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12/14/2022 - Meeting Minutes Salt Lake City Arts Council Board Meeting Minutes December 14, 2022 54 Finch Lane, Salt Lake City, Utah WebEx Online Present: Josanne Glass Ebay Hamilton Thomas Kessinger Sarah Longoria Torle Nenbee Cale Newhouse Susan Rickman Not present: Andrea Ashdown Kathy Davis Sonali Loomba Richard Taylor Excused: Marti Woolford Katherine Potter Guests: Kelsey Ellis, SLAC Staff Taylor Knuth, SLAC Staff Jeanette Newhouse Sylvia Richards, Salt Lake City Council Staff Member Lorena Riffo-Jensen, Director of Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development IN I. Call to Order Ms. Susan Rickman, Chair of the Board, called the meeting to order at 5:35pm. II. Approval Board Meeting Minutes Mr. Josanne Glass moved to approve the November board meeting minutes. Ms. Torle Nenbee seconded the motion. Minutes were approved unanimously. III. Arts Event Discussion A. Ms. Rickman arrived early to the meeting and strolled around the Finch Lane Gallery, admiring Rob Chipman's reduction linocut prints, saying "they're beautiful," as well as Steve Creson's photography. She also engaged with many holiday markets and is happy that there are so many opportunities for artists to sell their wares in our community. B. Ms. Glass attended the opening for Finch Lane Gallery's current exhibit. C. Mr. Thomas Kessinger was excited to collaborate with local musician Lindsay Heath to create a "heavy of version of Little Drummer Boy" D. Ms. Lorena Riffo-Jensen attended an art market at the Gateway Mall. E. Mr. Taylor Knuth attended the Utah Division of Arts & Museum's Statewide Annual Exhibition at Ogden Contemporary Arts, which he highly recommended. IV. Management A. Program/Administrative Updates 1. Ms. Rickman let the board know that Executive Director Ms. Felicia Baca broke her arm and wrist while disco roller skating, which is why she was not present at the meeting. She encouraged the board to send her some well-wishes. 2. Ms. Rickman introduced new board member Mr. Ebay Hamilton, and asked him to let the board know a little bit about himself. Mr. Hamilton told the board that he is a long-time resident of Salt Lake City's west side, currently living in the Glendale neighborhood. He has never been a member of a nonprofit board before, but has worked closely with the board of local public radio station KRCL, where he is a staff member. He has spent some time in the Art Barn, taking arts classes through the University of Utah Continuing Education program. He was excited to hear our arts event discussion, saying it will encourage him to attend more arts events. He let us know that Ebay is his birth given name, and that he was named after a cameo character in an episode of the sitcom Good Times. Ms. Rickman told him "Thank you for being here, and for being on the board. We're glad to have you." 3. Mr. Knuth let the board know that Ms. Baca is limiting her email correspondence, due to her broken arm and wrist, and to email him instead, or give Ms. Baca a call. 4. Mr. Knuth shared that the call for artists to join the Public Art pool of artists closed today. There were many many applicants, and the artists in this pool are chosen for a variety of projects for the City of Salt Lake. 5. There is currently a call for artists for the 400 South Project, which is a envisioning of the pedestrian bridge, and connection of the east and west sides of 400 South. 6. The Whale, public art piece in the 9th & 9th neighborhood, was voted by Axios as one of Salt Lake City's 8 "Power Players of the Year". 7. Members of the Grants Committee were encouraged to get their reviews in, for the current Project Support Grant applications. 8. Special Project Coordinator Shawnee Johnson coordinated the Mayor's holiday card this year. Local artists Ann Chen created the design for the card. 9. Salt Lake Arts Council staff is in the middle of planning for the Living Traditions Festival. Ms. Dawn Borchardt will soon be posting about half a dozen seasonal, part-time job openings. Board members were asked to share the information with those who might be interested. Mr. Knuth said "we have a really fun team and Dawn is a really great leader." They are also looking for corporate sponsors for the Living Traditions Festival. 10. The Arts Council will soon be signing a contract with S & S presents for the 2023 Twilight Concert Series. The company will be booking shows in June this year, which will have a budgetary impact for this fiscal year. The organization does have the funds to cover the expenses for these shows in June. In January there will be a vote to have a budgetary resolution regarding this topic. Mr. Kessinger asked "Was the idea of booking shows in June to expand access to more artists?" Staff members agreed that this was the reason for booking in June. 11. Last year, the Arts Council received an NEA grant for$20,000 for the Living Traditions Festival, and this year it received $50,000. 12. The Arts Council also received a grant from the Utah Division of Arts & Museums which was the same as last year's grant, but was not projected to be the same in the budget. It adds an additional $16,000 to what was projected in the budget. 13. Ms. Lorena Riffo-Jensen announced that the city's Department of Economic Development is currently hiring a full-time Project Coordinator position. V. Review of Financials Mr. Cale Newhouse said that 5 months into the fiscal year, nothing jumps out as being dramatically out of line with the budget. Everything looks good. Many of those budget items talked about earlier in the meeting will be looked at in January. VI. Board A. Ms. Rickman again welcomed Mr. Hamilton as a new board member, along with Ms. Marti Woolford, who was out of town and could not be present at the meeting. Another new board member, Kate Jarman Gates, was just appointed last night, and so was not yet invited to this meeting. B. There was an amendment to the bylaws, adding language that makes it legal to hold meetings in a hybrid format, both in-person and online. Mr. Kessinger made a motion to adopt this change into the bylaws. Ms. Glass seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously. C. The board is still in need of new members from Districts 4 and 7, and is looking for all kinds of diversity. Mr. Knuth gave a shout out to Ms. Glass for leading the recruitment of new board members and doing a great job with interviews. Mr. Hamilton also applauded Ms. Glass for keeping him and other candidates updated during the entire onboarding process. VI I. Other Business Mr. Knuth let the board know about some capital improvement projects that the Arts Council is involved in, including some sidewalk repair that will include stamped, site specific concrete all over Salt Lake City, and some improvements of the basketball courts at Liberty Park. The board members all received Salt Lake Arts Council tote bags designed by artist Ann Chen, along with fabric markers, to color them in, water bottles, and a sticker. Ms. Rickman thanked everyone on the board for serving, and wished everyone a happy holiday. Mr. Hamilton moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Kessinger seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 6:04pm.