All right.

It is 4 30.

Welcome everyone.

I call this meeting to order.

Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

I make a motion to approve.

It's been moved.

Do we have a second?

I'll second.

Great.

It's been have an amendment to the agenda actually for today.

Um our first item that was listed on the agenda, our Grand Connection Crossing Art Plan update.

Our artist has become ill and will need to postpone.

So we will reschedule that agenda item for January or February when they're feeling better.

Okay.

So all in favor of the amended agenda, please say aye.

I motion carries.

And then we have approval of a j of um minutes from the November 2025 meeting.

Do I have a motion?

I have a comment on the minute.

So I there is something that I would like to be changed.

Page number six in the package that you sent.

So the last comment says that commissioner chain reference the economic development plant.

Actually, it was me who made a comment.

So it will be like the only change.

Okay.

And with that amendment.

Do you do you move approval of the minutes?

Yes.

Looking for a motion.

Okay.

And do we have a second?

Second from Erica.

All those in favor.

Aye.

And I am going to um not vote because I was not present.

All right.

And oral communications.

So do we have any sign-ups?

We have one.

We have one sign-up.

Please come to the mic if you want to speak.

Maybe somebody too.

I'd be happy.

No, you're the only sign-up we have.

Yes.

I know very the usual man.

I'm disabled many.

This mic.

Yeah, it's okay.

Yeah, I understand this.

Thank you very much.

I'm so sorry.

For Missitown is a is a huge problem.

Yeah.

Mr.

Zimmerman, your time starts now.

Yeah, time is okay, don't worry.

I speak every day, everywhere.

So oh, it's my sign.

Yeah, good.

First we could go like this.

Oops.

Stay.

Nice boy.

Okay.

My name is Alex.

And I come to you, guy.

No, I don't talk to you.

You for me look not exactly like human Homo sapiens.

You different kinds of animal.

I spoke to people of Bellevue.

This exactly what?

And I want to speak about something absolutely critical, what this government did to me many times.

So Mayor Robinson make a trespy trespasses for me.

You see this?

This is everywhere.

Five trespasses.

This are fraud lie, but it's not a point.

Point what is I come in talking about this.

Five times I give appeal.

This appeal copy from US Supreme Court decision.

I can read this to you.

People in public meeting.

You cannot do in this.

When you talk in, like I talking to you, this nursing criminal.

You cannot do in this trespass in five times.

Mayor Robinson and Consul refuse doing this.

They accept my trespasses.

Situation very simple.

I try to understand why Mayor Robinson doing this.

Why is this trespasses the information here as a pure fraud and lie?

Because she looked to me like a cheap Doria prostitute.

You know what I mean?

This is exactly what has happened.

It's a serious problem, what is we have?

We have a government who don't have one honest people who work in it, include you.

No one from you will be read this and don't understand this.

Exactly.

You will understand this.

It's very simple.

When I understand, you can understand too.

But I don't understand one person in Bellevue from all government in Coco, all commissioner who told, yeah.

This is a good idea.

Your Supreme Court always write.

And they give me trust my election against Mayor Robinson.

Is this statement?

What has happened a couple of months ago?

They take total out all 200 pages, 200 words.

And I have before 15 elections.

So this first election in my life for four years.

What is they did this story trick?

Yeah.

It's a pure Nazi pig.

Guys, I want to explain to people who listen to me.

It's only one way we need to stop in this Nazi.

You stop a fascist pig.

Viva Trump, viva new American Revolution.

Stand up, Slave and Happy Cow.

We need to stop in this.

This government, what is we have is up soon.

Thank you very much.

Three minutes are up.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

I very appreciate you.

All right.

We are going to move on to action discussion and information items.

And we are going to start with an update on the Bell Red Arts District Community Alliance.

Thank you very much.

Yep.

Hi, Maria.

This is a former chair of the Arts Connection.

Hello.

Hello.

My name is Sandy Voe, and I'm the executive director for the Bell Red Arts District Community Alliance.

And I'm Maria Lau Huey.

I'm the chair of the Bellway Artistrict Community Alliance.

We're here today to talk a little bit about our nonprofit organization, uh, a bit of an update about what's been happening, what we plan for in 2026, as well as our long-term vision for the future.

Thank you again for making time to hear our presentation.

And we'll just go ahead and start.

So this is just a little bit about ourselves.

As I mentioned, we are a nonprofit organization, and we're very fortunate and lucky enough to be leading the strategic and sustainable growth of the Bell Red Arts District here in Bellevue.

Um, we like to call ourselves connectors and amplifiers.

Our goal is to really build the community by uniting artists, creative businesses, organizations, and community partners to elevate the district's visibility, fuel local economic vitality, and shape a lasting cultural destination on the east side.

And this is a little bit about our mission and vision.

We're really here to cultivate a sustainable and vibrant creative district that celebrates a diverse community community and meaningfully connects everyone through arts, culture, and innovation.

And our vision is really championing a Bell Red as a dynamic evolving cultural hub where creativity and innovation drive social and economic vitality.

We really want the arts district to be a gathering place for people where they can find accessible arts and cultural experiences here in Bellevue and on the east side.

And we put the slide here because we really wanted to hone in on why we exist in the first place, other than the fact that the city of Bellevue has been part of the plan for almost three decades.

We know that arts matter here in Bellevue.

They fuel local economy, as you can see from the data source from Arts and Economic Prosperity Six Impact Study.

54.3 million were spent in 2022, and people were spending 49 more than $10 above the national average here in Bellevue.

Around 850,000 people were attending arts and cultural events programming here.

And 20% of those were visitors from outside of King County.

This really goes to show that arts and culture is a vital part of our ecosystem, and it sustains us.

