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8/18/2021 - Meeting Minutes Salt Lake City Arts Council Board Meeting Minutes Wednesday, August 18, 2021 WebEx Online Present: Andrea Ashdown Staff: Larry Cohen Felicia Baca Matthew Castillo Kelsey Ellis Kathy Davis Lorena Riffo Jenson Annie Dayton Taylor Knuth Nico Dicou Sara Montoya, City Attorney Erika Hill Sylvia Davis, City Council Staff Sonali Loomba Public: Dave Mortensen none Torle Nenbee Excused: Katherine Potter Susan Rickman Unexcused: none I. Call to Order and Welcome Guests Mr. Dave Mortensen called the meeting to order at ______ PM. II. Approve Board Meeting Minutes – June 2021 No comments or correction to the June minutes. Ms. Torlie Nenbee moved to approve the minutes and Ms. Kathy Davis seconded that motion. III. Programs and Operations Prior to discussing the Living Traditions Festival, Ms. Felicia Baca noted the upcoming Salt Lake City Arts Festival and the Mayor’s Artists Award, which she will be emceeing and reminded Board to send in bios and head shots for the website. A. Living Traditions Wrap 1. Ms. Baca screen-shared a spreadsheet of the financials for the Living Traditions Festival which appears to show a loss for the Festival. She explained that this is because the Zoo, Arts, and Parks funding Division of Arts and Museums general operating support had not yet been allocated and will occur during the annual audit. After allocation, the Festival came in only $758 over budget. The goal for corporate sponsorship was exceeded by $5,595. Vendor fees for food vendors were waived or reduced for this year’s Festival because of COVID. As a result, the earned income was $5254 under the goal for that category. Expense categories where the Festival came in under budget were contracted services, beverage purchases, honoraria fees; overbudget categories included equipment rental because of multiple stages, multiple sites. There are still some payroll taxes, salaries, and wages to be calculated by auditors, but expect to come in a little over because of security and multiple stages, multiple sites. Licenses 1 and permits were overbudget because of multiple stages, multiple sites. Miscellaneous category is for Living Legacy Support Fund. 2. Ms. Baca screen-shared a power point of highlights for the Festival this year, including a partnership Sundance Institute which provided screenings of Latin X films, International Rescue Committee/Spice Kitchen Incubator. The last event was the Taste of Traditions Festival, the food event. The Festival also had food trucks; the food trucks were not charged fees. The Festival also partnered with 12 Minutes Max at the library to focus on the issue of how to represent younger generations of the groups represented at the Festival. The Festival met the challenge of Arts Education for youth by having arts education and youth programs on site, partnering with local groups from the Living Traditions community, which was a huge success and will continue in the future. 3. The Festival also did Open Streets with pop-up screens of Living Traditions videos produced through the year. 4. Recap – 5 events, @ 24,000 attendees, 810 individual artists. It was also the first year with a 10-person steering committee. Also offered on site at the Festival were COID-19 vaccinations, voter registration with the League of Women Voters, the Salt Lake County Office for New Americans. 5. Ms. Baca reviewed what went well: partnerships and programs from within Living Traditions community; digital and video programs, including offerings from the Living Legacy series; the multi-site model. She also reviewed what needs improvement: volunteer engagement; production timelines and organization; educational engagement with the schools. 6. Ms. Baca noted that the 5 events had been live-streamed and recorded. She shared video clips of the livestreaming. Felicia also showed a “thank-you” video from Twig Video. 7. Mr. Taylor Knuth talked about the Living Legacy Support Fund, a three-part program: the Council purchased 35 iPads and distributed them to leaders of the Living Traditions community to be used for multiple purposes, e.g., for business at the Festival, a communications device; and to help them produce a video; the Council hired a videographer to help them film and promote their family, culture, business and edit the video to 1-2 minutes for sharing; the program also reimbursed participants up to $1,000 for expenses. The program also supported the Mayor’s initiative for digital equity. 8. There was also a Tell Your Living Story booth at the Festival, where stories were video-taped. Edited video tapes can be found on the website. 