WEBVTT 00:00:00.194 --> 00:00:08.271 - I call this meeting to order. Thank you all for being here. It's good to see you. So moving on to, 00:00:08.271 --> 00:00:16.430 - I guess, the second agenda, but the first thing that we're going to discuss are the minutes for the 00:00:16.430 --> 00:00:24.670 - August meeting have been distributed in red. Are there any sort of noted corrections to the minutes? 00:00:27.682 --> 00:00:36.312 - So yeah, Betsy did a great job of... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, sorry you had to watch me cry. Yes. Yes, no, 00:00:36.312 --> 00:00:45.028 - I... I think it was great. Okay, good. Okay, excellent. I'm gonna go ahead and motion to approve the 00:00:45.028 --> 00:00:54.003 - minutes. Can I get a second? Second. Thank you. So all in favor of approving the minutes, say aye. Aye. 00:00:54.003 --> 00:00:55.902 - Any opposed, say nay. 00:00:56.706 --> 00:01:09.849 - All right, the minutes are approved. Thank you again, Betsy. And now Holly with a quick update on the 00:01:09.849 --> 00:01:20.158 - BAC financials. Hello, everyone. No changes since last month. Always the folks. 00:01:20.354 --> 00:01:27.486 - changes to our funds since last month. Of our total allocation, we've still just spent a total of $62,983 00:01:27.486 --> 00:01:34.281 - from our arts project grant cycle. We ended up awarding 57 artistic advancement grant applicants. We 00:01:34.281 --> 00:01:41.076 - voted on that at last month's meeting. Woohoo! All of those applicants have been notified, and we'll 00:01:41.076 --> 00:01:47.871 - be getting out the MOUs in the next couple of weeks. And then we will be issuing those payments. And 00:01:47.871 --> 00:01:49.822 - once those payments get out, 00:01:49.954 --> 00:01:59.780 - we will see another decrease in those funds. I think we allocated between $70,000 and $80,000 for that 00:01:59.780 --> 00:02:09.320 - cycle, which was what we had planned on. I'll let Leila talk about how competitive and difficult it 00:02:09.320 --> 00:02:10.846 - was during her. 00:02:11.298 --> 00:02:18.610 - grant report. So we've still got one more grant cycle to go. That's our operations cycle. That closes 00:02:18.610 --> 00:02:25.779 - next Friday. And we have a nice chunk of money that's a mix of City of Bloomington general fund and 00:02:25.779 --> 00:02:33.163 - local income tax funds and Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association funds to cover those applications. 00:02:33.163 --> 00:02:40.332 - I'm looking forward to another exciting grant review session for those. As you know, in addition to 00:02:40.332 --> 00:02:41.264 - our funds we 00:02:41.264 --> 00:02:49.612 - for grants every year. We've got a couple different pots of money. We've got $5,000 allocated for a 00:02:49.612 --> 00:02:58.295 - couple more public art and artistic advancement development workshops that will happen later this year. 00:02:58.295 --> 00:03:06.142 - And we've got right now $16,500 allocated for public art grants. That's a fund that we've let 00:03:06.338 --> 00:03:15.557 - The Public Arts Subcommittee kind of have reigned over and we will be talking about spending that money 00:03:15.557 --> 00:03:24.510 - in this Friday's Public Arts Subcommittee meeting. I am happy to answer any questions about money at 00:03:24.510 --> 00:03:33.374 - this time. Great. Okay. And Holly, back to you for agenda item number three, updates from the city. 00:03:35.682 --> 00:03:45.749 - of fun month. The only thing I'm going to report is so the budget hearings for the city of Bloomington 00:03:45.749 --> 00:03:55.914 - happens in August. No big surprises over all city departments were asked to make cuts just given what's 00:03:55.914 --> 00:03:58.846 - going on with state bill SE1. 00:03:58.978 --> 00:04:07.187 - Luckily, there were no cuts proposed to the arts budget, so we're very lucky about that. Yeah, I think 00:04:07.187 --> 00:04:15.397 - that's a good sign. Our administration understands the value of the arts. Yay. And so that information 00:04:15.397 --> 00:04:23.367 - has been presented to council, and now council still has to vote on the budget. I never want to see 00:04:23.367 --> 00:04:25.758 - everything that's going to be 00:04:25.858 --> 00:04:32.173 - fine until it's voted and approved and the state said yes, which will happen at the very end of this 00:04:32.173 --> 00:04:38.739 - year. But I haven't had any questions from council about any arts lines, and I take that as a good sign. 00:04:38.739 --> 00:04:40.990 - So I will just keep you all posted. 00:04:41.090 --> 00:04:46.707 - as that approval process moves forward. And so basically, as long as everything is approved, I will 00:04:46.707 --> 00:04:52.381 - have the same amount of money for grants as I did this year, and the same amount of money for public 00:04:52.381 --> 00:04:58.167 - art projects as I did this year as well. And some budget lines, we give annual allocations to both the 00:04:58.167 --> 00:05:03.897 - Buskirk Chalming Theater and Constellation Stage and Screen, who runs our Walden Arts Center, because 00:05:03.897 --> 00:05:08.222 - those are city-owned facilities, and we just want to make sure that they can 00:05:08.738 --> 00:05:17.125 - operates and also keep up with inflation and other things. That's all I have for city updates right 00:05:17.125 --> 00:05:25.848 - now. OK. For our next agenda item, I'm happy to introduce Carol Rhodes and Henry Leck from Pillar Arts, 00:05:25.848 --> 00:05:34.654 - the group formerly known as the Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington. They're going to share a bit about 00:05:34.914 --> 00:05:41.662 - of the work that they do. And then there will be some time for any questions or comments from commissioners. 00:05:41.662 --> 00:05:48.348 - So I give the floor to you all. Thank you all for learning about us today. I'm going to start out basically 00:05:48.348 --> 00:05:54.848 - with a mission, give you some history in where we are today. The mission of Pillar Arts is to strengthen 00:05:54.848 --> 00:06:01.286 - and sustain the arts by connecting artists, cultural organizations, and artistic endeavors with patrons 00:06:01.286 --> 00:06:02.462 - and the community. 00:06:03.042 --> 00:06:11.922 - Next slide. We do have a vision where we envision a safe environment where artists feel empowered and 00:06:11.922 --> 00:06:20.802 - supported in an involving and engaged arts community. And Henry will talk about the history next, and 00:06:20.802 --> 00:06:30.814 - you'll learn how we do this. So there was a Bloomington Area Arts Council that folded because of financial issues. 00:06:31.234 --> 00:06:39.907 - 2010, this Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington was formed. It's a large group of practicing artists 00:06:39.907 --> 00:06:48.752 - and arts advocates. About 2011, they became incorporated. And then in 2012, they actually changed from 00:06:48.752 --> 00:06:54.334 - a steering committee to a group representing certain art genres. 00:06:54.914 --> 00:07:04.085 - Then in 2014, they received a 501C3 not-for-profit status. Next. So in 2016, then they officially created 00:07:04.085 --> 00:07:12.824 - a board of directors and were voted to replace the steering committee that had been there before. So 00:07:12.824 --> 00:07:21.476 - there are a lot of activities that went on between 2016 and 2021. But in 2021, a new event occurred 00:07:21.476 --> 00:07:24.158 - where we rented a space in the 00:07:24.482 --> 00:07:31.610 - College Mall. It was called Art Beat. And that was opened until the COVID closures occurred. Then we 00:07:31.610 --> 00:07:39.020 - moved over to another space called the Arts Alliance Center. In 2022, Arts Forward, which is an advocacy 00:07:39.020 --> 00:07:46.219 - group merged with the Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington, created a unified organization to support 00:07:46.219 --> 00:07:53.982 - artists and be advocates for performance space and development. And in 2025, which has been a very full year, 00:07:54.082 --> 00:08:03.551 - The Byhand Gallery was ready to close. And to prevent it from closing, we took over the management and 00:08:03.551 --> 00:08:12.929 - ownership of Byhand Gallery. And then from there, we started looking at rebranding Pillar Arts. Next. 00:08:12.929 --> 00:08:22.398 - Yeah, from the outset, from the very beginning, Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington, now Pillar Arts, 00:08:22.594 --> 00:08:32.776 - identified six distinct art groups, and our board has been made up of representatives from those six 00:08:32.776 --> 00:08:43.562 - forms of art, visual arts, music, literary arts, dance, theater, and film galleries and venues. We realize 00:08:43.562 --> 00:08:50.014 - that arts are changing, however, and we're starting to adapt to 00:08:50.242 --> 00:08:58.117 - new technologies and a mixture of these multimedia kinds of things. So we are hopefully adapting to 00:08:58.117 --> 00:09:05.992 - the times. And on to Henry. Next. So recently, actually in February, we were evicted from our space 00:09:05.992 --> 00:09:14.025 - at the Arts Alliance Center because we were paying low rent and had to make the decision, do we close 00:09:14.025 --> 00:09:19.774 - or do we move? And they said, well, we have the Victoria's Secret space. 