- Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and call this meeting to order. Thank you all for being here. First meeting
- of the year. And my last meeting is June. So, okay. First things first, a call, I did the call to order
- welcome. Agenda item number two, a review of the December meeting minutes. If you all can remember that far back.
- So the minutes have been distributed and read. Are there any corrections, noted corrections, to the
- December minutes? All right, fantastic. An aye motion to approve the minutes. Can I get a verbal second,
- please? All in favor of approving the minutes, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay.
- Fantastic. The minutes are approved. Holly, would you please give us a picture of the financials? Mm-hmm.
- I'm going to change scripts. Oh, I'll do it. Sorry. OK, cool. Thanks. That was my job. OK. Hi, everyone.
- Happy 2026. Here's our budget for the year. So money has not changed. It just lives in different places.
- pops in the city's accounts this year. So historically, we've had money from the city's general fund
- and from the local income tax fund. This year, ESD's entire budget is part of the local income tax fund.
- Don't worry, that doesn't mean anything's going away in the future. It was just a decision the comptroller's
- office made when they were allocating funds for 26. So because of that, things
- look a little prettier. So bottom line, we've got $130,000 from the Lit Fund this year for grants, and
- then we've got our usual $50,000 for the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association. That gives us a total
- of $180,000 to spend on grants.
- That's around the amount of money that we spent in 2025 on grants, including that overage that we had
- for the Arts Operations Grant Cycle. In addition to the $180,000 for grants, we've still got that $5,000
- for workshops and other professional development opportunities we'll provide to early career artists
- and probably non-early career artists as well. In the past, we've had $16,500 for public art projects.
- That money still exists in our budget. I just don't want to necessarily put it here until we come up
- with a real idea for spending it. And so what Gerard and I agreed on is we're just going to kind of
- see how the year starts, like we're going to talk a little bit about our strategic goals for the next
- two to three years in the meeting. And so I think we'll spend the first six months of the year thinking
- about if there's anything that aligns with those strategic goals that we could use those extra funds
- for. And then I'll put it back in the budget. I just want to hold off for the minute. And I think we
- probably will also want to be mindful as we're choosing whether or not we want to spend those extra
- funds of what kind of situation we might be in with organizations funding being pulled by
- just state and federal and other agencies that we might want to be prepared to make quick moves on the
- way we were kind of able to at the end of the last year. Does anybody have any questions about that?
- OK, great. Money. Perfect. It's there when we need it, though. Yes, it's there. Yeah. Thank you, Holly.
- Before we turn it back over to you for city updates, I do want to just take a quick moment and acknowledge
- Brandy and Lynn are here in person. So I know we've seen some of our other meetings, but I just wanted
- to take that moment in. And actually, could we just quickly go around the room and everyone just say
- their name just so we can put names to faces here. Gerard. I'm Laila. I'm Neda. Christina. Lynn. Gretchen.
- Betsy. Paul. Chaz. I'm a staff liaison with Holly. And I'm Holly.
- Perfect, thanks all. That's pretty good. January's gonna have a hit or miss in terms of attendance,
- so this is great. Oh, and he is online. Okay, great. Agenda item number three, city updates. I have
- two updates. Number one, we have a council liaison.
- Yay. We used to have one, like when I started and people are like, but they never come. And so we asked
- and they were like, oh yeah, we did away with that.
- But now they're bringing it back. And so Sydney Zulik, who is actually also now city council vice president,
- is our liaison. And that's great. She'll be a super awesome advocate for us. And she'll join us for
- at least some meetings this year. So I'm really happy about that. The other thing I want to report on
- is finally, after years and years and years, we're getting ready to launch our public art database.
- publicly. So I think we talked about this a little last year, and Elena, who was my O'Neill practicum
- student, helped me revitalize it and worked with our IT GIS department to do not just a revamped database,
- which is really a spreadsheet,
- of artwork but also creates a publicly accessible map that folks can use to do self-guided tours and
- just learn more information. So we're finally going to launch that at the end of this month. I just
- found that out from GIS today. So we'll do a press release and some promotion around that.