9. Discussion was held on format of the Festival for next year. B. Other Programs Upcoming & Completed: Mondays in the Park; Twilight, Public Art; Finch Lane; Busker Fest; Outreach: HRC Murals, Fleet Block, AFTA Arts & Economic Impact Study 1. Mondays in the Park started August 16, 2021, at the Chase Home Museum, five events through September; 2. Twilight starts August 19, 2021, rain or shine, (city mask mandate for indoors; participants encouraged to be vaccinated and where masks), strict controls for 2 backstage and interactions with musicians and crew (following national lead, at artists requests); thth 3. Public Art – Glendale Park Project (old Raging Waters); 9 S. and 11 E. roundabout (whale; working on outreach with community); Life on State Street Project (light-based). Next batch of projects after approval of CIP budget; Gallery Stroll (masks required at indoor City facilities); 4. Busker Fest was held “open streets” at Sugarhouse Monument Plaza and was a big hit. (Waiting for final report); 5. Homeless Resource Murals are listed on website, three murals completed at City Homeless Resource Centers. A tour is to be held on Friday, August 20, 2021, to finish at Art Barn where there is another mural; 6. Fleet Block has the police brutality murals, an organic community project that has become an important site. Council is working with mayor on future projects and zoning in area. 7. AFTA Arts & Economic Study is done every 5 years, this year it will be the City, County, and State to measure the economic impact of spending by nonprofit and cultural organizations. Volunteer help will be needed to do surveys at various venues and events. C. Operating Agreement, Public Benefit Study, Bylaws 1.A public benefit study has been completed for the use of the Art Barn. There will be an operating agreement between the City and the Arts Council Foundation. Mr. Knuth has been working on this issue. 2. Updated Bylaws are ready for review IV. Budget/Financial Update A. Recently Completed Grants 1.The Council applied for a grant for ARP funds from NEA for regranting - $250,000 2. The Council applied for a grant for ARP funds from Utah Humanities for Living Traditions Support Fund. 3. The non-departmental Q4 report was turned into the City. B. Review of Financials Mr. Matt Castillo stated that overall, the year-end came in strong; we came in high on revenues and low on expenses. Income was budgeted for just under $90,000; actual income was @$176,000. Mr. Castillo complimented the staff on controlling expenses and maintaining sponsorships. The Balance Sheet looks strong also. Ms. Baca indicated we will not get final figures for June year-end statement until ongoing audit is completed. Final figures will probably be close to 1.9 budgeted amount. COVID and lessening of expenses will affect the final numbers. V. Board Updates-Dave Mortensen- Chair A. Grants Committee 3 Ms. Andrea Ashdown reviewed the Grant Committee’s recommendations for General Support and Project Support, as well as the Artist in the Classroom grant recommendations. The Grant Committee reviewed grant applications and met previously on August 2 and 9, 2021. For Project Support requests, there were 45 requests for a total of $245,553. The Grant Committee recommended 34 requests totaling $69,250. Averaged scores placed applicants into 5 tiers; tiers determined a formula for funding, with Tier 5 receiving no funding. Adjustments were made based on prior awards and a percentage of the request. Applicants were scored on areas of inclusion, goals, values, community, and budget. For the General Support requests, there were 29 requests totaling $342,000. The Grant Committee recommended 20 totaling $203,050. Averaged scores placed applicants into 2 tiers rather than 5 tiers as in Project Support above. The tiers determined the formula for funding and all applicants were funded. Adjustments were made as in Project Support and applicants were scored on the same areas. For Artist in the Classroom requests, there were 9 requests totaling $18,000. Averaged scores were placed into 3 tiers. The Grant Committee recommended 9 requests totaling $18,0000. Applicants were scored on the same areas. Total Grants Committee recommendation totaled $290,300. The total Grants budget is $382,500; $32,500 of that is earmarked for Artist Career Empowerment Grants to be distributed in 2022, @$56,000 is earmarked for a second round of Project Support Grants to be distributed by end of 2021. Ten unfunded requests were in the Project Support area received low scored. Ms. Baca noted that as the number of applicants increase, the board should have future discussions on the issues of amounts applicants can request and scoring of applications. The Council anticipated receiving over $1 million in funding requests for this year with only $382,500 to distribute. The Board discussed the scoring process and the recommendations of the Grant Committee. Ms. Ashdown and Mr. Knuth noted that the Council had hired a professional grant writing service with whom grant applicants could consult free of charge. Two workshops on grant writing were offered and Mr. Knuth also offered a virtual grant orientation. Ms. Ashdown asked if any member had a conflict of interest regarding the grant applicants. Mr. Mortenson indicated that he was affiliated with one organization receiving a grant. Ms. Rickman indicated the Grant Committee discussed conflicts of interest during the grant process. Ms. Annie Dayton moved to approve the grant recommendations of the Grant Committee; the Motion was seconded by Ms. Erika Hill. The Motion passed, with 9 members voting in favor, and Mr. Mortenson abstaining. 4 B. General Board Member Recruitment is open (Districts 1 and 7 do not have members representing) and One At-Large position remains open. Board can have more than 15 members. Art and Design board needs two members from District 4 and 6 (public works of art). V. Arts Event Discussion Mr. Mortensen is going to the Davey Fest Ms. Davis went to the Fringe Festival Ms. Baca noted that UMOCA just opened 5 new exhibits, including documentation re: its start in the Art Barn. Mr. Cohen and Ms. Baca went to Craft Lake City. VI. Public Comment There was no public comment. VII. Other Business/Adjourn 5