic of Lawrence. Grace said we will have even greater responsibilities and the better we are organized to help this position be successful the better the individual hired will be set up for success.
Diane said she has made recommendations to the City Manager to send the job announcement out in March or April with applications due in May and interviews to be scheduled for early June, with a hiring decision shortly thereafter. The City Manager ultimately makes the hiring decisions, she said.
John said Diane has done a wonderful job and he is concerned about whether the job description as written in the Cultural District Committee’s final report is quite right for what the assumption was in the past, and perhaps should be looked at carefully before it is posted. My other concern, he said, is who is vetting the applicants. I think this group should be involved as a main stakeholder and it will be critical that we ensure that the diversity represented on the LCAC is reflected in the vetting process. What role will the LCAC have in the hiring process for the Arts Director position? We have a broad representation here and I feel I can make the case that this is an important commission that should have an important role in that selection.
Diane said if the whole LCAC was involved the meetings would have to be open to the public and the size of the search committee would be too large to be practical. The role of the LCAC will be to make recommendations about qualifications, she said. LCAC should provide input into the job description as it is finalized and should indicate how LCAC wants to be engaged in the hiring of the individual. We have the job description that the Task Force suggested. That was pretty thorough, but did not go into detail about specific qualifications, which will have to be added. There is a highly technical element to this job, and that is an element that needs to be in the position description.
Kathy pointed out that the original position description developed by the LCAC when it first made the budgetary request to fund position did have specific required and preferred qualifications, which can be reviewed to see if they still fit the position as currently envisioned.
John said there are two things he thinks about when considering the new position. First, his experience on the Provost search committee was that the committee had to be transparent. Everyone had to be committed to getting the best person hired rather than getting their person hired, and transparency is important to that, he said. It is also important that the persons who are selected on the committee can be trusted never to talk about who applied. Some people might not apply if they know their applications will be made public, he said.
In a city situation, candidates have to know that they are applying to a public entity, Diane said. For these kinds of positions, where there are many stakeholders, we try to incorporate stakeholder input into the process. Usually the job interview processes take these things into consideration. This could involve interviewing processes occurring concurrently, and you-all would be one of the groups that the candidates meet with; or a larger group meeting scheduled with each interview candidate that includes LCAC and other groups important to Lawrence. There could be a public reception and where the candidates each make presentations to the public, so people can feel engaged and have a channel to provide feedback.
Kathy suggested having each of the interview candidates make a short public talk about their vision for the position and offer an online space where the people who attended could provide comments or answer a short series of questions about the candidates, providing an easy way to make their recommendations to the City Manager. Diane said that could work.
John said part of the confusion he is hearing from stakeholders around Lawrence comes from Dolph Simons saying in his Lawrence Journal World column that the position should be someone from the Lawrence Arts Center, and part comes from Susan Tate saying the Lawrence Art Center would come up with some of the money for the position, which has led some Lawrence residents to fear that it would be a Lawrence Arts Center position. He asked if it is possible that a press release go out announcing the position and ensuring that the search process is as transparent as possible.
Diane said the City Director of Arts and Culture will be a City staff position and the position announcement will make this clear. The person hired will have to be a bridge-builder able to make every group feel they are represented, she said. The interview panel will be looking for people who will be consensus builders able to bring people together. The City is highly motivated to ensure that this is a good hire. I think we will put together the right process and we will lean a lot on fit and how this person has demonstrated the ability to build bridges and work effectively with diverse people, she said.
Christie said we have done great things over the years and there have been questions about whether we can be more proactive. Are there things we should be doing and are not, are we doing too much?
Patrick said part of having this new Arts Director position and developing the community wide art and culture plan will be that the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission role may change.
Grace said the commission’s charge is clearly laid out, and we are doing what we are charged with. I feel like having someone make more direct connections with the City Commission and being more proactive in certain areas like Percent for Art will keep us on track, she said.
4. City Resolution No. 6774, which enabled Percent for Art. Diane said the Percent for Art resolution is poorly understood by City staff. It says the City's responsibility is to provide information on capital improvement projects (CIP) for the coming year on or about March 1(SECTION IIIC). March 1st is difficult because the CIP list for the next year is approved in the summer, so on March 1 there is a list from the previous year, but those projects may not be on the radar screen for initiation. If you keep the March 1 date, all I can give you is the CIP for the current budget year and the 5-year CIP, both are old now, she said. It is also confusing to me how some projects are qualifying and some aren't, so we end up splitting hairs over what is and what isn't Percent for Art qualifying. It might make sense for you to look at the planned projects after they are approved each summer and then determine which ones do qualify for Percent for Art.
Richard asked, is what makes it confusing that it is too specific?
Diane said no it is that the resolution requires someone to actually allocate the money based on a specific project. That has been how it has worked much of the time in the past, such as the most recent Percent for Art with the Library, but it doesn’t have to.
