All right, so the meeting will now come to order. Recording in progress. The meeting will now come to
order. First, let's do a roll call. So Nadeb Dharahim, chair, present. Rebecca Keough, present. Gerard
Penacook, present. Paige Sharp, city staff. Rob Shakespeare, present. Gretchen Nall, present. Christina
Elam, city staff, present.
Okay, thank you everyone. So the next thing on our agenda is the approval of minutes from the last meeting.
So the secretary's draft of the minutes of the June meeting were sent to everyone and a copy is in the
meeting packet. Are there any corrections to the minutes as distributed? Okay, there are no corrections.
I move to approve the minutes as distributed. Can I get a second? Second. Great. All in favor say yes.
Yes. Those opposed say no.
I don't like doing the eyes. I've made the executive decision we're going to do yes now. Okay, thank
you everyone. Minutes are approved. Do we take a vote on that? Eyes sounds very pirate-y, so. It's very
like old school. I don't know. It didn't fit the vibe. Alright, so next we will go, you're good. Next
we will go over to the city staff for updates.
I just realized you want to do the funds first and then the budget. Oh, the budget. OK. I'll just blow
this up. We can't make that a notch bigger, can we? Yay. You're so clever. So on this budget, you can
see that there's actually been expended the $76,000 for arts project support. Under other funds, it
says emerging artist professional development.
In the past, that line item has been at $5,000. But we recently found out that that $5,000 was attached
to funding that no longer exists. So what the good news is, because I was like, well, I don't report
that without good news. We did find that there was professional development dollars already encumbered
from another year. And so we've resurrected that and put it here for $2,750.
with what's the name of the individual, Christina? Andrea Sterling.
Yeah, so one of the things that she does that I'm really looking forward to in terms of artist professional
development is artists collaborating with one another because that's a really strong area for artists
and I think some practices on how to do that effectively, it's always oriented. So we're also meeting
with her in the future to have discussion about what other potential workshops to offer and those will
happen this fall and Christina will be coordinating those.
And that's it for the budget report. That sounds cool. Yeah. Hey, Austin. Oh, yeah. Oh, sorry about
that. You're good. You're good. OK. The next thing was public art in the right of way.
So one of the things that was launched right at the transition and departure of Holly and Chaz is the
public art and the right-of-way policy. And so it used to be merged with public works, where if you
wanted to do something in right-of-way, you would go through them only. But because the questions are
different naturally, not with a special event versus art, they separated the two. And so one is that it's
been launched. And so we do have a public art in the right of way policy, which is great. And here it
is. And so it kind of goes into like different definitions of public art. And then also a little bit
about the process and applications and things people will need if they want to propose a public art
project in the right of way.
So this is it. This is our first iteration. We'll be kind of editing and kind of doing different versions,
but just wanted to let you guys know that this has been launched and in place. A lot of it right now
was also kind of coming out of the Black Lives Matter mural debacle that happened. So that's another
reason why this was kind of needed. So yeah.
We have that. And then we also have the application for that, which is through Civic Access. We won't
be able to see it now, but I will just show you. Hey, it's on the Civic Access portal. So this is just
what the public goes to. So they go to apply. And then you have to go all and then just scroll down
to art in the right of way. So it's Civic Access portal, not Arts Commission portal. Correct.
And so they'll just fill out the application there. And it gives you instructions on what we expect
before they actually put in their information. And then that'll get routed to Page and I. And then we'll
just go through it. So that launched. And we just wanted to let you know that that's live. Two questions.
Yes. Because they're called through legal? Yes. Because they always must. Oh, sorry. They always add things.
And secondly, how is that funded? I'm not sure how to answer that question. It's not funded. Yeah, it's
not funded. Just like if you want to do something with a group on your own. Oh, it's that sort of thing.
It's not like painting electric boxes. It's just like if you want to do anything, you need a permit
to do it. So this is the permitting process for art permit.
Yeah. So this would be on someone's personal property, like business or home? Or is that the only context
that this happens in, I'm assuming? Any right of way. So right of way is just basically public property.
So sidewalks, alleyways, streets, those types of things that they want. So it would be for traffic boxes.
But they would just need a permit in order to do it.
It's those type of things. So they wouldn't necessarily be approved to be able to make that piece of
art, is what I'm... I guess I'm wondering what's the... Okay, they apply for a permit and they just
create art, but what if it's not good art? Yeah, that's my question. Yeah, so that's where we'll go
through... Okay, yeah. Go through us. Yeah. That's a great question. That's where we'll go through us,
and because we'll be able to see the back end of what they're proposing. And then that's also kind of
goes into like the public art subcommittee where we want to kind of have a greater discussion of how
we want to include the subcommittee as well into that process or how that will even look. And so yeah,
so that's kind of how it's going to work. So that way we have some type of process on what actually
kind of goes through. Okay, so not every single application is going to be able to do their
project like they want, right? It has to be approved by the city. Correct. Okay. Yeah, right now it
has to be approved by the Department of Public Works. And so Christina has gone through this process
because we're both very new and we're like, oh, there's a policy, which is great. I'm glad there's a
policy because that's the only one I've found so far. But they will make a final decision about the
artwork, but it does make sense, maybe not for everyone, but some of them to go between
before the Public Art Committee where it's unclear.
