Cultural District Task Force Minutes

October 28, 2013

Present: KT Walsh, Mandy Enfield, Brenda Nunez; Grace Peterson, Susan Tate

Absent: Mike Logan, Jacki Becker, Cindy Maude, Commissioner Bob Schumm

Others:  Diane Stoddard and Leslie Soden were in attendance

The meeting was called to order.  It was moved by Ms. Enfield and seconded by Ms. Tate to approve the minutes from October 23.  The motion was unanimously approved. 

Ms. Tate distributed a draft portion of the report on economic development.  She highlighted several portions of the section and why the citations were made in the draft.  She described Ann Markusen’s work on creative placemaking and also Richard Florida’s work on the creative class.  The Americans for the Arts report on Arts and Economic Prosperity provides information about economic impact of the arts.  The report provides some general assumptions about arts spending.  She provided a listing of the communities for the models, including links to those communities.  She said that the City of Lawrence website is the first thing that comes up when searching on arts and culture in Lawrence, Kansas.  She said that finding anything out about arts and culture on these websites was difficult, except for the Final Friday’s website.  She said that many community websites did not have anything about arts and culture on them at all.  She suggested that the Columbia and Ames websites had arts and culture information- and those websites are city sponsored websites.  These websites have cultural information.  She was not aware of the specific amount of city funding in these communities. 

Ms. Peterson stated that the Cultural Arts Commission was working on some online resources on to have public art online.  Ms. Tate stated that was a good step. She stated that there needed to be more coordination in this area and make the case for more city investment.  It was suggested to include some more references to the Knight Foundation resources- Soul of the Community.  Ms. Enfield stated that consistent themes through models in the book about community arts and culture placemaking  was an open-minded administrator and desire to take some risks.  Ms. Tate stated that the lack of a longer term mayor was an issue in Lawrence and stated that a group like this group was needed to push this issue forward.  Ms. Tate stated that all of the models will have in common city funding, private funding, and a cultural administrator.  Ms. Tate suggested including several Big 12 cities- Ames and Columbia.  Regarding funding, Ms. Tate stated that she thought it was important to let the City decide on how to fund it, with the group recommending the support for the position.  Ms. Enfield stated that she went to Manhattan to visit the Discovery Center and thought that she didn’t believe that Lawrence had a draw that people would drive several hours for, with the exception of sports.  Ms. Stoddard stated that Lawrence was currently a draw for a large section of the region, including Kansas City where Lawrence was voted the best day trip.  There was some discussion about this and a need to pull Lawrence’s assets together. Ms. Walsh stated that she had some concerns about Richard Florida’s research.

Ms. Tate stated that the Chamber’s focus has been more on manufacturing and they do not think about arts and culture, though they added something about arts and culture to their values.  She asked whether any of the city commissioners or the city manager attended the Phoenix Awards as the City’s signature art event.

Ms. Tate read the first paragraph of the draft.  Ms. Soden stated she was concerned about the definition of economic development.  Ms. Tate suggested that there were tourism and primary jobs as examples of economic development.  Ms. Soden stated that retention of jobs is very important.  There was general support for the content of the draft economic development section.  Several suggestions were made regarding wording of the section that Ms. Tate noted.   

Ms. Enfield asked about formatting the report.  She desired to make it more visually interesting.  Ms. Stoddard confirmed that there is no standard format for a report, as long as the message is clear.  The group discussed about visual images.  Ms. Tate suggested that Ms. Maude may have some ideas about formatting.   Ms. Tate suggested using the cultural district map that the Arts Center created, with the extension of the Burroughs Creek Trail, etc. and this could be provided as an appendix.  Ms. Enfield stated it was important to reinforce that Lawrence is well situated for success related to a Cultural District.  Ms. Enfield stated she could easily pull some visuals together.  Ms. Peterson thought that houses and historic buildings would be good.  Ms. Tate suggested arts sale, and the New York School picnic.  She also thought that showing pictures of sidewalks that need repair would be good.  A photograph of low level lighting would also be good. 

Ms. Tate asked about what meeting this is scheduled for.  Ms. Stoddard stated that the item has not yet been scheduled for an agenda- that would be up to the Mayor.  The group spoke about the presentation of the report and thought that everyone on the committee should have a role.  Ms. Enfield suggested including the original letter showing the broad support for the cultural district. 

Ms. Tate said that she would make edits on the economic development section as discussed.  Regarding the models, she suggesting highlighting common factors and results. 

The next meeting of the Task Force will be held on Wednesday, November 6 at 6 pm-8 pm in the City Commission meeting room.  The group discussed visiting about the presentation to the City Commission at this next meeting. 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 pm.