So this is a little bit about the journey so far, and it talks a little bit more about our successes.

That shows that we are an arts organization here in Bellevue.

And then we had the really awesome opportunity to produce the two-line opening celebration at the Bell Red Light Rail Station in partnership with Sound Transit and the city of Bellevue.

We hosted live performances.

We brought out local community organizations and businesses in the area so they can showcase what they're doing within the community.

And Sound Transit estimated about 17,000 people came into the arts district.

This event was really meaningful for us because we were just starting out.

We wanted to introduce people to the community, and what a great way to do so.

You know, we heard a lot of people say, we've never seen this before.

We didn't even know the arts district was a thing, and that was really meaningful to us because we were able to introduce them to this area.

Our next big thing was we were really proud of was installing the first ever large-scale artwork that was installed by us, designed by artist Brady Black in partnership with us.

We are calling this Joyful Connections.

It features the faces of local children, come to life through the hands of over 100 community members, business owner, and local artists.

The installation really started out at the two-line sound transit opening, and then it rains, and then we had to throw another painting party to get people to come and finish the artwork.

Um, it turned out really well.

We hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony with the artist.

Um, and we called it joyful connection because this 100 foot, 150 foot mural is a simple reminder that imagination and stories string us together.

You know, the message might change as it's passed along, but the connection that we share will always remain the same.

And then we hired me, the first full-time executive director in June.

Um, we knew that a first-time full-time staff was really important for us to scare scale properly as what we were seeing the district was developing, things were coming in.

We needed someone to spearhead the fundraising portion, the community engagement portion, the activation portion.

And so I'm really honored to be in this role.

And then I was hired in June, and then we produced our first annual Bell Red Arts Night Market in August.

This was really special because it's our first tradition that we are able to start in the arts district.

We brought together 10 live culture performances, 40 vendor booths made up of creative businesses, organization, arts activation, and food truck for a really great evening in the arts district.

The we saw about 500 attendees on the hottest day of the year.

I believe we passed out so many water bottles.

Um, people really started showing up around 7 p.m.

as it got a little bit cooler, and we hope that to continue this next year on a really not as hot date.

And then these are some of the photos.

Um, we had Emerald Ballet Theater perform.

People were dancing, artists were selling their work.

It was just a great platform for a lot of artists who some of them were new and they never showcased their work before, and some of them were returning and found us as a venue for themselves.

And then, of course, the big thing is transit-oriented projects coming soon.

So the city of Bellevue selected bridge housing and sew development to build multifamily housing complexes with affordable housing and amenities for artists on two separate city-owned properties, right in the Bell Red Arts District.

This was a marker for us, I would say.

It's it showcases that the neighborhood is developing really quickly, and our organization needed to develop with it.

Um, so we were very lucky and fortunate enough to work with these two developers on the RFP and RFQ application process, and we'll be continuing the partnership by planning and programming and managing the ground floor retail spaces to create an arts and cultural hub and center here in Bellevue.

And then, of course, the grand opening of the Bell Red Art Studio.

So with the transit-oriented project coming, we wanted to begin building the creative density needed in order to make sure that project was a success.

And we were very lucky enough to be able to open a new arts and cultural facility in the arts district.

It's conveniently located next to the Bell Red Light Rail Station.

It features six affordable artist studios and a central gathering area where we will be activating art classes, workshop programming, and cultural events all year round.

Artists are currently working there right now.

We're maxed out.

We have about eight artists in there who have 24-7 access to the space, inspiration of natural lighting, a street-facing windows.

And I really think that activating that bagding really invites the community to say, you know, what's going on in there?

I want to be a part of it.

And this is really the start of let's show our experience of being able to manage a small space like this at 600, 1600 square feet in order to manage something at a greater scale for the projects that are coming in.

And these are some photos of today.

Um, our first event that we hosted is um in partnership with North Bellevue Community Center.

They do a wisdom walks for older adults, and we brought them in.

We gave them canvases, paints, and they just sat there for an hour, hung out.

I got to know a lot of them.

Um, this is exactly the type of programming that we would like to do, exposing people to more arts and cultural experiences that are accessible.

This is exactly the type of programming that we would like to do, exposing people to more arts and cultural experiences that are accessible.

And these are some of the current resident artists in our studio that are renting out our spaces.

As you can see, half of them live in Bellevue, and almost all of them live on the east side, which is great.

We know that we are serving our community directly, and we hope to serve even more.

This is our artist application when we sent out our beta testing process.

And as you can see, this really goes to show exactly what top challenges our artists are facing.

Our top is space studio access.

And so we're very fortunate enough to offer that at the moment to fill that gap and hopefully are able to support them with the rest of the challenges.

A lot of our artists were working from home, and they are from communities that typically don't have access to this.

So we want to make sure that they are involved when we're talking about diversity and equity and inclusion.

And then 2026 planning.

So it's December.

And so we really are thinking about what and how can we expand next year.

So our primary goal is that we want more accessible arts and culture experiences in 2026.

One of the things that we're bringing back is the Bell Red Arts Night Market on a broader scale.

Something new that we are starting is art in session, Bell Reds Creative Series.

We want to present a series of free or low-cost arts and cultural programming, events, workshop, exhibit, and classes for the public all year long.

These examples will be held in the art studio, for example, First Friday Art Walk, Cultural Exhibit, Art Classes, Artist Talk, Open Studio Tours.

We want people to access them all year long to make sure that as more as many people can participate in what we're doing.

Our next thing is a soccer party at Bell Red Arts District.

So as you guys have probably heard, FIFA is coming in 2026.

And we are very fortunate enough to work with the city of Bellevue to put on something for the community during one of the game days next year that will activate the light rail station.