00:09:20.258 --> 00:09:26.770 - which was near demolition condition. It was in horrible shape. It had been a laser tag place painted 00:09:26.770 --> 00:09:33.411 - bright blue, yellow, and orange. And there was stuff all over. The pipes were leaking. The thermostats 00:09:33.411 --> 00:09:40.051 - weren't working. And so we've invested about $10,000 in remodeling and updating that. And so now we've 00:09:40.051 --> 00:09:46.563 - more than doubled our size. This is about 8,900 square feet. That involves about six galleries, an X 00:09:46.563 --> 00:09:50.238 - special exhibit space, and a performance workshop space. 00:09:50.722 --> 00:09:57.707 - So we're now at right near Target store, but we're kind of at the end of the mall. Less traffic, but 00:09:57.707 --> 00:10:04.622 - more space. Next. So this space is all volunteers supported. We do pay a contractor who manages the 00:10:04.622 --> 00:10:11.537 - two galleries, but galleries are run by volunteers. And right now it actually is a challenge for us 00:10:11.537 --> 00:10:19.006 - to stay open every day because the space is so big. We have to have two volunteers to manage all the space. 00:10:19.170 --> 00:10:26.559 - We're working on that. There are currently 48 artists that display their goods in that space. We have 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:33.804 - then monthly exhibits going on. And there is a jury process for artists to be in there. But there's 00:10:33.804 --> 00:10:41.338 - also a performance space, which is now 30 foot by 30. And we can seat about double the number of people 00:10:41.338 --> 00:10:48.510 - we could seat in the other space. Next. In February of this year, we acquired filler arts by hand. 00:10:48.738 --> 00:10:58.681 - They were ready to retire their downtown in Fountain Square. And now Byhand is part of Pillar Arts. 00:10:58.681 --> 00:11:08.723 - Byhand Gallery was established in 1974 as an artist-owned collaborative. So it's been in Bloomington 00:11:08.723 --> 00:11:16.478 - for over 45 years. And it showcases more than 100 local and regional artists. 00:11:17.378 --> 00:11:27.234 - By acquiring Pillar Arts by hand, we now can participate in Gallery Walk on Fridays, which is very good 00:11:27.234 --> 00:11:37.090 - for us. And we also have artwork in the Commons area around the fountain. The owners are still involved 00:11:37.090 --> 00:11:47.230 - and advising and a good relationship all the way around. So we're very happy to have By Hand Gallery next. 00:11:48.290 --> 00:11:55.841 - So the question, oh, there's one more slide for you. Well, actually, that is what I said. So why pillar 00:11:55.841 --> 00:12:03.175 - arts? We have a little double thing going on there. We had looked at our logo. It's Arts Alliance of 00:12:03.175 --> 00:12:10.435 - Greater Wilmington. It was in script. Younger people don't read script anymore. And it had a heart. 00:12:10.435 --> 00:12:15.518 - And it kind of identified us as being an old people Sunday afternoon. 00:12:15.714 --> 00:12:22.042 - white hair group, and we wanted to relate more to the ongoing edge of art in our city. So we went back 00:12:22.042 --> 00:12:28.248 - to try to redo the logo. And then we decided, Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington is too many words 00:12:28.248 --> 00:12:34.515 - for a logo. So we have on our board Ryan Irwin, who's done a lot of the logo work in town, hot scotch 00:12:34.515 --> 00:12:41.150 - and various places like that. And we went through a long process of finding words where we could get a URL. 00:12:41.282 --> 00:12:47.833 - space, and would be representative for us, and came up with the word Pillar. So Pillar Arts is now our 00:12:47.833 --> 00:12:54.194 - new name. We're still Arts Alliance for Greater Bloomington. We're a DBA of Pillar Arts. And one of 00:12:54.194 --> 00:13:00.109 - the things we had to do was rebuild the website. So we now have a Pillar Arts. It used to be 00:13:00.109 --> 00:13:06.596 - BloomingtonArts.org, but now it's PillarArts.org website. It was launched in July of 2025. And as you 00:13:06.596 --> 00:13:07.614 - can see, it has 00:13:07.746 --> 00:13:13.796 - A lot of improvements to it. There's a bi-weekly rotation of member spotlights in it. We've incorporated 00:13:13.796 --> 00:13:19.615 - the directory into the site. We've had an interaction home page, which connects viewers of all kinds 00:13:19.615 --> 00:13:25.781 - to the resources. Our audience are artists and art organizations, community members, learners, supporters. 00:13:25.781 --> 00:13:31.773 - So we've tried to modernize the site. And proud to say, over 3,300 individual pages views have occurred 00:13:31.773 --> 00:13:35.230 - since we've launched the site. And 95% of those site visits 00:13:35.490 --> 00:13:48.770 - are new or not returning. Next slide, please. We have a number of books. OK. And then we have the arts 00:13:48.770 --> 00:14:01.534 - directory. Excuse me. I'm going to lose my voice. Go ahead. We do have an art directory, which has 00:14:01.698 --> 00:14:09.729 - consists of artist members, artists who are not members of the organization, organizations. Basically, 00:14:09.729 --> 00:14:17.916 - we have individual artists and organizations. And you don't have to be a member of Pillar Arts to belong 00:14:17.916 --> 00:14:22.750 - to the directory. So all artists are able to advertise there. 00:14:22.946 --> 00:14:29.898 - It is a guide to the people and places, creativity and limited. Yeah, and we have about 53 artists on 00:14:29.898 --> 00:14:36.646 - it and non-members are on it. There are about 38 organizational members and about seven non-member 00:14:36.646 --> 00:14:43.461 - organizational members. So the directory is growing and building and becoming more effective. Next. 00:14:43.461 --> 00:14:50.686 - Okay. We have some online resources. We have a bi-weekly newsletter that has more than 1,300 subscribers. 00:14:50.818 --> 00:15:00.588 - And we have a blog that's fairly active. Next. We also have a local and regional events calendar. It 00:15:00.588 --> 00:15:11.422 - started as a small endeavor a few years ago, and it's become very, very popular. Anyone can enter any activity. 00:15:11.554 --> 00:15:19.915 - about the arts in our events calendar. And according to our executive director, and I don't know exactly 00:15:19.915 --> 00:15:27.879 - where he got this data, it is the second most popular calendar in the area. So I advise you look at 00:15:27.879 --> 00:15:36.638 - it. It's just chock full of good things to do. Next. So in addition to having galleries, we support projects. 00:15:37.026 --> 00:15:43.418 - and different activities, for instance, Paint Bloomington, the youth arts camp we did last summer. We 00:15:43.418 --> 00:15:50.060 - support the Bloomington Portrait Group weekly. We were a supporter in Godzilla Weekend. We have a program 00:15:50.060 --> 00:15:56.452 - called Pilot Lights Incubator Program, which has been going on with Charles, meeting regularly online 00:15:56.452 --> 00:16:02.969 - with various innovators. And we've been actively working with IU Creatives in the IU Innovates Program, 00:16:02.969 --> 00:16:05.726 - creating a networking club on campus. Next. 00:16:06.754 --> 00:16:14.418 - You can find us on all the usual social media suspects except for X. So we're on Facebook, Slack, 00:16:14.418 --> 00:16:22.317 - Blue Sky, and Instagram. Well, Slack is actually for internal communications. So Facebook, Blue Sky, 00:16:22.317 --> 00:16:25.758 - and Instagram. You can find us there. Next. 00:16:27.842 --> 00:16:34.637 - So we know that we get support from the Bloomington Arts Commission. So I didn't add this in to this 00:16:34.637 --> 00:16:41.432 - slide. But we've had support in the past from the Indiana Arts Commission and from the Microsoft 365 00:16:41.432 --> 00:16:48.362 - nonprofit grant that we received. So we rely on long-term support from granting organizations, as well 00:16:48.362 --> 00:16:55.292 - as income from our members and from the galleries. Next. Next. We have a number of sponsors. These are 00:16:55.292 --> 00:16:57.310 - supportive members that we've 00:16:57.538 --> 00:17:07.989 - relied upon. Next. Thank you for listening. Open for questions. Yes? This is most impressive, extraordinary, 00:17:07.989 --> 00:17:17.864 - what you've done for Bloomington in terms of helping to gather some faltering, not to their own fault, 00:17:17.864 --> 00:17:25.534 - but faltering organizations and making something really exciting. That's great. 00:17:25.890 --> 00:17:34.646 - I am wondering whether there's an opportunity for you to do some more than you're already doing, some 00:17:34.646 --> 00:17:43.660 - exchanges of partnerships of co-advertising or co-projects with Constellation, with the Busker Chivalry, 00:17:43.660 --> 00:17:52.245 - or other organizations. It seems like there's lots of ways to get your word out, and you'll be in a 00:17:52.245 --> 00:17:53.790 - good spot to help 00:17:54.306 --> 00:18:00.781 - Those organizations can do the same. I can respond to that. We have a close relationship with Constellation. 