And so we're getting our heads wrapped around the policy and how it's actually implemented and how it's
meaningful. So we just got an application from Lotus about all things that they're wanting to do in
one application, which we're like, wait a minute, what? So we're going to have a meeting with them and
they may have to resubmit. And so we're still getting our heads wrapped around the process. But the
city is definitely wants to make the decision about it. We're also learned that
if the artwork changed from what they put in the design that was approved by the city, then the city
will take it down. So some pieces, like for example, could be in the right of way, like obviously the
traffic box is going to be there for a while. So they take that role pretty seriously. So that's another
sort of interesting intersect to think about too. So when we think about public art, you know, it's
going to be,
We're gonna be talking a lot down the road. We'll tee out that conversation in the public art committee
next week about policies and processes. So, you know, selection criteria and really sort of think through
all of those elements. Thank you. I mean, it's good to know this exists. I didn't know about it, so.
We didn't either, but so now you do. So, is this gonna pertain to the students that, you know, they're
constantly
drawing and painting all over the sidewalks for like their fraternities sororities and all that. Yeah,
I think the other element is, is how is this getting communicated out to the broad community right so
we'll have to work with.
the Department of Public Works to understand that as well and how we can get that information out. We
just got our heads wrapped around the policy because Christina had to go through it. You have to do
a resolution and a cover memo and all sort of madness because it's sitting in a lot of red tape. Is
there a fee for it? No. It's free. That's nice.
about the questions about the students, because they're usually drawing on the sidewalk on campus. Are
those different rules? Yeah, but like third street, that's a city street. I guess it's true. So in some
cases, they need to... Public property. If it's public property, then it's the right of way. So like
the sidewalks or the streets. Is there going to be a fine if you do it without getting a permit? I have
no idea. We need to meet with them and just
do a lot more recon than we have, because we also know that one little policy and not sharing what the
application is and the steps and the timeline is of no benefit to the community either. There's a lot
of information that still needs to be shared. We're trying to figure out what those steps are. But that's
a great question, because we were wondering that as well. What's the consequence of violations and things
like that? I think also, too, what is the public
versus what is private, like IU Street or whatever. I think that is, I assume a student might not be
thinking about that, or I think we have to at least be able to point to, this is how you can figure
that out, or this is who you asked before. What if there's a map or something, straightforward? I don't
know if that's possible. Maybe that can be IU's job to communicate that to their students, and not us,
whoever's in charge of that.
Yeah, but it's like, obviously, administration from IU or whoever kind of deals with those things, hopefully
they're in communication with the city and that this is an ongoing conversation. I feel like it's not
always the students' fault, right? Because I don't think that, you know, I feel like definitely people,
administrators don't always think about the students. Right, right. Even though they say that's what
they're doing. It's so bad for a kid to draw on the sidewalk. Especially with chalk. Yeah, for sure,
which is not permanent. So would this include
Eagleton? I don't know. Yeah, that's a city street. And there's that bridge that gets painted frequently.
All the time. Between theater and drama and the school of music. Great joint. Great point. What is the
bridge? There's a bridge that gets painted. Yeah. It's a bridge by the animals. The paint from previous
paintings is about two and a half inches thick.
They do it like every semester. That's great. Something like that. At least. Or a couple of times a
semester probably. It pretty much stays to the bridge. Occasionally it spills out. Yeah, I don't know.
But there's quite a bit of places. It'd be great if there was a map. Yeah.
I don't know, I think it's just great to have to point out for students, of course, just in case. And
what the exemptions are. I mean, a four-year-old is drawing on the sidewalk in front of their house
with some chalk. They're going to get busted. I wonder, too, if it'll be like if just somebody
puts in a complaint. Because I can't imagine the city workers walking around in the entire street. They're
not going to know. They're not going to know. So I imagine it would be someone sees an art they don't
like, or somebody doing something they don't like, and they know about this policy, and they complain
to the city. I don't know. So we'll see. Great questions, though. I took some notes, because there's
just some of the stuff I hadn't thought about, and IU communicating that out. Where's the line?
between the city and... Usually it's chalk and it comes off pretty fast. But tagging stuff, you know?
Like spray can. You youngsters can read that. No doubt, it's like...
Well, it's just like temporary art, permanent art, semi-permanent art, and street art, performative,
and speech. So, but yeah, we could always, you know, add. Can you point that towards the Public Art
Committee? Just send us a link or something, it makes it easy to match on. Yes, yes. I think you're
right, it would be more like complaint oriented, if somebody does something offensive.
that somebody else finds offensive without the other blank. I think that's when it becomes sort of tricky.
