HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-14-2024 City Arts Commission Approved Meeting MinutesCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH
CITY ARTS COMMISSION MINUTES
Newport Beach City Council Chambers
100 Civic Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660
Thursday, March 14, 2024 – Regular Meeting
City Arts Commission Members:
Maureen Flanagan, Chair
Leonard Simon, Vice Chair
Barbara George, Secretary
John Blom, Commissioner
Melissa Kandel, Commissioner
Wayan Kaufman, Commissioner
Marie Little, Commissioner
Staff Members:
Melissa Hartson, Library Services Director
Camille Escareal-Garcia, Cultural Arts Assistant
I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER Chair Maureen Flanagan called the City Arts Commission Regular Monthly Meeting to order at 5:02 P.M. II. ROLL CALL Commissioners Present: Chair Maureen Flanagan Commissioner John Blom Vice Chair Leonard Simon (arrived late) Commissioner Marie Little
Commissioner Melissa Kandel Secretary Barbara George
Commissioners Absent: Commissioner Wayan Kaufman (Excused) Staff Present: Melissa Hartson, Library Services Director
Camille Escareal-Garcia, Cultural Arts Assistant III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Chair Flanagan lead the Pledge of Allegiance. IV. NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC - Waived V. PUBLIC COMMENTS
None VI. CONSENT CALENDAR
City Arts Commission Meeting March 14, 2024
Page 2 A. Approval of Minutes of the January 11, 2024, City Arts Commission Meeting 1. Draft of 2/8/24 Minutes Chair Flanagan requested edits, changes or deletions of the minutes. Commissioner Melissa Kandel referenced Agenda Packet pg. 9, paragraph 2 and noted “Newport Beach elementary schools” should be “Newport Beach schools”. Motion made by Secretary Barbara George, seconded by Commissioner Marie Little, and carried 6-0-0-1 (with Commissioner Wayan Kaufman absent) to approve the minutes of the 2/8/24 City Arts Commission meeting as amended. B. Consent Calendar Items
2. Financial Report Review of financial information.
Library Services Director Melissa Hartson reported there hadn’t been much movement in the budget. They have confirmation from the City’s Finance Department that the movement of funds from the Professional Services and Programming
budgets to cover the Sculpture Exhibition have been processed, those updates will be reflected on next month’s financials. 3. Cultural Arts Activities Monthly review of cultural arts activities from the Library Administrative Office for upcoming Library and City arts events and services. Library Services Director Hartson reported Arts Orange County (Arts OC) did their routine maintenance of walking through Civic Center Park in February. Two pieces needed maintenance, Pluma Sculptura (a.k.a. The Feather) received new panels and Prey had work done on its talons as part of their project management agreement.
Lucie Galvin’s art is still up in the Central Library lobby gallery, she graciously agreed to extend her exhibition through the beginning of April to fill the gap from the artist who had to withdraw. The gallery exhibit schedule is now full through the beginning
of 2025. Chair Flanagan opened the floor to public comments, but there were none.
Motion made by Vice Chair Leonard Simon, seconded by Secretary George, and carried 6-0-0-1 (with Commissioner Kaufman absent) to approve Consent Calendar. VII. CURRENT BUSINESS A. Items for Review and Possible Action 4. Curatorial Panel Assessment of Submitted Works – Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park, Phase IX
City Arts Commission Meeting March 14, 2024
Page 3 Arts OC Chief Executive Officer, Richard Stein, and Arts OC Program Coordinator Nicholas Thurkettle presented the public online poll results for the Phase IX Sculpture
Exhibition and responded to Commissioner questions along with Joseph S. Lewis, a professor of Art at University of California at Irvine and an art inspector. Arts OC Chief Operating Officer and Vice President Patrick Brien was also in attendance. Ms. Tram Le, an Arts & Culture Specialist, joined the Commission as a guest judge. After lengthy discussion regarding poll results, durability of pieces, use of pedestals and anchors, public safety, installations, and potential alternates, the Commission determined the following sculptures for recommendation to City Council to approve for Phase IX of the Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park: 1. Gecko by Doug Snider
2. Interplay by Peter Ambrosio 3. Growing Wings by Hilde DeBruyne 4. Big Puffa (The Generator) by Missy Douglass and Kim Rask (a.k.a. uckiood)
5. Heavy Landing by Vojtech Blazejovsky 6. Natural Wonders by Michele Moushey Dale 7. Glee by Cindy Debold
8. Trillium Bus Stop Bench by Matt Cartwright 9. Duality by Giuseppe Palumbo 10. Reaching Man by Ron Whitacre The following sculptures were determined as recommended alternates: 1. Depth of Form by Jacob Burmood 2. Millefolium by Catherine Daley 3. Cycles 3: Frogs, Bees, Birds by Peter Hassen 4. Time and Awareness by D. Yoshikawa Wright
Chair Flanagan opened the item for Public Comment. Jim Mosher, Newport Beach resident, provided comment regarding the description of the
base for the piece by Ron Whitacre, and mentioned it would be nice to see more participants in the public poll. His understanding was the previous meeting was to determine which of all the pieces would not be viable for the exhibition. If there is a
durability question regarding pieces, they should not have been included in the public poll, which would have given the public more selections to consider as favorites. Mr. Mosher provided a graph and explained the correlation between the ranks of the jury and the public, and believed the vast differences weren’t due to durability but rather a difference in personal taste in art. It’s a complex process. Motion made by Secretary George, seconded by Commissioner Little, and carried 6-0-0-1 (with Commissioner Kaufman absent) to approve the above selections of ten sculptures as recommendation to City Council for Phase IX of the Sculpture Exhibition in Civic Center Park. Motion made by Vice Chair Simon, seconded by Commissioner John Blom, and carried 6-0-0-1 (with Commissioner Kaufman absent) to approve the recommendation to City Council for four Phase IX Alternates as listed above in the Sculpture Exhibition in Civic
Center Park.
