1 RICHMOND ARTS AND CULTURE COMMISSION (RACC)
Regular Meeting Minutes
Thursday September 23, 2021
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Zoom Invitation
Present: Commission Chair Floren e Wiley; Commission Co -Chair Michael Cohen ; Commissioners Lynson Bea ulieu, Deb Dyer, Siobhan Hayes, Tom Herriman, Melissa Kirk, Tom Lyons and Phillip Mehas
Absent: Commissioner Emily Leighton and Council Liaison Melvin Willis
Staff Present: Arts & Culture Manager Winifred Day
I. Welcome/Call to Order/Roll Call
The RACC meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m.
II. Approve September 23, 2021 Agenda
Motion by Commissioner Dyer, seconded by Commissioner Beaulieu to approve the September 23, 2021 meeting agenda, as shown, carried by a Roll Call vote.
III. Approve July 22, 2021 Meeting Minutes
Chair Wiley commented that as a former Board Secretary she was thrilled to have legitimate meeting minutes for the RACC as a public document to represent the RACC.
Motion by Commissioner Beaulieu, seconded by RACC Co-Chair Cohen to approve the July 22, 2021 meeting minutes, as shown, carried unanimously by a Roll Call vote.
IV. Public Comments
There were no public comments.
V. Discussion / Action /Items
1. Love Your Block Mural Proposals
Mural Concept Designs for Pullman Underpass and Unity Park
Commissioner Dyer reported the Public Art Advisory Committee (PAAC) had recommended the RACC accept both Love Your Block mural concept designs.
Chair Wiley advised the materials for the mural concept designs for Pullman Underpass and Unity Park had been included in the RACC agenda packet.
Stephanie Ny, Community Services Division, supported the grantees and their p roposals and expressed her appreciation to Arts & Culture Manag er Day, the PAAC, and the RACC for its consideration of the mural designs.
2 Motion by Commissioner Dyer, seconded by Commissioner Hayes to accept both of the Love Your Block Mural Concept Designs for Pullman Underpass and Unity Park , as approved by the PAAC at its September 13, 2021 meeting, carried unanimously by a Roll Call vote.
2. West Contra Costa County Family Justice Center (WCCCFJC)
a. Panel Composition and Recommendation of Resident Panelist
Commissioner Dyer reported t he PAAC had approved a recommendation from Arts & Culture Manager Day for Richmond resident Natalia Lawrence, with further discussion to add anothe r artist from the Richmond area. Six names had been provided to Ms. Day and the WCCCFJC was to complete the panel of three by selecting either a staff person, citizen or client. Only three voting members had been recommended for the panel that involved a $10,000 award , with potentially a member of Planning staff or of the PAAC, to be added as a non-voting member.
Arts & Culture Manager Day noted that Commissioner Herriman had volunteered to serve as the non-voting member since he had a history with the project. S he was conducting research prior to contacting the six names that had been provided to confirm their residency given the focus on Richmond residents first. A panel application would be prepared due to the number of people who wanted to be in the position. She reported that Natalia Lawrence had accepted the resident Richmond position, was familiar with Richmond, and would be a great candidate.
Commissioner Dyer suggested it would be nice to have a group of people who could be called upon when needed.
Commissioner Herriman consented to serve as the non-voting member on the panel.
Motion by Commissioner Dyer , second ed by Co-Chair Cohen to accept the PAAC recommendation to form a panel of three for the West Contra Costa County Family Justice Center (WCCCFJC) to select the work, to be comprised of Richmond resident Natalia Lawrence, an artist who resided in Richmond, someone designated by the WCCCFJC, and with Commissioner Herriman to serve as a non -voting member of the panel , and potentially to include a representative from Planning staff, carried by a Roll Call vote . (Commissioner Kirk, who was having technical difficulties, abstained by not responding.)
3. Art Inventory Update
a. After some review, StoryMaps ( https://storymaps.arcgis.com is the software recommended by the IT team. A presentation will be made a t a RACC meeting, at a time TBD.
b. Artist Registry online now
City of Richmond Artist Database Form
The City of Richmond Artist Database Form is an opportunity for local artists from all media and genres available for art projects in Richmond to provide their information to the City. If you are a local artist, please fill out this form: City of Richmond Artist Database Form.
Ms. Day reported that staff had been working on the art inventory and there were quite a few Departments involved including members of the RACC and the PAAC. She described the 3 StoryMaps software which provided a virtual tour with different c ategories that needed to be classified to organize the information.