- It's not the complete list of all of our public art. We just agreed that if we tried to revamp everything
- at once because there are hundreds of listings in this, it would just be way too overwhelming, and it
- would never get done. So we've got a really cool, robust list of the most recent and most beloved 20
- works of art. And what I'll probably be asking you all to do over the course of the year, and we'll
- probably talk about this more in the public art subcommittee meetings this year, is just help us get
- the rest of those entries from the old list more up to date. And I'll also be working with another practice
- to come student this semester to also help with that. And she's also going to help me on an initiative
- to get signage on all of our art this year. That's what I've got. Great. Thank you. Agenda item number
- four, an update from the public art subcommittee chair. Hello, everybody. Happy New Year.
- So the only thing I wanted to give an announcement about was just an update on the Convention Center.
- So when we left off last month, we were looking at finalists and their applications. So we were able
- to have a list of five finalists. So that's very exciting, especially coming from over 100 applications.
- So being able to narrow it down, and there were very
- great applications that came through. So that list will actually be released on January 21st at the
- CIB meeting. And that will be followed by a press release as well. In addition, in May, we will have
- a finalist chosen. So between January and May, we'll have the artists submit their proposals, do public
- feedback, all of that great jazz. And then in May, we'll have our finalist. So yeah.
- kind of where we are with the Convention Center at the moment. Awesome. Any questions for Christina
- or about Public Heart? Yeah, I have a question. So how does the process usually go in terms of submitting
- a proposal? Will there be a public presentation? Is it going to be who are they presenting to? How are
- they going to be selected? In the past, we've kind of had them submit proposals, but it'll be like an
- online version grid for
- of public feedback. So that's kind of how that works. So people look at their applications? Just their
- actual proposal. Oh, their proposal. Yeah, their design. And then they're probably like a description
- or something with that. But then they kind of give their feedback that way. Oh, OK. Interesting. Are
- we going to be asked to look at those? Are we done? Are we out? We want to look at them. Yes. Awesome. OK.
- Is it the CIB or is it? It's the CIB. This is a little different because it's not city money. It's a
- pot of city and county money that's owned by the Capital Improvement Board that's overseeing the entire
- conventions that are expansion. So they have the final say. And there's actually, so there is, so the
- Arts Commission, the Public Arts Subcommittee, and thank you all for your help, and Betsy,
- reviewed the top third of the applications. We got 180. And we narrowed it down to five. The BAC subcommittee
- just gave our recommendations for who we thought were the top candidates. And then that was shared with
- a separate CIB recommendation committee that Christina and Rob both served on as representatives of
- the BAC. And luckily, our
- on who were the top candidates were pretty much in alignment. So yeah, yeah. And we just, we tried to
- make that really clear and the materials that were shared with the recommendation committee. Yeah. And,
- and we just, we also had such robust reviewers on that committee as well. Natalie Amanza is on it. Maya
- Michelson is on it. So we just, we had some top experts helping us make the choices. So the reception
- was good too.
- Yes, yes, yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely, which I was very happy about. But basically, so I'll ask
- the public art subcommittee to do the same thing once we have the final proposals. And I actually might
- ask some of you to sit in on the interviews. And then we'll do the same thing. We'll make our recommendation.
- The recommendation committee will also review everything, participate in the interviews. And then we
- make the recommendation to the CIB. And then they say yes or no.
- But I don't want to jinx it, but I don't anticipate we're going to get pushback from the CAB, especially
- because two of the members of the CIB are actually on the recommendation committee. And they just were
- very happy with the finalists that we chose and spoke out at the CIB meeting just saying they did a
- great job, and we really endorsed the five finalists.
- We'll do our best to make that happen for our final selection. Yeah, but all the finalists, it was so
- hard to narrow it down to five. I wish we could do 10, but it's more money and work that we don't have.
- So we're going to get something good. I mean, they looked amazing from the applications that you shared.
- Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it's going to be great. Yeah. Yeah, it's really exciting. OK, fantastic.
- Any other questions?
- All right, the final update. For real this time. Last year we thought it was the final one. This is
- the final update from our grants chair, Leila. Yeah, I won't take up too much of your time. I'm done.
- Last meeting ever. No, it's been a pleasure. Six years. It's been great. I feel very good about the
- state that everything is in, having seen this whole
- thing for the last six years. So Paul and Jared and I are going to meet on Friday to talk about transitioning
- and building out a schedule for the grant cycle. And I'll obviously happily read for grants. So yeah,
- thanks, everyone. It's been fun. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much. I've got you a little retirement
- I'm not tired of you. Open it if you want.
