Arts_Task_Force
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 MEETING OF THE ARTS TASK FORCE
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
4:00 p.m.
City Hall Room 201
Revised Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 4:20 p.m.
- Roll Call
Voting Members Present
Karen Ames
Jeffrey Ferns
Ken Foster
Rick Galbreath
David Gluck
Elaine Katzenberger
Krissy Keefer
Tony Kelly
Pamela Wu Kochiyama
Anjali Nath
Vinay Patel
Pamela Peniston
Richard (Rick) Putz
Alma Robinson
Laird Rodet
Virginia (Ginny) Carollo Rubin
Darryl Smith
Marc Vogl
Debra Walker
Voting Members Excused
Maria X. Martinez
Voting Members Absent
Tim Gaskin
Nonvoting Members Present
Tim Hallman
Renee Hayes
P.J. Johnston
John R. Killacky
Elizabeth Murray
Richard Newirth
Geraldine O’Brien
Charles Roppel
Gloria Woo
Nonvoting Members Excused
Nonvoting Members Absent
Bob Davis
Mike Farrah
Rich Hillis
Carolyn McMillan
NOTE: ALL VOTES ARE UNANIMOUS UNLESS OTHERWISE RECORDED.
- Approval of Minutes
Vinay Patel moved to approve the August 17, 2005, minutes, seconded by Jeffrey Ferns. Motion passed without objection with David Gluck abstaining.
Tony Kelly moved to approve the September 6, 2005, minutes, seconded by Vinay Patel. Motion passed without objection with David Gluck abstaining.
- Announcements by the Chair
In lieu of announcements, the Chair recognized Supervisor Tom Ammiano who had been invited to make brief remarks regarding the Board of Supervisors’ intent in establishing the Task Force.
Supervisor Ammiano began by thanking the Task Force for its service and recognizing the value the arts community to the city. Supervisor Ammiano continued by indicating that the Supervisors are well aware of demand for social justice in the arts community. While supportive of the major arts organizations such as the Opera, Ballet, Symphony and MOMA, he recognized that that there were growing yet unmet needs of local artists and arts organizations under the $1.5 million budget size threshold which seem to be in a perpetual state of crisis. Continually dealing with those crises on a case-by-case basis, he continued, was not a solution and begged the question: “how do we grow past the crisis management, to stabilize and institutionalize ongoing support for small, community- and neighborhood-based arts organizations?” Supervisor Ammiano opined that the “majors” need to advise the burgeoning local artists on “putting it together” and succeeding in becoming self-sustaining. How the City can contribute to that success, end the merry-go-round of crisis management and efficiently support the local arts scene, small budget organizations and local artists is the raison d’etre of the Task Force.
Supervisor Ammiano continued that, in order to assure the success of the Task Force (and indicating a general disaffection for unfunded mandates), the Board of Supervisors allocated $100,000.00 to fund implementation of the recommendations. He further stressed that he hoped that the recommendations would not be an either/or proposition pitting organizations against each other in competition for City support, but be collaborative recommendations around which the arts community could coalesce.
Supervisor Ammiano concluded by again thanking the Task Force for its work, and extended an open invitation to members to personally meet with him.
There was no public comment on this item.
- Facilitation Budget
The Chair noted that of the prior allocation of up to $4,000.00 for Town Hall outreach, only $160.00 was spent.
Yolanda Alindor was then recognized. She briefed the Task Force on her draft proposal, work plan and cost estimate. After Ms. Alindor responded to the questions and concerns of the Task Force, Rick Putz made the motion to approve retention of Ms. Alindor as facilitator pending appropriate extension of meeting times. Marc Vogl seconded the motion.
Jeffrey Ferns objected to adoption of the motion by acclamation and a recorded vote was taken as follows:
Members voting for the motion: 15
Members voting against the motion: 0
Members not voting: 2
The proposal as approved is attached to these minutes and is incorporated herein by this reference as though set forth at length. The proposal can be found here (Word).
- Extension of Deadline of Arts Task Force
After a brief discussion of the item, Rick Galbreath moved to approve a request to extend reporting deadline and end date from the Board of Supervisors, which was seconded by Ken Foster. The motion carried without objection.
- Approval of Extended Schedule of Meetings
Members amended the proposed extended schedule by changing the meeting times for November 16, 2005, and January 18, 2006, to 4:00-7:00 p.m. The revised meeting schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, November 16, 2005, 4:00-7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, December 7, 2005, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, January 3, 2006, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006, 4:00-7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Marc Vogl moved to approve the proposed meeting schedule as amended, and Ken Foster seconded. The motion passed without objection.
- Update on Task Force Report
Task Force Vice Chair Tony Kelly was recognized; he distributed draft recommendations. Mr. Kelly suggested that three informal working groups be formed to hone and distill the recommendations.
Leaders for the working groups were then recruited to organize and lead the informal discussions: Tony Kelly and Marc Vogel: Financial/Revenue; David Gluck, Structural Reform; and Vinay Patel, Programs and Grant Funding.
Public Comment
Andrew Wood briefly stated that the working groups should not overlook the issues of affordable housing and rehearsal and office space, as well as workers’ compensation and other insurance concerns.
- Outreach Update
Members briefly reported the successes of several Town Hall meetings and the attendance of District Supervisors at their respective meetings: Alioto-Pier in District 2, Daly in District 6, and Ammiano in District 9. Pamela Wu Kuchiyama noted that she had heard some new ideas advocated, including arts for seniors. Supervisor Ammiano was noted to have stressed that the dominant themes facing artists were housing and affordability issues as well as the phenomenon of “artists flight.” It was further noted that Supervisor Ma was scheduled to attend the District 4 meeting later this evening.
Public Comment
Andrew Wood noted that there seemed to be three recurrent threads running through the Town Hall meetings: housing, equity and leadership.
- Economic Impact Study Proposal
After a brief presentation by Director of Cultural Affairs Richard Newirth and a review of the documentation provided, Tony Kelly moved to allocate $6,500.00 to participate in the economic impact study by Americans for the Arts, and to allocate an additional $800.00 to supplement the study results with the local economic analysis module offered in the prospectus.
Rick Galbreath seconded the motion, expressing his surprise that, having reviewed the prior study completed by Americans for the Arts, San Francisco was not included. Mr. Newirth responded that the Arts Commission had been invited to participate in the prior study, but the Arts Commission was unable to come up with the participation fee.
The motion passed without objection.
There was no public comment on this item.
- New Business
Rick Galbreath advocated to have a Budget Analyst’s assessment of the City’s arts spending.
Marc Vogl requested information and documentation regarding the Cultural Centers’ budgets, staffing, audience and general operating expenses such as has been provided through presentations by other arts organizations.
There was no public comment on this item.
- Public Comment
Andrew Wood proffered that there should be a cost savings analysis to ascertain the impact of arts-based preventative or harm reduction programs.
There was no further public comment.
- Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
Revised 2/28/06 DW/RG/spr
