Minutes_Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission Master Plan Task Force Updates Copyrighted
February 17, 2020
City of Dubuque Consent Items # 1.
ITEM TITLE: Minutes and Reports Submitted
SUM MARY: Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission and Work
Groups of 1/28; City Council Proceedings of 2/4, 2/10;
Civil Service Commission of 1/30; Five Flags Civic Center
Commission of 1/27; Historic Preservation Commission of
2/6; Housing Commission of 1/28; Investment Oversight
Advisory Commission of 1/22; Zoning Advisory
Commission of 2/5; Zoning Board of Adjustment of 1/23;
Proof of Publication for City Council Proceedings of 1/13,
1/21; Proof of Publication for List of Claims and Summary
of Revenues for Month Ending 12/31/19.
SUGGESTED DISPOSITION: Suggested Disposition: Receive and File
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
Arts and Cultural Affiars Advisory Commission Minutes Supporting Documentation
of 1/28/20
Arts and Cultural Affiars Advisory Commission Working Supporting Documentation
Group Udpates of 1/28/20
City Council Proceedings of 2/4/20 Supporting Documentation
City Council Proceedings of 2/10/20 Supporting Documentation
Civil Service Commission Minutes of 1/30/20 Supporting Documentation
Five Flags Civic Center Advisory Commission Minutes Supporting Documentation
of 1/27/20
Historic Preservation Commission Minutes of 2/6/20 Supporting Documentation
Housing Commission Minutes of 1/28/20 Supporting Documentation
Investment OversightAdvisory Commission Minutes Of Supporting Documentation
1/22/20
Zoning Advisory Commission Minutes of 2/5/20 Supporting Documentation
Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes of 1/23/20 Supporting Documentation
Proof of Publication for City Council Proceedings of Supporting Documentation
1/13/20
Proof of Publication for Special City Council Supporting Documentation
Proceedings of 1/21/20
Proof of Publication for Regular City Council Supporting Documentation
Proceddings of 1/21/20
Proof of Publication for List of Claims and Summary of Supporting Documentation
Revenues for ME 12/31/19
Arts & Cultural Affairs
Master Plan Task Force
Working Group & Task Force Updates
As of 1/28/2020 to share with Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission
Task Force
Met Thurs,January 23,8am,GDDC Boardroom
Attending: Gina Siegert,Taylor Cummings,Tim Conlon, Stormy Mochal, Kristen Dietzel, Ali Levasseur, David Schmitz,
Randal Lengeling,Jason Neises, Laura Carstens,Jenni Petersen-Brant, Beth McGorry(Director of Donor Relations for St.
Marks Youth Enrichment; new member replacing Dawn Cogen),Travis Schrobilgen (guest presenter)
• A&CA Updates by Petersen-Brant
o Arts & Culture Grant applications to open Jan. 31, 2020 with opportunities for Operating Support and Special
Projects funding;Task Force members encouraged to relay to arts and culture organizations they are involved
with. Special mention made regarding Special Projects grants and that organizations/groups applying can
have an overall mission that is non-arts related but are seeking to bring arts and culture activities to their
audiences/community.
o Winter Arts Snow Sculpting Festival taking place Feb. S-8, in Washington Park in partnership with Dubuque
Museum of Art. Call for volunteers Feb. 3 from 8am-12pm. Live sculpting starts Wednesday through noon on
Saturday, with family/community event on Saturday, Feb. 8 from 12-4pm.Task Force members encouraged
to share with their organizations/businesses. Event flyer provided to share with members respective
organizations.
o Sales sheet for current Art on the River exhibition distributed. Noted that call for new exhibition to go out
mid-February.
o A&C Office hiring an intern. 18 apps received. New intern will be invited to attend future Task Force meetings.
• Working Group(WG) Reports
o Accessibility Engagement, Inclusion (AEIJ:Jason N. recapped recent WG meetings.John Stewart has been
presenting professional development sessions, recent meeting welcomed Tom Robbins of UD Heritage Center
to talk about their multicultural programming. WG developing possible 'Harlem Renaissance' city-wide arts
initiative to involve area organizations and venues in booking one or multiple programs related to the Harlem
Renaissance, or general celebration of African-American artists throughout the 2021-22 academic year.
