Town of Yountville
Staff Report
6550 Yount Street
Yountville, CA 94599
Agenda Item #: {{section.number}}C
Yountville Town Council Staff Report
DATE: November 7, 2023
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: Ronda Schaer, Chair of Yountville Arts Commission PREPARED BY: Samantha Holland, Parks & Recreation Director
RECOMMENDATION
Yountville Arts Commission Biannual Report
DISCUSSION/BACKGROUND
The Yountville Arts Commission is a 7-member volunteer commission appointed by the Town Council to provide leadership, inspiration and support to artists and their art in Yountville. Yountville Arts serves in an advisory capacity to the Town Council and staff in matters pertaining to the cultural arts, including the development of visual, performing and literary arts.
The Arts Commission comes before the Council twice per year to share updates on their work serving the Town of Yountville. The report is broken up into the subcommittee sections including Gallery, Art Walk, Literary, Marketing, Performing Arts, Mustard Celebration and Art, Sip and Stroll.
ART GALLERY SUBCOMMITTEE
Chair: Cynthia Kapjian
Members: Ronda Schaer, Jim McDonald (Past) and Geoffrey Leigh (New) Find Your Heart in Yountville Show
1/12-3/24/2023
Group Show with Heart Theme.
Offered as part of the Napa Valley Wide Mustard Celebration.
Thirty participating Artists.
Sales $1500/ Commission to Yountville Arts $300
Trace Elements
3/30 – 5/5/2023
Isabell Maynard a French artist from Napa and Toulouse
Worked with Frederick Boelen, La Cav Wines as well as Alliance Francaise and Kneedler-Fauchere Design of San Francisco for cross promotion.
Sales $8,185/ Commission to Yountville Arts $1,637
Outside In
5/11 – 8/4/2023
Featured Art Walk Artist Ivan McLean
Show comprised of smaller sculptural pieces and wall hangings.
Sales $10,375 / Commission to Yountville Arts $2,075
Art of Elegance
8/10-9/29/2023
Sheri Chakamian Yountville Resident Artist and Educator.
Sales $550/ Commission to Yountville Arts $110
Napa Valley Seasons and Places
10/12 – 12/1/2023
Featuring Yountville Resident Artist Paul Youngman
Plein Air artist and educator.
OTHER GALLERY UPDATES
1.QR Codes in Gallery
Gallery Audio Tours are now being
offered with shows. Visitors can use
their phones to listen to the artist
discuss their work. Here is an example
of visits during the Art of Elegance
Show.
2. Steve Rogers Gallery Signage was
installed in August.
ART WALK SUBCOMMITTEE
Chair Ronda Schaer
Members Cynthia Kapjian and Judy Meredith
SCULPTURE INSTALLATIONS
March 2023
WINDSWEPT by Gilberto Romero (Santa Fe, NM) on the corner of Finnell & Yount St.
SERENADE II by Gilberto Romero (Santa Fe, NM) on the corner of California Dr. and Washington.
MAY 2023
THE BEST VIEW by Dale Reiger (Whidbey Island, WA) in front of Petit Logis AUGUST 2023
CIRCLE OF TRUST by Hilde DeBruyne (Iowa) on pathway at California at Washington
SENTINEL by Ray Katz (Michigan) at Community Center
COMBUSTION by Ray Katz (Michigan) along Villagio Vineyard SLICE OF LIFE by Richard Starks (Gilroy, CA) in front of Chamber
OCTOBER
DROPSY by Ted Schaal (Colorado) in front of Wells Fargo Bank Art Walk Sales
Wine Story by Richard Starks sold for $18,000. Commission to Arts $3,600.
New Artist Search
Chair Ronda Schaer returned to the Loveland, Colorado Sculpture in the Park event for the 5 th year. This
is an annual event that provides a showcase for national artists of outdoor sculptures. We have four pending installations from connections made from the most recent trip. These trips are important to the maintaining the high quality of sculpture on the Art Walk. Since Ronda’s first trip we have or have installed works by sculptors Bruce Gueswell (Poly & Raven), Gilberto Romero (Windswept & Serenade), Lori Acott (Who Rescued Who), Ted Schaal (Dropsy), Dale Reiger (The Best View), Joshua Pass (Vows and Raven Story), D’Jean Jawrunner (Choya), Hilde De Bruyne (Circle of Trust). Eleven sculptures have been commissioned as a result of this travel.
She has also established and maintained relationships with these artists, promoting Yountville in the national scene.