Just something to keep in mind. Yeah, which I think that's where the Department of Public Works wants
to weigh in on it. And I think it also has to go through legal first, right? Yeah. So that's where it
starts to dilute the work a little bit. And I think it's clearly intentional design.
Thanks for sharing anyway. You can see us. All right. Anymore updates from the city before we move on
to the next item on the agenda? Okay, great. Thank you.
So I see the next item on our agenda is a presentation, assessing and communicating impact. Yeah, a
presentation, I shouldn't have used that word. It's a bit of a misnomer. It's more like gathering feedback
from you guys under the topic of communicating and storytelling. So when I started consulting for the
city, it was evident that there's no share out about anything beyond like a press release.
And so the impact of the work that you're doing, the impact of any of the arts department, city,
public funds, anything is being communicated. And use the word storytelling because I think it's more
than just a number, right? It's like we funded 47 grants to the tune of $76,000 or over the course of
the year, that total amount, the number.
As a result, we put money into the pockets of artists and they were able to advance their creative career.
Here's how in sharing some of those stories. But rather than, you know, me dictating what we're going
to be sharing out, you guys are a really astute group and I wanted to get input from you all from some
framing. So for example,
One of the things to think about is if you had a skeptical community member about why the arts are important,
what kind of information would you want to share with them? So that's one of the questions. And then
we kind of step back and go, what are we collecting in order to be able to share that out? So let's
first truly ask that question. If you're really looking to advocate to someone
about the importance of arts and how the BAC has a role with that, what kind of information would you
want to share? Well, every year there has been a presentation where this group has been part of it to
the council about, around budget time. Okay. And there was, I believe, a collection of slides and a
narrative that went with it that advocates for the importance of arts.
to whoever happens to be on the council at that time. So there's a starting place, maybe. That's good
to know. No idea about that. You're going to have to give that. Do what? I'm going to have to give that.
That's a good thing. I'm thinking about it. No problem. I could totally talk in front of hundreds of
people. As a business owner downtown, I would say
To any naysayers, if you look at successful towns, cities, in whatever size, the more and the better
quality of public art, the better the economic situation is. So I think public art is directly related
to economic success. So you could probably pull that.
There's data that's probably can be pulled from that too. Yep. From just knowing what I know in some
of my classes that I've been into. Yeah. I would agree. Yeah, not all public art is installed for economic
purposes. No. However. Yeah. I mean, if there were naysayers, that's what I would say. Right. Like,
it's beneficial in many different ways. Or the arts. Or the arts economically. Arts and culture in general
is beneficial for the vitality of the
community and economic basis, you can pull in the economics of arts and culture into that. So has the
city come up with its statement yet as to who we are? They were working on it last year, there were
consultants working on it. There was a consultant working on it? Really? I mean the core of this is
that we all know that the arts culture
cultural expressions are a powerful part of Bloomington and I would hope that whatever has been woven
from this consulting group would support that. So my document itself might be a useful thing. But none
of us have seen the work.
My understanding was that it was taking place through 2025. I don't know the exact timeline, but I remember
at one point they were, like, whenever the consultants were coming in, they wanted to bring them to
a grand balloon and whatnot. This was last year, so I don't remember. It's from Indianapolis, right?
But I don't know when, what the exact timeline was. Good to know. Yeah, right, yeah. Good to know.
I think Holly has suggested that it would be very useful when the statement comes out rather than us
trying to invent it every time we do a call that we could point a public art call also to this document
that speaks about the values of Bloomington. It wasn't like an in-depth conversation at any of the meetings
just like maybe one
Okay. I can't remember the name of the firm. We can probably find it. Costs us money. Yeah. God. Okay.
Yeah. All right. Something around 2025 around a consultant around branding the BAC. That's good to know.
I mean, maybe storytelling has been happening and I'm not aware of it. And I'm just like thinking,
oh my God, we need to do some storytelling. But you guys have done it at all.
or beside, I mean, there's one, city council. What else? On the website, any, in a report?
I wonder if like, we've ever made like some sort of like pamphlet or like online on the city's website,
like people, like highlighting projects that were like successful or like, you know, with photos and
like potentially, I don't know, like there'd have to be somebody attending the event, potentially if
it's like a projects grant or,
Or depending on the grant, if it's for the advancements grant, interviewing an artist one year later,
what did you get from this? And what were you able to create? And being able to show that some way visually,
probably, that we could at least point to and say, yeah, these are some examples. Because I don't think
we could highlight every single artist. Though I know they're supposed to write a report. They're supposed
to write a report as well. So that could be a way in which we recruit people potentially for this.
