Minutes_Arts Commission 3/24/09MINUTES
ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS ADVISORY COMMISSION
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Board Room, Carnegie Stout Public Library
360 W. 11t" Street, Dubuque, Iowa
Meeting was called to order at 4:37 p.m. following staff assurance of
compliance with the Iowa Open Meeting Law.
Commissioners present: Ellen Henkels, Louise Kames, Paul Hemmer, Sue
Riedel, Geri Shafer, Julie Steffen (Paul Kohl is out of the country until May.)
Staff Present: Jerelyn O'Connor, Jan Stoffel
Approval of Minutes of February 24, 2009
Motion by Hemmer, second by Henkels to approve minutes. Motion passed 6-0.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Mock Grant Review. Kames explained that the mock review was being
held so that Commissioners could get experience with the new rating
sheets and to go over the procedures for the grant review session. The
process for the meetings will be as follows:
• Applicants who attend the review session will identify
themselves at the beginning of the session.
• The Chair will introduce each grant.
• Abstentions will~be announced by individual Commissioners.
• Brief discussions of each application by each Commissioner,
rotating among Commissioner, will follow.
• Commissioners may ask specific clarifying questions of
applicants if in attendance.
• Commissioners score the grants
• Tally is announced.
• Vote by Commissioners.
Reasons for abstention would include being the grantwriter or a Board
member of the organization, working for or having a close family member
who works for the organization or if a Commissioner will directly benefit
from the grant. It is the policy of the Commission that no member will
participate in the rating if he or she has a real or perceived conflict of
interest. New this year is the stipulation that in .order to ensure the quality
of projects, Special Project grants must receive at least 75 points out of
100 in order to be funded. Commissioners read a past grant and
completed the scoring sheets in a mock exercise. Some changes to the
forms were suggested. Staff will complete those and post to the web and
use during the Grantwriting Workshops. Commissioners~should come to
the sessions with review sheets for each grant already completed and
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scored. Grants should be scored on its own merits and not against other
grants submitted. It was agreed that a timer should be used so that grants
would each have a maximum time to be discussed. Applicants are not
present to address the Commission, but only as observers or to answer a
direct question. Members reiterated that incomplete or late applications
will not be accepted.
1. Application for NEA registration. The City already had registered with
Grants.gov, so if and when we want to apply for a NEA or other
government grant, will not have to do a registration application of our
own.
2.August NEA grant opportunity. Shafer explained the opportunity for a
grant through the NEA due by August 13. The Commission, through the
City, could apply for funds and then regrant them to area groups. She
has met with a group of area artists to brainstorm on a grant possibility
for materials reclaimed through the Roshek remodeling project, but she is
not sure that possibility will be ready by then. Commissioners discussed
some possibilities that might be ready by the deadline. It was moved by
Hemmer and seconded by Riedel to seek advice from a NEA program
manager on the possibility of applying for additional funds for the
Operating Support and Special Support Grants for the 2110 funding year
and submitting a grant if the response was favorable. Motion passed 6-0.
The present City funds would act as a match and the process and
protocol for the programs are already well defined. Although it will be
ambitious to meet the deadline, staff will explore the possibility.
OLD BUSINESS:
7. Review Strategic Plan. O'Connor commented that the Strategic Plan was
a compilation of the Ann Katz suggestions and some of the goals had not
been fully discussed by the Commissioners. Kames suggested discussing
them at greater length at the annual planning session in August. Perhaps
a laundry list of needs could be compiled so that we could seek more
grant funding. Some of the goals had already been completed and others
were underway. Shafer and Steffen agreed to address the goal of
developing talking points and Hemmer offered to work with Bryce Parks in
creating an electronic and print media campaign. The Cultural Alliance has
done some preliminary exploration of this concept. Staff will serve as
liaison with the Cultural Alliance's upcoming meeting. The Strategic Plan
Grid will be updated and included in the next meeting's packet.
ITEMS FROM THE COMMISSION:
1. Kames thanked Commissioner Shafer for supplying Mayor Buol with arts
and culture talking points in preparation for his State of the City Address
on Monday, March 23. The mayor made several comments that were
complimentary to the arts and cultural city initiatives, including an effective
story about a young person's experience in a theater production at the Bell
Tower Theater. Shafer commented that we should try to collect similar
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stories illustrating the effects of the arts on young people to use as talking
points and also to share with Every Child Every Promise.
INFORMATION SHARING:
1. Update on ICCG grant. Another ICCG grant to cover 10 hours of weekly
salary for the Arts and Cultural Affairs position will be submitted. The grant
is due May
2. Update on Art on the River. The call for submissions for the 2009 Art on
the River project has been distributed. Douglas Schlesier from Clarke
College and Jeff Boshart of Eastern Illinois University have agreed to
serve as jurists. Dolores Fortuna, of Galena and Chicago, has also
consented if the review schedule can be adjusted to her schedule. Staff
will try to arrange this.
3. Update on Web enhancements. The Arts and Culture pages on the
City website at www.cityofdubugue.org/Arts&Culture have been
expanded. They contain all of the updated information about our funding
programs and the new Art on the River project. Grant applicants and
artists for Art on the River can now fill out and submit applications online.
Lists of past grant awardees give us a little PR and will hopefully help
other applicants generate ideas for future grants. The names and roles of
Commissioners furthers the position of the Commission in Dubuque's art
community. The calendar, media releases and photos will give an idea of
the City's ongoing arts activities. Grantwriting tips and the finalized review
sheets will be posted on the website this week.
The next Commission meeting will begin at 4:00 p.m. in order to accommodate
the grant review session.
Motion by Hemmer and second by Shafer to adjourn the meeting at 6:08 p.m.
Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted;
Jan Stoffel
These minutes were passed a a proved o~
Ellen Henkels, Secretary
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