Multiple activities include highlighting the creative businesses and local artists, combining elements of soccer with art, and creating that cultural programming that highlights Bellevue's diversity.

We're thinking of these are the people who are traveling by light rail to get to the game, or maybe they're just someone who doesn't want to be in the crowd and they want to be part of the experience there.

We're here to offer that as well.

As we're planning to scale, we are thinking of fundraising events and programs for next year.

One of them is a run walk for the arts in partnership with Spring District and East Trail.

Run Walk with the Arts will be a fundraising program that features a 5K route, live music along East Rail, and a concert at the inn, plus swag giveaways and more.

We're still planning it out.

But it's really a great way to raise money for us as well as bring people into the public spaces and partner with our community partners who have supported us from the very beginning.

And lastly, experience the art auction.

This is a bit more formal.

It's night of drinks, conversation, and art.

In 2026, you know, going along with our goal of more accessible arts and cultural experiences.

We've noticed that a lot of people don't know how many arts and cultural experiences are in the greater Seattle area.

And I think this is a really great way to be able to auction off those experiences and introduce people to a new arts organization they don't know about or an arts business that they've never heard of.

So that really is centering not only us, but the our partners or arts partners around us as well.

And this is planning for the future.

So a couple slides ago, we talked about our long-term development that's coming up in the future.

And we really came at this with a community lens.

We didn't want to just build something that people weren't going to use or leave empty.

And so we started an ongoing creative space needs survey in 2025 that continues to be spread across different communities to ensure all voices are heard.

And then Maria is going to go ahead and talk about what we're hearing from the community.

Yeah, so uh as Sandy said, you know, we are doing surveys throughout our development uh timeline to understand what the communities are seeking, what they want to see, like being implemented, not just at this moment in time, but also into the future.

And so uh we have developed a series of questions.

And one of our uh survey that went out was seen in spring 2025.

Um and um the questions ask about you know what kind of spaces do you want to see, you know, what kind of medium, what kind of uh um what kind of um you know uh amenities is desired in these spaces.

So you could see it's pretty typical.

The work focus is uh mostly visual, uh that we have um collected um visual arts, oil, acrylic, uh, ceramic sculpture, so on.

Uh, but that is also calls for performance arts too.

Uh they wanted to be able to, you know, um have um, you know, experience uh performing in terms of theaters, dances, and things like that too.

And so there is a very strong demand for various types of spaces that use uh that we have heard from the community.

Um and then we also wanted to understand, you know, how frequently these uh these uh artists want to use the space.

And so as you know, as um our art space uh alluded to, they want daily access, you know, ability to come in 24-7 anytime they want, uh, so that they could um do their work.

Um we also asked about budget and size.

Um so that is a wide range.

You know, some goes down from like 200 square foot all the way up to 3,000 square foot.

But on average, it's about 1,000 square foot that we are hearing from our community.

Uh affordability is a primary uh consideration.

Um a lot of artists, um, you know, they don't make that much money.

Um so um, so they want something that's affordable within the price range, um, not at market weight at all.

Um infrastructure, that is the amenity that we they wanted to see, you know, what what um if the dream space is available, what would it include?

Natural lighting is very important, you know, uh especially for the visual artists who are doing painting and whatnot.

Um they wanted to have high ceilings, they want to be have uh ability to project um sound system is also crucial, you know, especially for uh musical and uh theater performances.

Um having kitchen, you know, uh common amenities, uh is uh something that they want.

Um and finally, you know, uh what are these spaces being used for?

Um again, we hear all sorts of different answers, you know, including fun, you know, have being having the ability to have classes uh there, um, being able to have uh speakers panels, you know, being able to do art exhibitions, uh being able to perform, right?

So these are all the uh things that we are hearing through the surveys.

And this uh series of surveys we intended to continue doing it every year because we wanted to hear um what the feedbacks are, you know, as we develop the programs for um our future spaces.

This is just a um timeline that we've put together.

You've heard a lot.

We're we're planning to do a lot, and we need to be able to prepare for that.

So we're starting with continuously, we're always building our board to fit the skills and experience that we need to tackle on event program, the tackle on how do you even acquire this space?

How are you how do you work with developers, lawyers, um, accountants, all of those skills are necessary to be a really sustainable board and sustainable organization.

In 2026, we are planning to do a pre-feasibility study.

The space, the multi-hub campus, is not cheap.

Um so we will plan to do a pre-feasibility study before our fundraising campaign to ensure we know where we stand with the community and to know where we can get money from and what is achievable and what isn't that helps us frame our strategic plan really well.

Um eventually in 2027, we have already started our creative district certification, but we're hoping to get that certified by 2027 to ensure that we get um so that uh we actually uh recognize as a district.

Um we get the marketing, it's the marketing platform that they provide that offers us to bring more visibility to the area.

In 2027 and 2028, we plan to become a business improvement area that is establishment for sustainable fundraising for us and sustainable funding for us in general.

As an organization, we need to be sustainable in order to sustain the community that we serve.

And of course, the future, that is exactly what we're planning.

We're planning the bridge housing and student development, arts and culture hub, and being able to prepare ourselves to what we want to build.

Are we thinking artist studios, performance spaces, galleries, restaurants?

We want a cohesive cohesive center that complements the district itself and provides space for everyone that's already currently there or coming in.

Yeah, no, that's very good.

No, I mean, uh again, just to we uh emphasize more on the you know the idea behind the uh district having this multi-help system is really to amplify the presence of the art and culture that exists in Bellevue overall.

Right, it's not a one-off, but we uh a community that um that exists here and it's more than just one place, it's everywhere in this area.

So I think that's uh that's our hope and dreams, you know, moving forward.

We're not doing this alone.

We're working with our community to ensure that what we build in the future is exactly what they need.