- I also love wine. That's the perfect dinner. For those of you who have not been subject to my grant
- reviews, I always provide Cheez-Its because they are a delicious and nutritious snack. The favor is
- being returned. Thank you for your leadership for four years and your service over six years long.
- longer than any of us here, so. We'll miss having you at these meetings. Okay, agenda item number six.
- From your chair. So I'm gonna use this time to talk a little bit about
- the strategic goals document that the task force consisting of myself, Gretchen, Paul, and Christina
- put together. And I think in sort of discussing this, I'm gonna sort of blend this with an activity
- that we usually do at the start of every year, which is kind of a discussion on like our priorities
- and possible sort of like presentation guests and just sort of like questions and things that we want
- on our mind as we enter the new year.
- So a little bit of just a little bit of context for the document that was in the materials for this
- meeting. We looked at the 2020 to 2025 strategic plan, which was sort of a three page document that was
- A lot of like a page or a page and a half of it was just like basically different iterations of like
- a mission statement and a summary or a vision statement, like kind of all of those things. And we took
- that document. I think we pretty smartly and thoughtfully condensed that sort of like mission centric
- language. And then we looked at the objectives and the goals that were there and kind of I think thoughtfully
- updated them to reflect the work that the commission is currently doing and I think making reasonable
- edits and reasonable changes to what we think we should be doing over the coming three years. And so
- in some ways it's similar to what came before but it's a little bit more condensed. I think it's a little
- bit tighter and I think it's a little bit more efficiently outlined
- It's a little more user-friendly if anyone actually wants to read it.
- maybe open up the conversation more broadly to sort of like priorities and things like that. I did want
- to talk specifically about this document and get a sense for those for folks who who look at it if there
- are any questions or comments or suggested edits or changes that we should make before we we finalize
- it and sort of have the the city folks look over and then you know vote at vote on it in a coming meeting.
- When I first was applying to a commissioner position, I looked at the old strategic goals and statement
- stuff. And yeah, I think comparing, I think it's much easier to digest information. Yeah, I like that
- it's shorter. I feel like it just fits better for what we're trying to, like the information we need
- to get out is out and we don't have to say any more than that. So great job, guys. Nia says elsewhere
- agrees and says it's nice, yes.
- Yeah, from the grants perspective, I do appreciate that. Obviously, we want to advocate for increased
- funding. The BU-EA element is an interesting aspect of that as well, highlighting economic vitality
- through the granting process. And then, yeah, best practices for grant applicants is a great idea.
- I don't know, yeah, all of that's great. I wouldn't do much more than that. Well, if I may. Yeah, please.
- Having been on the committee, I was looking at this real closely for quite a bit. And there's one element
- that might be worth adding here. It comes up in,
- The document historically has been all about serving artists and arts organizations without as much
- language as would be desirable, I think, on what is being done to engage the community with art, to
- let people know how much there is, to let people know the kinds of things that are going on.
- And so when I think about on the second page at the top about outreach. Can you guys go to that part
- up there or not? Are you able to move it? Oh, sorry. That's my bad. Great. OK, so I think this would
- be the place to put in some language that says that one of our main goals is to
- publicize, encourage engagement of the community in the arts. All the rest is about making great things
- for art. But I think without also setting the context of the community, we're missing something that's
- really settled to what I've observed as we've been working. We think a lot about the community.
- Didn't quite get in the document. Yeah, so one more bullet point there. Yep, that's it. I have that
- noted. Do you have a bullet point written up? I don't. OK. But if people are interested. Yeah, I've
- got something I can, yeah, I tagged up something that you said, and we can share with you and get it on there.
- Well, yeah, so I think I'm happy to take other comments as folks are thinking through things here. You
- can also, I think we'll probably look to vote on a draft of this at the next meeting. So I'd say maybe
- between now and the middle of January, the midpoint in about two weeks or so, if you have any further
- comments or suggestions or thoughts, feel free to email those to me.
