001good evening I would like to call to order the meeting of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission we're going to begin with the roll call mr. Hoopoe Alyson buck absent Deborah mexica here Jonah Colby here Colleen Crowley here David Esau here John cutter ski here Mary defaults here Sophie girl Peggy we're we're Leonard you have a quorum excellent so if we need to do anything this evening we have the quorum to do it so as you can see I'm in an unusual seat this evening in that Alyson buck our normal chair is off this evening and so please everyone on the Commission keep me honest and moving forward and in the right direction there you have permission to do that there we go we're going to start with approval of the agenda has everyone had
002the opportunity to review the agenda do I have a motion for the agenda Colleen do I have a second John discussion and or adjustments all right seeing none all those in favor of accepting the agenda as written be an excellent any opposed abstain all right the agenda is approved we now move to public commentary is anyone here for public commentary this evening all right we see a fine and number of people out here that I assume are fulfilling their government or civics responsibilities is that correct excellent all right make sure you get your agendas signed appropriately at the end down there before the end of the meeting and welcome yes welcome oh yeah welcome all right so do we have any presentations this evening all right no presentations we now move on to approval of
003the minutes can I have a motion to Jonah a second John discussion or adjustments I assume everyone's had the opportunity to review the minutes all right hearing no changes or adjustments all in favor of approving the minutes of the February 6 2020 meeting say aye opposed abstain thank you I'm I love somebody who knows their their rules order okay we now move on to report from the chair I want to start off by pointing out the exhibit that is at the back of the room this will be mark McKay and at this time I'd like to ask CTN if they could show us the exhibit that's here in the council chambers this is set of mana prints that are among the rotating gallery exhibits that are here in the council chambers I encourage anyone in
004the community who is in this building to please come up and view the art that's here on a rotating basis and also much of the public art that we actually encourage and promote is some is in this building others of our buildings and by all means go to a website to check out where you can see the entirety of our Holdings as catalogued recently by our intrepid staff thank you so much could you say again the name of the artist I missed that it is Mark McKay all right thank you so much I have no other report this evening we do not have any new business does anyone want to bring forward any new business at this time under old business we are going to review the CIP enhancements in part with our new commissioners
005so I've asked David and he can ask anybody else that he would like to have help with this to sort of review the CIP process with our newest commissioners I think it will be a good review for some of our older commissioners as well because the ins and outs of this process can be a little tricky and we also have a report that we did not receive that we were scheduled to receive at our last meeting but I don't think we covered is that correct that's why we didn't cover it we were supposed to but we didn't so anyway David would you like to walk us through the CIP process a little bit answer any questions we might have and also review any of the previous documents that we have not today CIP stands for
006capital improvements plan which is one of the the main jobs of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission is making recommendations to City Council for projects which could be enhanced with public art through the capital improvements process the city reviews its capital improvements plan on an annual basis it varies some years or a major year some years are a very minor review mostly just a few minor adjustments or a few additions of things that come up virginal II the capital improvements plan is an interesting thing I have been aware of it for years because of my work as an architect and it has effects on projects that I work on particularly relating the street repairs and your projects and things like that projects are put in the capital improvements plan when someone decides that they should
007be addressed at some point future.there this is only for major projects not very minor renovations sometimes they can live on the capital improvements plan for decades before they're actually address depending on how urgent they are and where the funding what funding is available sometimes they go on the capital improvements plan is kind of a wish list thing with no real expectation that they might ever happen which includes some of the ones that we have recommended for enhancement particularly potentially railroad stations and things like that that have had some strong support from some council members and some strong opposition and very little funding available so far at least the way that the process works that the the capital improvements plan is put together through through Craig's division at the at the city usually toward the end
008of the year around December it starts going through a public review process and we get a copy of it it will have all the projects in it that are scheduled for the capital improvements plan and projected costs which you can be expected to change dramatically depending on how a project involves but with some kind of preliminary estimate often there's very little knowledge yet of what the actual project will entail because they haven't been planned out no work has been done on them they've only been realized that a plant that a project is needed for some reason for the city so the the capital improvements plan will evolve from year to year costs will change decisions will you know directions will change so projects will drop off and and move up in time and things like
009that depending on how urgent they are so when we recommend a project for enhancement with public art it if approved by the City Council which it has been in the recent past for a number of them then that enhancement about gets added to the budget in the capital improvements plan so that when a project actually moves to fruition then that budget is factored into the overall budget for the project it doesn't mean that a piece of public art will ever appear necessarily because sometimes we're recommending enhancements to projects that may not happen again the railroad stations are an example that you know if they happen of course we would want a piece of public art in them if they don't happen there's not going to be a piece of public art standing there waiting for