highlight. Either online, virtually, just a virtual kind of way to look at it, or if you wanted to make
something physical, or a combination of both. What are your thoughts on, because this is something I've
been thinking about too, is creating like a structure, timelines, so it's consistent, like a weekly
or monthly share out on social media. I was thinking along the same lines with a grantee,
And Lucas, from the mayor's office, just the first day I got here, volunteered to do some sort of media
on social media for us. I was like, great, somebody will do it for free? Awesome. So he could potentially
interview a grantee. Is that something you guys would be interested in? That sounds good. I think the
more presents, the better, honestly. OK, more presents, the better. My daughter got her degree from
the media school here.
you want to get intense about it, like certain times of the day you're supposed to post for the greatest
exposure, your interns will find that really quick. Certain days, certain times, you can definitely
track it through Instagram. I have to track a lot of this stuff for what I do for my current job. So
if you're on Instagram, you can see analytics. You can see peaks and downflows of when people that you
follow or people that you don't follow are peaking during the day. So for instance, we had our students
tend to drop off at a certain time, obviously, but we can see our high-peaked time when we're posting
things. Yeah. Like three times a day. Oh, that's nice. So from just knowing from my marketing classes
that they've taken within arts, culture, spaces, the more you feed a machine, technically, and the more
you feed a content machine being something online, the more engagement you'll have just in any community.
It's hard because if you're obviously a small team, but tiny team, it's hard to make
happen but obviously but I think it's more so just to like have things that we can point to yeah and
like ways that people can find like those stories of
success stories, right? People getting these grants and like, okay, we're not just giving this money
out into the ether, right? We throw it out, we like send it out and it never comes back. I think it's
just more so like having those like examples. Yeah. Yeah. And the bigger the presence, the better for
like first Friday or anything to do with ours. Right. That might be, that might be a good thing. I don't
know if you guys do this or have done in the past, but like,
if there's an artist who's gotten a grant from us in the past or something, I don't know if this is
too much of an ask, but highlighting that, like, oh, they'll be at these first Friday events, or they're
showing here. I don't know if that's, like, too much, but if you guys find the capacity for that, could
be some way to take it. It's great to collect these testimonials. But there needs to be, I think, this
overarching thing, this branding thing, this who is Bloomington and how these things fit into it.
And I know Paul and I were wrestling with some verbage for the forthcoming call for the Gateway art
piece. And then going back to the one that Raysik got, one and other things, there is some text in there
that tries to differentiate Bloomington from other places in Indiana. And so if you've got that sort of
importance of culture, and now you've got these testimonials that are the grassroots of why it's important
to culture, I think. I love that, and I feel like that's important in terms of retaining population.
So if you have a post, I mean, here's the assumption, we can test that assumption, right? It's like,
if the artist, the local artist, and we have a post, and it's like, bloom here, it just psychologically
attaches a little bit more, and that's part of the
issues that we're seeing is there's a demographic area that is being lost in Bloomington that we're
really wanting to retain. So that would be really great. I like that a lot. Austin, do you do that for
secretly? Is that one of your jobs or not? Do you do any social media? No, that one's usually, I think
Angela does, but kind of like what you were saying about peak time, things like that. For the most part,
everyone's pretty aware of that.
Any way that I can help with social media, sure. I mean, I'm pretty rich and heavy. Did you just say
you'd be willing to help? Just checking. That's funny. Most old people can't do that. I mean, the younger
demographic. Well, I mean, I just... I'm just concerned myself. It's not that I can't focus on life.
I don't want to. Do you actually get that flip phone so social media... Oh my God, good for you.
I'm on my way out. That's the statement right there. I love that, yeah. I mean, I try not to engage
with it because I just don't want to get sucked into it. I don't know if it's a matter, you know. Okay,
so great. Is there any, because we are collecting information in the final grant reports. Information
has not historically been collected.
The grants team has been great and we've had conversation about collecting information, you know, number
of folks that have attended because those stats matter. At some point, I think it would be really helpful
to get like leverage funds of anything that was contributed other than by the city because that amplifies
the investment. So I think we're going to work on like a social media share out and I'll,
devise a plan or maybe even, I mean, ideally I was hoping to get like a master's student at IU to do
that, because I just think that's a really great project for a student to do. And I'd love to have it
done sooner than later, because I feel like it's really valuable to start getting that out the door.
But I think at the very least, if you're OK with it, I'd love to start finding a system to contacting
grantees and start helping promote them
And at whatever time of day is the best time to do it. I'm sure Lucas knows. And luckily, then they
can share that out. And I think it'll just help them promote themselves as well, which is of value.
Well, great. This has been helpful. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something. I have a few
quick. I mean, we've talked a lot about the impact of granting. But I think it's also important to articulate
the importance
the public art work that we do as well, the support there. I think a lot, I guess, about the many different
ways that the funding has impacts. I guess I used to call it diversity of impact. There's economic benefits.
there's just recreation and entertainment, there's a sense of community, health. And it just finds its
way to, we're not just funding visual art, it's like we're funding all different types of audiences
from really niche experimental stuff to more traditional stuff like family in the park type
stuff, neighborhoods, venues, it's just like,
Yeah, there's just such a breadth of places where those public funds go. And there's that direct impact,
but then also that indirect impact as well. It's huge. And so I think articulating that really expanded
impact is great. Yeah, art's very cool.
impacting non-arts and also the diversity of arts disciplines and the type and depth and breadth of
projects. Love that. That's great. As always. Which is also really helpful in terms of capturing information
in a final grant report that's easy to capture, like a drop-down menu so that I can collate that data.