- And we can add those to the draft here. And as we sort of continue the discussion today, if other ideas
- come up, feel free to let me know specific things for the document. So yeah, so last year, now I'm gonna
- go ahead and broaden up the discussion. We had a, we just took a little bit of time to kind of reflect
- on the previous year,
- Things that went well maybe things that could be improved and kind of like just kind of like have a
- discussion on Priorities or questions Or you know specific things to be aware of things that should
- be on a radar as we're going into the year This can include you know specific things related to you
- know procedures to to grants to outreach and
- to presenters that we want to have come to meetings, particular folks that we want to work with or partner
- with or engage with anyways. And so yeah, I'd like to maybe, or yeah, also just questions that we have
- about things. I'd like to, yeah, go ahead and open up that discussion on, you know, reflecting on the
- past year and looking ahead. Any thoughts or notes that folks have?
- If we look at the goals and look at number six, it really points to something that I think we haven't
- done, which is to help the various arts organizations and artists and art lovers around somehow get
- together and advance art overall for the city.
- And I don't know, it says foster discussions among various groups about how they can collectively address
- challenges they face in common and achieve outcomes they share. I'm not sure exactly where the border
- lies between the work that Holly does and where it's for us. Is it for us to help Holly figure out a
- way to make this, or is it for us to figure out how to do it and then get it done?
- I think that that's important for us to think about because we've done great things. But I think the
- city, overall the population, which is continuing to grow and change, could be better informed and better
- engaged and better excited about the art in Bloomington. It's very unwieldy the way
- to communicate with all these organizations. You know, you have all these different media, too, and
- people's interests are varied greatly. So I think trying to figure out how that is done, I think, is
- going to be a challenge. I don't know. I mean, I know just at IU, you know, we used to have these committees,
- you know, arts committee or whatever.
- make you get together with other people, which was great. But we don't have anything like that here.
- And what can we make that would be of interest so people really want to come? And everybody's super
- busy, so I don't know. What format would it be? Meet at a bar? No. Can we do a once a year meet in person
- with all the other organizations? Come if you want? Or is that too much?
- I don't know. I don't want to make more work for you. That's the thing. But like Busker Chumlee, this,
- business, whatever. Well, some of this it's like, I'm sorry, I'm going to say that just, you know, some
- of it you guys as a commission can do. Like we don't have to do everything, which I think is where part
- of this gets, like we have our, we have like a whole thing outside of this too. Like we're always the
- main liaison. I'm just like co-laison with her to help.
- You know, you guys have power to do some stuff too, right? Like it's not just, it doesn't have to be
- just up to us. So I think, I just wanted to say that. That's good. Yeah, I think though it might,
- you know, there are other partners in the community that I'm sure would help with the work. I'm thinking
- specifically about Pillar Arts. You know, we worked with them a couple years ago to do that panel at
- the Fire Bay Theater and the Waldron. It was Pillar and
- constellation-ish. But they, we just kind of, we recommended to be on the panel. We invited them also
- to make recommendations. And then we just kind of showed up. So they did a lot of that work. And I think
- that some kind of model like that,
- where we are working with other partners to kind of like have like a panel that is also a dialogue.
- I think that something like that could be great. People loved that event, you know. Is that the one
- you did at the wall? At the wall. That was awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was packed. It was like
- standing room only. Yeah, that was great. With the panel. Yeah, yeah. And like you said, like we could,
- we were able to rent the BCT for free.
- Yeah, that was really cool. Yeah, and Christina and I, well, this was before Christina was the subcommittee
- public art chair. But we were talking about doing this again, too. It's just time and whatever, because
- we were talking about panels and workshops, because people liked it. But I think, obviously, it hasn't
- happened yet. So it's like, yeah, it could be another push for you guys to kind of organize that or
- figure out
- You know, what could be best? Yeah, and we could think strategically around planning. One thing I'm
- trying to do this month is we're thinking about other things that are going to happen this year. So
- the convention center selection will be made. Undulate by John Resick will most likely be installed
- in spring. So we'll want to do something about that. Chaz and I, we've been working to open the artist
- studio space. There are people working in it now. We'll soon want to have an event celebrating that.
- But just thinking strategically about when might there be a lull?
