HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Public Art Selection Committee - 07/16/2024PAGE 1
SOUTH BURLINGTON
PUBLIC ART COMMITTEE MEETING
July 16, 2024
The South Burlington PUBLIC ART COMMITTEE held a regular meeting on Tuesday, June 18,
2024, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 301, 180 Market Street, and by remote participation.
Members present: Penne Tompkins (Chair), Sebastian Ryder, Amanda Holland, Jean
Sebastien Chaulot, Sophia Babbitt, Bettie Barnes, Ilona Blanchard (staff, non-voting), Tim
Barritt (Council Liaison, non-voting)
Members not present: Michele Bailey (Vermont Art Council Representative, non-voting)
Also in attendance:, Arabella Elliot Rose
The meeting convened at 5:35 pm. Ilona reviewed the emergency procedures. Bettie was
identified as minutes taker.
1. Minutes from May and June meetings (5/21/2024, 6/18/2024, 6/27/204) were moved for
approval. Motion by Jean and seconded by Sophia. Minutes were unanimously approved.
2. Public Comment. Tim Barritt brought to the committee’s attention the sign posts on Nowland
Farm Road. He would like to turn them into public art.
Jean Sebastien also mentioned the sculpture in the dog park. Could we could put a sculpture in
the community garden - similar to the sculpture in the dog park?
Arabella was introduced to the Committee.
3.Chair Report
City Council funded our request for an Arts and Cultural Plan for the city.
Committee Appointments - Amanda is re-applying and Arabella will be applying for committee
positions.
4.Staff Update
Jaycee Park. Ilona and public works met with the artists on the site - everyone was happy with
the proposed location. They talked through the angles of the sun and access from the parking lot.
The site is between the trees and the parking lot - very close to where the building was
demolished. Talked about the edge condition - make sure the edges of the sculpture are not too
sharp.
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Policies, Priorities & Strategies + Committee Workplan. Includes work to improve things in the
City (excludes day to day operational items). Committees will be asked to create a work plan in
the fall once the Council has adopted the Policies, Priorities and Strategies.
5. Cultural Plan RFP
Revise proposal -volunteers - Penne would like to invite John Killacky and Theresa Davis to serve
in an advisory capacity. It will be a staff person that issues the RFP and the public art committee
will be advisory. Ilona would be the lead from staff. There will also be a focus on equity and
making sure there is adequate representation from the whole community in the completion of
the plan. Jean felt that the entire committee should be involved in advising along with other
experts in the community. Ilona said that they would be coming to us for substantive comments -
the committee would not be expected to write the Cultural Plan.
We have a draft RFP that the committee has already drafted. Ilona would like to hear from the
committee any thoughts and ideas we have on the process. Penne said the important piece was
getting the community to engage in - it’s important to reach out to the community. Amanda -
some thought should go into ideas of potential sites for public art. In addition to municipal
properties - public/private partnerships, etc. Amanda - are there ways we could be supporting the
SoBu arts and cultural community more? Sophia - promote the public art map? What about a
directory of all of the artisans/ in South Burlington? Bettie described the creation of a textile
community art piece with personal scraps of fabric that have a story as a way to bring the whole
community into what it means to be creative, and creative specific to the South Burlington
community. Timeline - Ilona hopes to have an RFP out by September 2024.
6. RFP for FY 2025 Art – Discuss location opportunities
If we do not spend this money this year - it will get rolled over into 2026.
The budget has $15,000 that may be used for this RFP - we may be using some of this for the
sculpture at Jaycee Park for additional concrete/rebar work.
The committee discussed creating a list of all of the potential spots - if we wanted to discuss the
locations we would want a list of all the parks and areas where we could potentially site a work.
The Committee has been mainly thinking about City owned property.
Ilona shared the City Map Viewer from the City’s Planning and Zoning site to facilitate the
Committee exploring locations:
https://maps.southburlingtonvt.gov/portal/apps/experiencebuilder/experience/?id=12cb78aa2f7a
475d8e004f2a60b83cbc
7. Other Business.
Fence - do we / do we not want a City-owned piece of art on the street side of the fence outside
the Rick Marcotte school. Adding this to the agenda for August for discussion. Does the
committee want the project budget to come from us - or do we want them to come up with their
own funding for this? Option 1 - changeable art option, Option 2 permanent artist created piece
of art. Will go into this in more depth in a future meeting.
8. Action Items for next meeting:
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For next month we will have locations identified and the RFP ready to go out
Next meeting August 20, 2024
Sept 17, 2024 - meeting and pre-meeting photos for Annual Reports
Meeting adjourned at 7:05
Bettie Barnes
Meeting Minute Taker