City Arts Commission Meeting March 14, 2024
Page 4 Mr. Stein noted that the poll had been open to the general public in the past and a few
years back it was closed to only the residents of Newport Beach. He suggested it might be worth the Commission’s consideration of reopening the poll to the general public if they were looking for more participation. Chair Flanagan asked the number of participants from the general public polls in past phases, Mr. Stein answered Phase V had 2,343 votes and at that time voters were allowed to cast three votes. Noting a considerate drop in the number of voters, Chair Flanagan suggested future vote processes should be a discussion rather than relying on an online public poll. She also mentioned potential revisions to marketing efforts.
5. Sculpture Exhibition Ad Hoc Subcommittee Staff recommends that the City Arts Commission form an ad hoc subcommittee for
the purpose of reviewing the current structure of the Sculpture Exhibition program in Civic Center Park and developing proposed Sculpture Exhibition program options that align with the current $135,000 General Fund budget allocation for the program.
Chair Flanagan appointed herself, Secretary George and Commissioner Blom to the Sculpture Exhibition Ad Hoc Subcommittee. Chair Flanagan opened the item to Public Comment. Mr. Jim Mosher, Newport Beach resident, referenced the last page of the staff report that states the Subcommittee will develop program options to present to City Council for their review and consideration and suggested it should read that the Subcommittee will be presenting options to the Arts Commission for their review and consideration before making a recommendation to City Council.
Chair Flanagan thanked Mr. Mosher for the correction. 6. Public Relations and Marketing Ad Hoc Subcommittee Chair Flanagan will appoint a Public Relations and Marketing Ad Hoc Subcommittee to review the current marketing strategies and budget and to make recommendations
to improve current communication and public awareness of the cultural arts events and programs. Chair Flanagan appointed herself, Commissioner Kandel and Commissioner Blom to the Public Relations and Marketing Ad Hoc Subcommittee. Chair Flanagan opened the item to Public Comment. Mr. Jim Mosher, Newport Beach resident, commented this ad hoc description states that it will make recommendations to improve current communications and public awareness of programs and assumed it means to staff, and again pointed out that the by-laws state
that ad hoc committees report to the Arts Commission who then vote as a commission at a noticed meeting. The intent of the ad hoc committee as it is written is confusing.
City Arts Commission Meeting March 14, 2024
Page 5 B. Monthly Reports 7. Newport Beach Art Exhibition Ad Hoc Subcommittee Chair Flanagan , Vice Chair Simon, Commissioner Little Chair Flanagan reported the subcommittee convened and began reviewing the applications that have been coming in. Call lists will be distributed to each Commissioner with a request to call all the artists on their list as they want to ensure everyone has been contacted. Cultural Arts Assistant Camille Escareal-Garcia noted she will be forwarding a basic script of general information about the exhibition to each of the Commissioners that they may find helpful, and requested they in turn share any potential outdated information with her so the list can remain current.
8. Newport Beach Arts Foundation Liaison Secretary Barbara George, Chair Maureen Flanagan, Vice Chair Leonard Simon
Chair Flanagan reported she attended the Arts Foundation meeting, there was not a quorum in attendance, so the meeting adjourned after twenty minutes. VIII. CITY ARTS COMMISSION ANNOUNCEMENTS OR MATTERS WHICH MEMBERS WOULD LIKE PLACED ON A FUTURE AGENDA FOR DISCUSSION, ACTION OR REPORT (NON-DISCUSSION ITEM) Vice Chair Simon requested staff do a Request for Proposal for future management of the Sculpture Exhibition, which would be great information for the ad hoc committee. Library Services Director Hartson responded they would first need to get Council direction to maintain compliance with the City’s process for Request for Proposal. The purpose of the Ad Hoc Subcommittee is to come up with options that can be presented to City Council
to better align the cost of the Sculpture Exhibition with current funding. Those options could include many ideas, seeking the Request for Proposal would fall in that list of options.
Vice Chair Simon felt getting a baseline cost for each of the management tasks that Arts OC is doing under their contract would assist the ad hoc subcommittee with determining
which of those options would be viable, rather than throwing out ideas with no knowledge of how it might better impact the use of funding. Chair Flanagan agreed that would be useful. Commissioner Blom mentioned it would also be helpful to the ad hoc subcommittee to find out about the possibility of sponsorships. Director Hartson responded staff are currently working on that. Commissioner Little requested that the next agenda include an Art in Public Spaces Ad Hoc Subcommittee report to help prepare the recommendation for Council regarding the
donation applications that have been received.
City Arts Commission Meeting March 14, 2024
Page 6 IX. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS
None.
X. ADJOURNMENT – 6:30 P.M. The next meeting for the City Art Commission is scheduled for Thursday April 11, 2024.
Approved by: Leonard Simon