00:18:00.781 --> 00:18:06.840 - They actually have a display in our gallery. And they give us half a page free in their playbill. And 00:18:06.840 --> 00:18:12.780 - Gabe was a leader in Arts Forward. So we've done three or four panel discussions. And Constellation 00:18:12.780 --> 00:18:18.958 - has given us free use of that space. So we've done that three or four times. We have a couple more that 00:18:18.958 --> 00:18:24.126 - we're looking forward to doing. With Busker Charley, we just co-sponsored the Godzilla 00:18:24.386 --> 00:18:32.250 - weekend with them. So we do work with those organizations pretty regularly. Great. Thank you. Are there 00:18:32.250 --> 00:18:39.887 - any sort of like exciting things on the horizon or like, I don't know, either like events or updates 00:18:39.887 --> 00:18:47.600 - or other? I mean, it's been an eventful year so far. I'm just wondering what's... Well, we have a lot 00:18:47.600 --> 00:18:51.230 - planned, but we've been a little dug under with 00:18:51.874 --> 00:18:57.162 - taking out by hand and rebonding that space and opening that up and rebranding it all. But we have a 00:18:57.162 --> 00:19:02.398 - very active programming committee. And there are performances happening in the space every weekend, 00:19:02.398 --> 00:19:07.687 - practically. And we have workshops planned. There's a regular belly dancing class going on there and 00:19:07.687 --> 00:19:11.038 - Tai Chi and various things like that. So it's been very active. 00:19:11.234 --> 00:19:19.498 - Big things coming up? Not so much. It's been a big year. Really intense three months. Yeah, we're really 00:19:19.498 --> 00:19:27.525 - increasing our performances and we have performances now just about weekly and people are approaching 00:19:27.525 --> 00:19:35.710 - us to use the space. The other thing is that we've made a decision philosophically and practically that 00:19:35.874 --> 00:19:41.936 - Our space is free to any not-for-profit in the city. And we're not charging rent. For instance, the 00:19:41.936 --> 00:19:48.302 - Jewish theater has their board meetings in our space. And if IU students want to come and use the space, 00:19:48.302 --> 00:19:54.789 - it's open and free for use in the community. Do you host any ongoing classes or workshops? We have regular 00:19:54.789 --> 00:20:00.972 - workshops happening. We have a couple scheduled coming up, oil painting workshops. OK, that's good to 00:20:00.972 --> 00:20:05.822 - know, because I've had a couple of people recently ask me for a space for like, 00:20:06.178 --> 00:20:11.880 - like ongoing workshops or something that would potentially be on a weekly basis for like a season basically. 00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:15.646 - We can count on that. OK, great. Thank you. That's an awesome resource. 00:20:26.818 --> 00:20:44.830 - We'll work hard to get our support grant application done this week. Thank you, everybody. 00:20:54.370 --> 00:21:19.166 - I should have asked if they had something on their website that talks about the space rental. 00:21:19.362 --> 00:21:26.084 - I'm pretty sure they do. Yeah. Well, did you mean the performing space is available for the workshops? 00:21:26.084 --> 00:21:32.937 - Mm-hmm. I think it's a multi-use space. I haven't been to the new space yet, but I'm kind of envisioning 00:21:32.937 --> 00:21:39.464 - it similar to the way their old available space worked. You could do it for many different types of 00:21:39.464 --> 00:21:46.186 - things. Oh, yeah. And it does stay here. It kind of has classes. OK, they do have it on their website. 00:21:46.186 --> 00:21:48.862 - Awesome. I just wanted to find the link. 00:21:53.538 --> 00:22:02.600 - we've got to hear from them. All right, moving on to agenda item number five, an update from the new 00:22:02.600 --> 00:22:12.201 - interim public art chair, Christina. So in light of transitions and just Natalie being, you know, leaving, 00:22:12.201 --> 00:22:17.854 - so I'll be stepping in as interim while we do this transition. 00:22:18.210 --> 00:22:26.013 - I don't have a lot of announcements for today. I just want to say that on Friday we have our public 00:22:26.013 --> 00:22:33.893 - arts subcommittee meeting here. And then also I'll be touching base with the people who are involved 00:22:33.893 --> 00:22:41.774 - with the task force. Just look out for that email this week. So that's really all I had. Agenda item 00:22:41.774 --> 00:22:46.846 - number six and updates from our grant subcommittee chair, Leila. 00:22:47.362 --> 00:22:58.934 - Hey, everyone. Yeah, just to reiterate, since it was brought up, I think we outlaid $68,500 for RSC 00:22:58.934 --> 00:23:10.737 - Advancements. It was, yeah, a lot of money, and it was still rather incredibly competitive. We funded 00:23:10.737 --> 00:23:13.630 - just over half, $55,000. 00:23:14.018 --> 00:23:23.462 - and a half percent of the applicants. And even that, getting to that level of that funding ratio, it 00:23:23.462 --> 00:23:32.907 - was pretty tough. We had to outlay additional funds. But all worth it. And it leaves us with still a 00:23:32.907 --> 00:23:43.006 - sizable amount of cash for operations. I don't recall the exact number. But ideally, operations tends to be 00:23:43.330 --> 00:23:51.081 - A bit more straightforward because the eligibility for it is pretty, the bar is, oh, hello, wow, they're 00:23:51.081 --> 00:23:58.684 - here already. They just left. Pillar Arts, welcome back, Pillar Arts. The bar for that is pretty high. 00:23:58.684 --> 00:24:06.065 - You have to be a 501c3 non-profit, and we ask for approval of that. Anyway, so that, as Pillar Arts 00:24:06.065 --> 00:24:10.494 - mentioned, that application is closing pretty soon, and so, 00:24:10.978 --> 00:24:20.173 - look for semi-mails from me about sorting out a time to review those. I don't want to spend as much 00:24:20.173 --> 00:24:29.920 - time as we needed last time just because typically we just get less applicants because it is just there's 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:40.862 - a smaller eligibility pool for it. So that will be my last grant cycle as chair and on the actual commission. So yeah. 00:24:41.346 --> 00:24:48.768 - That's really it for now, I think. I think given that my time has come to a close, I will try to use 00:24:48.768 --> 00:24:56.116 - one or two of those regularly scheduled meetings that I typically cancel to just try to gather some 00:24:56.116 --> 00:25:03.465 - feedback and reflections from everyone about the process, possible improvements, things that we can 00:25:03.465 --> 00:25:08.094 - do going forward to just, yeah, to improve the grants process. 00:25:08.802 --> 00:25:17.640 - Also, if you are a grant reader, we may ask you to talk to some of the folks who wanted feedback on 00:25:17.640 --> 00:25:26.654 - their applications. We always offer feedback. Try to do that by Zoom. You know, try to make it pretty 00:25:26.654 --> 00:25:32.222 - quick, pretty casual. And we do our best to kind of remind you 00:25:32.994 --> 00:25:39.681 - share notes and always notes on what the decision was and why it was made. Typically, people ask for 00:25:39.681 --> 00:25:46.831 - feedback when they don't get the grant, almost always. So those things aren't. I mean, they can be somewhat 00:25:46.831 --> 00:25:53.584 - awkward, but they're not unto me antagonistic. I don't know. Everyone else seems to have a great time 00:25:53.584 --> 00:25:58.814 - with those. I don't enjoy those as much, but that's just because I'm very shy. 00:25:58.978 --> 00:26:04.647 - Yeah, so hopefully, you typically will be asked if you're a first reader. And you don't have to take 00:26:04.647 --> 00:26:10.259 - them. We can reassign them to someone else if you feel like, for some reason, you just can't do it. 00:26:10.259 --> 00:26:15.928 - I think that's everything, right? Yeah. The only thing I would maybe add is that with those meetings 00:26:15.928 --> 00:26:21.765 - that you discussed, I think we are currently planning to do one on September 19. Is that still correct? 00:26:21.765 --> 00:26:25.694 - Yeah. I'd like to hold that meeting for those of you who can make it. 00:26:26.082 --> 00:26:33.878 - It's here in person. Yeah, 12, 15. It's at noon. That's just, yeah. So I'll send out a reminder for 00:26:33.878 --> 00:26:41.751 - that and collect some maybe like agenda items. That'll be, you know, it'll be casual, but it'll just 00:26:41.751 --> 00:26:49.859 - be sort of a quick discussion and feedback session for all of us. Cool. That's all, I think. Thank you. 00:26:49.859 --> 00:26:51.262 - Thank you, Leila. 00:26:51.458 --> 00:27:00.266 - Any questions on either public art or grants before we move to comments from the chair? Okay great. 00:27:00.266 --> 00:27:09.163 - Okay I got a couple things here and then we are gonna I think likely have some some discussion today 00:27:09.163 --> 00:27:12.862 - about some of the vacancies that we have. 00:27:13.442 --> 00:27:19.932 - On the lighter side, I'll just give a quick reminder that we have a farewell event for Suzanne this 00:27:19.932 --> 00:27:26.487 - Friday, 6 to 8. We're meeting at Food Truck Friday. I think the idea is that it's going to be pretty 00:27:26.487 --> 00:27:33.172 - informal. It's going to show up, grab something from one of the trucks. We'll just all hang out at one 00:27:33.172 --> 00:27:39.662 - of the tables. And yeah, just hang out and chat. So it's just the at Switch Art Park? At Switch Art 00:27:39.662 --> 00:27:43.102 - Park, yep. I pulled it up. I saw an ad for it today. 