Commissioner Dyer clarified the action being asked of the RACC to vote on the categories with a limit on the number of items that could be placed on StoryMaps. She recommended breaking the number of items down to media types such as murals, sculptures, and other types of art, with the Civic Center to have its own category.
The RACC discussed whether or not to take action on the item with a recommendation to allow staff to have the authority to proceed rather than taking action on the specific categories; and Ms.
Day suggested such direction would be acceptable, allowed a starting point, and more information would be provided to the RACC at a future meeting.
Chair Wiley stated for the record that no vote was necessary. Staff was given approval to proceed on a common sense basis to separate the categories as described by Commissioner Dyer.
VI. Discussion Items
1. Establish Meeting NORMS, Conflict of Interest, Recusal Policies, Exit Zoom and Return
Ms. Day explained that the item was intended to provide a reminder when a Commissioner must recuse himself/herself from the discussion of an item during a Zoom meeting where he/she must step off the platform for that period of time and then return. Specific NORMS could be discussed at a future meeting.
Commissioner Mehas understood the NORMS had been spelled out in the Commission’s manual and that the entire City was ruled by Conflict of Interest regulations.
Chair Wiley confirmed the information in the Commission’s manual but noted that mistakes had been made in the past. As an example, two years ago, the RACC had approved a grant which had a clear conflict of interest but which had proceeded anyway. She suggested the item required no further discussion.
2. Project Budget Development for 2022 Fiscal Year – October Make a Wish List
Chair Wiley reported she had placed the item on the meeting agenda. For the October 28, 2021 meeting, she asked Commissioners to come prepared with any item desired in the budget as an expense item, such as the Make a Wish List that must be prepared as part of the City’s budget.
On the question of where to start, Chair Wiley suggested the Committee Reports could provide some clarification.
3. Committee Reports
Chair Wiley reported the Strategic Planning Committee had held a Strategic Planning Retreat with a discussion to institute, and in some cases re-institute, committees that were part of the RACC, recognizing the PAAC was its own entity as a committee given its structure and source of revenue.
The other committees were identified as the Ookwe Park Committee, with Commi ssioners Kirk, Dyer, Leighton, Beaulieu and Mehas; the Neighborhood Public Art Mini-Grant Ad Hoc Committee included Commissioner Kirk, Co -Chair Cohen and Chair Wiley; t he Poet Laureate Committee 4 included Co -Chair Cohen and Chair Wiley; and while the Fundra ising and Development Committee had no other volunteers, Chair Wiley had volunteered to sit and serve. If there was anything that those committees needed in terms of funds, they would be budget line items.
Chair Wiley asked those Commissioners not named to select a committee , meet between now and October 28, and prepare a written report on what they planned to do moving forward. The report did not have to include the budget items since that would be discussed separately at the October 28 meeting, but she wanted to know what the committee planned to do during the months of November and December 2021.
Commissioner Mehas recommended that the Chair check with legal about the Fundra ising and Development Committee.
Chair Wiley advised that while she had not spoken with the Legal Department, she had spoken with Deputy City Manager, Economic Development Shasa Curl , who had provided some guidance. As long as working within the established parameters there was no reason for legal to become involved. She had also received information about an arts fund grant program with funds from property taxes that the Contra Costa County Measure X Advisory Committee had recently approved, which might be an opportunity for the City of Richmond to pursue. In addition, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) had an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Grant that could be considered along with the hope that the City of Richmond’s currently allocated $65,000 for the Neighborhood Public Art (NPA) Mini Grant program could be increased.
Commissioner Herriman expressed the willingness to serve on the Ookwe Park Committee.
Commissioner Dyer asked to switch from the Ookwe Park Committee to the Fundraising and Development Committee.
Commissioner Hayes reported she could not serve on another committee beyond the PAAC since she would be stepping down from the RACC and would be relocating to another city.
VII. Information / Report Items
1. NPA Mini Grant
Chair Wiley reminded everyone not to wait until the last minute to input scores even though they were electronic.
Commissioner Beaulieu found it was premature to do the scores when the RACC had not yet discussed the proposals.
Ms. Dyer clarified that the scores could be changed and nothing was final until the October 7 , 2021 RACC meeting.
Chair Wiley emphasized th at the votes were needed now. She urged Commissioners to input their scores to identify where they were with the NPA Mini Grants.