010a train station to be built around it we have generally and I have chaired the committee since or the the work group since I joined the public art Commission a couple years ago I think of my background as an architect is somewhat helpful and understanding the parameters of the project and I've tried to take a fairly practical view of it we're not looking to provide public art enhancement for sewer repairs or underground kind of work or even necessarily road repairs where there's no obvious place for public art we're looking for buildings you're more prominent locations streetscapes in the downtown area or one that it looks like we may be talking about a little later tonight that was on our most recent list for enhancement so places where the public art will be seen where it
011has some obvious relationship to the quality of life in the area where that project is done sometimes that gets a little complicated because we have some other goals we a week most of the public art that's around and in the city is in the downtown area because that's where visitors are and that's where lots of things happen and there's visible public work being done but we have at least one recommendation for enhancement on our list which is a cluster of work in a neighborhood in the southeast part of Ann Arbor where there's just a bunch of work planned at some point in the future on roads and utilities and all of that where it would be nice to get some public art out into a community out into a neighborhood that wouldn't necessarily have that
012available to them most of the time there are also some items like there's an annual budget for parks work that we have recommended enhancement for that would also get some public art out into the rest of the city we have a goal of trying to get art not just in the downtown area but all over the city if we can if it makes sense with the projects that are done and art and parks are an area where people are out there having fun they're there they're walking around with they're walking their dogs or sir playing or something like that where they have time to stop and see the art where it may make sense to have some so we have tried to make reasonable distinctions about where it's appropriate to have a public art and
013it seems like the City Council for the most part has supported that so what you have in front of you to discuss tonight is there there are two things here there's a brief memo to the City Council which is our annual obligation to report to them on the latest capital improvements plan about any public are any public art enhancements that we would recommend based on the changes from the previous CIP and then the other thing you have is basically a summary report of the past recommendations that have happened at least in the time that I'm familiar with through our work group and and where those things stand some things that move forward some things we're trying to track down why they haven't moved forward most of the projects just haven't happened yet whether they do
014or not we don't know but they just haven't gotten moved up fast enough in the CIP to actually move forward to have a public art piece come with them so the recommendation this time is a very short one because this was a very minor year for the the CIP there were a few new projects there were a few of minor adjustments with viewing budgets and timing and things but really nothing that struck us as a new project that merited addition or enhancement with public art all of our previous enhancements still stand although there are projects as you can see on the summary list there are projects that have fallen off entirely so they were on and approved for enhancement at one point and they're no longer in the CIP and that's just the nature of
015the game and for commissioners who are looking for these documents they were distributed in a previous packet and so can be found online it was sent out that we should bring them if we could and if you're I want to review them either now or later you can go back to the previous packet David could pass his copy to you as well thank you Colleen has been on the committee with me is there anything you want to it I have a couple of questions if I could sure how how is there any requirement about how it should be solicited for example what I mean is is it expected or required that should be an open call for art or is it commissioned by the developer or is there part of the budget to help artists
016who have an idea but haven't experienced building a larger piece or just how does it work there's nothing relating to any of that in the CIP enhancement process the CIP work group has taken on there a couple other responsibilities that we are given in you know all the chartering documents that form this commission that require us to make recommendations for how art is selected and and how that whole process works so there are other documents for that and we should probably be bringing those back to you soon for renewal I don't know that there would be any changes because we haven't had any experiences that would cause us to recommend changing them recently but there are some recommendations I don't know that there's anything right now about working with artists who don't have experience in
017public art it's a little bit of a tricky situation because obviously this is something we're asking the city to continue on and maintained for decades into the future so the maintenance and durability are a significant concern that's why I was wondering whether there was any way where artists could be partnered with I do know somewhere some way of manufacturing what they want to make so if they for example would make a maquette for a sculpture whether that could be scaled up without having to put the whole requirement on the artist but rather making it a an idea plus a manufacturer to see what I mean because otherwise you cut out a great many people who would have nice ideas but we'll never break into the public art it's fair because you can't do it unless
018you've done it in you yeah well and Craig you wanted to add something to this you had said developers all of our art is done on city projects there are not developers involved in it and generally more recently our budgets have been relatively modest yeah there we have a separate work group which we'll be hearing from tonight that relates to privately funded public art for public for developers but that's not part of the CIP work groups commission to deal with alright I'd like the only thing I was gonna add we in terms of we are supposed to give a recommendation for a funding amount we have generally used the 1% as kind of a target gen unless we have some reason to think otherwise sometimes projects are so big that 1% seems like overkill and
019we don't have a lot of experience with how much these are going to cost so it's it's yes shot in the dark which it was about what some of the CB numbers are as well I think sometimes and actually probably some of the other project numbers as well when it's in the early phases I'm gonna call on John is there anyone down here that would like to okay thank you I'd like to add a little background and complement David I think he understated his role in all of this the background is that in 2008 the Council passed a percent for art ordinance which set aside one percent of every single capital improvement plan project and it pooled that money the city and the art commission was challenged because of staff and a number of other