We've seen empty ground floor retails, we've seen empty artist housing, and we don't want to go in that direction.

We want to make sure that the neighborhood in the area is constantly activated and gives people a reason to gather.

I just really want to say thank you.

Um sorry for my brain.

I was trying to remember the word marketing there.

Um, I really appreciate you guys listening to us and hearing more about our organization and our contact information is on the slide if you have any other future questions.

I I have a few questions.

I don't know about the rest of the board.

Um, one of my questions is um how how was the survey issued?

Because I'm an artist in Bellevue and I never got one.

So how how is your list created and how did you issue it?

Uh we have uh we have a distribution list, a email list.

Uh so anyone who comes to our website could subscribe to a newsletter, and that's how we typically uh yeah, distributed our information and surveys.

We've also utilized our social media and passed it along to our local creative businesses in the area, as well as we also have a list of outside of um Bell Reds.

Well, I would recommend, for instance, you make sure the current Bellevue Arts Commission is on your list.

True, but we connect to other people in the community.

So each one of us links to a different part of the community, and we're pretty easy to find Maria, you know how to find us.

So that would that would be one of my recommendations.

Um couple other questions.

The Bellevue Arts Studio, is that an existing older building?

It is.

It is an existing older building.

And how are the how are studios advertised rented?

How does that work?

Yeah, so we started off with a beta testing process where it was to understand what artists needed.

We put out an artist call to gather artists into the space for free rents for about three weeks.

They can work in the space, and um, they give us feedback in exchange for that.

So we issued that out in the same manner that we do email lists, our um Instagram, our social media, as well as um other listings on for culture and artist trust, I believe has like an artist call listing.

Um, and we got about 13 out of 26 artists, um, and about seven or seven of those artists stayed because we only had room for that much.

We actually overanticipated our common area is also a shared artist space, but as we found out, all only about two or three can actually fit into that space at once.

And that process was uh a voting process.

So um we distributed the list without names, but just the information, their answers from the application process, their artwork, and we um graded it from there.

As a board or as a board.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then over time, because studios change.

I mean, are people there for a limited term?

Is it unlimited?

How does that work?

How do you get new lifeblood in?

How do you make it an opportunity for the community on an ongoing basis?

So it's not just shows original seven people.

Right.

Yeah, absolutely.

So right now, um, the artists are a six-month lease at the moment.

Um, our common space artists are are a um, they can choose between three to twelve months.

Um, but we do have one rotating artist studio.

So one of them is uh currently occupied for three months, and then we're actually working with Republic Services to do an artist residency that will be exchanged out with another artist.

So we'll do another another artist call for that particular studio.

That's great.

That's great.

Good to hear that.

And I think that's all of my I was I was also going to ask you how Arts Night was advertised, but probably similarly, right?

Um with also additionally printed materials, we handed out flyers to businesses in Seattle as well as across the east side.

Um and we also did a radio ad as well as a TV ad.

Yes.

I have a question about zoning, and I think it's interesting.

I think at the uh final uh sentences of a presentation, you mentioned potential restaurants in the retail spaces.

Um I think that's important.

I think when we think about arts and culture, one of the motivating factors is food, and I feel like that's a main driver of people making an effort to going out, spending time with friends, walking around.

Um, and I at least I know just from my experience just walking around, at least by the Pacific Northwest Ballet, there's not a lot of food options, which is terrible because you you want to spend time there, but you're hungry, and then you have to leave, and then what's the chances you'll come back, you know?

Um, so if that's something that's already in the zoning for the arts district to have like food establishments, I think that would be a really big game changer.

And I'm just thinking of like Central District Seattle and how they've really revamped like uh 23rd, um, and how it's just like you know, you go there to eat at communion or something, or you go and eat at all these other cultural like spaces, but then they also have like galleries and shops, and I um yeah, I think just for people, um, the incentive to go out, enjoy a meal and also enjoy a particular type of cuisine and culture while also walking around, taking in like the ambiance of the district.

Um at least for me and like the folks I know that's that's a main reason why we get out of the house, is it's we need to eat and we want to eat with people.

Yeah, yeah.

Um the community alliance is really taking this as a cohesive approach.

We don't want just galleries lined up.

We want to make sure, like you mentioned, different experiences at different moments of time.

Um, when we really thought about the idea of a bar or restaurants in those spaces, we really took the idea from Edmunds Graphite, where they have a restaurant connected to their gallery.

And it's really interesting to see people plan their nights out.

They're going to eat at a restaurant, but they're also really excited to see what the gallery is all about the next door.

Um, so we want to make sure that when we're talking to the community, we're not only talking to arts and cultural organizations and businesses.

We're talking to the car dealerships, we're talking to the restaurants, we're talking to the retail.

We really want to make sure that everyone's on board to ensure collective success.

Yes.

So I was actually very um happy to see in your uh presentation that you're considering an annual first Friday art walk.

Yeah.

So I wanted to learn more about that from you.

Um, what sort of an art walk are you considering?

Um like what the space would be and how would you deal with the winter time or the rainy time that we have?

How will you ensure that we consistently pull in people uh and make this like a regular because I think it's actually a very exciting prospect, like what I see in Issaqua, what they do uh during certain months, but you mentioned annual, so I'm curious.

Yeah, we take an approach for our programming to make sure that it flexes depending on the season.

So when we mentioned the first Friday art walk, we're really thinking starting off with our little plaza.

And I'm not sure if you've been to the area, but our little strip building has about five or five different community arts and culture organizations.

There's a drum shop, there's a pottery place that's coming online next year, there's uh Sea Harmony, so a music school there, and there's us, and we want to be able to start there.

Can people just start at our studio and walk down and see the rest of the art?

