Minutes_Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission 7.27.21City of Dubuque
City Council Meeting
Consent Items # 1.
Copyrighted
October 4, 2021
ITEM TITLE: Minutes and Reports Submitted
SUMMARY: City Council proceedings of 9/20; Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission
of 7/27 and 8/24; Housing Commission of 8/24; Human Rights
Commission of 8/9; Library Board of Trustees of 8/26; Library Board of
Trustees Update of 9/23.
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
City Council Proceedings of 9/20/21
Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission Minutes of
7/27/21
Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission Minutes of
8/24/21
Housing Commission Minutes of 8/24/21
Human Rights Commission Minutes of 8/9/21
Library Board of Trustees Minutes of 8/26/21
Library Board of Trustees Update of 9/23/21
Type
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Supporting Documentation
Dubuque
THE CITY OF
l
DUB
All-Anenp C y
2007-2012.2013
2017*2019
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS COMMISSION (A&CA)
MINUTES — SPECIAL MEETING
DATE: Tuesday, 27 July 2021
TIME: 3:30 PM
LOCATION: Orpheum Room, Five Flags Civic Center, 450 Main St., Dubuque, IA 52001
(virtual attendance offered via GoToMeeting)
Commissioners Present: Paula NEUHAUS (chair); Nicholas HALDER (vice -chair); Ryan
DECKER (recorder); Noelle CHESNEY (attending virtually, arriving 3:48); Ali LEVASSEUR;
Sue RIEDEL, Thomas ROBBINS.
Staff Present: Jenni PETERSEN-BRANT (coordinator); Mike WILLIAMS (intern)
Public Present: Jean TUCKER (attending virtually)
Levasseur called the meeting to order following staff assurance of Iowa Open Meeting
compliance at 3:32 PM.
Roll Call & Procedural Notes
1. Roll Call was taken of all present commissioners and staff.
2. Petersen -Brant briefly shared new procedural directives from the Clerk's office regarding
COVID-19 transmission and liability mitigation, including mask use and waivers.
Nomination & Election of Officers
1. Riedel nominated Commissioner Neuhaus as Chair through June 30, 2022. Neuhaus
accepted. Halder seconded. No further nominations made. Vote: Unanimously affirmed.
Motion carried.
2. Neuhaus nominated Commissioner Haider as Vice -Chair through June 30, 2022. Halder
accepted. Riedel seconded. No further nominations made. Vote: Unanimously affirmed.
Motion carried.
3. Riedel nominated Commissioner Decker as Recorder through June 30, 2022. Decker
accepted. Robbins seconded. No further nominations made. Brief discussion on using
gender -neutral officer title of `Recorder' versus `Secretary'. Vote: Unanimously affirmed.
Motion carried.
Review of Minutes
1. Commissioners reviewed and made grammatical corrections and minor additions to the 22
June 2021 regular meeting minutes and the 13 July 2021 special meeting minutes.
2. Riedel motioned to approve 22 June 2021 regular minutes with discussed corrections and
additions. Levasseur seconded. Vote: Unanimously affirmed. 22 June 2021 Minutes
approved.
3. Levasseur motioned to approve 13 July 2021 special meeting minutes with discussed
corrections and additions. Decker seconded. Vote: Unanimously affirmed. 13 July 2021
Minutes approved.
Master Plan Working Group Reports
Petersen -Brant provided oral updates from select Master Plan Working groups; notable
updates include:
1. Accessibility, Engagement & Inclusion (AEI) continuing development of World Cafe
program, to be delivered in cooperation with the Dubuque Renaissance Project. Next
meeting is 9 August 2021.
2. Branding & Communication continuing development of a community -wide umbrella arts
and culture communications campaign, which includes the eventual engagement
professional marketing specialist services. Next meeting is in September 2021.