Art Walk Tours
Our Art Walk Tours have become very popular. Commissioners Noel, Ronda, Cindy, Marita and former Commissioner Jim often give Art Walk Tours to FAM (familiarity) Tour Groups of professional writers set up through the Chamber, Golden Ticket Tours set up through Parks & Rec, Guest Tours set up through Yountville Arts & Parks and Rec and Personal Tours when asked by friends or family.
Art Walk Map
With the help of graphic designer Michael Aranson, we did a much-needed full redesign of our Art Walk Map. It’s refreshingly different with huge improvement of our sculpture images being large enough to see more clearly.
Behind the Scenes
Cindy keeps our forms and procedures updated including:
• Price List (internal)
• Sculpture Pad Index (internal)
• Completes data and orders the sculpture Plaques
• While waiting for the plaques to arrive, she mocks up a temporary marker, laminates it and places the marker at the sculpture site so information on the piece is visible to the public. I’ve given her the nickname of The Laminator for filling this important roll ☺ • Maintains the Audio Tour website which is access by the QR codes on the each sculpture plaque. This makes our Art Walk a self-guided tour 24-7.
Sculpture Poetry/Prose
Via our Literary Subcommittee we continue to receive community written prose/poetry based on sculptures on our Art Walk. Geoffrey filters them and submits copy to our subcommittee and once approved, Cindy adds to the appropriate sculpture on the Audio Tour. Not all sculptures have this addition.
Sculpture Pad Analysis
Permanent: 9 sculptures: include both Town and YA commissions Semi permanent: 4 sculptures that were donated - but can be sold Current: 16 commissioned for sale
Expired, expiring or empty pads: 9
Total 38 +1 (the mural) sculpture pads on our Art Walk
LITERARY SUBCOMMITTEE
Chair Geoffrey Leigh
Members PJ Judson and Martia Dorenbecher
Yountville Out Loud was held on Thursday, September 14th at the Community Center Plaza from 5:30-7:00 pm. Geoffrey Leigh, Chair of the subcommittee, hosted the event. About 35 people were in attendance. A diverse group of people presented, some regulars and some new voices, including Yolanta Kurkovska, a woman visiting from Poland, who sang a beautiful Polish song. Several original poems and a sonnet were read, humorous thoughts and stories shared. It was a lovely evening with wine and refreshments, creating an enjoyable atmosphere for sharing creative works by local and long distance artists.
Improvisation Sessions. Four sessions were held with 9-12 people attending each time. Some of those attending were invited to participate in the reading of three one-act plays on Thursday, September 28th in the Heritage Room. About 35 local and Bay Area people were in attendance for the 9/28 readings, including the authors and readers of the plays. The authors included three writers from Yountville (Richard Talavera, Marianne Lyon, and Geoffrey Leigh) and Dominic Triglia from Calistoga.
Handwritten Out Loud II event was held on Sunday, October 23rd, from 5:00-6:30. The program included 17 writers, most of whom were local. Another lovely chapbook (a small pamphlet) was printed with the writers works and shared with an audience of about 40 people, including three former or current Napa Valley Poet Laureates. The presentations included poetry, prosetry (a combination of poetry and prose), excerpts from novels, and a song.
The Bookmark Stories Contest, in collaboration with the Yountville Library and the Friends of the Yountville Library, is well under way. Geoffrey Leigh held two gatherings to assist people in writing such 60 word limit stories; one at the Yountville Library in September and another at the Napa Library in October. Submissions may be made from September 25th through November 6th. So far, 21 stories have been submitted. The five top stories will receive $100 each (thanks to the Friends of the Yountville Library) and have their stories printed and distributed on bookmarks through the Napa County L libraries.
Prosetry Classes Marianne Lyon and Geoffrey Leigh have been conducting a six week prosetry class at the Yountville Library with about 12 students (the numbers vary each week) to talk about and write short pieces that are shared the following week in a chapbook distributed to the participants. The recently published book by the two leaders (Prosetry Journey, 2023) containing poetry, prosetry, and short stories. The collection is used to discuss possible prompts to stimulate works by the participants. A final class will be held December 6th where those involved in the class will share their favorite works with friends and family members gathering in the Heritage Room.
MARKETING SUBCOMMITTEE
Chair Noel Resnick
Advisor Ronda Schaer
Yountville Arts Marketing Committee continues to strive toward raising the bar with robust digital and print media coverage.