020things that that program was scaled back and it was made voluntary so that no longer was 1% of the money set aside or pooled it was voluntarily decided project by project whether art would be included that happened in 2013 at that time the art ordinance was changed and the art commission was tasked with identifying reviewing first of all annually all of those municipal projects and identifying the potential in those projects and what David and Colleen in and his work group did I was actually monumental because they developed criteria and processes for doing that so that it was comparable data decision-making it was huge and it basically said we're just not sitting around saying well that would be neat so as David alluded to he makes a pass through all of them and identifies if this
021is buried in the ground there's probably no way that we're going to attach art to it if it's not going to be visible so he has gone through a number of criteria that's applied through I think two or three passes data and and that's just to identify the projects that might have potential and then the committee sets and suggests the potential for each of those projects depending on the size the location the visibility all of those kinds of things and it's all based on this criterion process that's very open so we can go back and say this is why these recommendations were made that's proved effective with council they basically said you know you're just not throwing darts at these projects you're actually thinking them through that's what David and his work group is doing
022in regards to when a project is selected for public art that this was imagined the percent for art was imagined to be incorporated in the design in other words it was custom-made art it was commissioned art it was an art that was setting in someone's studio which is just fine the U of M does this and purchases and places at some place which is just fine this was intended to be unique and specially designed to the project what and that's why David and his team gets involved early on so that the designer knows well a group of people have thought this through and identified potential and they've identified a budget so whether it's a thousand dollar public art that's not that big but if it is nine hundred thousand that means it's big so there's
023there's a way in which the designer helps the designer understand what this body has recommended once that occurs on major projects that the because we have no staff what we have done is outsourced the selection process to a cultural organization the Art Alliance the Art Center are two that to mine and those groups form a task force we enter into a contract we sort of oversee the contract and the contract lists exactly what's expected they form a task force that's widely representative of the community and they determine the parameters of this and come about a description of what this artwork should be and that then is put out an 8 RFQ is put out so artists that feel qualified submit their work and then from those that group usually this is the way it usually
024happens from that group several are selected usually three maybe four maybe only two but usually three and those would be the top three that were rated from a a jury the jury isn't necessarily the task force and the jury sort of goes through all of the rfqs that come in and the top three are given a stipend to basically create a mock at an example and then that along with a narrative is submitted and the jury and a number of outreaches public comments are entertained and the consultant the Art Center the the Art Alliance sort of pulls together all of this and comes up with the best possible selections and recommends one that recommendation comes to us that we then review it and either approve that recommendation or not we usually do because we trust
025our consultants and that that recommendation passes on to City Council and City Council is the last person to to visit this and make the decision is that there are a lot of cesses that could be used in the selection and I think that you know some have been done that way some have been done other ways but generally there's a you know like any of these kind of processes it would be a way of winnowing down a lot of options to just a few a lot of them have gone through a public voting process which is something the city has really like to do with anything that where they can just to get public input and get the public interested in what's going on in the city so that's been a big factor in what
026we work on and we have been very strongly insistent that if there is going to be a public selection process that should be the last step in the process the public vote is the one that picks the winner it doesn't go through that to winnow it down and then have a bunch of experts decide and correct me if I'm wrong David and I know you will so so it's the purview of the CIP working group to to have to start a process or say that there will be a process but that process as you said can be different depending on whether it's contracted out whether it's an in-house smaller thing whether it's public or some combination of jurying I mean it's that there needs to be a process but that process can be any number
027of things depending on the particular project is that correct that's correct and and basically our responsibility is for the most part complete once that group once the list of recommendations goes to City Council and is approved after that it's up to the staff that are managing the project whether we ever hear about it again we try to we'd like to we have recommendations for how that process should go or at least some parameters for how that process should go but we have very little say at that point and and we when we when it comes back to us for a vote we have made very clear that all we're voting on is whether has followed our recommendations for the process we're not making artistic judgments whether we want to or not that's not we have
028not felt that as our place other questions or any other comments about this process this was very helpful to me David and to walk us through it all the way through really has sort of laid out what we can expect from this process in the future and what we can't expect from the process in the future and that's actually sometimes even more helpful than knowing what to expect from the process in the future so all right and one thing we can't expect from the process is for Colleen to be involved much beyond yes be nice to have someone besides me okay and yes we will be of course adding new commissioners perhaps not as good as the old but certainly a good replacement work their way up yes they'll work their way up to that
029and we will also be account or assigning new people to the CIP prioritize no okay okay we move on now to reports from staff and we have a number of reports I don't know if this is gonna be Vinita or Craig or a tag team so excellent so probably a tape team great so one of you please start us off we needed you on discuss the first item of the public address system I'm just nope making know that Olivia is no longer here and that she was a real significant part of getting a lot of these things started we already had an inventory it needed quite a bit of work her ability to go through the inventory updated put in the templates for us to use created the public art tour and from there we've
