Loading...
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 th 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 th 17-20 . th th 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 th 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 th 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