00:27:43.810 --> 00:27:53.998 - Rock-E-Bassoon will be playing, the electric bassoon rock and roll group. Yeah, it's multiple bassoons 00:27:53.998 --> 00:28:04.286 - rocking out. And then the Splattertones, which is a pop-pop and instrumental jazz group. So yeah, quite 00:28:04.286 --> 00:28:09.726 - a lineup. So and then in general, I will say that both 00:28:09.858 --> 00:28:17.728 - both the mayor's office and the city council are currently considering applications for the vacancies 00:28:17.728 --> 00:28:25.599 - that we have currently. We have not received any updates on those at the moment, but like we did have 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:33.392 - a number of highly qualified people apply for those. We've made a couple of recommendations. We will 00:28:33.392 --> 00:28:37.790 - see what they do, but yes. I know it's approved by them. 00:28:38.178 --> 00:28:45.708 - So do you make the, I mean, how do you? So those applications come in, and I believe, I know that Holly 00:28:45.708 --> 00:28:53.021 - sees them. OK. But also the mayor's office and the council also see those. And then I think if there 00:28:53.021 --> 00:29:00.697 - are folks that we see on there that we know and we think will be a good fit, we will make recommendations 00:29:00.697 --> 00:29:07.358 - that, like, hey, we would recommend these folks. And then they do with that what they will. 00:29:08.642 --> 00:29:22.248 - I have several people to apply, her and Angie Caldwell. Do you have any sort of thing about IU people? 00:29:22.248 --> 00:29:35.326 - I know IU is represented here, but in other words, do you have a limit of the number of IU people? 00:29:35.554 --> 00:29:42.383 - Do you try to stick to community people? I don't know that there's a formal policy or even a goal for 00:29:42.383 --> 00:29:49.345 - that. I think it's just sort of a general sense that, yeah, there should be a balance. A balance. Yeah. 00:29:49.345 --> 00:29:56.040 - And I feel like right now we have a pretty good balance of that. That's definitely something we try 00:29:56.040 --> 00:29:59.454 - to be cognizant of, but there's no municipal code. 00:29:59.906 --> 00:30:08.667 - That we don't. And then there are informal bylaws that we didn't include in anything like that. How 00:30:08.667 --> 00:30:17.691 - many people have been hired so far? We get applications on a rolling basis. But sometimes when people, 00:30:17.691 --> 00:30:24.350 - so there's only, if you all remember, there's like one application to be on 00:30:24.546 --> 00:30:30.493 - every commission. And so you can check boxes of which commission you want to be on. And so a lot of 00:30:30.493 --> 00:30:36.559 - people check like all the boxes. But yeah, yeah. You have to look at all of those for the arts. Yeah, 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:42.506 - yeah. But it's really quick because it becomes pretty apparent pretty quickly, like what people are 00:30:42.506 --> 00:30:45.182 - really like looking to do. And so I think it 00:30:45.282 --> 00:30:52.022 - It makes it really easy for us to be able to say, OK, this person is a good fit, whereas this person 00:30:52.022 --> 00:30:58.896 - might be a better fit for a transportation implant, for example. But I would say that it kind of waxes 00:30:58.896 --> 00:31:02.366 - and wanes, I would say, at any given point in time. 00:31:02.626 --> 00:31:10.025 - three to five pretty excellent candidates. And some of those are based on conversations we've had with 00:31:10.025 --> 00:31:17.352 - community members. And some are just people just kind of out of the blue pop up as someone interested 00:31:17.352 --> 00:31:24.536 - in doing it. And I think it's like, unfortunately, this is one of the rare times where we have open 00:31:24.536 --> 00:31:28.990 - seats. And we'll have a couple more at the beginning of 2026. 00:31:29.090 --> 00:31:34.845 - A lot of times, though, when we're just full up, we're getting all these amazing applicants, and there's 00:31:34.845 --> 00:31:40.709 - just nothing we can do about it. So generally, as we're having conversations with those community members, 00:31:40.709 --> 00:31:46.409 - we just say, hey, we see you. We think, ultimately, you could be an excellent candidate when seats open 00:31:46.409 --> 00:31:51.944 - up. And we'll just kind of reduce the conversation with you when those seats do open. I asked Austin 00:31:51.944 --> 00:31:57.534 - White to apply, too. I thought he would be a good fit. Yeah. Yeah. He has applied. Yeah, good. Great. 00:31:57.698 --> 00:32:05.603 - Hope it gets to good people. Can I just mention one thing about Natalie leaving? Sure. I was wondering 00:32:05.603 --> 00:32:13.816 - why there wasn't a consideration that she could at least work out her term. And because we have vacancies, 00:32:13.816 --> 00:32:21.798 - and we need her expertise on that, you know what I mean? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But the point 00:32:21.798 --> 00:32:24.254 - is, I mean, that would be a way 00:32:25.186 --> 00:32:33.958 - compromise on this thing. But that was that ever brought up or? I'm going to let you so that actually 00:32:33.958 --> 00:32:42.988 - transitions into my next point a little bit. I know that there is an individual commissioner, I believe, 00:32:42.988 --> 00:32:51.674 - Rob, Rob sent something to to the mayor's office, kind of proposed like suggesting that. And then so 00:32:51.674 --> 00:32:53.566 - I also I wrote to the 00:32:54.018 --> 00:33:02.444 - I wrote to the city council subcommittee on processes, and I did so in my capacity as chair, sharing 00:33:02.444 --> 00:33:10.953 - a few items that came up at our last meeting. I told them that we had a disruptive incident involving 00:33:10.953 --> 00:33:19.963 - the city code, and that we were interested in ways to increase our ability to recruit and retain high-level 00:33:19.963 --> 00:33:23.550 - engaged people. I mentioned both this idea 00:33:23.682 --> 00:33:29.984 - That you brought about like yeah, if someone moves out of the city but stays in the county if there 00:33:29.984 --> 00:33:35.971 - if there could be sort of a a grace period for them to leave I mentioned that I also mentioned 00:33:35.971 --> 00:33:42.399 - the possibility of like having one to two seats be sort of like Designated as like could be filled by 00:33:42.399 --> 00:33:46.558 - someone who lives outside the city limits but still in the county 00:33:46.658 --> 00:33:53.439 - So yeah, yeah, proposed a couple of those ideas. So I don't believe we've... I haven't heard anything 00:33:53.439 --> 00:34:00.086 - from the mayor's office. It sounds like that subcommittee is maybe considering these. It won't help 00:34:00.086 --> 00:34:06.801 - us in the short term, but I think it's something that, you know, based on what has happened, I think 00:34:06.801 --> 00:34:11.454 - they want to consider. And I really, I brought it up as sort of like, 00:34:12.034 --> 00:34:19.057 - it really was like a disruption to the work that we're doing. And it's not really about the particular 00:34:19.057 --> 00:34:26.012 - person and having them serve. It's just about this idea of, yeah, we're in the middle of a very, very 00:34:26.012 --> 00:34:33.104 - busy year. And I was going to get to some of the updates from the subcommittee. But I wanted to, before 00:34:33.104 --> 00:34:39.923 - I continue with that, I wanted to confirm that it's OK for me to sort of present these ideas to the 00:34:39.923 --> 00:34:41.150 - council as, like, 00:34:41.666 --> 00:34:48.589 - as like the chair and sort of like in my capacity chairs like on behalf of the commission. Okay. Can 00:34:48.589 --> 00:34:55.444 - we actually do a formal vote on that? Okay. So present the subcommittee that represents the county. 00:34:55.444 --> 00:35:02.574 - So basically the things that we are discussing here like the general ideas that we are having that like 00:35:02.574 --> 00:35:08.126 - I can present those in my capacity as chair on behalf of the commission to yeah. 00:35:08.962 --> 00:35:17.418 - I don't know if I can vote remotely, but absolutely. Please be our voice if you need more voices and 00:35:17.418 --> 00:35:25.957 - let us know. Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Rob. Thanks. So, yes. So, okay. Um, uh, yeah. So, um, I will say, 00:35:25.957 --> 00:35:27.966 - I guess all in favor of 00:35:29.922 --> 00:35:40.679 - acting as a chair and sort of like yeah using that and speaking on behalf of the Commission based on 00:35:40.679 --> 00:35:51.435 - what is presented in our discussions, in our public conversations. All in favor of that say aye. Any 00:35:51.435 --> 00:35:53.246 - opposed say nay. 00:35:53.730 --> 00:36:01.033 - Rob and Nia, would you be willing to unmute yourself and say hi? Yeah, sorry. I was in the chat. 00:36:01.033 --> 00:36:08.563 - That's fine. And I was like, yes, please do. And just obviously, I did not know that the annexation 00:36:08.563 --> 00:36:16.393 - stuff that was going on, I was not informed on that. And what would have made this all irrelevant, even 00:36:16.393 --> 00:36:22.718 - though it just blows my mind that it's a Bloomington address. You know what I mean? 00:36:23.298 --> 00:36:30.191 - People don't want to pay any more taxes or whatever. So they're like, we're not actually in Bloomington, 00:36:30.191 --> 00:36:36.953 - but hi, we're in Bloomington. You know what I mean? I don't know. Sorry, this is the vote. I vote aye. 00:36:36.953 --> 00:36:43.517 - I'm like, it just sucks. You know what I mean? All around. So yeah, so I guess so. Rob needs to say 00:36:43.517 --> 00:36:48.638 - aye. I think you have to say it for it to count. Sorry, Rob, can you say