Chambana Sun

Urbana Public Arts Commission met March 14.

Here is the minutes as provided by the Commission:

1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM 

The Urbana Public Arts Commission was called to order at 4:30 p.m. by Ms. Sammann. Ms. Reid took roll and a quorum was declared present. 

2. CHANGES TO AGENDA 

There were none. 

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING 

The minutes of the February 14, 2017 meeting were reviewed by the Commission. With no changes proposed, Mr. Sammann made a motion to approve the minutes. Ms. Hedlund seconded the motion. All Commission members present were in favor of approval and the minutes were unanimously approved as presented. 

4. PUBLIC INPUT 

There was none.

5. COMMUNICATIONS 

• Presentation by Staff: Monthly Progress Report 

Mr. White presented the City staff’s monthly progress report to the Commission, outlining projects in process, recent requests and recommendations from the public, staff activities, and upcoming events.

For an update on current projects, she reported the following:

• With regard to Artist of the Corridor, Mr. White reported that the current show features landscape paintings and drawings by Lori Fuller. The opening reception was on December 14th from 5:00-6:30pm and was attended by approximately 25 people. Lori’s exhibition will run up until March 3, 2017. The next Artist of the Corridor is scheduled to be Rusty Clevenger exhibiting his student’s artwork. He is still in the process of collecting the artwork, but planning on displaying their work by the end of March. 

• With regard to Art Now, Mr. White reported that in March, Art Now highlights the work of Capoeira Angola Center. Aisha and Denis Chiaramonte describe their work in the field of Capoeira. Episodes are aired every Monday at 6:30pm, with reruns every Tuesday at 11:00 pm, and are available on YouTube. The April episode will feature Guen Montgomery. All Art Now episodes can be found online on the Art Now YouTube channel or http://www.urbanaillinois.us/artnow. 

• With regard to Urbana Public Television, Mr. White reported that UPTV will receive two awards at the 5th Annual Best of the Midwest Media Fest and Awards Banquet which recognizes the best community access television programs in the Midwest on Thursday, April 6th. 

• UPTV community producer Jacob Bernard will receive an award for the 3rd straight year for his work producing a promotional video about UPTV. 

• Art Now will receive an Achievement Award in the professional category Short Film Documentary/Featurette thanks to Production Coordinator Jason Liggett and his work on Episode #71 featuring Judith Johnson. 

• With regard to the Urbana Sculpture Project, Mr. White reported that a web-based, downloadable sculpture guide is now available for download on the city website at urbanaillinois.us/sculptures. Postcard-sized flyers are also being distributed to promote the new sculptures throughout the city. 

• With regard to Open Scene, Mr. White reported that four artists have been selected to lead weekend intensives at the IMC with youth and adult participants. The artists include Derek Linzy, Andrea Perkins, Mother Nature, and Hill L. Waters/Lisa Fay. These weekend intensives will include arts workshops, dialogues, and public showcases to explore themes of social justice and community development through a variety of artistic disciplines. Public events will take place on selected Fridays from 6pm to 8 pm, and on selected Sundays from 2 pm to 4pm. All events will take place at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC). A full schedule of dates and times is below:

Open Scene Schedule Derek Linzy (music composition) Friday, Feb. 24th, 6-8pm, UCIMC Sunday, Feb. 26th, 2-4pm, UCIMC Andrea Perkins (storytelling) Friday, March 10th, 6-8pm, UCIMC Sunday, March 12th, 2-4pm, UCIMC Mother Nature (hip-hop performance) Friday, March 24th, 6-8pm, UCIMC Sunday, March 26th, 2-4pm, UCIMC Hill L. Waters/ Lisa Fay (theatre) Friday, April 14th, 6-8pm, UCIMC Sunday, April 16th, 2-4pm, UCIMC

• With regard to Boneyard Celebration, Mr. White reported that this year, for the 2017 Boneyard Celebration on Saturday, April 8, 2017 we will have Fish Painting, a performance by the C4A children’s choir, a walking puppet show by Anne Newman, and bubble making programming for children. 

• With regard to Marketing, Mr. White reported that the program’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts now have 1,345 page likes (an increase of 13 likes), 1,896 followers (an increase of 16 followers), and 436 followers (an increase of 23 followers), respectively from last month. There are two Urbana Public Arts Program ads featured on SmilePolitely.com, which promote Art Now and the 2017 Boneyard Arts Celebration. 

• With regard to Urbana Arts Grants Program, Mr. White reported that this year, we received 46 applications requesting $151,605, while this is a strong showing; it is a decrease in total number of applicants from last year and amount requested. Last year’s cycle we received 62 applications requesting a total of $193,566.86. With the support of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) in the amount of $500, and an additional $500 contribution from Katie & Leon Harrell, the total amount available for funding this cycle is $48,000. This year, 30 applications were selected for funding. An announcement ceremony to announce the winners of this year’s grant is currently being planned for Friday, April 7th at Pizza M (More details to follow). 

• With regard to the Public Arts Coordinator Position, Mr. White reported that the deadline to apply to the Public Arts Coordinator position was Sunday, March 5th. A total of 62 applications were submitted and the interview process will commence in April . 

• The date for the next Public Arts Commission meeting is set for Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 4:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. 

• Discussion: Urbana Arts Grants Program 2017 Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. Mr. White stated that he had included the Urbana Arts Grants Program 2017 Grant Recipient List in the packet, and that the Commission could look that over. Ms. Sammann asked if any Commission member who participated on the jury wished to share their experience. Ms. Harrell shared a few comments with the Commission. 

• Discussion: FY 2018 Arts Program & Commission Visioning

Ms. Sammann introduced this agenda item. She stated that the Commission members would sit down and talk about the Commission, their roles in it, and how they see it fitting into the community. A quick ice-breaker took place prior to the visioning session. After the ice-breaker, members of the Commission had an open discussion covering questions on their vision for high success. Following the discussion, Mr. Boys stated that all the information gathered that evening would be summarized, and used to discuss things that the Commission would like to see changed next year after the hiring of a new Public Arts Coordinator. He stated that more information would be brought to the Commission at the April meeting. A brief discussion between members of the Staff and Commission ensued.

6. OLD BUSINESS 

There was none. 

7. NEW BUSINESS 

There was none. 

8. ANNOUNCEMENTS  

There were none. 

9. ADJOURNMENT