• Napa Valley Life
• Yountville Chamber Newsletter
• Yountville Sun
• Napa Valley Arts/Register
• FAM Tour Coverage (Familiarity tours with digital and print media writers) • Paul Franson
• CANVAS
• Next Door
Print Highlights
Napa Valley Life
Full page layout with photos of this year’s ART, SIP & STROLL - https://issuu.com/napavalleylifemagazine/docs/nvl_food_wine_2023_emag p.15 Yountville Gallery Artist Ivan McLean -
https://issuu.com/napavalleylifemagazine/docs/nvl_summer_2023_emag p.98-99 Yountville Gallery Artist Isabelle Maynard
- https://issuu.com/napavalleylifemagazine/docs/nvl_bestof_2023_emag p.92-93 Yountville Chamber Support of YAC –Yountville Chamber of Commerce continues to support Yountville Arts in every way!
• Ongoing bi-weekly postings in Chamber Newsletter
• Yountville Chamber Visitor Guide – Hard Copy https://anyflip.com/eetu/fcmd Page 2 - Photo of Sidewalk Judge/ Page 14 - Art Walk featured as the way to begin a one day visit of Yountville -/ Page 26 - Arts page featuring Art Walk and Gallery
• Chamber Email Blast 9/23 - ‘Explore the Arts’ Experience Yountville/Napa Valley – Activities to Explore / Chamber Blogs promoting our events
• KGO Localish - Yountville was featured on a segment of ABC 7 Localish in September and the Art Walk and our audio tour is featured at 2:11 into the video.
Click the link to watch: https://abc7news.com/yountville-traveling-to-tourism-wine/13494586/ • Holidays in Yountville Gift Guide - SHOP THE YOUNTVILLE ART WALK Christmas Ornament Cover with Installations featured on the cover ornaments - ‘Who Rescued Who’, ‘Combustion’, ‘Muse with Attitude’ (Link available November 1 when Gift Guide goes live - https://www.yountvillechamber.com/holidays-in-yountville/) Yountville Sun – Ronda continues to work with Kim Beltran of the Yountville Sun making sure our community is informed of all of our events and activities. The Sun continues to print our Press Releases and photos and Kim usually adds notes to them after a conversation with Ronda. Our community keeps further up-to-date by printing our upcoming and ongoing events in the weekly calendar.
Art Walk FAM Tours
With continued support from the Chamber and their PR firm Fuller and Sander, Art Walk tours have become a part of marketing/public relations visits by writers and influencers from major print and digital publications when coming to Yountville. Tours are given by Yountville Arts Commissioners.
For example, this month:
October 16 Writer and photographer from City Style and Living Magazine and freelance writer Virginia Miller October 21 David Landis SF Bay Times https://sfbaytimes.com and Public Relations Global Network https://prgn.com. 34 PR professional CEOs with guests or spouses from the US, Africa, Asia, South America and Europe. Cindy and Marita greeted them with Peet’s Coffee, Bouchon pastries and a spirited game of Family Feud, ending with teams doing dueling impressions of the sculpture Dancing Butterflies.
PERFORMING ARTS SUBCOMMITTEE
Chairs PJ Hudson and Judy Meredith
Member Marita Dorenbecher
Legacy Roundtable
In April we held our 2nd Legacy Roundtable event. We changed the format to include a time to sip wine & socialize with guests and get to know the speakers. We explored four very interesting and fun Trailblazing Winemakers who happen to be Women: Kristin Belaire of Honig, Genevieve Jansens of Robert Mondavi, Celia Welch of Scarecrow Wine, Alison Doran of Hill Family Estates It was well attended and the program began gaining momentum with an enthusiastic audience.
The June 3rd Legacy Roundtable featured Family Wineries. We learned about the dynamics of a family winery and how this generation learned from their parents and grandparents. They recognize they are stewards of their family wineries and committed to passing that honor onto future generations. The event was sold out.
Katie Leonardini of White Hall Lane, Rich Salvestrin of Salvestrin Winery, Doug Hill from Hill Family Estates David Aurthur Long of David Arthur.
On October 26 we presented our final Legacy Roundtable of the year, The Evolution of Yountville & Napa's Culinary Scene. This roundtable discussion brought together esteemed culinary experts, including Chef Cindy Pawlcyn, Chef Peter Hall, Chef Jeffrey Jake, and front-of-house Managers Kate O'Rielly & Guy Barstow. This event shed light on the industry's transformative journey and highlighted the changes that have shaped the region's culinary landscape. This event nearly sold out the day it was announced! The Legacy Roundtable plans new events in 2024.