- You know, or when my April or May I'm going to, this is going to get even grayer. Just thinking more
- strategically about maybe that something like that could happen in the fall, you know, and yeah. Yeah,
- yeah. Parks is coming for me. Double up on one of those? I'm thinking about it. Yeah. Yeah. There's another
- that might be worth considering and then somehow developing a concept that's all about, that becomes
- almost like a marketing theme or tag. So something a little bit like Columbus has art everywhere as
- a theme for the city, right? And maybe there's some way in which there doesn't, it's not quite everybody
- getting together and just
- saying these are the things we do, let's learn about one another and help one another. It's also making
- a kind of presence for art for the city. And I don't know that that would require that much. So the
- Arts Commission Instagram was actually started by a member, by Essence Linden actually, when she was
- on the council years ago. And I just wanted to say, as you were saying, that I thought
- I've never used this, I don't know much about it, but technically there is one discovered. Alright,
- I don't know. I'm not saying it has to be that, but they're not, yeah, they're not, so I'm not saying
- we do this, I'm just saying, as you were saying that, I thought of it, so I'm also, and then like that
- is the mission, and yeah, I'm just, I'm not saying this just, I'm just saying, I didn't know that was
- the thing, so. Oh, go ahead, go ahead.
- Yeah, I don't think it's hot. An option could be it takes a little bit more logistical planning and
- investment in terms of just capacity of humans. But if we're looking to foster discussion and having
- a space for all of these individuals or some of these individuals to collectively address the things
- that they're facing,
- Just bringing people together, especially if they don't know folks doesn't necessarily always create
- a space of trust to be able to talk about challenges or to address challenges. And so some of the spaces
- that I've seen
- with different leaders in the arts, specifically thinking about BIPOC or indigenous leaders, is they
- create cohort models. And you could have various cycles of cohorts where you'd have different representatives
- from those spaces. And then you would have topics each time. So then you're building those relationships
- between those entities so they can discuss those challenges and think of strategies or share strategies
- on how they've overcome some of those challenges. And then afterwards, they get a certificate or something
- that they can put on their institution
- institutions wall or put within their portfolio that then would add just in terms of their marketability,
- but also they would leave with some sort of tangible skill sets and they'd also leave with
- a squad of individuals that they now have a network to stand in solidarity around those challenges.
- And then you'd have another cycle of the cohort. And then after you get a few cycle of cohorts, you
- can bring those cohorts together because they all are part of the same system. And so you'd have 2026,
- 2027, 2028. And then you can have these larger sessions, but they have these common foundations that
- they all belong to Bloomington. They all belong to the arts. Some of that times I think that creates
- a stronger thread because you can bring folks together. You can have emails or
- You can have Zoom sessions, but because they all belong to those same spaces and they've moved through
- that same cycle, even if they've moved away, they tend to have stronger relationships and have a deeper
- investment within their community or even just within the systems that they're operating with them.
- I can send some examples of some of the cohorts that I've been a part of or the cohort sessions that
- I've helped support.
- Because I've had some with just indigenous artists. I've had like with art equity, or I think it's called
- art equity that's based out of California. And it's just, it's different depending on what the capacity
- of the institution is, and also just thinking of the human capital that you have to be able to do it.
- Yeah. Awesome. Yes, yes, we saw that. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, I know we haven't really had a time
- I'm gonna have to talk about it again, but Paul and I have talked a little bit in previous years about
- sort of like, I think better aligning the grant application with sort of the internal rubric that we
- use. We've gotten a lot better over the last four years of sort of like tightening up the focus. I think
- better aligning the cycles. But I know that,
- Some of what's there is just a little bit of like muscle memory. And I think just kind of like formalizing
- some of those things. And then also taking what we know about city processes now. And I think trying
- to align our schedule with the like how the city moves through like creating MOUs and things like that.
- And I know that we're gonna I think meet soon to talk about that. So that's definitely on the grant
- side of things.
- I think a big goal is to, I think, thinking about last year and what happened with the artistic advancement
- grants and how there was just a lot of time between when they were told that they got the award and
- when the money actually hit the bank. And I think if the expectation was set ahead of time, that's a
- little bit better. And so I think just trying to tighten that up a little bit is definitely going to
- be a goal for this year.