Staff Status Report
Petersen -Brant provided a variety of status reports to the Commission; notable items include:
1. Arts & Culture Intern: Staff introduced, and Commissioners welcomed, Mike Williams as
the new Arts & Culture Intern. Williams is a photographer, drone operator, and owner of
Elevated Images with a robust portfolio of publicly identifiable work, including work for Travel
Dubuque. Petersen -Brant noted Williams' entrepreneurial spirit, social media experience,
and connection to the Creative Economy masterplan working group. Williams expressed
his desire with the Commission to provide constituents the space and resources to be
artists. Commissioners recognized and thanked Petersen -Brant and Riedel for their work in
recruiting and securing Williams. Petersen -Brant and Williams will develop weekly work
plans, currently including virtual beginning -of -week work distribution and end -of -week
status updates. It is anticipated that Williams' workload will become more autonomous as
the position and his experience in it evolves.
2. Art on the River (AOTR): Installation of pieces is underway. Commissioners are requested
to attend the opening reception 6 August, 5-7 PM at the Grand River Center. Several
community partners are participating in the opening: music provided by Northeast Iowa
School of Music; a special Riverwalk Architrek and live portable mural painting organized
by Heritage Works with supplies donated by Lowe's; and presence and participation of the
Dubuque Plein Air Painters, Dubuque Urban Sketcher, and Dubuque Photography Club.
The AOTR subcommittee is exploring programming to extend AOTR engagement
throughout the year. Halder offered to provide opening comments on behalf of the
Commission. Decker noted that a damaged piece, Mother Earth, will arrive later in the
season; Petersen -Brant is working on stand-in signage for the opening reception and a
"mini -reveal" of the piece at a later date. Decker noted that two more artists are still needed
for portable murals. Levasseur noted the DubuqueFest's annual reception for the Dubuque
Area Writers' Guild anthology will take place at the Alliant Energy Amphitheater, following
the AOTR reception.
3. Creative Resiliency Grant Program: Ten applications were received. Chesney and the
Grants subcommittee (Haider and Neuhaus) will review applications.
4. NEA ARP Local Arts Agency Application: Petersen -Brant has completed Part 1 of the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) American Rescue Plan (ARP) Local Arts Agency
Regranting Program application, asking for $500,000 over a two-year period to boost
Operating Support grant program capacity, individual artist grants, and a part-time position
in direct administrative support of said NEA funds. The City is paying for a grant writer,
experienced in City grant applications and reasonable confidence in our application, to
collaborate with Petersen -Brant in Part 2 of the NEA application process. Awards are
announced in November with full awarded -funding available 1 December 2021.
City Clerk's Public Meetings Directive
Petersen -Brant elaborated on the aforementioned meetings directive from the City Clerk's
Office ("Roll Call & Procedural Notes"-2).
1. This directive is the result of the expiration of the Governor's Emergency Declaration, 25
July 2021 as it impacts Iowa Open Meetings Law. These procedures apply to all public City
Board and Commission meetings.
2. Liability waivers must be signed, not to hold the City liable for illness incurred as a result
of participating in public meetings.
3. Masks need to be worn upon entering the space/room designated for public meeting.
Participants can mutually agree to remove masks once the meeting is in session. While
masks must be worn into the meeting room, this may not be true of the building or facility
itself, public or private.
4. In -Person quorum is required to conduct business, though virtual attendance and
participation will continue to be made available. This means a minimum of four (4) A&CA
Commissioners must meet in -person, on -site for our business to proceed.
5. Petersen -Brant will get clarification from the Clerk's office as to how this information should
be disseminated to the public for A&CA Commission meetings, and whether or not the
directive applies to Taskforce/Working Group meetings and business.
Review of FY22 Operating Support Grant Application Scoring & Award
Recommendation
1. Commission reviewed Recommendation Options 1 (6% or $30K max to all applicants) and
Recommendation 2 (6% or $30K max of applicant percentage scores) proposed at the July
special meeting, both of which were significantly beyond capacity.
2. Petersen -Brant presented Recommendation Option 3 (precise and rounded versions),
prepared from discussion at the July special meeting. Option features six tiers of funding
based on score percentages of eligible funds, maxing at $30K per award. Tiers award Full
or $30K-max amounts, 4.5%, 4%, 3.5%, 3%, and 2.75%, respectively.