030used that inventory for a lot of other things it's a lot of work but she did a really good job I'm hoping to get her back she is working on a degree she wants to be a curator so departure is reflective of the city policy on temporary workers where they cannot work continuous 12 months they have to have a break in service and that is what is occurring right now right because as was indicated before it's not that there is no staff associated with us obviously we have excellent staff but capacity in for that staff to do some of the extra or needed work for the Commission is something that Olivia really brought to the group and so it's our expectation that such capacity will indeed be needed in the future so I just wanted
031to reinforce that on Mike that this is indeed a break in service but not a break in the need for that additional capacity correct can somebody just note the website and tour again I feel like this is a good information public art session right now and so maybe for our audience here and all the people watching at home absolutely so I do either if you want to just speak briefly to the website and the online inventory that is available yeah you you can make sure the mic is pulled up on the city of Ann Arbor web page if you go to the departments and go to the public art administration area you'll see a public art web page at the top of the public art webpage the first item that you should see is the
032public art tour it will show the front of the city hall building here on here on street there's an arrow down that allows you to click and once you start clicking it goes through a total of 20 26 27 pieces of public art throughout the city of Ann Arbor there's a mapping system it gives you a brief description and it also gives you the artist information and the date of install and the idiot's version of that which we need to describe she did a very good job of it but when this idiot goes to the city of webpage I just go to the search box and type in public art and let me take me right there without all the clicks something that wouldn't have happened previously David I was just gonna say obvious I
033don't believe Olivia's here or maybe listening but she did a wonderful job on the stuff she did as far as I'm concerned and I want to thank her for it snaps for Olivia okay all right the next item from staff is the DD a public art projects having engaged the DDA we have made significant strides with the DDA understanding about public art in beginning to engage it in their projects where we have had a history of not getting them to consider public art not intentionally they just weren't in tuned to it aware of it and with the staffs work with DDA they are getting into into it and they are engaging earlier in their projects to consider art and for those who might not know what the DDA is the Downtown Development which is a
034quasi independent body that invests tax increment money into infrastructure in the downtown they are the folks that are redoing probably the most significant project that people could relate to right now is the re construction of this sidewalks streetscape along here on street that is a DDA project it is not a city project excellent so so they are considering these projects and David you wanted to come in on this yeah you will note in the the CIP summary report that there are a number of projects where the City Council has approved recommendations for enhancement to DDA projects because they appear in the CIP but the City Council has very little control over the funding or the management of those projects and the DDA has been wonderfully supportive of public art and and everything that happens art
035wise in the downtown in many different ways so I don't want to bad-mouth them in any way but they have they are working with a very small staff they're managing a lot of big projects and it's been a challenge for them to figure out how to work in the public art and they're very willing to do it they've been very willing to do it we just haven't quite found that way to get that get it started and I very much appreciate Craig and Bonita having those discussions to try to move that along because it's something that we've wanted to try to figure out for a while and the last item from staff report is the Allen Creek project a has actually broken ground and is going forward this project is mostly federal and grant money
036involved in it there is federal emergency management money FEMA there is it's state money from transportation assistance and I know I'm missing another source of federal money involved in it so there is very limited funding opportunities to use project money as part because the feds have a a requirement that the money not going to art it goes into of what you're building that all being said there is an opportunity to do some art within the project the space for it is a free-standing piece is limp would be limited much of what we're building is being built on somebody else's property through easements and Vinita is prompting me to remind folks to go to the inclusion in their in their packet and it shows the planned view of the project in two locations where there has
037been walls identified as potential sites to do murals on if you turn the page over the one site the mural site would be between four and eight feet tall and 70 feet long the desire would be to do something that stormwater related or it needs to be stormwater related because we are using we are proposing to use stormwater money for this art the difficulty we have is relatively short time span to identify the art in put it in obviously if it's a mural that goes there you can't paint it into the walls built in right now the contract for the wall has it being coated with an anti graffiti coating and so we would be trying to work the timing that we could get the wall barrel belt get it properly cured put the mural
038on it and then coat it with the project funds if we can do that what's the hopeful timeline for that as I said the project is already kicked off it will be complete the project will be completed this construction season the actual crossing of the railroad I'm looking at Vinita I don't remember if it's July or August okay we have a 28 our window to build the tunnel underneath the road and if you could use the Mike Vanina I know you don't like the Mike the other piece of that is that brian says depending on how we call for art on this whether it's a mural or some other type of art that goes there rfp RFQ if we know and have selected an artist they can hold that area and then and have the
039artist come back in is ready what we're saying is not put the anti graffiti coating down on the wall yes glowing it appropriately and after the arts install coating it David do you wanted to get in in this yeah I have comments on everything tonight I is everyone even familiar with what we're talking about here what this project is I think it would be good if we take a stab at it if you want okay behind Depot Street approximately the extension of fourth just to the west of the existing railroad Station there will be a pathway constructed to their to the edge of the railroad embankment running to the west until you reach the old trestle that is there in the back of the elevated building at that point there will be a tunnel built
