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10/21/2020 - Meeting Minutes Salt Lake City Arts Council Board Meeting Minutes Wednesday, October 21, 2020 WebEx Online Present: Andrea Ashdown Erika Hill Steve Barth Jared Jones Matthew Castillo Leah Langan Larry Cohen Dave Mortensen Kathy Davis Torle Nenbee Annie Dayton Kat Potter Efren Garcia Susan Koles Rickman Staff Members: Felicia Baca, Arts Division Director Sylvia Richards, City Council Office I. Call to Order and Welcome Guests Mr. Dave Mortensen called the meeting to order at 5:31 PM. Mr. Mortensen read a statement from the city concerning remote convening due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Felicia Baca welcomed Mr. Jared Jones back from active duty on the National Guard. Mr. Jones introduced himself and new board members (Ms. Andrea Ashdown, Ms. Torle Nenbee, Ms. Kathy Davis, Ms. Erika Hill) introduced themselves as well. II. Approve Board Meeting Minutes Mr. Mortensen presented the August board meeting minutes for approval. No changes were recommended. Mr. Larry Cohen motioned to approve the minutes and Mr. Steve Barth seconded the motion. III. Management Update a. Executive Director updates i. Program updates 1. Light Up Locals fund The Arts Division reached their fundraising goal with the emergency fund primarily through sponsorships rather than ticketing sales. Ms. Baca asked for feedback received from the community. Ms. Kat Potter and Mr. Dave Mortensen mentioned that the purpose of the funds could have been clearer. Ms. Annie Dayton mentioned screen fatigue may have affected online attendance for the concert, and also that the regular demographic that attends the concert series may be disproportionately affected by job losses in the pandemic. Ms. Baca asked if the concert would motivate giving in the future, to which Mr. Larry Cohen responded that he would likely donate either way. Ms. Baca stated that the Arts Division is still reconciling some costs,but they are looking to award $29,000 of funding. Ms. Baca said a video was produced to clarify the donation process, but the length of the video could have been more concise. Ms. Susan Koles Rickman suggested for future events to focus the language on"donation"rather than"selling tickets." Ms. Baca is looking at considering $1000 grants in the future because of application burnout from the public and lower applications number for$500. Most applicants should receive funding from this current round, excluding those who weren't eligible. Mr. Efren Garcia recommended diversifying the artist pool by including more disciplines. Ms. Potter suggested to open the applications up to backstage workers, designers, and other essential workers and art producers. 2. CARES funding,wrap and future Ms. Baca shared stats from the last round of funding: 10% were from Historically Underrepresented Communities out of 101 applicants. A possible flaw in these numbers is that people were self- reporting what"HUC" looks like. Council District representation saw much lower representation from Council Districts 1 and 2. The Arts Division has $25,000 of equity-based funding for the future. Ms. Nenbee and Ms. Dayton mentioned that Hispanic and refugee populations are high in Council Districts 1 and 2. Education on how to apply for the grant should be emphasized in the future. Divisions in perception of folk art and traditional art may contribute to underrepresentation as well. Ms. Baca received many tender emails and messages about how these funds helped artists with food and housing. Lessons learned for Light Up Locals and Future Grantmaking: research on respectful and appropriate demographic information collection, research methodologies to increase diversity in outreach and funding, consider geographic parameters of"SLC," accessibility of application and reporting requirements, and assessment of need based on federal relief. Ms. Baca asked if there is a way to open grant applications to artists who don't live in SLC but serve the SLC population. Ms. Dayton and Mr. Matthew Castillo expressed concern about the problems that may be attached to how widely that opens the resources. Mr. Castillo asked if there is a way to serve communities that have been forced out of SLC housing due to cost. Ms. Leah Langan suggested that it might be interesting to partner with other local organizations that do similar work serving artists. Mr. Garcia suggested to take a survey of long-term services in the city to use as a measurement for need. 3. Assistant Director recruitment update The Arts Division did a lot of work to make the application meet equity standards. As of now, there are 175 applications waiting for review. The software had some issues where applicants could not upload attachments, so there is work going on to attach documents to correct applications. There will be board members included in the interview process, but it will take some time to sift through all the applications. ii. Annual Audit presentation (TBD) Annual Audit was postponed to the next board meeting in November. b. Mayor's Office updates (Felicia) Ms. Baca will be emailing a PowerPoint from Mayor's Office that will be a part of our board materials regarding the Open Meetings Act. These materials are supplemental to the training that all board members have taken. There is an RFP out for an Equity Consultant for the city. IV. Budget/Financial Update a. Review of financials and budgets Mr. Castillo stated that financials are looking good, as we are still early in the fiscal year. Cash balances are looking good and money has not been spent besides artists' payments and salaries/wages for various projects. V. Board Updates Mr. Mortensen discussed the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and invited interested members to learn more about what that might be. He is sending an email with a link that provides more information. Mr. Mortensen will also follow up regarding the Board Commitment Letter and gathered notes from the last board meeting. Ms. Baca has a promo video for Living Legacy and will share with the board through email. VI. Arts Event Discussion Ms. Baca attended Mr. Mortensen's play, Cherry Wine &Paper Cups. She also attended a pop-up drive-in movie for Utah Film Center. Mr. Mortensen mentioned the Heartland Collective did a dance show at Red Butte Gardens. Ms. Kathy Davis recommended attending the University of Utah Department of Theatre's Night Witches virtual performance. VII. Public Comment None. VIII. Other Business/Adjourn Mr. Jared Jones offered his time to help with any projects the Arts Council may have. Ms. Potter, as part of the Nominating Committee, asked if anyone can identify people who would be good board members, to let her know. Meeting adjourned at 6:29 PM.