3. While the selective rounding of Option 3 did keep the funding within the $250,000
earmarked budget, Decker expressed concern that arbitrary rounding is not the most
equitable to the Applicants, and preferred true rounding. Halder provided true rounded
figures to the nearest hundred -dollar amount per applicant, yielding a total figure $700 over
budget. Petersen -Brant advised that approx. $1,000 of unspent Creative Resiliency grant
program funding could be returned to the Operating Support grant program to cover this
overage.
4. Commission discussed merits and demerits of awarding all applicants (including very low -
scoring applicants) as opposed to funding fewer applicants at greater amounts. As it
pertains to FY22, no minimum score for funding eligibility was set or published. Halder noted
that, while applicants and their applications do not (generally) change considerably,
reviewers and their subsequent scores do change annually, and sometimes drastically.
Minimum scores, reviewer selection, and scoring benchmarks are all items the Commission
would like to discuss and address further at a future opportunity.
5. Chesney motioned, Decker seconded, Recommendation Option 3 (tiered/weighted), with
true rounding to the nearest hundred -dollar amounts, totaling $250,700 in funding with the
gap covered by anticipated, unallocated monies returned from the Creative Resiliency
Grant funding pool. Vote: Unanimously affirmed. Aforementioned FY22 Operating Support
Funding Award Recommendation 3 to City Council carries.
FY21 Budget Carryovers
Petersen -Brant shared that as part of the City's budget and budget amendment process, a a
memorandum was recently submitted to the City Manager requesting $23,500 in new
carryovers for a total FY22 use of $111,000 in FY21 surpluses from Arts & Cultural Affairs
(under the Economic Development Office). These new requests would support the
aforementioned City arts and culture campaign ("Master Plan Working Group Reports") and
expanded Art on the River programming ("Staff Status Report"), as well as additional Arts Train
registration for City staff and eventual Art Train -related projects and contracting. The
memorandum also outlines a $42,871 carryover of unspent, previously received grant funds
for Art En Route and the Dubuque Renaissance Project, and $28,111 in previously approved
carryovers for the Creative Resiliency grant program, the Arts & Economic Prosperity Study,
and an 11th Art on the River sculpture for the 2021-22 exhibit. Petersen -Brant will update the
Commission on the City Manager's response to the new $23,500 in carryover request.
Committee Assignments
As the Commission roster and officer appointments have shifted, the Commission collectively
discussed the need for revisiting subcommittee assignments. These subcommittees currently
include Grants, Arts Mean Business, and Art on the River. No Commissioners presently
indicated a desire to be relieved of current committee assignments. Riedel suggested
reestablishing the Calendar subcommittee. Commissioners indicated a desire to wait for A&CA
strategic planning to commence before determining new subcommittees and/or assignments,
the exception being Arts Mean Business, which has the most impending business.
Public Comment
Space for public comment was offered, but no comments were made.
Current Events
Current events reported by Commissioners and Staff include:
1. Heritage Center Season Announcement (performing arts), today, Univ. of Dubuque
2. Taste of Summer (music/culinary series) concludes 5 August, National Mississippi River
Museum & Aquarium/Dubuque Co. Historical Society
3. ART ON THE RIVER 2021 public art exhibit opening reception — 6 August, City of
Dubuque Arts & Cultural Affairs — please save the date!
4. DAWG Anthology Release Party (literary arts), 6 August, Dubuque Co. Fine Arts Society
5. DubuqueFest (art/music festival), 7-8 August, Dubuque Co. Fine Arts Society
6. Frozen, Jr. (youth musical), 13-15 August, Grand Opera House
7. Hate Mail (play), 13-29 August, Bell Tower Theater
8. Makers Faire (crafts/trades), 14 August, National Mississippi River Museum &
Aquarium/Dubuque Co. Historical Society
9. Dubuque Farmers Market (culinary/art/music series), ongoing, Dubuque Main Street
Adjournment motioned by Levasseur, seconded by Decker at 5:10 PM. Vote: Unanimously
affirmed. Motion carried.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, 24 August 2021 at 3:30 PM
Respectfully submitted:
Jenni Petersen -Brant
Arts & Cultural Affairs Coordinator, City of Dubuque
These minutes were passed and approved on , 2021.
Witnessed By:
(signature)
(printed)
(officer position)