She recommended changes to the resolution that do not tie it to the definitions of eligible projects and that it be updated to indicate that the LCAC will receive the CIP budget at the end of the capital budget process and make a recommendation for related expenditures on art for the coming fiscal year. Change it so LCAC makes the recommendations specifically related to the capital improvement projects each year and make it for specific dollar amounts rather than leaving it vague in that up to 2% can be spent on artwork, she said. If you can be more specific in advance about what you'll expect Percent for Art for, it can be better planned for by the City staff. If you all can make specific requests, for example, ask for a specific dollar amount on a specific project and specify what permanent art installation in Lawrence it will pay for, that would be helpful.
In March, you will be discussing and approving your budget request and that will go in April to the City Commission, Diane said. The City Commission wraps up the approval process for the 2015 Fiscal Year budget at the beginning part of August. You might look at the CIP list starting in September and be thinking about it, she said.
Christie said, I feel like knowing what is coming along is key to all this. We need to know what is coming along so we can make suggestions and be proactive in that instead of being surprised by it.
Grace said it seemed like a good idea to formalize a process whereby the CIP list is considered by the Percent for Art committee in August and recommendations are brought to the September LCAC meeting for discussion and approval for the upcoming year. We can then make the requests, state that we want to see public art supported out of these projects, and be as specific as possible about for what.
Diane said if that request could be a dollar amount rather than a percent that would be ideal. If your request is nebulous, it is unlikely to be met with favor, she said. But if you make a specific suggestion for allocating a stated amount of Percent for Art to a specific purpose or project, developing an outdoor performance space, for example, that is more likely to be favorably considered.
Grace asked if a motion was needed and Diane said there should be a motion. She said she would help the Percent for Art committee to meet and come up with a draft revision of the resolution.
Mandy made a motion that the Percent for Art Committee will work with the City Liaison to rewrite Resolution No 6774 in order to clarify the resolution and broaden the scope of Percent for Art funding; and present a draft to the full Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission at the March 12, 2014 meeting. Motion passed unanimously.
Patrick asked if we should consider projects that make use of TIF[1] as qualifying for Percent for Art. The City puts a lot of money into infrastructure for these projects, he said. If the City is committing $5M in tax money to support a development project, then we should be able to ask for Percent for Art.
Diane said the TIF money comes back from the developer and it has to meet very strict, narrow economic development guidelines. It would be difficult because those requests come from outside of the budget process and the budget for them is coming from outside the city budget, she said.
Patrick said there are two projects along the Ninth Street Corridor that, because the developer is doing the work, do not qualify for Percent for Art, but the developer is reimbursed by the City for the work and those funds are tax dollars. We are missing the opportunity to follow this resolution in public-private partnerships and we need to find ways to ensure that the public part of the partnership gets honored and Percent for Art is not ignored, he said.
Mandy said, when it comes to Percent for Art, we are not accomplishing the goals of the program. We need to be more proactive in knowing what is coming up and in moving forward to make the requests. Is the goal of the program to encourage developers to incorporate art or to have City-owned artwork? Katherine said, maybe both. Jerry asked, what are we asking developers to do—to put a sculpture on the side of their building or to fund art in the area?
John said it is important not to give the impression that we're seeking to impose art on their building, but that we're seeking funding for art in the area. We need two things, he said: a vision for what Percent for Art seeks to accomplish and to identify needs.
Mandy asked if, in rewriting the policy, the Percent for Art Committee can make it clear up-front to the developer that Percent for Art is expected so they can build it into their feasibility studies from the beginning instead of it being an afterthought or ignored entirely. Maybe LCAC should suggest that the City Commission consider adding language about including art in these developments into the existing City language in the documents that developers must follow when making requests for TIF and other City development partnerships, she said. Diane said that would be a challenge.
Patrick said if a project is going to destroy artwork, we might have to think about the question of if the City is going to help pay for a project that is going to destroy art. The Pollinators mural is an artwork on a building that a developer is going to destroy and the City is giving that developer millions in development work.[2] I struggle with giving my tax dollars to something that is destroying a piece of artwork, he said. Patrick asked if this would be something to go directly to the Lawrence City Commission about. We've talked about making the Ninth Street Corridor an artistic space, but if the work is all done through public-private partnership, then we miss out on any opportunity for Percent for Art to fund public art, unless we change how we approach this, he said. It might be an easier pill to swallow if the developer was adding funding for artwork to the community, but in this case, there is nothing to mitigate what is being destroyed.
Diane said there are issues with Percent for Art on projects like the Ninth and New Hampshire developments because TIF is based on the premise that the development would not happen without the partnership, and that has to be proven mathematically. If a project is that strapped for cash, then it would be very hard to show the validity of spending funds on art, she said. In the Cultural District, some of that planning for how you want that area to feel has to be done in a global way. When we have development that occurs we make developers put in our lighting and parking according to our esthetic and they pay for that, she added.