aye? 00:36:50.050 --> 00:36:58.428 - Bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you. Thank you. OK, so yeah, great. I will continue to do so. And really, again, 00:36:58.428 --> 00:37:06.806 - to sort of summarize, what I'm presenting is that this is not about the individual. This is about the 00:37:06.806 --> 00:37:15.266 - work that we're doing. And it's about recruiting and retaining the talent that will make us successful 00:37:15.266 --> 00:37:20.030 - and that will ultimately, I think, benefit the city here. 00:37:20.546 --> 00:37:28.774 - So yeah, so the subcommittee brought up sort of the note that I had sent them and they are considering 00:37:28.774 --> 00:37:36.923 - both some of our suggestions and then also some like related suggestions as to like, but as a part of 00:37:36.923 --> 00:37:45.072 - sort of like broader changes on how commissions are run. So one thing that they brought up or I would 00:37:45.072 --> 00:37:46.270 - say two things 00:37:47.426 --> 00:37:53.929 - One thing that they brought up organically is that they, and I think Holly's mentioned this, they are 00:37:53.929 --> 00:38:00.368 - trying to create a formalized onboarding process for commissioners and people who serve on boards. I 00:38:00.368 --> 00:38:06.744 - saw the drafts of a PowerPoint slide for that when I sat in on their meeting. And so that is in the 00:38:06.744 --> 00:38:13.566 - works. And so I can't remember if there was a timeline for that, but that's something that's in the works. 00:38:13.858 --> 00:38:20.605 - And then a couple things, I think, specifically related to what we have discussed is, one, just like 00:38:20.605 --> 00:38:27.285 - a general clarifying the code as to what residency status is. I think that they had brought up that 00:38:27.285 --> 00:38:34.232 - there were, that it is, I mean, I think everyone's acknowledged it is, well, I shouldn't say everyone's 00:38:34.232 --> 00:38:40.912 - acknowledged, but we and I think some members of the council have acknowledged it is ambiguous. And 00:38:40.912 --> 00:38:42.782 - so I think clarifying that, 00:38:43.298 --> 00:38:49.739 - is something that's on their radar. They are considering options for county residents, like a couple 00:38:49.739 --> 00:38:56.435 - seats to be open to county residents, not just on ours, but on a number of other boards and commissions. 00:38:56.435 --> 00:39:03.067 - And this is actually something that they have already started to do. But it was brought up that I think 00:39:03.067 --> 00:39:09.572 - rather than maybe trying to piecemeal these for specific commissions, that they want to maybe just do 00:39:09.572 --> 00:39:11.230 - a broad approach and say, 00:39:11.490 --> 00:39:20.162 - Maybe with a couple exceptions, commissions will have the opportunity to have a couple of representatives 00:39:20.162 --> 00:39:28.589 - from the county. And then yeah, also I think they were open to this idea of this allowance for someone 00:39:28.589 --> 00:39:33.662 - who is on a commission or board if they move out of the city. 00:39:34.690 --> 00:39:40.585 - that they will, and they're in good standing, will be able to, I think, retain their seat through the 00:39:40.585 --> 00:39:46.365 - end of their term. And it sounds like, yeah, they were in favor of those ideas. They were in favor? 00:39:46.365 --> 00:39:52.318 - Yeah, or like, or they're generally receptive. They're going to do some more research. I think they've 00:39:52.318 --> 00:39:58.271 - asked their staff to sort of like look into maybe how this has been done. And I think, but in general, 00:39:58.271 --> 00:40:01.854 - like they're, the way they talked about it was favorably and, 00:40:02.530 --> 00:40:08.437 - I think the questions that came up were less about, is this a good idea or is this a bad idea? And it 00:40:08.437 --> 00:40:14.344 - was more like, well, how do we make this work? Is it attached to a specific seat? How would we manage 00:40:14.344 --> 00:40:20.541 - it? So they were already moving past into, well, how would we do that? So I don't have a sense of timeline 00:40:20.541 --> 00:40:26.622 - for these things. I just imagine it's not going to be a quick thing. I also got the sense at the meeting 00:40:26.786 --> 00:40:34.382 - This is not something that's going to be supported by the mayor's office. So yeah, it could hit a couple 00:40:34.382 --> 00:40:41.761 - bumps. We don't know. Can I say something, too? I was made aware, too, that some boarding commissions 00:40:41.761 --> 00:40:48.995 - have advisory roles. So those can be people. I don't know if the BAC's allowed that yet, but I just 00:40:48.995 --> 00:40:53.118 - wanted to make you guys aware that there can be advisory 00:40:53.314 --> 00:40:59.429 - commissioners who are on the commission, they just can't vote. So I just, they wouldn't be like a full 00:40:59.429 --> 00:41:05.781 - commissioner, but because if someone has expertise and they don't live in the city, what other commissions 00:41:05.781 --> 00:41:11.777 - have done is they have these advisory roles where that person with expertise can still be on it. And 00:41:11.777 --> 00:41:17.714 - so everyone gets to hear their thoughts and opinions. The only thing they can't do is vote. But I'm 00:41:17.714 --> 00:41:19.198 - not sure if in our code, 00:41:19.362 --> 00:41:25.930 - The BAC is allowed advising positions right now, but I just wanted to make you guys aware that that 00:41:25.930 --> 00:41:32.498 - could potentially be another option in the future for that sort of thing. That's interesting. Yeah, 00:41:32.498 --> 00:41:39.328 - so I just wanted to tell you. Yeah, I mentioned that to Natalie and Holly immediately, because I looked 00:41:39.328 --> 00:41:46.028 - at other boards that do have advisory positions. And because it's non-voting, the city funding versus 00:41:46.028 --> 00:41:49.246 - county funding should not be as big of an issue. 00:41:49.506 --> 00:41:56.537 - Because the idea is just their expertise is what is needed in the thing if they don't live in the city. 00:41:56.537 --> 00:42:03.433 - So that's why they exist in other boards. So I just wanted to definitely make you guys aware of that. 00:42:03.433 --> 00:42:10.599 - There's another version of that which we might consider, which so much of what we do in other commissions 00:42:10.599 --> 00:42:17.630 - do really rely on people or not on the commissions for information and advice. And it seems to me that, 00:42:18.050 --> 00:42:27.238 - in this particular situation of Natalie, we could simply ask her to help out, if she's willing, and 00:42:27.238 --> 00:42:36.701 - rely then on the benefit of her expertise. And we've got to remember that we sometimes rely on others. 00:42:36.701 --> 00:42:45.246 - For instance, in the grants, reading the grants, we had volunteers as part of the committee. 00:42:45.538 --> 00:42:52.773 - And I know that the Monroe County and Bloomington Foundation also will call people in to volunteer to 00:42:52.773 --> 00:43:00.150 - do things like create grants and so on. So I don't know if we necessarily need to have anything special 00:43:00.150 --> 00:43:07.668 - set up. Just decide that we want to reach out. I'm not saying the others are great ideas. I'd much rather 00:43:07.668 --> 00:43:14.974 - see them. Or at least have them part of the mix, but still. Natalie deserves the recognition of having 00:43:15.298 --> 00:43:22.391 - the title of being on the commission, though. To me, I'm just like, it's not enough to just have a special 00:43:22.391 --> 00:43:29.021 - commissioner or something. I'm just saying, if I was in Azzy's shoes, I would kind of be like, not. 00:43:29.021 --> 00:43:35.915 - You know what I mean? But obviously, we're not the same person, so it might be fine. But in my personal 00:43:35.915 --> 00:43:42.014 - opinion, I'm just like, why can't we just? You know what I mean? It just seems like it not. 00:43:42.786 --> 00:43:51.326 - our fault that it happened, you know what I mean? But they're putting all of the burden of their mistake 00:43:51.326 --> 00:44:00.030 - with the appointment on us. We have to pick up her slack or whatever. I mean, not really, but she deserves 00:44:00.030 --> 00:44:05.886 - that. I just need that to be said. I mean, we all say it, but whatever. 00:44:11.970 --> 00:44:20.409 - So I'm definitely looking to fill our current vacancies. I think that's my top priority. After that, 00:44:20.409 --> 00:44:28.932 - it will be to line up leadership for the next year, because our entire leadership team is going to be 00:44:28.932 --> 00:44:37.287 - transitioning either out, hopefully out of my third role of chair. And then I think we have someone 00:44:37.287 --> 00:44:41.214 - that's on the path to be the public art chair. 