040underneath the railroad berm and the primary function of the tunnel is relief of floodwaters that the berm holds back and that has been the opportunity that presented the opportunity to expand the tunnel to allow pedestrian crossing underneath the railroad and then proceeding to the near the river turning to the west building a bridge across the Allen Creek and continuing to the west this will allow access to the border-to-border trail in the riverfront which right now was cut off by the railroad crossing that railroad as a pedestrian you are committing a federal trespass and this is hopefully a way to allow our citizens to be illegal other questions presumably animals might make use of it - oh I suspect so all right a Jonah just said two quick questions one David just to clarify that this
041project is not in CIP correct that's correct it is not because when it first appeared in the CIP it was entirely federal funding and we were told that no part of that could go to to enhancement for art but it is a project that Allison last year so debated a grant report it was obvious to everyone that this really needed art it was going to be too dark tunnels under the under the railroad berm so it desperately calls for something but there we had no way to fund it so unfortunately we did not get that grant so it's wonderful that there it's it appears that there's a second chance here for sure it's it is limited money but I think it's an opportunity we have to we have to seize I agree so being that
042we have a second chance at it although it's a limited amount of funds are we in a position to perhaps make a motion that we do call for submissions for potential art for this potentially yes I think that that is the question that is before us is that what does this body need to do to help move this project forward we understand that the turnaround time for a call for art would be quick we know that sometimes those calls are handled in-house by our engineers or by others working with this project so if it's a question of us saying yes go and do that engineers or other staff then that's one thing if there is some other role that we should be playing in either develop helping to develop the call or in soliciting artists
043or in sending this out in social media there are a number of things that we might do so that being said with the limited amount of money we have staff has looked at this and said we're not going to use an outside organization to manage the call for art and proceed with the project we would northern consume the funds that are available just in doing that so our desire is to do it internal with existing staff however probably leaning on some members of the art commission who have experience in murals and call for art the help staff get through the process and move the project long so the answer to your question is we would be seeking your support for us to go ahead and proceed internal excellent um Jonah just to echo that I
044do think it's a great opportunity and although it is a limited time frame I think we have all kind of experienced and voiced that when we do have opportunities to do this it's it's important to seize it and especially because there is albeit small some funding available for this so I'm full support of it or making a motion to recommend it just without being able to absolutely pledges the desire would be used the funding that's available all for the art and not the management of the project John to tie in with what Jonah has said would it be appropriate then to go on record with emotion from this body Jonah did you have some language in mind and before we do before we do that I just want to make it clear that we're looking
045for a motion of support for this but also I want to generally pull the group to say that there is general agreement that if we are asked as individual commissioners to help with this call that we will make ourselves available to do so it's that I mean we don't want to leave the city without our expertise if they actually want it so we will certainly work and coordinate with city staff to get some of our expertise there if they request it madam chair I like the language of what you just said could you shape it into a motion that we could consider I move that we recommend that the city move forward with all due haste using staff to create a call for art for the Allen Creek improvement project and that they make themselves
046fully they avail themselves fully of the expertise on this mission forthwith here here so discussion so one one of the items that we put forth in the process for the CIP was that once a project moved forward there would be a champion from the Arts Commission that would be involved and get involved in so so whatever method the city chose to pursue the that champion from this group from this body would attend those meetings or get you know be there and then that person would assist in reporting back so that's great was there a process for such a champion or was it volunteer I think we assumed it would be as a volunteer a stepped-up sort of thing all right so we could actually move forward with the motion and then we could entertain either
047volunteers from the table that could be tapped and also for those that are not here this evening make sure that they are aware of that opportunity I wonder if there's a way to also try and get an individual from the engineering side of the project or the architectural side of the project to have some sort of communications method with with the call for our people in May and the actual project project so that they know who they're talking to and what's happening and it's not two completely separate make that happen but I think we could call for our people who do you mean so so that whoever is creating the the opportunity of the artist and the artist themselves have some channel of communication with the people building building the tunnel so that it's not
048so that there is communication between them of some kind be it sparked historically there has been very tight communication between the project manager I think back to the stadium wall and my earrings involvement and other pieces of art we've installed as projects in this case Brian's was bouzouki who is the project manager and he will be intimately involved in the call for her in a project good I'd like to accept what I heard was perhaps a friendly amendment to encourage the city to work closely with whoever is selected for this commission and that they keep regular communications open and throughout the project is that amenable to you my second so just add that to the motion any other discussion all right so we have been motion it's been moved and seconded all in favor of
049adopting this motion at this time please say so by saying aye opposed abstain all right it passes please move forthwith to getting a call-out and we look forward now to any are there any volunteers who would like to work on this project at this time and if you are shy and don't want to raise your hand at this moment you can also contact Allison or me after the meeting to put your name in the Hat for that so anyone like to volunteer Jonah excellent all right that volunteer position or positions remains open and we'll continue to do so until we get that the meeting set so thank you so much John all right look what else is on this agenda I believe at this point we are moving on to the reports from workgroups and