Scarecrow Making Contest
It’s been fun to feel embraced by all with this new program that sought to bring the community together to help beautify the community center plaza for the Fall. There were many entries, including four from our Arts Commissioners. With the help of Parks and Rec we brought in pumpkins and hay bales to make the plaza festive. We’ve observed many visitors enjoying the decorations. Important to us was the cross section of creators. They included: Community Center clubs, Public Works, Town Council, Parks & Rec, children, friends, locals and more. The press picked it up in several different publications spreading the word once again, that Yountville is a leader in the Arts.
Yountville Days Parade
This year the Arts Commission did its very first entrance into the parade in several years. We had two vehicles, one was a "decorated float/truck" again with the help of the Parks and Rec department, and we passed out little easels with paint kits that were very well received.
Summer Concerts
PJ Hudson took on the important planning and hiring of the talented musicians. We finished up the season with seven different bands playing on each alternate Sunday. Most were very well attended, and we’ve been keeping notes with ideas for changes/additions for next year. PJ was on hand for five of the seven shows to act as an MC, introducing the bands, and thanking the sponsors. With the season wrapped up, it will soon be time to research new acts for next summer, pending the 2024 budget. Stay tuned for new ideas making next year’s Summer Concert Series an even more fun experience for our community! Art, Sip & Stroll
The music at the event is better every year and this year was a perfect example. The musical performers for the Art Sip and Stroll were well received and enjoyed by all. As always and like all components of AS&S, we will continue to tweak this important component of the event.
MUSTARD FESTIVAL SUBCOMMITTEE
Chair Ronda Schaer
Member Noel Resnick
This is a new subcommittee for the Commission.
Find Your Heart in Yountville was created in 2022 as a participant of the growing Mustard Celebration that runs mid-January through March 31st each year. The Mustard Celebration is the re-birth of the former Mustard Festival of the1990s and is led by Jessel Miller of the Jessel Gallery.
Reinforcing the Town’s slogan ‘The Heart of Napa Valley’ our programs consisted of two components, one an exhibition in the Gallery with 30 artists, most from Yountville and Napa Valley, creating heart-themed works. This year our theme for the Gallery Show is The Heart of Friendship, asking artists to pair with a friend, submit a painting by each and write the story of their friendship to be posted with their paintings.
The second component of Find Your Heart in Yountville 2022 was the scattering of glass hearts created by fused glass artist Patti Wessman. Hearts were scattered in-plain-sight by our Commissioners and Samantha throughout our Art Walk on eight Saturdays during the Mustard Celebration. The community embraced the glass hearts program and we are planning to scatter more hearts (300) on weekends in February 2024.
ART, SIP & STROLL SUBCOMMITTEE
Chair Samantha Holland
Members Ronda Schaer, Noel Resnick, PJ Hudson
Art Sip & Stroll Poster Image Outside In Gallery Show, a part of Art, Sip & Stroll
Our Art, Sip & Stroll event has matured over eleven years and the 2023 AS&S was our most successful yet.
This year we selected Art Walk sculptor Ivan McLean as our featured artist. Ivan was committed to the event and also worked with us on his Gallery Show, Outside In. He was in the Gallery during AS&S and between his opening on the Thursday before and AS&S afternoon, we sold six of his interior sculptures producing $2075 in commissions to YA.
Our goals for the 2024 event include expanding our search area, bringing in new artists, tightening the jury process to improve quality, widening the tented areas around Community Center.
A few 2023 stats on Art Sip and Stroll 2023:
55 vendors X $300 Each= $16,500
935 Tasting Packages Sold x $40= $37,400
TBID (Tourism Improvement District) Grant = $10,000
Revenue $63,900 Expenses $52,124.2
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Not Applicable
FISCAL IMPACT
Is there a Fiscal Impact? No
Is it Currently Budgeted? N/A
Where is it Budgeted? N/A
Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? Discretionary
Is there a Staff Resource Impact? Nominal
STRATEGIC PLAN GOAL
Is item Identified in Strategic Plan? Indirectly
If yes, Identify Strategic Goal and Objective. Engaged Residents: The Town embraces our residents' commitment to community as seen through volunteerism, civic engagement, and public participation that enhances the quality of life in Yountville. Premier Destination: The Town values its residents, rich history, natural environment, culinary excellence, arts, and distinguished businesses that make our home a place people love. Quality of Life: The Town enhances the livability of Yountville by providing well-maintained public facilities, parks, and trails, and quality programs and events.
Briefly Explain Relationship to Strategic Plan Goal and Objective: The work of the Yountville Arts Commission engages residents who volunteer to be on the Commission as well as volunteer for and attend the various events provided by Yountville Arts. The Commission's work also enhances Yountville for our residents and visitors bringing a lively art scene to town with sculptures, art installations, and events.