body,date,page,text,path
PublicArtCommission,2019-05-29,1,"PUBLIC ART COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING, WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2019
ROOM #201, CITY HALL WEST
950 WEST MALL SQUARE - 6:00 PM
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER:
Chairperson Daniel Hoy called the meeting to order at 6:05 PM.
1. ROLL CALL:
PRESENT: Commissioner Mark Farrell, Commissioner Adam Gillitt, Commissioner Sherman
Lewis, Chairperson Daniel Hoy
ABSENT: Commissioner Liz Rush
STAFF PRESENT: Economic Development Manager Lois Butler and Economic Development
Analyst Amanda Gehrke
2. MINUTES:
A motion to approve the minutes was made by Commissioner Gillitt and seconded by
Commissioner Lewis. The motion carried 4-0.
3. ORAL COMMUNICATION:
None
4. REGULAR AGENDA:
Item 4A - 2019-6954: Recommendation to Establish a Small Grants Program for Cultural Arts
Clarifying questions:
Commissioner Farrell: Did we decided that it would just be cultural arts?
Butler: Does it say just cultural arts?
Commissioner Farrell: Would that include a mural?
Butler: We can save that for discussion.
Commissioner Farrell: Does the money have to go to a program or something that is free for
the public? With AMP that is not the case.",PublicArtCommission/2019-05-29.pdf
PublicArtCommission,2019-05-29,2,"Minutes of the Public Art Commission
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Butler: We should discuss that during discussions.
Chairperson Hoy: Remind us where we are with the budget?
Butler: We have about $41,000 for cultural arts.
Commissioner Hoy: So we are already at the limit?
Butler: We have more for physical arts.
Chairperson Hoy: Would these small grants not allow someone to pursue the larger grants?
Butler: I think they would be able to pursue the larger grants.
Chairperson Hoy: What about operating expenses? I know we have them with the big grants
but would any allowances be allowed for the smaller grants? For expenses in the grants?
Butler: That's a discussion question.
Chairperson Hoy: Would organizations outside of Alameda be allowed to apply as they were
doing a piece in Alameda?
Butler: I don't think we could discriminate. We could say it has to take place in Alameda, but I
don't think we can discriminate as to where the business is located.
Commissioner Farrell: Are the 20 grants per year 20 applications you'll receive per year or 20 to
dole out?
Butler: 20 to dole out.
Commissioner Lewis: What is the enforcement mechanism for that? Or is that a discussion
question?
Butler: That's a discussion question, I don't think Chairperson Hoy was finished.
Chairperson Hoy: Could these grants be part of a larger application? If someone was trying to
check off a bunch of small grants for the county or state. Could this be used for that?
Butler: For leverage? Yes.
Chairperson Hoy: For any purpose. We're not going to say you are applying for too many grants.
2",PublicArtCommission/2019-05-29.pdf
PublicArtCommission,2019-05-29,3,"Minutes of the Public Art Commission
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Butler: It's always better to have more grants, and from different sources.
Chairperson Hoy: And would it have the same guidelines as our larger grant process in regards
to who can apply? If you were a school or a religious organization. Is it the same guidelines for
our existing cultural program applicants? Same regulations for the small grants?
Butler: No, no, that's a discussion question, but to clarify our thoughts would be that the 2 page
application would be an application and in this meeting we would discuss what the criteria
would be for these small grants. They would be completely different than the larger ones.
Chairperson Hoy: Ok, so we can discuss if schools or religious organization would be allowed to
apply.
Butler: Yes we can talk about who would be eligible.
Chairperson Hoy: Such as 501 C3's
Butler: Yes
Chairperson Hoy: Is there anywhere in this verbiage that I didn't see that says alright we have
done the pilot program, what's the process for an ongoing program after next year.
Butler: I would think that after one year if the pilot works we would go forward with an annual
program, funds allowing.
Chairperson Hoy: So we wouldn't need to come back to this body for any revisions or revisiting
what worked or didn't work.
Butler: We can discuss that.