050I think we want to just go down the list I'm going to let the CIP off the hook because we received plenty open report from them but let us start with business owners and developers oh yeah actually did I don't think we actually voted on approving this recommendation to City Council so we should do that oh let's do that when we get to you so let's start with the developers and then we'll move on to that with your report developers yes thank you madam chair you should all have our report and if basically we met to consider reviving what was called the golden Pete rush award and this was award that was given by the city to citizens businesses organizations to encourage art in public places it was a really important award both from the
051City Council and from the recipients and you see a list of those organizations that that were selected in the past primarily it was identifying collaborative ventures and for art so the more people that were involved in a project this seemed to rate higher and in in the groups rating they also gave lifetime achievements we met and we believe that we should revive that that it would encourage what we're doing private development so this and we felt that a private a separate work group be established to take our recommendations that you can see in the report and I'd be more than happy to talk about why we recommended those and maybe that would be a useful discussion and after that discussion then I would make a motion to form this work group however I understand the
052chair might have an idea of pushing the placing this work in an existing work group so could I first entertain any questions that you might have regarding this report our criteria our reasoning a jury any any questions and while you're considering those before we move on at your place this evening there Vanita was tasked with finding some swag this award in the past we have these buttons in front of us that we actually think may have been part of an advocacy effort exactly for the percent for art program but at John seed there is a small silver box and I've also passes around that also has the golden paintbrush pin that apparently was bestowed as well I also had the opportunity to be in Cary town shortly after a conversation around the golden paintbrush and
053saw their award prominently displayed in the stairwell of the of their first floor and so this is indeed a an award that was proudly accepted and proudly given and so with that I'm gonna open the floor up to questions and comments anyone think it's a good idea a bad idea an idea I think it's a fantastic idea and I'm very glad to see that it's being revived because I think it's a it's a really useful way to draw people's attention to the fact that there is public art and that the public art Commission is engaged with people are making out in the city and I just think it's good publicity all around and it's a nice way to recognize people who've been working away without necessarily having that kind of public recognition so I think
054it's all around great thing as you could say Mary and I were at the meeting with John where we kind of came up with us John did 90% of the work of course but but I strongly support excellent and strongly support the 90% of the work yes that's not true but let me just make it concise is that what we imagined is that there be an online forum and anybody from inside the city outside the city from Germany anywhere could recommend a project within the city limits that that project would then be evaluated by a jury and the jury wouldn't it would be kind of a rotating jury so one year it might be the Dean of the art school along with the mayor along with a business person a student and evaluating all of
055these ranking these and making a decision we thought that two to three golden paintbrushes be awarded every year if someone didn't get a paintbrush one year they could be folded into next year so that the that we thought that we should consider including someone from the media possibly on on the jury and maybe an artist maybe other folks we also imagined that maybe someone on the Art Commission would receive this award which is why we wanted the jury to not be our commissioners and that we felt that it probably should be focused on art projects particularly collaborative projects and then each of the individuals that made up a role and have the artist the the funding source the the building where it was and that's what passed Awards did they they tried to pull together
056a variety of folks that and demonstrate the collaboration but we just glossed over it and I think that that was appropriate I think that it's good that you have thought a little bit about sort of what that process might look like who might be on the jury you know however I think that the next step will be to develop the criteria because as we look over these projects I would say that you know some of them many of them are collaborative they often appear to have be recognizing things that have already happened which is another which is great I mean that a lot of these are events or installations that were developed by somebody and then is are now recognized for the important role that they're playing such as you know festive fools or the
057movement of the yeah Jack and the Beanstalk mosaic which is what Carytown won its award for a preservation of public art as it as it were so I think that the next step will be to develop that criteria develop that process bring it back to the Commission for approval and then the question comes up is who will do that work right so you had suggested that perhaps this work could be done by another workgroup we have already ten work groups and nine commissioners so I'm actually wondering if this work could not be embedded in an existing work group moving forward and when I look at what we have here special projects might be a place for this donations and our placement might be a place for this or even where it's emerged from but and
058I don't want to take this work away from you John especially since you did 90 percent of it but I'm just saying but I'm wondering if people have an idea about where this might best be placed versus creating yet again an another work group if it is the will of the Commission to create another work group by all means but I would like us to explore whether or not there is a place like special projects or donations or someplace else that might actually fit the bill and so you're all on at least six of these work groups where would you where might you recommend that it go since I chair special projects let's kind of put that aside it is a special project it's quite possible that it could be a sub of the development