We want to collaborate with those organizations to hang up art in their spaces as well.

But during the summer months, we want to expand that.

Can we get different organizations, arts and culture organization that aren't entirely walkable, but they're nearby?

And that's where we have plans to bring in visit Bellevue and their bellhop.

Can we partner with them, have them expand the boundaries for a day or loan us a couple of cars for that day to ensure that there's no barriers when participating in this event.

So they scale in and out during the winters.

We might scale it down a little bit more to avoid the cold weather.

But during the summer, I feel like we're able to scale it out into the neighborhood.

And I think that's why we don't really have a solid boundary.

You know, there's 900 acres in the arts district, and we want to we're starting off around the light rail station, but eventually we want to continue expanding out and out.

I think it's a great idea, especially if you can involve more businesses as well, or maybe even have like pop-up shops.

You know, so we're we're economically and artistically fueling Bellevue.

I think I think that's a great way to go.

Yeah.

Thumbs up for that.

That's great.

Uh just want to say thank you, Sandy, for doing the Bedwards Arts Fest.

Something good came out of that.

Is uh I sent you an email a few months ago, like how does Sound Planet let us do it?

Oh, yes.

What came out of that is SoundPlanc that said you can use every parking lot that they have all across the region for doing things like this.

So on 13th of December, you might see 20 cars flashing lights and playing music, Christmas Tong.

So that'll be a first public event, they will allow us to do it.

So these are a bunch of Tesla nerds.

They want to get together, put a USB stick in their cars, and all the cars sing exactly the same song, doors go up and down, and kids start laughing with it.

So that's gonna happen on 13, and you can definitely go there.

You'll see Lady Teresa with a big brown truck passing out candies.

I will definitely be able to do that.

You can make it a part of your Bellarts uh district too.

That's great.

Sounds that it is an amazing partner saying every uh parking lot all across the region for free if you're a nonprofit.

So you might see some teenage bands coming uh holding umbrellas, playing saxophones.

So things will happen out there.

It's awesome.

I will should send us um uh yeah, uh link to your I will send you the one for 13th okay.

Absolutely, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

A bunch of nerds will show up, they will not talk.

But the cars will be doing singing and dancing.

So um this is more like a comment for your consideration, and it's that few weeks ago we were working on the project grants, and you know that there was an add-on uh bonus if they're going to develop the activity in the Bedroid art district.

But to our surprise, half of the people who wanted to have the bonus didn't even mention uh location in the district.

So we were a little bit surprised because it's clear in the web page everywhere.

But there is some kind of disconnection in somewhere.

So it's just a comment.

I don't expect like an answer or a solution here, but just to have it in consideration because some of the artists aren't really aware of how does it work.

So for next year, maybe your participation will help in a way for them to know that if they really want it, they have to do it there, not just to see, oh, great bonus, but yeah, you have to do it there.

So that's actually part of our bigger marketing plan that we have coming up, is that that's part of the awareness piece.

People need to know that we exist and where we're located and what types of venues are up for rentals.

Um, and our website is a really big communication piece to that.

So as we're taking a look at you know, those confusing moments like that, we're saying how can that be present on our website to ensure that there's no confusion?

So maybe it's a list of venues that people can actually rent and participate.

Maybe it's a list of businesses that are involved in the area.

Um and so, you know, that's a great piece to think about.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah, thank you uh for all you've done for the community.

I mean, you established in 2023 only two years, so you've done a lot.

And that's a lot of job done, great work.

Um, I believe I'm in your mailing list and uh my daughter and also volunteer at your events at the Bellview Art Fair and the Botanical Garden.

Yeah.

Um so um uh my question would be uh it's kind of amazing, right?

Uh just a short such a short time, you have done a lot of good job.

Um what's the your found founding, the majority of the founding uh source and how you make it uh sustainable?

That's one question.

And the other question is how do you um uh decide your rent of your space?

And how can you make it uh affordable for the artists?

Um my third question is just when you talk about a spaces, uh I'm thinking about the um Radman Redman Senior Community Center.

Um this this that was a really new building, and uh a lot of people like that.

If you haven't been there, uh encourage you to take a look.

Yeah, how they uh the layout and the high ceiling and how to make it multifunctional for the community.

Thank you.

Um well, you want to take on the one of the questions the funding sources, right?

I mean, I think well, thank you very much, you know, for your compliments.

Um, we started uh we started as a working board.

So there's a um for four co-founders, all of us uh contribute our time.

Sandy, myself, and uh two other members, you know, uh going through it the first year also.

Um and we were very fortunate, you know, as um as Sandy alluded um and talked about um city of Bellfield has been a great supporter.

And so we were able to um establish MOUs with the city for the first um year, and then we still actually have uh our MOUs going on for the uh for two this year and uh next year as well.

And so um in the beginning, we were very frugal with our uh resources, and so a lot of times we're um contributed by the board members and volunteers as well.

And so um moving forward, you know, that's when um this year uh we took a leap of faith, right?

Hiring a full-time uh ED uh securing a space.

Um so we are in the process of evaluating our funding uh strategies moving forward.

We do have to have um be more mindful about earning incomes from different sources besides just the city.

And so we are out um talking to different sponsors for events.

Uh we uh yeah, we are fundraising.

Um that's a lot of different uh moving pieces going on.

And we do um we are very mindful about sustainability, you know, how we are going to um move forward in the next um two, three, four, five years down the line.

Uh, in addition, you know, with what we are planning on doing in the district with the um cultural hub.

And so there's a lot of uh yeah, different uh moving paths right now going on.

Yeah.

Um and I think that's where our pre-feasibility study is coming in is we really need to take a look at the way that we are spending money and gaining money because we really do want this to be sustainable, and we're putting in processes that will help us in the near future.