Commissioner Farrell: Technical question: The downloadable application, will it be something
they have to print out and fill in or something they can type into and print out.
Butler: Hopefully we can generate a form that they can fill in.
Commissioner Gillitt: I believe my question will fall under the actual discussion, but I was just
going to ask for a clarifying question about the actual number amounts for funding. Are those
set or is that something we will be discussing?
Butler: That's something we can discuss, that was our recommendation.
Lois Butler asks if there are any more clarifying questions.
3",PublicArtCommission/2019-05-29.pdf
PublicArtCommission,2019-05-29,4,"Minutes of the Public Art Commission
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Public Speaker Addressing Item 4-A:
Dan Fontes: I'm a public artist, been doing murals for 30 something years. Number 1, when
people send in applications sometimes there's a jury and the jury will rank each application for
a certain score and that score will rank them for a certain hierarchy. I thought that might be an
interesting discussion or something to consider so you have some type of criteria and some sort
of justification for granting funds - it's how other cities do it. 2nd just wanted to say I'm really
glad there are grants like these, its makes the public artist job a lot easier. 3rd, have you
considered the demographics of the community, I'm sure that will be addressed. Thank you all
for your service.
Lois Butler says if there are no more speakers we will move onto the discussion.
Public Comments Closed
Discussion on 4-A:
Commissioner Lewis: We have a requirement for each recipient to provide a summary, how do
we enforce that? How do we make sure that get done?
Butler: What we want to discuss with you all today is how we put this program together.
What are the grant amounts? Do we want to deal with odd amounts? (Ex: $545.75)
What are the grant increments that we want to give out? Are we recommending
between $500-$2,000? Or do you want to do something different? Maybe something
more or less?
We also want to include a Hold Harmless Clause in the application process.
We are going to want their W-9 up front to cut down on the process time to streamline
the process.
We have to look into whether they need a business license or not, if so that will need to
be factored into the amount since the grant is so small.
Who to make the check out to.
Gehrke addressed some of the concerns about cultural vs. visual arts. There will be someone
who will be doing administrative work with the grantees, communicating with them and
making sure they turn in their summaries and evaluations. Butler clarified that it would
probably be part-time staff working under her. Due to Amanda's workload she would not be
doing the administrative work.
4",PublicArtCommission/2019-05-29.pdf
PublicArtCommission,2019-05-29,5,"Minutes of the Public Art Commission
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Commissioner Farrell indicated that he would recommend different amounts, $250-$1,000,
anything below $250 might not be helpful. He also questioned why the city wasn't using AMP's
(Alameda Municipal Power) already existing 1 page application as a template.
Gehrke said, additional information was needed making it more than one page.
Butler called for a short break to print out copies of the AMP Sponsorship Application.
Gehrke hands out the AMP Sponsorship Application.
It was stated by Commissioner Gillitt that this was just for events, AMP doesn't sponsor any
kind of physical art. Gehrke agreed that was her understanding.
Commissioner Gillitt then wanted to know how we will distinguish between cultural and
physical arts. Would this program cover physical? How do you compare the two?
Butler then explained how the funds are divided. There is $15,000 in each fund, up to $15,000
with a max of 20 grants (Administrative time is a factor in this) it doesn't matter which one you
pick. No more than 20 small grants will be given out, if you make the amounts too small you run
the risk of hitting the 20 grant mark before the $15,000.
Commissioner Farrell brought up that $2,000 feels like a lot to give out for requiring much less
process than for the larger grant process.
Butler explained that it would be self-evident, some organizations that are more established
that have applied for grants before will have that history and for other organizations more
information might be required. She then brought up that the Commission needed to make a
decision on whether both profit and nonprofit organizations would be eligible.
Commissioner Farrell wanted to know if the public had requested any certain grant amounts.
Butler said there were no strong recommendations for small grants.
Concern was mentioned that everyone would just apply for the highest amount ($2,000).
Chairperson Hoy wanted to make sure it wasn't a first come first served situation.