059work group if my two other colleagues on the work group David is loaded up I'm loaded up Mary is loaded up however if my two other colleagues might want a co-chair or Sophie would you like to take this on I mean and I would say that one other place and again we're all on 12 working groups here one other place it could go is and does it take even say this it could go to policy and governance because it is a new policy or program of the group but it's not attacked again that's stretching I think and again special projects ends up with David and I so and Sophie so that special projects perhaps I perhaps Sophie could spearhead this effort would you like to spearhead it Sophie yes I mean I I think that
060that's that's entirely possible I would need a lot of help because I don't know where to begin but assuming that I would get a lot of help then yes for sure then that's acceptable to special project however I would like before is there anyone else learning to do another that would okay and would you like to join I would love to join me okay many I will so why don't and if for nothing else just for this particular project yeah you know and however you would like to do it so special projects will take on that golden paintbrush award and why don't you make that a motion I move that the golden paintbrush Award be refined in the special projects workgroup excellent is there a second did we just put this back into play oh
061we didn't we yeah well I think what we were voting to do is place its development in the working group we would then have that recommendation and that process come back to the Commission for full ratification but Everett's point I think yeah are we all in agreement let us back this up then do we have a motion to move forward with the exploration and development of the golden paintbrush award as has been recommended I believe you've recommended it from the business owners and development developers group we have a I propose what you just said so you move yeah all right is there a second David any discussion all in favor aye opposed abstain I'm chair I make the motion to place the golden paintbrush award under the purview of the special projects group do I
062have a second allene discussion all in favor aye opposed abstain all right it passes so we expect at a future meeting that we will be receiving an outline criteria timeline potentially for this as well as anything else that you think might serve us and Sophie thank you so much for taking on the leadership but chanal do 90 percent of worksheets out there madam chair yes um I just wanted to check on the development workgroup on the history did you put that together John there is one project missing because the University of Michigan Hospital murals were awarded a golden paintbrush and Moto e tile works and U of M gifts of art or recipients of that and I don't know what year that was but it's somewhere in there so my apologies that's okay well I
063think I think this was not an easy list to pull together is that not correct correct I took the urine reports from our archives so it's not suggested it's complete and thank you for mentioning it how whatever route we might want to add that because this document then will become a part of our official record and it will be nice to be able to reflect back on that so if you can find it I can I will pull up the info and send it and another note if anyone has received a golden paintbrush award and thinks that we've left them off the list by all means get in touch with us so all right great CIP David okay so we have this very brief recommendation in front of you which is basically to have there
064are no additional projects that we would recommend for CIP enhancement for public art based on the CIP being a minor update assume you've read this or we can accept the paraphrase knowing that we have received that document previously is there a second I'll second Colleen any discussion all in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed abstain all right thank you David any additional business for CIP this evening No all right thank you Communications and public outreach we have a chair here for that that might be Allison all right I see no report so we're gonna move on to donations at our placement I can tell you there is no report on that this evening fundraising any report all right Leadership Forum I do have a report the Leadership Forum working group met just the other
065day I think it was wow really just the other day earlier this week on Tuesday and we have been moving forward with the recommendation that was approved by the Commission last year to create a Friends of group an advocacy group a key communicators group who we can think of as both a way to outreach into the community about the work of the public art Commission as well as the important pieces that are coming forward to call attention to that but also to have them reflect back what they might be hearing in the community about public art about our work and about how we can do that work better so we have met to develop a an initial list of those in the community who we think might be interested in being on such a commission
066and it will be a very small undertaking for those that we ask if it's an hour a month that would be surprising there will be a single sort of networking event or two but we think at least a single networking event that we will hold to bring these important community people together and we will also take the opportunity to use them in focus groups and to solicit information around questions that we might have that might come up periodically but we are moving forward and we'll come back to this group probably at the next meeting with a recommendation on how we might move forward in identifying and inviting those in the community that might be interested in serving on this forum so we also look forward to any of your suggestions for those that you think
067might be interested in interacting with this commission in that way so are there any questions at this time all right oh there's a question do you have a timeline for which you would like recommendations or is there an event that may be well we are looking toward June to bring this community together for the first time I'm as a docent at the University of Michigan Museum of Art I would imagine that there might be some docents who would be interested in being involved so I could pass on the message if you tell me exactly what to ask them we certainly are looking to at least in this initial group tap into the University of Michigan as well if we think about it there are so many facets of our community everything from neighborhood associations to
068business people in the business community to those at the University who are in the arts or in other community outreach and so we certainly would be interested in hearing from you if there is somebody who might especially be good at this kind of community networking that we're looking toward where it's not just expertise in the arts but its expertise with our community and the way that they want to interact with their environment through public art yeah just for clarification the docents are not officially affiliated with university they're people who are bringing the community in to look at the art so I feel like they might be many absolutely a little bit more about that thank you yeah I just want to point out that this is also an initiative that the Arts Alliance is doing
