Public Art Committee Meeting Synopsis
June 8, 2006
Cowles Council Chambers
Present: Dave Anderson, Angie Newby, Ron Senungetuk,
Asia Freeman
Absent: Mike Yourkowski, Gale Parsons, Connie
Alderfer
Public:
Staff: Rachel Livingston
I. Call to Order
II. Approval of 5/11/06 minutes
III. Old Business
Rachel reported that the Fred Meyer
letter went out at the end of May.
She will let us know if we get a response
that should result in a
meeting sooner than the next scheduled
meeting.
Those present agreed it would be best
if Connie or someone else from the committee spoke with
Lane Chesley
(chair of Planning Commission) about this. Planning Director, Beth McKibben
has concerns that it is not necessary or appropriate to
have Planning
bring this before Council.
The Planning Commission directed the Public Arts Committee to bring the
issue before council in regards to widening the scope of the Arts Committee to
include the evaluation of private facilities.
It might be worth talking to Beth as well to clarify our vision.
5 pm on 7/7/06. We
assume that friends of the Animal
Shelter are set to provide refreshments for this opening. Eric Behnke's
artist's statement is still missing and Asia will try to
get him to produce
one.
The suggestion was made to delegate aspects of
the guidelines to members of the committee. We discussed the idea that this
could work, with a work session to review the group's
collective
input. After we produce the Guidelines it might be exciting
to have a Coffee Table event on KBBI re. Homer's Public Art Committee.
Tabled till next meeting. Rachel is looking for
the history on the park memo from Tammy.
f. John Villani National Book Tour
We agreed on a publicity plan to include
a press release from PAC (I can draft it, if you want, for
your
review, and to send on the press list I have?)
that would highlight the activities of the PAC, also
mentioning the
Animal Shelter art opening, an ad ($70 about) in each of
the papers
for the week of 6/26, and an on-air mention by myself and
one other
committee member (Angie volunteered) on Friday, 6/30, for
both the
Villani activities and the Animal Shelter opening.
g. Artist book/information
Tabled till next meeting
IV. New Business
There was a good discussion and consensus that the
selections
committee not have a chair from our committee, rather,
that the
chair emerges from the group, so that more of an ad-hoc
group creates
the "Look" of public art at various sites as
they emerge around
Homer. Ron spearheaded this vision. With Dave's support,
we expressed
enthusiasm for keeping the selections committee meetings
open to all
PAC committee members as observers, so that we can
learn/keep tabs on
the process. The continuity is Rachel, I suggested, who
will be
present for all meetings associated with Public Art. We
agreed that
we will develop a stronger Public Art Program by not
having the
committee members be staff for the program, rather,
cultivate Rachel
as the City representative through which the continuity
and knowledge
bank grows. As such, she can share concerns/updates on
projects with
all of us. We- the PAC- will create the policy that guides
her. This
could result in a very strong program, anchored by a
knowledgeable
staff person, like Anchorage's exemplary public art
program under the
direction of Jocelyn Young. As far as Back up work, we
agreed that
establishing a "priority" or "rank"
for approved works for a project
would allow staff to release funds, if/when they become
available, as
happened with the Public Library.
V. Public Comments – none
VI. Committee comments
We went around patting each other on the
back
with appreciation for those who are serving on the PAC,
and
recognizing that with seven strong members, we are still
functional
with a quorum of 4 when some of members are not available.
VII. Next
Meeting –August 10, 11am- This date may be changed pending
advice from members or Rachel, to an earlier date, if
desired. Summer
is so busy that it seemed best to
skip a month.