00:44:41.602 --> 00:44:49.349 - but you know formalizing that so I think maybe I think once once our commission is at like full full 00:44:49.349 --> 00:44:57.327 - capacity and set for the next year I would love to explore the sort of like these these ideas for folks 00:44:57.327 --> 00:45:05.228 - in advisory roles or and then also I and I will I will continue at least on this this particular issue 00:45:05.228 --> 00:45:11.518 - with the council continue to provide updates and continue to speak I do before we 00:45:12.034 --> 00:45:20.666 - I do unfortunately have one more item to raise about code and applicants, but before we move on to that, 00:45:20.666 --> 00:45:29.133 - do I have any other thoughts or comments on sort of like this particular issue? Okay. Yeah, thanks for 00:45:29.133 --> 00:45:35.134 - bringing that up, Etsy, and I'm glad that it's sort of like aligned with 00:45:37.058 --> 00:45:44.787 - that I was going to say. And I just, yeah, I really appreciate sort of the trust you all put in me to 00:45:44.787 --> 00:45:52.516 - sort of speak on the commission's behalf. I will do my best to do that. Okay, so we had another thing 00:45:52.516 --> 00:46:00.245 - come up. I'm going to keep the identity of this person sort of like not, I'm not going to say it, but 00:46:00.245 --> 00:46:05.246 - I'm gonna sort of like provide the context of what happened here. 00:46:05.346 --> 00:46:12.081 - So we have another issue come up regarding conflict of interest. So I wrote this out because I wanted 00:46:12.081 --> 00:46:18.684 - to get the language right. So shortly after the last meeting, we received an application for one of 00:46:18.684 --> 00:46:25.486 - the vacancies. That person is a highly qualified and active member of the Bloomington art scene. Holly 00:46:25.486 --> 00:46:32.089 - recommended the mayor's office consider this person for a seat. The mayor's office then vetted this 00:46:32.089 --> 00:46:34.334 - person and learned that they lead 00:46:34.434 --> 00:46:41.831 - a local organization that receives a BAC grant, and that a small portion of that grant supports their 00:46:41.831 --> 00:46:49.519 - salary. And it was then deemed that the potential for conflict of interest was too great, and that person 00:46:49.519 --> 00:46:57.061 - was told that they would not be appointed to the commission. And this is, they cited Indiana state code 00:46:57.061 --> 00:47:03.806 - 35 to 44. I'm not going to read all that. But in particular, part of the Indiana state code. 00:47:03.970 --> 00:47:10.645 - Um, so, and, I don't know, this is, I have a lot of feelings about this, um, and I know, I know a little 00:47:10.645 --> 00:47:17.192 - bit about this as well, as, as, as Grant's chair, um, because, yeah, this is kind of closely tied into 00:47:17.192 --> 00:47:23.549 - how we grant and, and our sort of our relationships within the broader buildings and art scene. Um, 00:47:23.549 --> 00:47:29.652 - I mean, the situation is distinct from what happened with the residency, residency requirement, 00:47:29.652 --> 00:47:32.894 - but it's, there's a pattern developing here where, 00:47:33.154 --> 00:47:39.849 - sort of like code is being narrowly interpreted in a way that is really restrictive in kind of what 00:47:39.849 --> 00:47:46.745 - we're trying to do. And I just kind of wanted to get the group's feedback on whether a response or any 00:47:46.745 --> 00:47:53.507 - sort of action, I think, is warranted on this. I think we can't supersede state code. And we have to 00:47:53.507 --> 00:47:59.198 - be really careful that the trust stays with us to distribute this online personally. 00:48:00.418 --> 00:48:08.944 - Not that we have to agree with the code, because we don't, but unless you change the code, you can't 00:48:08.944 --> 00:48:17.807 - change what we do. And that's state level. It's not even local, right? Yeah, they were pointing to state 00:48:17.807 --> 00:48:26.417 - code. Yeah, they were. Yeah, so the state code, I recently read this code for another reason entirely 00:48:26.417 --> 00:48:28.190 - in its thoroughness. 00:48:28.546 --> 00:48:37.962 - The city is going above and beyond the state code's definition of conflict of interest. The state's 00:48:37.962 --> 00:48:47.567 - definition of a conflict of interest is a spouse or a dependent. So what this is, without getting too 00:48:47.567 --> 00:48:55.006 - into the details, the city is concerned about a perceived conflict of interest 00:48:55.362 --> 00:49:02.708 - The state code does not say that you cannot have conflicts of interest, just that they need to be disclosed. 00:49:02.708 --> 00:49:09.649 - My issue, coming from the grants perspective, and also public arts, I presume it would be similar. But 00:49:09.649 --> 00:49:16.253 - in grants, we fund quite a number. We're proud to fund lots of different people in the community, 00:49:16.253 --> 00:49:23.194 - organizations, individuals, projects. It is a testament to the effectiveness and the reach of our work 00:49:23.194 --> 00:49:24.542 - that we are funding 00:49:24.866 --> 00:49:33.561 - deeply and broadly across the cultural sector here in Bloomington. And it's also a testament to our 00:49:33.561 --> 00:49:42.343 - expertise as commissioners that we are involved in the local cultural communities. And so to enforce 00:49:42.343 --> 00:49:51.646 - an above and beyond state code perception of conflict of interest in the pursuit of some kind of fairness, 00:49:52.098 --> 00:49:59.419 - You know, it's misguided because what will happen is that the people who are most engaged in our community's 00:49:59.419 --> 00:50:06.337 - arts will be the most qualified to be on this commission and thus will not be able to be on it because 00:50:06.337 --> 00:50:13.389 - the better we do our jobs and the more engaged we are, the more we will, by this interpretation, exclude 00:50:13.389 --> 00:50:17.150 - ourselves from our ability to serve on this commission. 00:50:18.050 --> 00:50:23.968 - It's a self-defeating kind of interpretation. And that's what I expressed to Jard. I happened to be 00:50:23.968 --> 00:50:30.123 - around the person who received this application when it was received and when this came out. So I just, 00:50:30.123 --> 00:50:36.278 - you know, I had a kind of personal and strong negative reaction to it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I mean, 00:50:36.278 --> 00:50:42.433 - the issue here is down, I think, to the interpretation of the code. And that's what's, I think, I think 00:50:42.433 --> 00:50:46.398 - what we're seeing here is that code is being interpreted in a way. 00:50:46.658 --> 00:50:55.375 - I'm not a legal expert by any means. So I'd like to suggest another perspective on this. Because I think 00:50:55.375 --> 00:51:03.760 - perceptual conflict of interest is a very serious problem, a potential problem. And that it would be 00:51:03.760 --> 00:51:12.310 - best, I think, to avoid that. A person who would like to be on the commission here has many other ways 00:51:12.310 --> 00:51:14.718 - to act within the community. 00:51:15.010 --> 00:51:24.714 - and use his or her talents that way. And the difficulty comes when somebody says, this person got a 00:51:24.714 --> 00:51:34.419 - grant, or this person's organization got a grant, because that person's on the commission. And that 00:51:34.419 --> 00:51:44.414 - becomes a public issue. Trust issue. And things like that can become very public. Can I say something? 00:51:44.674 --> 00:51:52.418 - cautious in trying to make an exception. I have a question. This is a person who's received a grant. 00:51:52.418 --> 00:52:00.468 - They're not on the commission as of now when they applied for the grant, right? So I mean, I think that, 00:52:00.468 --> 00:52:08.212 - yeah, this is a flawed reading of the code because they were not on the commission when they got the 00:52:08.212 --> 00:52:13.502 - grant. And I think some of us have said that we are trying to, like, 00:52:13.858 --> 00:52:20.530 - promote and kind of uplift artists locally here. And I think if they've gotten a grant, that means they're 00:52:20.530 --> 00:52:27.077 - probably doing a good job. And that means we want them on our commission. I don't know if, while they're 00:52:27.077 --> 00:52:33.313 - on the commission, they can apply for a grant. I think that's a different thing, right? Yeah, I can 00:52:33.313 --> 00:52:39.486 - answer that question. So I'm just going to answer this from a very city, the way the code has been 00:52:39.874 --> 00:52:47.685 - Describe to me. So when this person was being interviewed by the mayor's office representative, they 00:52:47.685 --> 00:52:55.574 - were asked whether or not they would continue to apply for grants and whether or not any of the money 00:52:55.574 --> 00:52:58.590 - that would be received from that grant 00:52:58.690 --> 00:53:05.577 - could ever, in the future, go towards their own personal salary. So doing work on behalf of the organization 00:53:05.577 --> 00:53:12.021 - that they were putting the grant application for, and that person replied yes and said, my preference 00:53:12.021 --> 00:53:18.402 - is to stay active within this organization, have the ability to write the grants and be paid some of 00:53:18.402 --> 00:53:24.973 - the money from that grant. And so it was kind of, I think they were kind of given, they could have said 00:53:24.973 --> 00:53:26.110 - in that instance, 00:53:26.722 --> 00:53:34.498 - I prefer to be on the BAC. I will no longer have a budget line from one of our grants that pays me. 00:53:34.498 --> 00:53:42.508 - The other weird one is, if you are the person who writes the grants, and I think this is where Suzanne 00:53:42.508 --> 00:53:50.595 - did not have a conflict, she wasn't the person actually writing the grants for Bloomington Early Music, 00:53:50.595 --> 00:53:56.350 - and she didn't get paid through it. But if you, a BAC commissioner cannot 00:53:56.770 --> 00:54:03.519 - also be the primary grant writer. Yeah, I get that. Which makes sense. Right, right. And this person 00:54:03.519 --> 00:54:10.269 - also said, I just cannot promise you that going forward, I will not be the person who ends up having 00:54:10.269 --> 00:54:16.951 - to write that. It's good if they were honest about it and make their decision honestly. They cannot 00:54:16.951 --> 00:54:20.894 - make their own decision. What Holly's saying, to be clear, 00:54:21.890 --> 00:54:28.228 - If someone wants to be on the BAC and applies, and their organization will continue to apply for operations 00:54:28.228 --> 00:54:34.389 - grants, they can still be on the commission as long as their salary is not paid by the grant and they're 00:54:34.389 --> 00:54:40.375 - not the grant writer. So those are the two things. So that was the two issues with this applicant. So 00:54:40.375 --> 00:54:46.301 - just to be clear, that if they're not the grant writer and they're not receiving any money for their 00:54:46.301 --> 00:54:48.766 - salary from the grant, then they would be 00:54:49.346 --> 00:54:55.231 - If everything else was OK, they have a chance to still be on the commission. Right. I have a question. 