Butler explained they are recommending an evaluation process and we can encourage people
to apply for different amounts. You can structure it in such a way that people would need to
make a choice. These are recommendations that Kathleen Livermore has made based on
research of cities with similar small grants programs.
Commissioner Ferrell wanted to know if people will get guidance on what amounts to apply for.
5",PublicArtCommission/2019-05-29.pdf
PublicArtCommission,2019-05-29,6,"Minutes of the Public Art Commission
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Butler brought up that this would be a big demand on staff's time. By really structuring the
process, it would help direct people applying. She recommended that there be slots per
amount.
Commissioner Gillitt wanted to know if there would be slots between physical and cultural arts.
Butler said that's a decision that would be made here.
Commissioner Gillitt then opened the question up the public, the muralist in attendance ""What
can you do with $2,000?""
Dan Fontes stated you can do a bit if you are very smart with your money. It could be difficult,
then he talked about all the things that factor into and artist budget.
Commissioner Gillitt said it sounded like it wouldn't do very much and sounded more like a
stepping stone.
It was agreed that this is the point of a small grants program. To help with larger
projects/budgets. Chairperson Hoy said it would be insulting to think the small grants program
would fund a project in its entirety.
Gehrke added that it would also be helpful for those small organizations to build a track record
of approved grants. It could be the seed money to get a project started.
Commissioner Farrell: Would the project be free to the public, either cultural or physical arts?
Gehrke: Yes, based on the ordinance.
Commissioner Farrell: We would just say ""Small Grants Program for Public Art.'
Gehrke: It has be accessible to the public, has to be outside or visible from a public area.
Butler: Limited advertisement is okay with the smaller grants. As long as everyone can come,
there can't be any restrictions. Can be combined with the Façade Grant Program.
Commissioner Lewis (?) 22:12 asked if this could be used for neon signs around town. Butler
said that would be a stretch and brought up that's what the Façade Grant Program if for.
Commissioner Farrell asked if For Profit Entities could apply.
Gehrke recommended that entities do not have to be nonprofit due to all the extra paperwork
required.
6",PublicArtCommission/2019-05-29.pdf
PublicArtCommission,2019-05-29,7,"Minutes of the Public Art Commission
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Everyone was in agreement that both Profit and Non Profit should be allowed to participate in
the small grants program.
Commissioner Farrell wanted detail on the two month application period time.
Gehrke: During those two months is when people would be able to apply, after set end date the
evaluation process would begin.
Butler: Yes and they would have to spend the within a year after it is awarded.
Grant amounts were discussed.
The Commission recommended:
$250-500
$501-750
$751-1,000
$1,001-1500
$1,501-2000
The Commission also recommended that there be wording in the application that encourage
people to apply for smaller grants. Also that this is a Pilot Program and things can change.
Evaluation Criteria/Process was discussed.
The Commission is interested in knowing:
Artist Merit
Accessibility
What Community is represented? What community is served?
Must be in Alameda
Requirements and Questions
Image of event or piece
Our Logo needs to be attached to marketing/social media
Have you received a grant before?
What's your mission statement?
Need location approval (physical)
What materials will be used? (physical)
Subcommittee will be two Commissioners and one staff member (not Lois maybe Amanda)
Butler and Gehrke gave their timeline for the Small Grants program. Applications open my
January 5th 2020, awarded by the end of April 2020, and installations and events by March/April
of 2021.
7",PublicArtCommission/2019-05-29.pdf
PublicArtCommission,2019-05-29,8,"Minutes of the Public Art Commission
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
5. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS:
Butler: City Clerk is accepting applications for open seats on the Commission, Commissioner
Rush and Chairperson Hoy's terms are ending. Commissioner Rush would like to be reinstated.
During the next Election a Vice Chairperson will need to be chosen.
6. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS:
None.
7. COMMISSIONER COMMUNICATIONS:
None.
8. ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 8:30pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lois Butler, Economic Development Manager
Secretary
Public Art Commission
8",PublicArtCommission/2019-05-29.pdf