The Town Arts Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 3:45pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room, Ste 211.  The meeting will take place in the Municipal Building located at 230 Main Street in Brattleboro, VT.  The agenda and minutes are attached.

TOWN ARTS COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 9, 2010
REGULAR MEETING – 3.45PM
AGENDA

1. Convene regular meeting
2. Confirm meeting officially warned
3. Approve minutes from the meeting on January 26.
4. CHAIR’S REMARKS
5. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
6. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
7. BUSINESS
• Garry Jones Proposals; Public Works Reception
• Scott Dixon: graffiti class/mural
• Scott Dixon: Tinderbox developments
• Charrette information analysis/further steps


OLD/OTHER BUSINESS
8. NEW BUSINESS


9. CORRESPONDENCE

10. NEXT MEETING


11. ADJOURNMENT

.....

Town Arts Committee 1/26/10.
Members present: Kate Anderson, Mary Ellen Bixby, Doug Cox, Hugh Keelan, Gail Nunziata, Eugene Uman, Judy Zemel
Visitor: Garry Jones

1. Keelan called the duly-warned meeting to order at 3:45. The minutes of the prior meeting were approved as recorded.

2. TAC discussed the Arts Charrette held on January 19.

There were many positives in that there was fresh energy and a number of new people present who are relatively new to town. There was also reiteration of numerous ideas surfacing from the April 2007 Artists' Town Meeting, reflecting a coherency of vision. Preregistration was a good idea. There was the absence of individual egos at work and instead a collective energy focusing on working together. It was agreed that there were occasions when the charrette process was "messy," but it did provide structure and succeeded in providing for stakeholder buyin. It was good that it allowed for a nonhierarchical process. The "Happy Birthday" singing was fun and built community; the food was delicious. Keelan/Anderson spoke thoughtfully. It is TAC's understanding that Keelan and Anderson will be reimbursed for expenses incurred.

It was agreed that there could have been "tighter summarizing," and that there was difficulty turning "the general into the practical." A couple of the groups reported a difficulty with keeping the discussion "on track," and a greater need to connect with the quieter members of the group.

In summary, TAC was most pleased with the event and offers much thanks to the Planning Commission for their fine and effective support.

Visitor Garry Jones summarized his reaction to the event.

It was decided to direct Nunziata to send all participants, recorders and facilitators summaries of all 5 charrette conversations as well as an invitation to make clarifications, not revisions, to the reports. All participants will be invited to express interest in continuing the conversation, now that the information has been gathered, as TAC makes plans for the next step, which will be to write responses (The 3 plus 3) to the following topics: vision statement, current conditions, future trends.....and then objectives, goals, and actions.

3. Anderson reported that she had given a 15 minute summary of the Arts Charrette process to the Town Plan Advisory Committee, and that her report was received positively.

4. Nunziata asked that the rocks be unpainted in preparation for the new season. Scott might be helpful here as he had originally offered. Should funding of the project be addressed? How? What would we do if there was defacing of the rocks? More conversation is necessary, it was agreed.

5. The Irion photo project was discussed. Bixby will contact Francine Vallario and together they will dismantle the exhibit. Bixby will contact Steve Barrett and ask for help entering the storage room. Nunziata proposed a two hour event (River Garden?) at which the photos could be dispersed; Irion has emails for all the portrait subjects.

6. Uman raised the subject of the Town receiving steel from the Twin Towers. Uman said that nobody had expressed an interest in a project using this material. We need to have "a project with teeth."

7. Zemel urged that TAC attend the Transportation Center Feb. 5 Gallery Walk event where Steven Donovan, his mural, and other examples of his work will be featured. The Transportation Center Subcommittee will provide refreshments.

8. Zemel reported on the "Art and Entergy" event she is working on. As of now the group is too small to effectively make something happen; she's looking for support from area residents, from those who have feelings, pro or con, about Vermont Yankee. TAC members stated that a Town committee could not endorse a political cause and also said that they hoped that various perspectives could be included, i.e. Larry Smith at Vermont Yankee. TAC also stated that Brattleboro would like have many voices negative to Entergy, and the event could be perceived to an event with an agenda. Zemel said that there will be a kickoff letter to the editor with numerous individuals signing and that TAC members could sign as individuals.

9. At the end of the meeting Garry Jones introduced his proposal to advocate for local artists to participate in Public Art, enhancing those items that are already budgeted for, i.e., lampposts, garbage cans, etc. He is enthusiastic and presented TAC with a written proposal. It was decided to invite him to a future meeting and allow adequate time for discussion of his proposal.

10. Keelan adjourned the meeting at 5:15 after scheduling the next TAC meeting for Tues., Feb. 9.

Bixby
minutes taker