And that's where you know the the creative district application comes in.

That's where the business improvement area process comes in.

Um we're looking at different mechanisms that provide sustainable funding for the future.

Um, I think another one of your questions was how we determine the cost of the rooms in the Start Studio.

So we did uh we did some market studies with other um artist studios in the area, and we wanted to make sure that we were a little bit below that.

So our rates are about three, 250 to $3 a square foot, and usually it runs about five or six dollars a square foot.

So we're right below that um market rate that they're that they're producing for that size of studio.

Yeah.

So for the that rate is still affordable for the artists.

Yes.

Um that was one of the that was one of the when we did the beta testing, we were like, here's the price sheets.

What does this seem like to you?

And most of them were really shocked about the cost of um the rooms in the area, which uh really made us have a better understanding about how much artists make for a living, and we'll continue um to survey artists and to understand exactly what is affordable and what is it as the economy changes in the future.

Okay.

Oh, is your other question?

Uh the spaces design of the spaces, yeah.

I just recommend uh uh the senior center.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We are very hopeful about one of our projects, right?

Especially the Sue Development Space.

Um we have uh we have a great partnership with them.

And so we are hoping that um in the future uh we'll be able to maintain uh affordable rent for the artists that are coming into the space so that uh it's accessible to all.

And that's our primary goal, and they understand that that's our desire.

And so um we are constantly you know working on towards moving the organization towards that direction to yeah to make sure art and culture is accessible for all for everyone, not just in Bel Wed, right, but the greater uh east side community overall.

Any other questions, comments?

Thank you so much.

Really exciting presentation.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

It's really great seeing you all.

Yeah.

All right.

Next item on the list is arts and value discussion.

And I'm not sure who's going to start that.

I know I have some thoughts on that as to Joy Deep because we were involved in something earlier.

I could just lead you in if you want to bet.

Yeah.

Um, we have been really excited this year to have all of our community partners come present, hear more directly from our arts organizations.

And you all are active members of the community.

You are out there.

You like you said earlier, Chair, you have unique um circles that you're working with, uh, very um diverse groups that you partner with throughout the year.

And we want to make sure that there was time here in this last session of the year for you all to have open discussion.

We we hear a lot from our community and some time for you all to discuss amongst yourselves.

This isn't intended to direct staff, but it could help inform as we move forward in our work, particularly as we look forward towards cultural planning in upcoming years.

Um, so that was our intent.

It was to not over uh schedule and to give you all some time to discuss issues of the day.

Well, shall I start off?

Okay, I have a question back to both Manette and Lori, which is do we have an inventory of the public art that Bellevue owns, both interior and exterior?

We do have an inventory.

I will note that it is exists in an Excel spreadsheet that is a little ugly.

And something that is on the staff's future work plan is to get that into a more publicly accessible place, ideally on our website where folks could flick through the artworks and get information, see a photo.

Um, in addition to that, we recently had some interns um at uh on our staff for the last couple of years who went out and surveyed every piece of art, whether it is ours or not.

They geolocated it, they took some photos, they got whatever information they could.

Um, and we are working with our folks in IT to get that into an interactive mapping software.

So it's a pretty ugly place right now, but good things are coming.

Um we are moving at the speed of city on that.

I will be very clear.

That's it's not a tomorrow thing, but it is on the way.

Well, I'm gonna just maybe fill the rest of the board in what drives my question is I had a really interesting interaction with a group that used to be the docent for the Bellevue Arts Museum, and it's a really interesting group who are I think 75 active members, and they have held together, they have sort of renamed themselves.

I think DOTU's docents for Arts Without Walls, because they have lost the museum at the moment, but want to stay active in our community.

And one of the requests they made was could they take the public on tours of the city of City of Bellevue Arts Collections, you know, the first being City Hall.

And I thought that's a wonderful idea because we have rotating collections, and this is a group of people that are used to learning about um exhibits and then knowing how to, you know, and this is purely volunteer on their part.

So I think that would be something really excellent to support because I'm really heartbroken about the museum closing, the loss of all that knowledge and energy.

And this this group is desperately trying to stay together.

And one of their questions was again about an inventory because they'd like information, you know.

Again, if they're going to take a school group, you know, for instance, there's a lot of interest, as I understand, from Bellevue High School for them to bring groups through.

Again, marvelous thing to do.

How do we facilitate that happening?

How do we support that?

Microphone.

I told them they don't have to limit themselves to Bellevue because they do come from Wash on Island, Woodenville.

So they can go and do a regional one.

So they don't have to depend on us alone.

And as long as they have a kind of geotagged inventory, they can go around.

That's all they are asking for.

And and there are some new galleries coming up in Woodenville.

They are super excited because no one knows about them.

So these doses can take people around, or they can do regional, sub-regional, citywide tours.

They're really whatever they want.

So that's where they're heading towards.

It also might be a great resource to tie back to the Bell Red, you know, as things evolve.

I mean, it's a free, highly educated group of volunteers.

Um lady was the previous CF of Nintendo.

I was like, wow.

Now one question that came up in the meeting, Joy Deep and I had that I wanted again take back to staff is they said that like parks department have organize have organized volunt an organized volunteer group that supports volunteer work in the parks.

Could the Bellevue Arts Commission have something like that for volunteers?

And you know, this group again could be tied to that.

Again, I just don't want to lose that energy, that that volunteerism who are really excited around art and feeling a loss in our community.

I love the art docents.

I think that you are right on the money, and that this is an incredibly educated group of folks who have deep, deep, deep passion.

And I'd love to find a way to work with them moving into the new year.

We have provided some lists around the the art pieces that are both on display right now in City Hall and the ones available throughout the community.