069right now bringing together business partnership with people that are not on their board so I think it's it's a common thread between arts organizations trying to create unity in our community so I think that they're a great resource as well absolutely and they are indeed on the list of those that we will tap moving forward anything else all right that ends the Leadership Forum report nominating and Membership Committee I think I have a report on that as well we have been given access to the applications for those that were interested in filling our August colleagues position and we moved up the timeline for review as we were told that there was actually an earlier deadline for trying to identify someone we might recommend for appointment we would recommend people to the the way the process
070works is we recommend people to the mayor who then puts them forward after review to City Council for appointment to this body so we have a little bit more review to do but we plan to close the review up for at least this application period shortly and we will reopen that application after we finished this cycle for our next commissioner in our next cycle Benita do you want to add anything to that all right so some of you have spoken to me and Allison offline about those that might get in a final bit of application and if they have done so recently we will be able to consider them in this next round but we are looking to finish up our review in the next week or two so alright any questions about that all
071right policy and governance I'm also on that committee because of course we're all on six different committees and we have no report on that at this time special projects no report at this time youth outreach yeah we have a couple of updates do you want to start with the voting esteemed art commissioners staff and our audience just want to remind everybody in particular for some of our values whom you may be high school students perhaps there's a contest being held right now if you use the interwebs and look up the I voted sticker design contest this is something you might be familiar with see people get stickers when they vote or whatnot it has like a flag on it or a check mark or doing something much more creative here in the city of Ann
072Arbor from City Clerk's office and there's three categories of ages who can participate there's a elementary school age as so that's a K through six and then there's a grade seven through 12 and then a more general category for any Ann Arbor resident can submit a design for that sticker and there will be a a jury deciding on the winners whatnot there are prizes for those who win cash money and I think it's a great way to not only get people involved in public art but as well as raising awareness about voting and you may have heard about elections happening soon this November so there's actually one on Tuesday but this sticker will be for the November election the deadline for this is March 31st so get your submissions into the City Clerk's office and
073I've been working a little bit in collaboration with folks at the neutral zone to get some submissions as well as some of our public and our public schools art teachers as well and please spread the word submit some entries if you like and I hope everybody can participate and and did you mention when the deadline March 31st for this one so three weeks so we have it we have a little more of an update as well so the youth art committee has been meeting pretty regularly for this last year trying to find ways to engage our youth population which could be high school age could be all the way up to 24 25 in public art in our city and we've been brainstorming an idea that will just kind of unfold this evening and then
074elaborate on in the future it occurred to really draw on this 20 year plus relationship that I've been building with the Ann Arbor railroad in fact the anavar L Road underpass murals of the late 90s were recipients of the golden paintbrush award and it's been kind of a legacy to keep these murals rotating and the anavar railroad has been very supportive and thankful to the artists and the initiatives that have gone into keeping some of these under passes changing over so we are looking to do another round of murals in the Ann Arbor area on the under passes there are actually 10 canvases but we will be looking at four and then we'll be looking at doing some restoration of a couple of projects that are existing and really loved so we will be creating
075an application process for young people we already have quite a few business owners willing to throw in some dollars so as soon as we get a proposal packet together we will hit the streets with that and so I encourage any youth here and the audience if you if this interests you to come chat with me at the end because I'd like to bring some youth on to our committee for that as well wow that is super exciting so questions comments it's the mural on the railroad underpass by the YMCA one of the ones you're talking about yes yeah that's really impressive yes that's been painted by Matt Nesbitt any other questions or comments again it's super great I think this is a neat opportunity for the public art Commission to get really behind some action
076especially with our young people this will also hopefully involve neutral zone and tree town murals great all right okay as we have I believe no special presentations this evening we're going to move to any announcements that anyone would like to make for the public good this is a round robin and i'm going to start at the end with Mary and we'll just move down the line it's fine if you don't have anything but if you do this was a great time to do some announcements and if you want me to come back to you okay yes the applications for Westside our top which is a little kind of art fair come walk on the west side of Ann Arbor which happens in May so it'd be May 17th so applications for that of just opened
077so if anyone's interested in either being an artist in West Side art up or being a host of an artist because we host artists and garages and on porches and things like that so anybody on the west side sort of roughly the old West Side area or anyone who would like to come from outside and take part is welcome to go to the website which is West Side Art hop calm excellent I have no announcements this evening I have announcement marches youth art month hopefully everyone's noticed all the great art downtown and I just felt I would be a miss if I didn't talk about all the different organizations that have supported us this year we had a budget of over eight thousand dollars which we were pretty excited about the groups that supported youth
078art month are the Ann Arbor Public Schools the end of our Art Center the Arts Alliance the Main Street area Association the a number Area Community Foundation the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs the University of Michigan Credit Union the Community Action Network the National Endowment for the Arts and destination inner gur so thank you to all of our supporters [Applause] thank you alright so that is the end of our agenda for this evening do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting so John second second Jonah any discussion all in favor of a journey in the meeting at this time please signify that by saying aye aye anyone opposed anyone abstain with that we are adjourned you