That's how I have to think about this stuff, which is annoying but true. What else? Thinking along public
art, what are some of the things that could help demonstrate impact or share a little bit of storytelling
or something maybe we should be collecting to help share the story of public art in Bloomington? I think
images are going to be the best, always.
And it's easy enough to use anything to have a picture of, say, a park that has a piece of public art,
and then this is what it would look like without it. It's like, look how important this is right here.
Yeah. Yeah. I like that a lot. I think it would be interesting to hear perspectives from younger people.
Like, I'm really curious what kids think about public art, what the students think about the city that
they're living in, even if it's temporary. I feel like there's something interesting about there. They
probably wouldn't be lying to us, and I'd be curious to hear what they think about their community that
they're sort of... Transient. Yeah. Either as students or even like children, you don't get to choose
where you're living. So I think it's just interesting to see that kind of perspective, because we hear
from adults a lot. Yeah.
And kids are natural born artists, and they just are. And they'll be a completely great story. Oh, yeah.
I'm so on it. I think it sounds like a fun video or something. They're asking them, what do you think
of this mural? I love that. I think it would be super cute. That would be super cute. Totally. I think
Lucas would be all over that. Lucas has no idea what's in store for him, apparently. Oh, my god. Great ideas.
I know for the, speaking of videos, I know that for the Duke murals, Caleb was one of the artists and
he created... Caleb Fork? Mm-hmm. He created a video of just like his experience doing the Duke mural,
especially that was his like first like large-scale mural. And so he talked about his process and experience
with the city and just like working with other artists and the design process. And it was really interesting.
It was really good. Yeah.
He does social media for Parks and Rec Department. Oh yeah, I met him. Yeah, yeah. I was kind of bummed
he would work for the city because I thought he'd be great on the commission, truthfully. So I was like,
I don't think it's that bad. He's super involved. That's awesome. He also does really well, I think,
social media. Yeah, social media is nice. He does the best. The parks do. I mean, in terms of engagement,
a video does the best compared to a photo. Yeah.
So it could be a good thing. A lot of artists are already documenting their process. So we can get that
somehow compiled. Even if there was a way, I was just kind of thinking, too, to have a link. Is there
already a link to a social media on the website? Probably. Most likely.
Just double checking that, too, for consistency. Making sure that the social media is connected to our
Arts Commission website and all this stuff. I don't know. It's all about storytellings. I'm still trying
to figure out the login and password for Facebook, for the Bloomington Arts Commission. I mean, I asked
Bethany. I can't find anything. So yes, totally agree. So yeah. Once we figure that out. Maybe even
links to also testimonials.
I don't know, just to keep promoting all this, too. Not just that we have our agenda and stuff like
that on when we meet, but just who we are, what we're about on the website. I don't know. Yeah, just
promoting it. Can you guys hear me? Yeah. The screen's completely black for me, and I don't know what's
happening. My phone would be the best search for me. We can hear you. OK. You're not just the...
at work.
in the store and then they also get the record store. They give them some recognition. So what I'm thinking
in this case is perhaps, you know, maybe a newer commission member or whoever might be somebody that
would be like a mascot of sorts to kind of be the public facing aspect. You know, like, you know, if
we're in the back and the shadows do and stuff. And here's what came out today
I love that, that's fantastic. You guys are such a sharp group, really. We're gonna go find that unicorn
and we're gonna get him out there, we're gonna get him on the team. But I think, you know, I know exactly
what you're saying.
I know exactly the prototype of human that you're talking about. I think we may have an applicant, so
I'll look that up. But if not, I think it would be a great student opportunity, too, right? Totally.
Yeah, that'd be so cool. It'd be great for them on their resume to be the BAC arts mascot.
How cool is that? President of the Social Outreach Committee. Sounds good on us.
I love that they have all these social elements. I love that so much. Interns love a good title. Yeah.
They have to use them on their resumes. I was spitballing stuff with our intern, Drew. I was like, oh,
if you did this, you could say this. And he was like, ooh. I said, that stuff matters. All right. Anything
else, public art-wise and specifically? Well, you had mentioned
of matching funds, or leverage funds, right? Every time I've brought this up, since I've joined the
committee, the person in your role and others have just laughed at me. But, just a sec, when I bring
this issue up. So, the city has 1% for the arts. Developers don't. And I really think that it should
be pressed
that and let's put some idea out there. If you're putting something in Bloomington over 20, 30 million,
that there's a consequence of supporting something in that environment that has aesthetic appeal. Maybe
it starts with a half percent for the arts, but just to get the wedge in the door and to come up with
some threshold for it so that they're matching the spirit of what the city is doing. I have a great
case making for that.
