2012-10-10 - Arts Commission - Minutes Board or Commission: ❑Arts Commission
Document Type: ❑A e
g nda 0 Minutes
Meeting ate: 10/10/2012
Type of Meeting: ❑ Regular Meeting
MEETING MINUTES
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
EOC 7:00 p.m.
Present:
Marilyn Alaynick
Mark Andrews
Steve Bulmash
Chris Gibson
Shari Ginsberg
Barbara Herman
Gayle Pervos
Fran Sachs
Lynne Schneider
Fred Weissman
Absent:
Linda Rosen
Laura Ander
Sharon Borstein
Bonnie Gold
Sandy Greenberg
Lori Lapping
Staff Liaison
Carol Berman - Present
Trustee Liaisons
Trustee Steve Trilling - Present
Trustee Les Ottenheimer
Guests
Welcome
The meeting was called to order at 7:07PM.
Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Marilyn Alaynick to approve the minutes and seconded by Barbara
Herman. The motion was unanimously approved.
Chair Report
In Linda's absence Fred Weissman chaired the meeting. He wanted everyone to remember
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that November 10 was the Buffalo Grove Symphonic Band's concert and to volunteer if
possible.
Art Festival
On October 1, 2012, President Braiman and Carol Berman had a meeting with Amy Amdur to
discuss the 2012 festival and plan for 2013. Here's the items that were discussed:
• The show shall not compete with Ann Arbor. The dates for that show in 2013 are July
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17-20 .
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Currently the Buffalo Grove show is scheduled for July 13 & 14 . However, Amy will
contact the artists to see if they feel that would work for them. There is a big show in
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Colorado the weekend of July 4 and many of those artists then move on to Ann
Arbor. The question is would they do the Buffalo Grove show or go straight to
Michigan. An alternate date would be at the end of July.
• The Arts Commissioners who juried the festivals felt there were artists there whose
work they had never seen. The question of the quality of the artists came up from a
number of commissioners.
Amy stated that artists who apply after the jury in January/February are "judged"by
her and, if selected, she tries to put them in shows that she feels would be a good fit
for the artist and the community.
• Eliminate showing jewelry made of pre-fabricated components. At the very least,
severely limit the number of vendors doing it. There certainly is skill and craftsmanship
involved in stringing necklaces and bracelets, but it's not the same caliber of work we
want to see in the show.
Amy made a note and said she would comply with this request.
• A better balance of types of work. Yes, this might cut down on the total number of
vendors, but it's not great for the artists or the buying community when the show skews
heavily toward one type or one style of art.There were many comments this year from
people complaining about the number of jewelers, photographers and abstract artists.
More variety would be better for everyone.
According to Amy one of the biggest factors that artists are currently facing is the
economy. People do not have the disposable income they once had and have cut back
on the purchase of art. While she tries to get a decent balance sometime that is not
possible. She stated that it seems the Buffalo Grove community supports bright
contemporary work with lots of color. She did agree to try and make the show more
balanced between the various mediums.
• Changing where the sponsors are in the show. It breaks up the art experience. It can put
off the buyer to be called to as they walk by folks selling gutters, newspapers, or cars.
From what have been observed on show review sites, the artists don't much care for
this either, as they feel it "cheapens" the show, especially when the sponsors are vocally
"hawking" their business.
Amy will try to keep most of the sponsors together although she thought the Cadillac
exhibit was great and appropriately placed.
• Eliminate vendors showing mass-produced items (thinking of the women who were
selling Infinity Dresses). It just looks bad to see something you can purchase cheaply on
almost every corner in Cancun being sold at a Fine Arts Festival.
The ladies who have the double booth and sell the dresses have a huge following. They
send out postcards to their mailing list and bring a number of people to the fest.
• Accommodate a section to incorporate our Artists' League members. This can include
one table for them to display their work.
This was not discussed .
• Music and food. This should be in a separate section. Sometimes the volume of the
music makes it hard for the artists to work with clients. There is a possibility that the
food odors can damage the art.