And I would continue to work with them as we get our other resources more organized and publicly available, including a large project that we are taking on for the arts uh collection in the next two years, which will be finally getting some more consistent signage out.

I think that's a really big first step with QR codes to link to the list of the collection.

So some of that is work in progress.

Um I love the idea of them giving tours.

I'm not sure about my uh capacity to organize a volunteer effort right now, but there may be resources in other parts of the city that we could look into.

Yeah, and I also suggested them to talk to was that visiting Bellevue, the tourism department because they will need volunteers for FIFA more than what we need, they will need more this help than what we need from them.

It's a great idea.

Yep.

I guess on the note of uh losing the Bellevue Arts Museum, um, is there any intention from the city or tourism planning to bring in arts museum or some iteration of uh Bellevue Arts Museum back to Bellevue?

I feel like that's a crucial part of having an arts identity for uh any place.

So um would like to hear if as far as you folks, no one can share if we have any traction towards re-establishing that institution.

Sure, I can share what I know.

Um, and I think we may have given this update.

I can't remember if you were at our last meeting or not.

Um so the Bellevue Art Museum is still in the receivership process.

Um, they have a bid for their building, uh uh offer to purchase from the KitsCast Children's Museum.

Uh when they shut down receivership, it is very likely that they are still a functioning organization.

They are exploring what that looks like in their next iteration.

So it is not necessarily that the museum is going away, is that they are not in that location anymore.

And so I think that's some of the things we need to start our shift is that that building is not the art museum.

That is a building, but the art museum organization will continue and they're looking at what that physical space might look like in the future.

They were committed to continuing the art fair.

So I think we might be just a little early to see where that organization makes some choices.

That makes sense.

I don't know if this is relevant for us, but I think a lot of feedback is like, you know, a lot of community members invested as members to support the museum and having the museum, you know, cease operations and then be open for private parties or like corporate events.

I think that's the slap in the face of the community.

So I'm hoping that any, you know, updates that come with their business model, you know, really bring back, you know, that trust and that, you know, sense of hope for the people that actually were like, you know, members, patrons, you know, donated regularly because it's it's like why would you want to support that again if you think you know it can be taken away at any minute and then so I think that's just kind of my own and as far as the community that I know.

Um having read all that emails about the updates about like entering the receivership, uh Bellevue is fundraising efforts.

Um it's yeah, it's I think it's a it's a tread a long path forward, I guess, um, to restablish that trust.

But I mean, it is something that we need.

So I'm hoping um I guess the best outcome for our city and also just for the arts community and having like a physical space to just commune and like appreciate arts from in our community and also from outside.

And that's good feedback to share.

Also, related to that um part of the community that I've been talking to, they think that this is a good um moment to think other ideas about what will be a museum for for Bellevue.

So to think through different uh aspect of what we can think that we can use the space.

For example, if we have all this, this is an example, of course.

This is open discussion on brainstorming.

They were saying um what about all the technology companies that we have here?

We have Nintendo, we have Salesforce, we have Microsoft, we have Amazon, we have Meta.

What about uh a museum related with technology, for example, something that will be like relevant to the industry and all the people that we have and also can help us with the founding because these companies maybe will be interested in even like having things to uh to support and to also to help.

So for me, it's like a fresh start, I think.

Like also, I mean, to think through all, of course, art, but also something that is related to the city, something that we can say, like um Bellevue is a technology city now.

So I mean, this is great that we have this kind of discussions because we can start like thinking what we want.

Because what I remember about my Bell B essentially is that it takes us 10 years from beginning to the end.

So we have enough time to think through things and to really gather information into, for example, do a benchmark with other cities around.

What do they are doing?

Right.

So we can really support one to each other.

So you focus on this, I focus on this one, so we can really support and create like an area of art and culture, like in the east side.

Yeah, Sandra and I have talking about that when we were looking at the 76 applications for for grants most recently, and they were from all walks of life, really, and types of art.

Um and the diversity of it was um, you know, amazing.

And I've had the the privilege of going to several, I think, similar cities to Bellevue um recently, Aspen, Colorado, um, which is world-renowned as a place of music, right?

And they very intentionally set that up 70 years ago or so, and said, we're going all in to make ourselves a world-renowned music center for the summer to bring in people through through throughout the year.

Um I've been to Pasadena, California, and they've had the good fortune of having um uh the Huntington Library based in their city.

Um, but they have become known for becoming for being renowned as a place of scholarship and and library studies and so forth.

Um I've been thinking, has does Bellevue uh has Bellevue or does Bellevue plan to think through exactly what type of arts city it wants to be known for.

Um, does it want to be a center for something in which all of our effort funding focus goes towards that to create that?

And it could be that the diversity of the city is our thing, right?

And then the diversity of our art is uh a mirror of the diversity of the of the of the population.

That could be it.

But I'd be interested in us over you know a period of time creating a mission statement, um a fo uh uh a a real piece of of uh thought on what we want to be 50 years from today, right?

If we put all of our effort in that.

Um be very interesting to to explore and see if there is something that that um you know, is just in Palm Springs recently, and they have a beautiful art museum.

I mean, just a fundamentally you know, uh uh a standalone one that for the size of city that they are, but they made a pretty big investment in it in a big effort to say this is what we want in the city.

It's become very popular, and I don't know that the Bellevue Arts Museum had that behind them, you know.

I think they always had a headwind against them that I think perhaps if if more people understood the importance of it.

There would have been more, I think a groundswell of of support for it over the last 10 years, 20 years.

I can add to your part in two ways.

One, I was inside the door in the boardroom for three years, and unfortunately, most of them were not from the city.

And unfortunately, most of them were not from the city.

So they had an idea, an ideology about art that they looked at, which was from somebody with too much lose disposable cash.