Leadership from Dubuque's Black community engaged and shaping the conversation. Possible elements
include: Artist-in-residence to serve as program director, repeat with new multicultural theme following year
or every other year, search for outside grant support, cohesive marketing effort in possible collaboration with
Travel Dubuque.
o Branding and Communications: Gina S., Jenni PB., and Taylor C. discussed Loras College Survey, and where to
go from here. Survey to be forwarded to all Task Force members. Kristen D. mentioned GDDC's surveys: one
of college students they work with, also New Comer Survey; she will forward results to Task Force as both
surveys address what respondents regard as important characteristics of the community where they work
and live. How are we engaging High Schools and their students in feedback?;Tim C. mentioned connecting
with HS art teachers through his daughter or district arts curriculum coordinator.
o Creative Economy: Stormy M. and Jenni PB. discussed progress on Creative Economy directory which is to be
taken over by A&C intern once they are on board, intern will confirm information and begin fleshing out
public interface. Public Facebook group to provide networking platform for those working in and advancing
arts and culture accessibility and opportunities to go live mid-February.Also discussed WG taking on some
Arts & Cultural Affairs
Master Plan Task Force
planning of Arts Mean Business activities, specifically to expand 'Academy' opportunities with bimonthly or
quarterly speakers or business of the arts training sessions.
• Imagine Dubuque Presentation
o Travis Schrobilgen and Laura Carstens presented a Power Point on the Imagine Dubuque 2020
Comprehensive Plan.
o Questions on Community engagement and facilitation, call to action to community followed. Ways to engage
through the Task Force continued.
NEXT MEETING scheduled for Thurs, March 26,8-9am at GDDC Boardroom
Accessibility, Engagement, and Inclusion
Met Mon.,January 6th, 3:30pm, McCarthy Center(2nd floor,CFGD)
Attending:Jenni Petersen-Brant, Paul Duster, Michaela Freiburger, Ellen Henkels, Dan LoBianco, Ali Levasseur, Clara Lopez
Ortiz, Frank McClain,Jason Neises, Andrew Raeside,Tom Robbins,John Stewart
1. Professional Development session: MulticulturalProgramming at the Heritage Center— Tom Robbins
a. Heritage Center operates as a student center and an arts center.
• UD student population is very diverse, so multicultural programming serves a large student body that
comes from many backgrounds.
• Butler Hall (1000 seats) will be closed for 3 months in the upcoming year for a pipe organ installation
project. Have a smaller 200-seat auditorium (Babka)that will still host programs.
• In the shortened upcoming season, there are various multicultural offerings from Israel, Russia, China,
MLK-themed.
• #1 priority is serving students and getting them into seats,then alumni, staff,faculty, and then community.
The community-focused programs serve as outreach and way to get people onto campus.
• Have a student advisory group that is involved in making programming decisions (HPAC).That student
group is very diverse and reflects the diversity of campus. Students lead the HPAC meetings.
• Also get faculty input, make it connect to curriculum. Not a regular community input process, but
audiences often provide feedback and ideas.
• HC does lots of program for 2000 DCSD students annually for"school bus series." Mostly children's
theater.
• Go to regional & national booking conferences to find acts. 6-8 students also attend the booking
conferences.
• Showcasing professional dance groups is a niche for HC.
• Due to impending declines in student numbers impacts on budgets available for cultural programming
anticipated.
• Multicultural programs are not "slam dunk" sell-outs; they are mission-based choices, so funding these
types of programs may be harder to fund if university revenue & HC funding declines. Box office sales
simply can't cover the whole cost.
• Marketing is varied. Do a lot of social media. Hard to reach multicultural audience, e.g. Hispanic dance
team a few years ago, but it was hard to reach the Latino audiences. What other barriers exist to get those
audiences in the door?
• Student pricing, but even nominal fees kept students away. Now looking for internal partners to sponsor to
offer shows free for students. Black Student Union, African Student Union, etc. will sponsor multicultural.
Arts & Cultural Affairs
Master Plan Task Force
• Getting diverse audiences into shows has barriers. HC has not done a demographic study of its audience.
Probably younger than many cultural orgs due to the focus on students. Audience at most shows is 20—
25% UD students which is pretty high for a university.
• Good relationship with the Dubuque Arts Council which helps get the HC performers into the schools, K-8.