If Rushville, Indiana can do it, so can Burmese, because that's true. Rushville does. So it's legal.
Yeah, it's codified. Yeah. You create some benchmark. Oh, totally. I've got the policy. I've armed with
that policy. I'd love to see it, because I've been at this for a long time. Yeah, and I'm just like,
here, here, here. If Rushville can do it, you can do it. Yeah. Because, my god, seriously, Rushville.
Yeah. I mean, I'm down.
I think we would have to take some time to build political collateral to get to that point, but it was
initially adopted in 1994, which of course is what, 32 years ago. So I think it's ready for some spit
and shine for sure. I think that's a good longitudinal goal to focus on.
because I would love to have more funding in that kitty for sure, because I think there's some really
fun stuff that the community could do, large scale. That would be community wide rather than just like
a little dip here and a little bit there. Other thoughts while we're like changing the universe? We're
just changing the earth, yeah. I was thinking, along with the incremental like, okay, these are the
things that we're doing.
kind of along the lines of like the presentation, that yearly presentation that happens at the end of
the year. If there's just like a year-end review or something that can be posted on the website of like,
these are all things that we accomplished this year, I think that would be helpful. So then they could
always see every year what we've done in the past or this year and things like that. How would you see
that as like a more broadly,
So you have the budget meeting, and that's not the end of the year. The end of the year is the end of
the year. I could see that dovetailing like, this is what we did in December. Maybe it's like a January
thing. Maybe it's launched in an artist party or whatever it is we're supposed to be doing. Ours are
tough for me. But is there a platform that would be of value to get that out more broadly than the
We're pretty insulated right now in terms of where we get the word out. So any thoughts on that? The
mysterious newsletter. Christina forwarded it to us today because I haven't even seen it. Yeah, so maybe
that should be something we should be looking into more. Maybe we should have more ownership. Oh, like
the email that comes out? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. I need to add it to this. Yeah, I haven't
seen this. Yeah, she hasn't seen this. We'll follow up with the link
to sign up for the newsletter, which apparently Drew and I signed up for it, but I haven't received
a newsletter yet. And when Christine afforded it to it, it was quite illuminating that it like comes
from the Bloomington Arts Commission, but the name is the City Arts Newsletter. So I was like, okay,
well that makes it feel a little bit better than the Bloomington Arts Commission newsletter that the
Bloomington Arts Commission doesn't review, doesn't have anything to do with. So now it's a City Arts
newsletter.
feels to me a little bit more comfortable. What are your thoughts? I mean, this person works for the
city? That does the newsletter? Yeah. No. I mean, it's contracted. We contract Indiana Arts and Humanities
Institute, and Bethany does it right now. And I wanted to continue to do it that way until I could develop
a storytelling action plan. And then we'll relaunch
maybe even with this branding that somewhere lives somewhere in an archive of, I don't know, in 2025,
so. Yeah, I feel like that's fair. I think that definitely I would have that on the radar in terms of,
I think that'll be a really big way that we can highlight projects like artists, things that are happening,
end of the year, you know, one of the newsletters could be like end of the year, what we did this year
kind of thing. So I think it's a really
Somehow there's a way to get more ownership over that newsletter somehow, or at least what can go into
it. Newsletters are generally a good way, if they're going out to the community to, emails and newsletters
are generally a good way to get information out to people, because I constantly send newsletters out
for my job as well on a basis. So I can't really talk about this. And these conversations will help
inform, because right now it's
I mean, it's not, it's not bad. There's images and there's opportunities. There's no standard process.
Oh, opportunities for so many opportunities. Opportunities. But we are kind of hitting close to 630.
So I want to give time to the other agenda items. So not to cut anyone off. I think if there's any other
ideas, email page, is that what they should do? Okay, great. So let's move on. Next agenda item is
from your chair and your chair doesn't have anything for you. So no news is good news. So I'll move
on to our next agenda item, which is to Rebecca for public art. The only update right now is that we've
that the DBI downtown public art installations have begun and they first traffic box of five is being
repainted unless the city has other updates on that project specifically. But that's the only
They'll be more next week. I have a question about public arts and maybe I should just email, but if
we could do the public arts meeting the same day as this one, so there's not two separate meetings,
it would be so awesome. That's a long block of time. I mean, if we could just get it over with. I don't
mean to say it like that.
I hear there's a lot the same week. Would you like it just like different weeks? Same day as the Arts
Commission meeting. We have to meet once a month. That's tough on me. It is? OK. I mean, we can always
resend out. We sent out in February, we sent out to see what worked for everybody and what time didn't
work for everybody. But we can always resend it, because we've had people leave and come back and come
on and so since then.