- Any other notes, comments, thoughts? On that though, like working with the city, like the city's capacity
- to process all this, I happen to know that sometimes we move faster than the city or at higher volume
- than the city. I don't know, it's just something to be aware of. Oh yes, yeah. I know you're aware of
- that, yeah. Do you have any forecast for that, how that might
- be in the coming year? I think one thing Gerard and I talked about is just meeting with the legal team
- to help. I think, again, I think we've talked a little bit about this at past meetings. We're just dealing
- with a different type of scrutiny from the legal department right now
- that we didn't know to expect. And I think also there was so much turnover in the legal department at
- the beginning of last year. It was all new to them as well. So I think we've learned a lot about each
- other in the last year. So we can be more prepared. But I think we just also learned what kind of slowed
- them down in their review of the contracts
- in 25 that wasn't happening in previous years. And so I think our idea is kind of meeting with the legal
- department before we launch the first application, just to make sure that we're streamlining the application
- as much as we can to make the work that they have to do easier. So again, I just don't think in the
- past there was as much scrutiny of the applications
- themselves, and this year they reviewed every individual application with a fine-tooth comb. So the
- easier we can make it for them to process the information, the better it'll work. I think that is so
- smart. Yeah, yeah. And again, I think, unfortunately, we've had 20 different lawyers in the past 18
- months. And I'm hoping that the person that we're working with now, I think, is amazing. And she's so
- thoughtful. And I feel like I also now have more
- transparency and understanding of what is written into a contract that has also just made the process
- easier. And so as long as that person doesn't go anywhere, I think we're going to. Last year was also
- growing pain, so hopefully it will be better because of all of that. What's that attorney's name? It's
- Audrey Brittenham.
- She joined us at our August meeting. I'm glad you pointed that out, Leila, because it's also like, I
- wonder if pushing the dates back for when they would receive it. I think we're definitely going to have
- to do that. I think it's like we can just do stuff
- overall to make it more realistic for everyone. But like how I said, once talking with her and saying
- what is realistic is going to be important. Yeah, and then it comes early, that's great. Yeah, exactly.
- You don't want people hounding you. Yeah, well, it's just embarrassing for everybody, you know?
- And it's just, it's losing trust, you know? And I feel like, unfortunately, we took some hits last year.
- when it came to trust, you know? And so we're kind of in a position where we need to be transparent
- and rebuild that trust, so. I think the Arts Commission, when they, I don't know if they still give
- out individual artist grants, but they would always have a clause saying, do not expect this money until
- three months from now or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, it'd be easy for us to do that. Right,
- yeah, yeah.
- Well, the final question I'll have here with, or I'll ask here is, so we had a number of really great
- presentations last year. I know we had, I think, maybe I'm conflating time, but was the, did the opera,
- Opera for Kids? Maybe. Was that last year? I know that Pillar Arts also came. Climate, or Artists for
- Climate Awareness came and gave a presentation. I'm blanking on a couple others, but. First Friday.
- Oh, yeah, that's right, the Gallery Walk folks. Yeah, just, I mean, are there any individuals
- or organizations that we should have on our short list for meetings this year for folks that would like
- to hear and maybe kind of give a short little presentation on what they do? So Zakiya Cinema is likely
- going to have a permanent space, so it might be good timing to kind of hear from them. They just became
- a nonprofit.
- and they'll have like a physical space so it might thank you to actually Gretchen for being an arts
- advocate in her day job to help them, but that might be good because they can also not just be like
- about, because film's important too, it's an art that's overlooked sometimes, but they became a non-profit
- and they might, maybe that could be useful to other organizations for them to talk to them about that
- process and what that means and
- how they got physical space and what they're doing to fundraise and stuff. So that just might be a nice
- thing for them to present on and also then to kind of resource share to other organizations or people.
- Right. Well, I mean, Cicada Cinema is a group that we've supported through our grant cycle over the
- past couple of years. And hearing that they're officially a 501c3
- a big deal, so I think hearing about that, that changes, and having a physical space, I think that would
- be really great. I hear they're tough to get ahold of though, so I don't know how we're gonna get ahold
- of them. Can I make a couple of recommendations? I think kind of to Paul's point about just like better
- promotion, so the city is finally wrapping its branding study and thingy. I've heard that they're gonna
- have like new things to start rolling out starting next month.
- So it might be great to just invite them to come talk to us and think about how we should align with
- it. It's the office of the mayor. The director of communications is housed there. I can help make that
- connection. I think now is too early. I'm actually going to be in a meeting about that tomorrow. But
- I can share more information. And the other thing I think might be interesting,
- We, it sounds like there are gonna be some upgrades to Switchyard Stage, which just makes it a more
- viable performance venue for bigger acts to be able to perform at. That might be a cool thing to hear
- about. Is that Parks and Rec? Ish. Ish. Ish, yeah. Parks and Rec might be cool. It seems like it'd be
- awesome to push some
- It would be funded by someone like Crystal. Maybe we do that closer to when they are amping up their
- outdoor performance series when the farmers market starts and they do their art market and things like that.