Ms. Day concurred with the Chair’s recommendation and asked that the scores not be left blank.
2. Poet Laureate Update
5 Co-Chair Cohen reported on a productive meeting with the Chair, Ms. Day and David Flores who was working diligently to schedule event s at CoBiz Richmond with Poet Laureates from San Francisco, Vallejo, Oakland, and El Cerrito. He explained that Mr. Flores had created a sample program outline and flyers and wanted to host smaller poetry event s on Zoom during the month of October.
Chair Wiley was excited for the City of Richmond to host the event and commented that no city had hosted the Bay Area Regi onal Poet Laureates and Richmond had pioneered this kind of programming.
3. Art for Peace Rotary Project Update
Commissioner Herriman did not have an update since not much ha d happened, although a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was being prepared to be reviewed by the project participants with a meeting scheduled for Friday, October 1 , 2021. After that meeting he would have something more concrete to report.
Chair Wiley stated all Commissioners had been provided a copy of the MOU and were invited to provide any comments to Ms. Day so that they could be forwarded as appropriate.
4. Art Project Update Report
Ms. Day explained that an Inventory Committee would be required given the number of participants a ttending inventory meetings , and as-built con struction drawings for the Senior Center Mural had been received, as requested, in order to provide a cost estimate.
5. Public Art Financial Report
Chair Wiley reported she had requested information on the City of Richmond’s procedure s to have requests from the PAAC approved, with information to be provided in the RACC packet on the City’s procurement processes. She asked Commissioners to keep the information on file as to the steps and timelines that could be adjusted.
Chair Wiley referenced how the R ACC in the past had worked under the Library Services Department, with a number of challenges involved and with little access to information or cooperation as compared to what the RACC currently enjoyed under the City Manager’s Office.
She found that more was being accomplished more smoothly under the current configuration and she thanked everyone for their patience during that transition.
Commissioner Dyer clarified the Public Art Financial Report involved funds that were primarily being collected through the one percent for art, and some of the projects were man aged by the RACC and some by others. S ome of the funds involved in-lieu funds but they still had to make plans to spend the funds As a member of the PAAC, she commented that it had to look almost a full year if not up to 18 months out on where it might want to be pulling out the money for public art in the City of Richmond for planned projects.
Chair Wiley cautioned that the City of Richmond had been impacted like every other community in the country in the last 18 months due to COVID -19. She did not want the RACC funds to be poached for lack of planning.
6 Commissioner Mehas suggested if projecting the needs for the next 12 to 18 months, the RACC also needed cooperation from the Planning Department to identify what projects were approximately 12 to 18 months out.
Chair Wiley suggested it was up to the PAAC to establis h a relationship with the Planning Department and if staff was not providing something requested by the PAAC she asked to be informed.
Ms. Day acknowledged the number of changes that had occurred over the last year with the City’s policies and procedures, the fact the Finance Division had to implement policies and procedures with the RACC that were actually in writing which they currently did not have. Staff would work with legal and the Finance Division over the course of the next couple of months to pre pare a chart similar to the procurement policies the Finance Division normally followed that could be created into a policy that was art specific.
Co-Chair Cohen asked whether or not there would be any time constraints for this fiscal y ear given that it may take up to 18 months for a project to occur. Familiar with how funds were utilized by the school district, it not used by the end of the fiscal year, funds could be restored to the General Fund. He asked if that was something the RACC should be concerned about.
Commissioner Dyer clarified the funds being discussed were not part of the General Fund and that the use of the funds were specified for certain expenditures. She suggested it would be very difficult to poach the funds unless there were maintenance issues.
Ms. Day clarified that General Fund items were items like the NPA Mini Grants , which was why there was a push to ensure that all invoices were in before the deadline , since there had been issues in the past with invoices coming in after the deadline when the funds had been shifted.
Chair Wiley understood that would not affect the one percent and noted the RACC meeting of October 7 would include not only the selection of the NPA Mini Grant awards but backups to ensure the use of the funds. She clarified her previous comments that she had included the one percent in the monies that could be poached but stated that was not the case.
VIII. Adjourn until October 7, 2021 (Special Meeting)
The meeting adjourned at 6:46 p.m. to a Special Meeting of the RACC immediately after the Regular Meeting to conduct NPA Mini Grant Interviews from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. via Zoom.