One of the things Amy does is to make sure that the food vendors are not near any fiber
artists. However, she said that she would like to move the food vendors over to the
eSkape area and develop a dining area with tables and music. One of the programs she
would like to develop is a "Taste of Buffalo Grove"and encourage local restaurants to
participate. Carol will speak to the Chamber of Commerce members to see if we can
develop this program. If we wanted to serve alcohol a fenced area would have to be
established so the participants consume the liquor in that specific area.
• Unique Expressions
It appears from the surveys that this was a successful program. We will attempt to
obtain a larger tent to allow all the artists to have a frontage (10 x 40). Carol will check
with the CRD to see if the disability cart should be offered next year. Feedback was
that people did not use this option. Amy suggested that we have a special time
available for residents who need assistance from 9:OOAM-10:OOAM on Sunday to allow
them to access the fest easily and possibly have artist bring the items down to their level
if interested in a piece of art. This concept will also be reviewed with the CRD.
• No pets (excluding therapy/guide dogs)
President Braiman said that he did not want the volunteers or the Police to actively
enforce no pets at the fest. We will have signs made and hopefully the guest will follow
this guideline. This should also be part of the advertising material.
• No smoking
• Better signage for restrooms
• Promote areas restaurants
• Suggest a donation to the fest. This would go to a charity, purchase musical
instruments, scholarship fund, etc.
Amy mentioned that only one of her fests charged admission but it was to get into the
building. It would be hard to charge for the BG fest since there are so many entrances.
President Braiman was not in favor of charging our guests.
• Possible Family Art Tent activity—cards for overseas military.
• Work to keep the physical location of the show clean.
Both Carol and Amy were not aware that this was an issue. However, Amy does want a
clean and tidy festival and will reinforce this with her staff.
• Water Distribution
It was agreed by Amy and Carol that we would follow the same procedure as this year
since it worked so well. One thing we have to tell volunteers is to bring something to
carry the water in —either a bag or cooler on wheels.
The commission reviewed the new proposal from DW Events who would like to do our festival
and also discussed the presentation we had from Erin Melloy, EM Events. The commission
decided to keep the festival with Amdur Productions. Trustee Trilling suggested that we
request that Amdur Productions provide us with a list of artists who have applied for the show
about the beginning of May. In this manner we
would be able to see the mix of work that will be exhibited and possibly make suggestions for
additional type of artists.
At our last meeting we discussed having a winter art festival sometime during the month of
November 2013. Carol contacted Tim Beechick, Hamilton Partners, who told her that the
Riverwalk office buildings would be available for the event. Fran Sachs made a motion to
explore the possibility of a festival for the fall/winter of 2013. The motion was seconded by
Chris Gibson and unanimously approved. Amdur Productions is having an indoor show at the
Highland Park Country Club the first weekend in December. It was suggested that some of our
members attend that event and report back to the commission.
Buffalo Grove Symphonic Band
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The November 10 Fall Symphonic Band Concert will be at Libertyville High School. Volunteers
for the evening are Chris Gibson, Shari Ginsberg, Marilyn Alaynick, Mark Andrews and Carol
Berman.
Artists' League.
Carol provided Sharon Borstein's report in her absence. Currently there is an exhibit at the
Health and Fitness Center. No date has been set for the October meeting.
Public Art 2013
No report from the committee.
Barbara Herman spoke about a project done in Villa Park where artists decorated fire plugs. It
was determined that this type of project would not meet approval from the Village Board or the
Fire Department.
Old Business
No report
New Business
No report
Village Report
Trustee Trilling spoke to the group about the current status of the Downtown Buffalo Grove
project.
Adjourn
The next meeting is scheduled for November 14, 2012 at 7:00pm in the EOC.
The motion to adjourn was made by Marilyn Alaynick and seconded by Barbara Herman. It was
unanimously approved. Meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM
Sincerely,
Carol Berman
Staff Liaison
cc: Steve Trilling, Trustee Liaison
Les Ottenheimer, Trustee Liaison