Lots of outreach into high schools with acts that are in town for HC.
• Field trip funding in lowa can't come from parents. Other states are often easier to work with due to easier
funding.
• Weather can play a factor with the willingness for certain cultures to engage.
2. Work plan of AEI Working Group:
a. Harlem Renaissance (HR) project update—John,Jason, Geri, David
• One primary goal is to invite and welcome more diverse people into arts & culture offerings in the city.
• Arts in most cities are very white, so we know this is a race-conscious process, specifically African-
American in this case.
• HR is intended to be multidisciplinary so there will be many points to connect with broad types or arts
organizations: dance, music, visual arts, poetry, sculpture,theater, etc.
• White supremacy has been a reality in our culture for hundreds of years, so we need to keep this as a
space where the black community has power to define the project. African-Americans willing to take the
power and control of this project.
• Michaela has some connections with African-American leaders who she can connect to this. Alanda
Gregory is one of Michaela's contacts. Get the influencers involved in the actual planning of the events.
They need to have a stake.
• We will confirm that the HR is the right topic.
• It comes down to Culture. Arts is often in the forefront, but Culture often dictates how people will
participate. Food, dress, hairstyles, are all cultural values that connect to art. Find safe zones to share
culture & expression.
• Thinking about the lessons from Voices about how different and diverse audiences—warehouse setting
and breaking down barriers. Listening to voices of the community. Creating safe, welcoming spaces.
• Lessons from Central Express and success attracting diverse artists. Notjust a focus on skin color, but
thinking about other socio-economic categories of diversity, LGBTQ community(new Pride group).
• How do we establish the trusted "connectors" with diverse communities.
• If we're already talking about 2021, should we be thinking about 2022 as well and start developing a
theme?
• How many projects does the community have the capacity to plan simultaneously?
• Finding culturally appropriate ways to connect with audiences.
• What is the greater purpose for the HR project?Just for black community, or is it a general project to
create connections across culture?
b. Humanize My Hoodie opportunity
• Have a film festival screening partnered with some of the workshops?Screening in advance as part of the
JDIFF year-round program?Could be a connection to the HR project?
• Other fashion shows are already happening, being planned for 2020-2021—Michaela.
• Jason, Paul,Jenni will reach out to the HMH organizers to get idea of scope and budget. CFGD and JDIFF
already have partnership so maybe this could be the connection.
c. Updates on the A&C Master Plan implementation; Imagine Dubuque
• No specific updates.
Arts & Cultural Affairs
Master Plan Task Force
NEXT MEETING scheduled for Mon., February 3, 2020 at 3:30pm, McCarthy Center at GDCF. Meeting must end by 4:30pm
due to caucus that night.
Met Thurs,Jan 9@ McCullough Creative,3:30pm
Present: Gina Siegert, Pat McCullough,Taylor Cummings, Miki Robinson,Temwa Phiri, Mallory Gardiner,Jenni Petersen-
Brant
1. Report from Loras College Sports Marketing Class Arts and Culture Survey:
a. Pat McCullough reported on results, questions and discussion followed:
• The idea of barriers, perceived vs actual. Survey question to add—"If you don't participate in arts and culture
events and activities in Dubuque, why?"
• Presentation of the survey, paper handed out vs in-person conversation with participant—does this make a
difference in quality of feedback, number of survey takers?
• Suggestions if survey will continue to be used:
o Move demographic questions to end, arts multiple choice and open-ended questions first; add
income level to demographic questions, level of time residing in Dubuque.
o Still need to clarify what is meant by arts & culture:
■ Is sports considered part of this definition? Use different places sports events for survey
gathering. Combine arts/cultural event at halftime at sports event like at Saints halftime
event?
o Tap into network of arts grantees volunteer to help continue to conduct survey or hold focus groups
at nonprofits. Make available to arts orgs as online link, handout they can print.
o What is a good incentive to entice college students to facilitate/engage?
■ Partnerships with college professors and or connect college groups together.
■ Food, discounts, free tickets
o What is the return on going to family arts events? = More arts/cultural events are created for
families. Discussion on connecting families to opportunities available ensued.