00:54:55.231 --> 00:55:01.116 - So how far does this code go? To what extent? Because it's not just like the, you know, there's three, 00:55:01.116 --> 00:55:06.829 - we have three different cycles. So there's a lot of awardees. So how far does this go as far as our 00:55:06.829 --> 00:55:12.657 - recipients and them being able to participate as a commissioner? I think that's actually the question 00:55:12.657 --> 00:55:15.742 - that I'm getting at is like, I mean, I think, I mean, 00:55:16.098 --> 00:55:22.843 - You can certainly interpret the code in the way that it's written, in the way that the city has currently. 00:55:22.843 --> 00:55:29.336 - I think what my concern is, is that we are starting to see a pattern of restricting. And I don't know. 00:55:29.336 --> 00:55:35.892 - I don't know if someone like Suzanne were to apply today, if that would be seen as a perceived conflict 00:55:35.892 --> 00:55:42.447 - of interest. And so I guess what I'm asking the group here is, at what point do we sort of have to say, 00:55:42.447 --> 00:55:43.582 - hey, come on now? 00:55:43.714 --> 00:55:50.083 - Like, right. OK, so it could be now. We have a whole system for the conflict of interest. Like, we have 00:55:50.083 --> 00:55:56.391 - a whole form for that. Like, what is the deal? Like, honestly. Like, I do agree, like, once this grant 00:55:56.391 --> 00:56:02.638 - cycle's out, maybe they just apply then if there's still vacancy. But the vacancy's now. So it's kind 00:56:02.638 --> 00:56:08.763 - of annoying that they're enforcing it. But yeah, like, especially when it's like they wouldn't even 00:56:08.763 --> 00:56:10.110 - start till next year. 00:56:10.658 --> 00:56:17.279 - I mean, I guess there's some like overlap with the grant, right? It would be like, they would, I just, 00:56:17.279 --> 00:56:24.028 - the condition is so specific. It's, and I think that also if you can afford to like serve on VAC without 00:56:24.028 --> 00:56:30.584 - like ever applying for grants doing anything, then like that's cool. But like a lot of people rely on 00:56:30.584 --> 00:56:37.269 - those for like survival and stuff. So it's like, I feel like we can't discount people just because they 00:56:37.269 --> 00:56:39.454 - got VAC grants. Like it's at all. 00:56:40.034 --> 00:56:48.743 - This is just so specific, and I don't know. Where is their priorities? I don't get this. Sorry. Betsy 00:56:48.743 --> 00:56:51.134 - was going to say something. 00:56:52.162 --> 00:56:58.922 - Well, it just seems like now would be the time to question it, because it's true that, I mean, the only 00:56:58.922 --> 00:57:05.487 - way that we can perpetuate arts support in this town is to have really good people on the commission 00:57:05.487 --> 00:57:12.442 - that are the people applying for grants. And, you know, it's absurd. I can understand making a stipulation 00:57:12.442 --> 00:57:16.862 - that they wouldn't get paid through the grant. But what about arts? 00:57:17.442 --> 00:57:22.887 - What about the support grants for artists? I mean, what if an artist applies for a grant and they can't 00:57:22.887 --> 00:57:28.279 - ever be on the arts commission? I think currently, no, they can't. They can't. They can't. They can't. 00:57:28.279 --> 00:57:33.776 - What about the... It's not ever. It's just while you're getting the grant. Yeah, it's like, so basically 00:57:33.776 --> 00:57:35.294 - what you will be asked to... 00:57:35.746 --> 00:57:41.982 - Close or agree to if you are like if either the council or the mayor's office is going to appoint you 00:57:41.982 --> 00:57:48.157 - as you have to say during my tenure I will not do this or this and then you make the choice like say 00:57:48.157 --> 00:57:52.926 - so then you write your three-year term right and then if you change your mind 00:57:53.122 --> 00:57:59.494 - halfway through your term, then you would notify us. And then the lawyers would decide. And they would 00:57:59.494 --> 00:58:05.805 - most likely, following the code, would say, OK, if you're going to apply for a grant that yourself as 00:58:05.805 --> 00:58:12.115 - the grant writer. So this would be anyone who applied for an artistic advancement grant. Or if you're 00:58:12.115 --> 00:58:18.302 - going to apply for an operations grant, somebody else on your team is going to write it. But you as 00:58:18.302 --> 00:58:20.158 - the director are going to get 00:58:20.418 --> 00:58:27.459 - one tenth of that overall grant amount, then you must remove yourself. I want to say one thing just 00:58:27.459 --> 00:58:34.499 - about policy. These municipal codes are not new. These municipal codes were in place when I started 00:58:34.499 --> 00:58:42.174 - in 21. I think what we're seeing now is a difference in administration and a different approach to enforcing 00:58:42.174 --> 00:58:47.102 - them. And so I think what we're having to do here at the city is just 00:58:47.458 --> 00:58:57.630 - adapt as we're learning these new things that were never taught to us during the previous administration. 00:58:58.082 --> 00:59:04.109 - And we're not the only commission, we are not the only department that is experiencing this kind of 00:59:04.109 --> 00:59:10.136 - backlash because of this. And I think that Legal is beginning to acknowledge that and they came and 00:59:10.136 --> 00:59:16.284 - did a training for us at our staff meeting a couple of weeks ago where they talked specifically about 00:59:16.284 --> 00:59:22.311 - these two stipulations about who's writing the grant and who's actually getting a cut of the grant. 00:59:22.311 --> 00:59:26.590 - I think they've also offered to come to individual commission meetings 00:59:26.978 --> 00:59:33.057 - and share more information about that. I would ask you all as the commission to decide whether that's 00:59:33.057 --> 00:59:39.077 - something you would want and how you would want to handle that presentation. But I think for myself, 00:59:39.077 --> 00:59:45.275 - kind of being at the brunt of this every day, I feel like as somebody, one of the members of the public 00:59:45.275 --> 00:59:49.566 - said last month, I also think this is a time for education and training 00:59:49.858 --> 00:59:55.809 - up, just to make sure. Because I think what I hated most about this person being told by a representative 00:59:55.809 --> 01:00:01.591 - of the mayor's office that this was going to happen is that when I asked them if they were comfortable 01:00:01.591 --> 01:00:07.205 - with me making the recommendation, I didn't realize that they were going to come back and tell them 01:00:07.205 --> 01:00:12.931 - no. And I just hated that they had to like, they had their hopes up, and they had chosen to invest in 01:00:12.931 --> 01:00:17.534 - this in spite of what had happened. But they made their decision. Yeah, they did. 01:00:17.954 --> 01:00:24.502 - I think as we're talking to new candidates that we want to advance, we're having these conversations 01:00:24.502 --> 01:00:30.985 - with them in advance so we're not setting them up to be disappointed. That's good. Good to know for 01:00:30.985 --> 01:00:37.792 - me, asking people. You should apply. Yeah. Yeah, it's not just anybody. Right. So there's a conversation 01:00:37.792 --> 01:00:44.340 - right now just around whether or not we should have a discussion around people, while they're on the 01:00:44.340 --> 01:00:45.118 - commission, 01:00:46.082 --> 01:00:53.091 - they're allowed to like if they were to apply for a grant and get a grant and that confidence while 01:00:53.091 --> 01:01:00.171 - they're a commissioner not if they did in the past. No I think what I'm asking right now is is is do 01:01:00.171 --> 01:01:07.320 - we want to draft a um a collective response to this pattern that we're seeing or or and that could be 01:01:07.320 --> 01:01:14.750 - a it could be a statement of um of disapproval it could be a series of questions that we have it could be 01:01:15.234 --> 01:01:24.027 - Yeah, right. Maybe we should make a list of questions for them to answer for us. Okay. There's also 01:01:24.027 --> 01:01:32.909 - specifics about the money. I mean, if you've got a grant, if you apply for a grant before you became 01:01:32.909 --> 01:01:41.790 - a member of the commission and then you get paid as you're entering the commission, can you do that? 01:01:41.890 --> 01:01:51.031 - I mean, it's all about money, right? It's nothing else. Yes, the bottom line is financial gain. Totally. 