- can invite the seratones to perform. They can do the Weezer cover that they do. So heart-rending.
- Heart-rending. Great. I feel like in the past, Leila, for example, you've presented on
- like exhibitions you've hosted. So I feel like that's an option, too. Oh, sure. Yeah. And like other,
- like I know you're cycling off, but people who are actually on the commission, I always feel like that's
- appropriate. If I have a commissioner checking. Yeah. Along those lines, I was wondering if it's helpful
- at all, like city-wise,
- if there's any art adjacent things that people should know about. I think about sustainability. They're
- trying to work. They wanted to get in touch with arts organizations about sustainability grants they
- can get. So it's like, I don't know, but stuff like that, when it's relevant and makes sense, I'm wondering
- if we just keep that in our mind. Who's had a pride in Bloomington? Who's that? Zachary Taylor.
- We should invite Lotus. We should just invite Lotus.
- This is kind of off the cuff here, but I, because I don't know if there's a specific person here, but
- I feel like we tend to get grants sometimes that say like, I'm gonna do this work with the schools,
- or I'm gonna do this with that. And like, I mean, I know that there are ways of like connecting artists
- with schools and that there is, you know, to a certain extent, a need there, but it's a little bit,
- at least to my mind, kind of like fuzzy what that is.
- hearing at all from MCCSE or someone involved in K through 12? Yeah, and I could think like, I mean,
- we could, who's the woman? I believe she's at Fairview, Maggie? Oh, Oliver, oh yeah, who also does?
- Yeah, and then, but then like thinking about people who have been successful in getting in schools,
- because I don't, it's a tough nut to crack. Kid, I want to call him Kid Cuddy.
- It's not Kid Kazooie. Kid Kazooie? Kid Kazooie, yeah. Thank you. Kevin McDowell. Yeah. And Erin Tobey.
- Erin Tobey, that's also awesome. I know she worked with... Freelances. Yeah. I was gonna... I was thinking...
- Lotus has been successful getting into schools. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
- It's, I know you're talking about Bridges Mayo. Yes. Okay, these are all fantastic suggestions. As more
- like thoughts and ideas and names and people, you can email those to myself or Netta anytime. Yeah.
- Okay, I'm gonna move on to agenda item number seven, upcoming event and important dates. I think when
- I last looked at this document, it was... Oh, you added some stuff, okay. Yeah, anyone want to shout
- out any...
- Upcoming events of note, either that they are personally involved with, or just that they know are going
- on that should be. Buffy Brawn is February 20th. That's right. It's a Friday, and it's at FAR. Yes.
- Oh, at FAR? Oh, interesting. Yeah, because the bell was... Sure. Yeah. We almost didn't get anything
- last year. We had to full-rank. Yeah, it fills up. You know what, Tom? When are they filling tickets
- for that, do you think?
- I think they're actually there. It's on their Instagram. I think they're waiting until closer to the
- event. I feel like it might even be like Valentine's Day that they're doing it. Yeah. Because they go
- really fast. Yeah. I don't know. The auditorium is too...
- something that Rhiannon Giddens and Silph Road are at the auditorium on, I think, March 12th. I'd have
- to double-check. Mm-hmm, that's the 12th. Are you sure?
- It's the rock one. Is it the cave one? It's not the cave one. Fireball. Visitors from Darker Worlds. 7 p.m.
- Free. No call.
- I think I'm messing up your cadence and I'll change it when I go back. Oh yeah, sorry. There's a Russian
- event that we're doing about mythologies and material culture of the Slavic department. Is there anything
- at IU Arts and Humanities Council
- What's happening? Yeah, I can throw these on. We have an arts market on the 5th, February 5th. Yeah,
- the first Thursday is on the day that Eskenazi was going to talk. Is the faculty show opening this Friday?
- Oh, yes. Yeah. I'm really excited about that. Friday, 6 to 8. Everybody's going to the mall.
- What is going on? What's happening in February? Anything? I'm sure. Is anything happening at the BCT?