• ACTION ITEMS
o Jenni to revise survey questions, implementing suggestions made by WG, for review at next WG
meeting.
o Jenni to research putting survey online. Possibly through Survey Monkey,Jenni to check with City PIO
for the platform they use for survey collection.
o Explore partnering with organizations like the Saints to connect with non-arts audience
2. Facebook Group
a. Review of copy for group page (about, rules, questions for membership, name)
• WG consensus to use 'Create Dubuque' as group name
b. Discussion on how to build membership
• Partner with Dubuque Actors Audition Group, Miki to invite Jenni to group, reach out to Art Roche (admin for
that page) to share with their network
• Branding 'Create Dubuque' as a larger call to action/initiative
o Partner with Creative Economy WG to share with directory list
3. Partnerships for sharing news about arts and culture events/survey
• Encourage collaboration between sporting events and arts programs.
Arts & Cultural Affairs
Master Plan Task Force
• Tabling at lunchrooms/cafes in colleges to pass out literature and engage students?—approval by student
life needed, work with Kristen Dietzel at GDDC and youth groups she's engaged with)
• Arts booth at college orientation and campus fests to invite college and cultural groups to get together?;
break the barrier between arts nonprofits and students or underserved.
• City Expo is a good outlet?
NEXT MEETING scheduled for Wed., February 5, 2020 at 3:30pm, McCullough Creative.Agenda items to include: 1)
Updates on above action items, 2) Finish Communication Platform and launch at next Task Force meeting, 3) Review
vision goals discussion set last year
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Met Tues,Jan 21 @ 7 Hills Brewing, 6pm
Present:Tabitha Link, Stormy Mochal, Danielle Stowell,Andrew Raeside,Jenni Petersen-Brant
1. Discussion on planning support by Creative Economy WG for Arts Mean Business Academy activities
• At debriefing of the Arts Mean Business planning committee in December,the question was posed to engage
Creative Economy WG in collaboratively planning those events; especially regarding Academy workshops and
helping to establish a quarterly or bi-monthly series of workshops/lectures for those working in the Creative
Economy, i.e. other artists sharing their success stories, professional development, business skills training.
Consensus of CE WG - interested in collaborating on this, especially in support of creatives and their careers.
• Discussion on need for and whether WG should lead the charge on helping Creative Entrepreneurs understand
how to go about setting up a pop-up shop, special event, market stand, busking, etc.Tab noted that City Clerk's
office has done something similar in the past;Jenni to find out from Pam in Clerk's office about next opportunity
or gearing one towards interests of creatives.
2. Update on Creative Economy directory
• 18 applications received for internship position. Once hired,focus of intern will be to confirm contact information
of those already on list, expand directory by networking with current directory members, establish online
submission form.
• WG energy now directed at gathering examples of public facing artist directories to model ours after. Focus on
simple, cost-effective but useful.
3. Update on public Facebook group for networking of Creative Economy community at-large
• Reviewed copy(about, entry questions, and rules) proofed by Branding and Communications for use on Facebook
networking group.
• Concerns/ideas: 1) WG would like to encourage repurposing of supplies/resources with sales transaction to be
carried on outside of platform via private message or other, 2) How is an org's ability to promote fee-based
events different from individual artists promoting work for sale? Discussion around creating a culture on the
platform where it is not seen as a Marketplace but dedicated to awareness/sharing, 3) Is 'Create Dubuque'the
right name, being careful not to mimic the name of another established org? Concern that it needs to speak more
to community,the people behind the opportunities, bringing people together. Other suggestions included,
Dubuque Creatives Unite/Community/Resources/Alliance, Dubuque Arts Community Resources (is this too
close to Dubuque Area Arts Collective?)
o ACTION ITEMS: Stormy to review/rephrase final sentence of'about' section.Jenni to forward name
ideas and collect input via email from WG.
4. Creative Economy group photo?
Arts & Cultural Affairs
Master Plan Task Force
• Jenni brought forward the idea of gathering Dubuque's creative economy at-large for a group photo. PIO will help
with taking photo if WG will organize.WG supports idea with goal to host in the Fall with small reception to
celebrate the launch of Creative Economy directory.
NEXT MEETING scheduled for Tues., February 11, 2020 at 6pm, Location TBD.
NOT MEETING AT THIS TIME
Public Art Infrastructure
NOT MEETING ATTHIS TIME