So we can just always resend out a doodle and see what works. Okay. Again, for this year. Yeah. I have
just more of a personal curiosity, but I think just to ask as well, are there any updates on either
the undulate installation in Hopewell or the
the gateway call out. The gateway call out, what's the gateway call out? Miller Showers. Miller Showers.
Underlay, we're waiting for quotes for the concrete that needs to be there in order for the piece to
be installed, but the hope is to be completed by the end of September for ribbon cutting. That will
be the, I don't know, I think it was,
Friday is the deadline for concrete folks to put in a bid. So we'll see what that is, because the city
picks up that cost. And then with the Gateway, we're meeting with the Parks Department, I think, Friday,
and hoping to launch that call August or September for a late spring summer installation.
That's great. For race six? Race six is under late. Yeah. Gate wheel will be an open call. Okay.
So for you, when you say construction, next summer. Next summer installation. Yeah. Yeah. Oh God. Yeah.
Absolutely. So this fall put out the RFQ and then late spring likely early summer installation.
Next year. Yeah. Next year. Yeah. Great. So you do have a template for that.
which Paul and I wrote. Oh, you wrote an RQ template? Okay. I'll revisit that. Yeah, I'll just say going
back to the DDI. So we did, we were able to do some tabling and collect some public feedback for that
alleyway between Peach Cobbler and JL Waters. And so there's going to be a mural on the side of Peach Cobbler.
And so we were able to, and we're still collecting feedback till the end of the week. So I should send
that link out. You guys should put it out. Sorry about that. But yeah, and so the call will launch.
It's a beautiful alley. Yeah, so. It's all underused. And then we'll launch the call next week. Which
fund again? Downtown Bloomington. That's great. Great.
Yes. Yeah, she's great. One more question. The substation mural that you shepherded was an incredible,
is an incredible success. That was funded by Duke Electric, right? Yeah. What about the other surfaces?
Yeah, that's something that we'll have to reschedule, I mean, have to revisit.
The original project was to paint all sides, except the one that's not facing the public side. So I
think it's like five sides total. And so we started the first installation. Duke only provided a portion
of the funding for it. So a large hang up is just funding. So that's just something we just need to
revisit. Great, great.
That's a story in itself that should be archived as to the importance of our community, the artists
that were brought together through this organization and the success of it. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Okay, sorry, back to you. That's it for the PoliGuard updates. Thank you. Now we'll go to Gerard for grants.
So I think as Paige mentioned in the budget agenda item, like funds are starting to go out the door
for the arts project grants, 76K, which is, yeah, that's a good chunk of change. Really excited about
that. So, yeah, I mean, or I shouldn't say it's starting to go out the door. No, because all of the
contracts are mired in legal and have them for the entire month. I don't mean, like, I, like, but that
process is underway.
The artists know the contracts are being made. No funds have actually left the venue. But it's getting
there. And I mean, at least for the commission for now, it's kind of like, you know, it's out of our
hands. And we just get to celebrate it and talk about it and share the wonderful impact that it has.
So for the artistic advancement grants that link or that call is live and Yeah, it's up to $2,000 for
individual artists or artists groups that are looking to advance their practice or their career Yeah,
that is open until I believe it's August 16th their
August 10th. I saw that the office of the mayor recently posted about it on Facebook. I saw that, so
there are links and there is promo that's going out to the public. I guess a quick note for folks.
I think it's likely that we will probably recruit from the commission again to to do reviews for those
we tend to this is the this is the grant that we I think tend to get the most applications for like
this grant is in the past definitely broke
Yeah, so I mean if if we're on the trajectory that we were with the project we should we should expect
a pretty high volume I I don't know necessarily like putting it again having this grant also used to
be in the either in the fall of the spring it's in the summer now so it's like so potentially but
But yeah, and we are scheduling it now as opposed to just sort of like figuring out when we're going
to do this review session. We are going to do the review session sometime the week of September 14th
through the 18th. But there's the week directly in the run up to the grants committee meeting so that
we can add that meeting, approve the funding package, and then the process to get those funds out the
door can take place shortly afterwards.
put a note on your calendars for some time during that week. I'll be in touch with more info as we get
closer to it, but that's when we'll review and go from there. Yeah, and then not too long after that
is the operations grant, but we don't really need to go there quite yet. So, yep, that's the report
from Grants World. I found it really insightful
volunteering into the committee to do some of the reading. But one of the things I did notice is that
there was a conversation about when these projects would be completed. And if the money isn't being
issued yet, wasn't it like before September or October or something?
The window for spending, I believe, is July 1st through next June 30th. Yeah, so they have a full calendar
year to spend the funds. Every program will have a whole year. Can I ask a quick question about the
grants? I just want to make sure that the Blockhouse grant that they wrote, I don't know who wrote it,
but they did mention in that grant that it was going to be used
for part of their payroll or to pay their employees, which we're not allowed to do. That's not allowable
if it had to do with the project. No, it was their staff at the regular staff that they have. I just
don't want to get in trouble for that. I just want to make sure.