01:01:51.031 --> 01:02:00.172 - Leila and then Paul. Yeah, I mean, I think I stand by my original point that however we respond to this, 01:02:00.172 --> 01:02:08.878 - that I think it's worth making them aware that this could potentially be erosive to our capacity to 01:02:08.878 --> 01:02:11.838 - do our best work as a commission. 01:02:12.322 --> 01:02:18.707 - whether or not they enforce it really strictly. First of all, there's nothing in the code that says 01:02:18.707 --> 01:02:25.412 - you can't have conflicts of interest or perceived conflicts of interest. They just need to be disclosed. 01:02:25.412 --> 01:02:31.797 - That's the actual state code. Trust me, I've read it like 10 times. So all that to say, in the past 01:02:31.797 --> 01:02:38.182 - with grants, we've had people who might have a relationship or even a tenuous relationship step out 01:02:38.182 --> 01:02:41.694 - of the room, not deliberate on that grant. We have it. 01:02:41.922 --> 01:02:48.687 - you know, procedures in place already that disclose those conflicts of interest. So to me, it seems 01:02:48.687 --> 01:02:55.858 - it would be better to refine those processes, provide them to the city, the mayor, the council, whomever. 01:02:55.858 --> 01:03:02.623 - It sounds like it's mostly the mayor's office here that's pushing back and say, you know, we have a 01:03:02.623 --> 01:03:09.118 - process for handling this business. Does it meet your legal scrutiny? I suspect they'll say no. 01:03:09.378 --> 01:03:18.636 - But I think we should say that this could be really corrosive to what we do. I think it would be. I've 01:03:18.636 --> 01:03:28.163 - been on the grants committee for six years. We've given grants to everyone in this city. It's just really 01:03:28.163 --> 01:03:34.814 - hard. Should I go up and be on the Board of Public Works and decide where 01:03:35.170 --> 01:03:44.205 - plumbing goes. I don't know. It just seems like we want experts, qualified and rich experts, to do this 01:03:44.205 --> 01:03:53.066 - decision making, not people who are at such a distance that they have not a single perceived conflict 01:03:53.066 --> 01:04:01.927 - of interest. That is my concern. It's not a big deal. I completely agree with you, Leyla. I think the 01:04:01.927 --> 01:04:04.446 - big picture is transparency. 01:04:04.642 --> 01:04:14.052 - and the ability to recuse yourself from any decisions of which you could be partial about. I mean, I'm 01:04:14.052 --> 01:04:23.371 - recalling when I was sitting on the university's tenure committee. I mean, you know all these people. 01:04:23.371 --> 01:04:33.329 - And at some point, if you know somebody closely, you just recuse yourself out of it. I know it's a different 01:04:33.329 --> 01:04:34.334 - situation. 01:04:34.530 --> 01:04:43.130 - But the point is to be transparent. And I know there are things of appearance, but if you're always 01:04:43.130 --> 01:04:52.160 - pressing for transparency, then I think that reduces those who want to sort of look at what you're doing 01:04:52.160 --> 01:05:01.362 - in a devious manner. OK. So there are lots of obvious instances to think of is when somebody's put forward 01:05:01.362 --> 01:05:02.910 - a grant proposal. 01:05:03.266 --> 01:05:13.321 - for instance, and what happens there. But the conflicts of interest can have many different dimensions 01:05:13.321 --> 01:05:23.474 - than that. So I was the chair of an executive committee of a large nonprofit in Cincinnati. And my wife 01:05:23.474 --> 01:05:31.870 - was an administrator in a county board that provided money to that same organization. 01:05:32.514 --> 01:05:40.147 - people found that out, I was disqualified. I couldn't, now I could see why that would be, that someone 01:05:40.147 --> 01:05:47.779 - might think, well, she loves her husband, he's not paid or anything, he's doing good stuff, let's, and 01:05:47.779 --> 01:05:55.634 - so let's tilt the things just a little bit towards that kind of project. And that's not a grant proposal, 01:05:55.634 --> 01:06:01.118 - that's not the individual getting anything, no money at all was involved. 01:06:01.666 --> 01:06:08.918 - But it was still a matter of being sure that the county's money, much of which came from the state, 01:06:08.918 --> 01:06:16.169 - was used in a way that was without any conflict of interest. So I think if we're going to talk this 01:06:16.169 --> 01:06:23.856 - through, we need to think about the fuller dimensions. I think the county made a good decision, honestly, 01:06:23.856 --> 01:06:28.062 - in my case. And it was just somewhat different than this. 01:06:28.418 --> 01:06:37.898 - and the nonprofit had a good income and so on. So they didn't need me really. But there are lots of 01:06:37.898 --> 01:06:47.377 - ways in which you can do things which people can then present to others as indicating an unfair way 01:06:47.377 --> 01:06:56.478 - of operating. And so it seems to me if somebody's, if the person had said, hey, I'm just gonna, 01:06:56.770 --> 01:07:04.118 - quit doing this particular thing over here, because I want to be on, we'd have no trouble here. It's 01:07:04.118 --> 01:07:11.612 - that decision about not to try to separate, try to keep both things going at once, as if there weren't 01:07:11.612 --> 01:07:19.106 - at least a perception of some conflict. It's going to be a lot for us to keep track of, especially the 01:07:19.106 --> 01:07:23.326 - grant writing committee. So I mean, I think that what Rob 01:07:23.778 --> 01:07:32.949 - what everyone's saying about transparency right up front. So lessen the burden for you guys on that 01:07:32.949 --> 01:07:42.486 - committee. I think you all have always done an excellent job. I mean, people have gotten up out of that 01:07:42.486 --> 01:07:51.198 - room and circumstances. I was like, OK. Yeah, yeah. They're very, they take it very seriously. 01:07:51.874 --> 01:07:58.393 - Yeah, for the first time in a minute, we're actually coming up against our meeting time here. 01:07:58.393 --> 01:08:05.536 - So I'm going to, if it's OK, I'm going to table this discussion for now. I'm happy to bring it up next 01:08:05.536 --> 01:08:12.748 - meeting if we would like to. In the meantime, it sounds like we have a series of questions, things that 01:08:12.748 --> 01:08:19.614 - we want to say, maybe processes that we want to articulate. I will say, if you have any questions, 01:08:19.714 --> 01:08:28.438 - or particular statements that you would feel comfortable contributing to, I think, a collective document, 01:08:28.438 --> 01:08:37.080 - please send those to me. And I will work on putting something together. And I would also, I think Holly, 01:08:37.080 --> 01:08:44.734 - I think under this idea of maybe having some sort of, I don't know, education, I'm a little, 01:08:46.434 --> 01:08:53.470 - I'm a little hesitant to have someone just come in here and tell us what's what. I think I would be 01:08:53.470 --> 01:09:00.506 - interested in having a conversation with someone who is maybe open to having a conversation. And so 01:09:00.506 --> 01:09:07.823 - I think if there's a way to, you on your end, if you could start having, maybe seeing who might be open 01:09:07.823 --> 01:09:14.366 - to coming and having a conversation with us about some of these things, that would be great. 01:09:14.562 --> 01:09:21.437 - Does that sound OK to everyone? Can I just say, The Bloody Lady is playing at 7 o'clock, which I think 01:09:21.437 --> 01:09:28.378 - we sponsored. Yes. And with the live score at the Buzzkurt Chummy Theater, if anyone wants to go there, 01:09:28.378 --> 01:09:35.186 - that would be a super weird movie. Yeah. So transition next to you. I'll play the events in important 01:09:35.186 --> 01:09:42.328 - dates. We've got one coming up in 34 minutes. So yeah, I already mentioned Food Truck Friday with Suzanne, 01:09:42.328 --> 01:09:43.262 - the bassoons. 01:09:43.714 --> 01:09:53.704 - jazz this this Friday any other events anyone wants to make note of coming up in the next couple weeks 01:09:53.704 --> 01:09:55.838 - October 1st Thursdays 01:10:03.938 --> 01:10:11.298 - Well, feel free to either if things come up, feel free to either add them to the doc. That doc is always 01:10:11.298 --> 01:10:18.518 - hyperlinked in the midterm emails and in the agendas. Or send those to me and I will add those. Moving 01:10:18.518 --> 01:10:22.654 - on to agenda item number nine, commissioner announcements. 01:10:27.874 --> 01:10:35.699 - Archaeology Anthropology this Friday. They have a free event. Is it tomorrow? Oh, yeah, you're right. 01:10:35.699 --> 01:10:43.372 - They usually do them on Thursdays. Those are awesome. Yes. It seems like it'll be fun. I don't know 01:10:43.372 --> 01:10:51.197 - what time it's starting. I just remembered it. I saw it today. Yeah. And they have free pizza for the 01:10:51.197 --> 01:10:56.414 - first 50 people, a chocolate, yeah, an ice cream bar, other events. 01:10:57.090 --> 01:11:16.835 - I think they're going to have food, yeah, but I'm not sure when exactly. Any other announcements? Okay. 01:11:16.835 --> 01:11:22.910 - We have no public. Okay, great. 01:11:23.490 --> 01:11:29.643 - I will go ahead and motion to adjourn this meeting. Can I get a second? Second. Thank you. All right. 01:11:29.643 --> 01:11:32.478 - Thank you all for your sessions today. Thanks.