There will be a public hearing on April 8th for the North Ninth and New Hampshire project, Diane said. LCAC can go and recommend that preservation of Pollinators should be part of the redevelopment plan, but the building the mural is on will not remain. It is unrealistic to ask for it to be kept because the building is being replaced, she said.
Mandy said the developer should agree to contribute to public art due to the public art being destroyed. We need to find out what the mural cost and get an estimate about what it would cost to recreate it, she said. Jerry said he knows the developer and would be glad to have a conversation with him about the situation. Mandy said she would be glad to join him after talking with Saralyn Reece Hardy, Director of the Spencer Museum of Art, which commissioned the Pollinators mural.
Diane said that whenever artwork is placed on a privately held building, the City has no control over what happens to it in the future. If Pollinators is recreated, the City would want it to be on City-owned property where it can be protected, she said. What you may not know, she added, is that part of the development agreement was that the Salvation Army building will be purchased and turned over to the City for public art space connected with the Lawrence Arts Center.
Under the proposed new schedule, the Percent for Art Committee will be able to hone in on the capital improvement budget starting in September each year and develop a plan going forward for approval by March to be submitted to the City commission. However, Diane said, the CIP does not include TIF projects. The City is reactive to TIF projects, she said. Developers come to the City and make requests and these are deferred tax types of things. The developer pays all the costs upfront and gets paid back by reduced taxes for a specified period of time.
Diane said she will provide the LCAC with information about how the City employs TIF funding and tax incentive programs for economic development for the March 12th meeting. Regarding TIF, any language about Percent for Art related to TIF projects should go into the economic development resolutions, which are what developers read, she said.
Patrick said he has been on the City Planning Commission for six months and will have to disclose his participation in this discussion.
Old Business:
Presenters already scheduled were announced and possible presenters for future meetings were identified:
· March: Better Blocks
· April: Ben Ahlvers on the Art Place Grant for the Ninth Street Corridor and Marlo Angell on the Free State Festival.
· May: John Hachmeister will ask a representative of the KU School of Visual Arts to present at the beginning of the May meeting.
· June: Christy Dobson will ask a representative of Americana to present at the beginning of the June meeting.
· August: Lois Greene will ask Lauralyn Bodle to present at the August meeting on the Country Dance and Song Society’s Centennial Tour events, which will take place in seven locations (five in the US, two in Canada) in 2015, including Lawrence, see http://www.cdss.org/centennial-tour.html. The Lawrence Barn Dance Association is hosting the event, which will take place in November 2015.
Committee and Liaison Reports:
Outdoor Downtown Sculpture Exhibit Committee: Chair John Hachmeister reported that there are 41 entries this year and the selection will be difficult. It was suggested that the ODSE committee consider recommending to the city procurement if there are pieces in the annual exhibit that seem to meet the standards. Grace said the need for maintenance on existing city-owned art needs to be addressed before LCAC suggests further procurement.
Phoenix Awards Committee: Chair Mandy Enfield and Christie Dobson discussed exhibiting photos that Christie has taken at the Phoenix Awards being exhibited. Christie said she will select some of the best photos she has taken and provide them for use on the Phoenix Awards section of the LCAC’s website.
The meeting adjourned at 4:25 p.m.
[1] Tax increment financing or TIF is a public financing method that dedicates tax increments within a certain defined district to finance the debt that is issued to pay for the project. Essentially, TIF uses future gains in taxes to subsidize current improvements, which are projected to create the conditions for the gains. TIF was designed to channel funding toward improvements in distressed, underdeveloped, or underutilized parts of a jurisdiction where development might otherwise not occur. http://gsh.cityofshawnee.org/pdf/finance/economic_ks_tif_book.pdf
[2] On July 24, 2012, the City Commission approved a total city investment of $11.8 million over an approximately 20-year period for northeast and southeast Ninth and New Hampshire developments proposed by Doug Compton and Mike Treanor, all to come from new taxes generated by the new development. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/jul/25/city-supports-12-million-incentives-ninth-new-hamp/ The construction on the northeast corner will result in the destruction of the Pollinators mural, which was commissioned by the Spencer Museum of Art and completed in September 2007. The 20-feet-tall by 65-feet-wide mural overlooks the Farmers Market in the 800 block of New Hampshire and features images of black artists who were either born in Kansas or lived in the state, including Gordon Parks, Aaron Douglas, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Coleman Hawkins, Hattie McDaniel and Oscar Micheaux, as well as monarch butterflies, hummingbirds, honeybees, and wild flowers. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/sep/26/downtown_mural_unveiled_today/