- Studio Ghibli. There's lots of good movies. Oh, the guy from Soul Coughing is apparently playing at
- the Bishop. Who?
- the guy from Soul Coughing. I saw it on the Bloomin' Tonian of all places. Good or? Recommended.
- Oh my gosh, okay. It's 90s, anybody? I'm aging myself. Oh, that's right. Is it?
- Right? It's in March, yeah. I think it's sold out. What's February? Anything besides? Buffy Prom, cover
- bands of Steve Amato, and PJ Harvey. That's one of the Buffy Prom cover bands. Oh, sorry. Thank you.
- I was like, Pj Harvey's from Bloomington? Right.
- Okay, great, well yeah, this document, the link to it lives in the agendas and in the midpoint emails
- and you're welcome to go in and update it at any time. And yeah, hope to see you all out at these events.
- I just have to put you on the spot. Oh, yeah. Go back. I assume these dates aren't set yet, but are
- you planning to continue the artist parties going into this year? Yeah. That's something Holly and I
- are also going to try to do this month, is pop that out. Thought when and where to get that all scheduled
- ahead of time. Because last year was also the learning curve
- some of the new processes, things just take a lot longer as we all have learned, and not just grants,
- but other things. So yeah, so the idea of probably not more than four, I'd imagine, but also connecting
- them with some of the things that spring as well. So yeah, anyway. I think most of us have gone to those,
- but I really recommend it. If you haven't made it optimal, I really recommend it.
- I always go to them exhausted, because it's like 6 PM on a Wednesday or whatever. But I always leave
- feeling rejuvenated, because I end up seeing people I know or maybe haven't seen around. And then I
- always end up in conversation with some new folks. So I think they're a really great event. And we got
- really good feedback.
- for our end of year party this year. Yeah, and I feel like thinking about any trust lost with some of
- the grantees who are still waiting on their money, we got a lot of emails from those folks in particular
- thinking, especially for hosting. I'm trying to track how many people come. So if there's anything you
- want to note to me that comes out of those, please tell us so we can just track it.
- tells you something came from it, like, I met this person, and then this happened. It would actually
- be great to know. Just so we can kind of say why they're important, and also the arts is important.
- We should fund it, and et cetera, et cetera. But it's interesting. Thank you, Jordan, for the kind words.
- Because also what Brandy was saying, too, is I've also heard that's really important, and then also
- kind of these more in-depth, where people can sit down more and have these conversations, or also kind
- of wanted and needed to.
- So anyway, I think it's important to have them and also then look to these other outlets like panels
- or the cohort things or whatever, workshops even, because of that. You can even save time in terms of
- picking who's in the cohort based upon who you took grants out to. The grants that we would issue out
- to artists, we would create a cohort within the year. And so everyone who received a grant would move
- through the cohort model
- with business development and linking together, which would eliminate multiple evaluation periods and
- applications, because we would just take all of that into consideration. We're also trying to do this
- with our studio incubator space, and lots of work trying to do that. Then we have that space, too, ideally.
- What could you think about?
- One last thing I want to share, if you all haven't been to the Waldron since the exhibitions opened
- on Friday, they're really good. Oh, really? They include several artistic advancement grantees. Andrea
- Alune has an exhibition downstairs. And another woman whose name I'm forgetting has this really awesome
- printed on handmade paper made with mulberry trees.
- It's just fantastic. And the prints were made at Haido Press's new studio space. It's just amazing.
- I don't know if it was because of the artist party, but they were talking at the artist party in December.
- And I don't know if that's where they connected and then made that partnership. But I'm going to ask,
- because that would be pretty cool. Awesome.
- All right, moving on to agenda item number eight, commissioner announcements. Does anyone have anything
- that they would like to announce? All right. Moving on to agenda item number nine, public comment. One
- number of public comments. Any comments? Well, sure, of course. I'll make a comment. Could you say your
- name again, please, just for the record? You bet. My name's Joe Myers.
- And on behalf of the public, we're looking forward to an exciting year in the arts. And I think we have
- a table of really creative people here who can take us there. Thank you. Thanks. It's nice to hear.
- Okay, well, with that, I will give
- One final thanks to Layla. Thanks to Gerard. And I motion to adjourn the meeting. Can I get a verbal
- second? Second. All right, the meeting is adjourned. Thanks all.