Okay, I'll review that application. I do think also this came up a little bit in terms of a lot of the
folks filling out the application listed all their expenses, but they didn't necessarily say they were
gonna use the money from the committee or from the city to pay that specific thing. So I think maybe,
I think there was some confusion with that because I think a lot of them were just maybe the way it's
written in terms of
funding that they're asking for needs to be more clear in the future. But like, yeah, they were just
like doing their laundry list of costs. And I think we weren't always sure what they were planning to
use it for. Or sometimes they would say, yeah. So I think that's something that we kind of talked about,
right, a couple of weeks ago. We just need to make sure they don't say that. So maybe the grant, I guess
that's more work, but maybe the grant says we are supporting this aspect of your
Yeah, yeah, or maybe we have to like ask them specifically to say like maybe there should be two sections
of what are your total costs and then what costs are you looking to fund from this grant specifically.
So there might be just that language change might be enough. What we could do is
They certify that they are using the funds only for eligible expenses and if they're, if they need to
modify their budget as a result, then submit a grant modification form and I have a link for that. Yeah.
I like that. Just to clear. Yeah, that's a kind of protocol. So I'll do a certification. Anything else,
Gerard? Okay. Thank you.
So now we'll just move on to upcoming events. So Christina, if you don't mind pulling up the event calendar,
I think it's very sparse. Three things, yeah. So we just have a few things coming up. We are kind of
short on time, so I'm going to just say if there's an event or anything happening in the next couple
months that you know about and you think we should know about, please feel free to jump onto this
Google Sheet and add it, or you can just like send me an email and I'll add, you know, if you're just
like, I can't be bothered. Just send me the information and I can add it. But yeah, so at least that
we know what's going on and we could potentially attend any of these events. The big ones. Yeah. Okay.
All right. So let's move on from that to comments or commissioner announcements or questions.
Any comments or questions from the commissioners? I do have one thing that I want to bring up actually
for our city folks. Any updates on new commissioners? We're still too down and we'd love to fill out
the roster. The update is I talked to the mayor's office and they have extended an invitation to somebody
and they're waiting to hear back whether she accepts it or not.
We do have a pool of applications, but we're just really not getting anybody that we think would round
out the committee well. I guess for me, I feel like we need somebody with arts experience to be on the
committee.
And I think particularly we need members on the public arts committee and somebody with visual arts
experience, I think in particular would be really beneficial. The individual who has had the invitation
extended would be like the best human ever to have on the committee, but I'll go quickly because I know
we're running out of time. But she's super busy, so I don't know. And we have another possibility.
that's where we're at. So I think we're gonna have to think about actively think about who we can recruit
or who might be good to serve on the committee. Do you want us to send any recommendations? Please send
recommendations. I would love that. Recommendations, why they would be good and any like links, webpages,
social media. Do you have to send them to the Mayor's Office? Then they'll have to submit an application
to confirm that they're interested in it but I think some of like I said with visual arts experience
particularly
And speaking to what Austin was talking about, maybe a younger member who could be the mascot to run
around and do cool social media stuff. I mean, that's no joke. That's a really good idea. So maybe Austin
has some suggestions that I would welcome all. I mean, that's a great idea, but I do want to say that
this is a volunteer position, and that's kind of a time commitment. So I wouldn't want to put that kind
of pressure on somebody. So whether they are like, oh, I want to join in, or if it's like a commission,
each commissioner does one video or does one feature. I just think, yeah, I want to caution kind of
that pushing people into that position. Because yeah, we're not getting paid for this. And it can be
a lot of work already. So yeah, just to kind of make that work. I think that would be better. We also
used to have a very active person in the community
more traditional music world. And she would be advocating for all sorts of things I'd never heard of.
And a very powerful member of the committee. And well connected in the city. So that might be another
aspect of what would be useful to inform us. Definitely, if you guys have anybody in mind, make sure
you talk to them first.
Like, are you interested? Do you have time? This is kind of the, like I wouldn't probably send the name
to Pagebook without their consent or like them being okay, you know, like I can do it. Cause I feel
like if we do, if you do all that work and they're like, I don't have time for this, then it's kind
of a moot point. So yeah, just something to keep in mind. But you guys are all really well connected.
So I'm sure you know a lot of cool folks that would be interested in doing stuff.
about that person we just met in the hallway. That's like the bomb of visual arts, what they're doing,
right? I mean, I'm just seeing the one. I didn't see all the projects, but from the card it looks pretty
cool, yeah. Okay, all right, so we're nearing the end. Any other comments or questions from commissioners?
Okay, so finally, do we have any comments from the public? Is the public with us today?
So no comments from the public. All right, so there being no further business, I move to adjourn the
meeting. Can I get a second? Second. Great. All in favor say yes. Yes. Those opposed say no. Meeting
adjourned.