And they did not connect with the city.

And that was going to be with them for three years.

Like you guys don't know what the city is.

No one, so you're just part of like a colonial system.

You're here because you can afford to pay the bills, but you don't have any idea what the city is.

And that was the single most reason why they failed.

My neighbors, they've been complaining.

I haven't been back for 24 years.

Nobody cares about me.

I was a member for 10 years before this thing happened.

So that was the biggest gap.

Now coming back to the industry, we have a huge gaming companies around here.

Steam, Nintendo, Pokemon, I mean all the biggest names are right here.

And there is a group of people who meet in a bar, unfortunately.

But they have been asked the same question that we are creatives.

We don't have an outlet where we can put our creative art out.

So there is a intention.

I mean, people are scared of public sector, unfortunately.

But but we're not.

I mean, I don't think Lori Monet and just your scary people.

So there's an intention to support, but they just don't know how.

So we can tap into that.

I would also say that I've heard from a lot of long-term members who said that, you know, the impetus for the art museum in Bellevue really came out of the Bellevue Arts fair.

And what Bellevue was famous for was its craft art.

That was the art fair.

And it I think it was really successful when it focused on that.

Because craft art has become, I mean, with Chahuli and all the rest, it's gone from craft to fine art in our generation.

And I think the mu and that was something that was very accessible to a lot of people, because craft art is a big category.

Um, and it works with a lot of different cultures also.

And I really saw sort of an attitude at the top of the museum looking down on craft art.

Um, and an attitude of the public sort of saying there's nothing I can relate to here.

And if I'm gonna go in, I might as well go to Seattle, you know, and see the best stuff, not sort of second rate of what I don't understand.

So again, I would really think, you know, part of the discussion should be, you know, what was our history?

What built it to begin with?

And you know, what's another thing that we were kind of well known for, and that creates a lot of access both through a lot of different mediums and a lot of culture.

So I think, yeah, a second, like having that, I mean, it's the arts museum, right?

It wasn't the art museum.

So like the niche was it was craft like focused on craftsmanship, you know, traditional ways of making, things like that, which was an ultimate draw of why you would how you would differentiate from Sam and everything else.

Um, I think another thing is, I mean, I we have a lot of companies here that make a lot of money, but I don't think it's sustainable to rely on that as a funding resource in perpetuity, because I mean things change things change, budgets get cut.

I mean, a lot of organizations in the King County are relied so much on Paul Allen's foundation Vulcan, and once he passed away, a lot of thought that funding got cut.

So I mean, I think there's also an opportunity, not just thinking about like an institution, uh like a culture institution, but like what we do here is how do we instill like the belief in our citizens that investing in the arts of the city is important versus going to Amazon trying to get money.

I know Microsoft isn't giving money anymore, so I'm like, okay, well, where do if you keep going to these companies and relying on them, like it dries up.

And how do we make it part of our like duties as being residents of Bellevue that hey, we need to invest in this because this is gonna help our communities grow and help us thrive and and you know, just be more future looking forward-looking, future-proof people in general.

So I think it's like a mindset mindset shift as well, that we kind of all have to be a philanthropist in that way, um, regardless of how much we can give, either through time or money to fund what we are trying to do here.

Well, I also wanted to actually, there was something that was going on in my mind, and that's um exactly what Lydia said was to go back to the history and see really where we came from and how we've evolved.

So, like a simple little thing when I go down to um, you know, where the blueberry farm is Lake Hills.

So they have that old house there, and they have this whole information, the architecture, and how that never used to be a man-made, like you know, things like that.

So important pieces of history for Bellevue, if we have a place to showcase that, I think that's a great way to go.

But I actually agree with what Sandra says, and this is not a uh a funding thing, but I think currently technology is a big uh a big factor.

I mean, Microsoft, Amazon, they are big players here, and they we do have them here.

So I think having a place where we showcase this can also help Bellevue.

I think it's uh a good mix of old and new.

We need to have that sort of showcased um in a good way.

Um yeah, and I think with this whole soccer situation coming up, if we can already have something like that where we can draw in people into Bellevue, that'd be great.

These are great discussions.

Thank you.

Oh, I think we are talking about branding for uh Belleville art culture, and we need to come with that and focus our effort and resource on developing that branding.

I have I have another um I wouldn't call it issue, like some some idea that I think that is worth to talk about, and is that um I I have mentioned before that I've been going to all the places and and things that we have been invited every time I'm around here, I'll go.

And I love it, and and the things that I've been saying are really great, well prepared, everything.

But the only thing that I miss is that I think that all of these organizations are working as a silo for their own communities.

And I go and you find the families, the friends from that community.

And everywhere is like that.

So my my question is how can we create bridges in between them?

How can, for example, the branding, um the way that I know you, you know me.

I go to the representation, I go to to the theater, to the music, to everything.

So this is like my my questioning, because the the thing that I've seen are really great, and I would love for other people to say it.

But some I don't know if it's a matter of publicity.

I don't know.

I mean, I don't have the the answer, but it's like what I question.

Yeah.

I have a suggestion.

So the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, they always have these, you know, local CEOs come out coming in.

Maybe we can talk through them and feel out these these big you know, gaming companies, including Nintendo, the CEOs, like, hey, if we do something like this, would you like to support us?

At least open the dialogue.

Because half of them will not say no.

They just don't know how to talk to us.

But if we do backwards, and you know, ask them a question like you don't have to commit today, but if we do that, would you like to be a part of that?

Yeah, something I think the Believe Chamber of Commerce did this year, and I uh I might be wrong, but I don't think so.

But I think it was their first year.

They had a nonprofit like meet and greet event where they invited nonprofit organizations to come and mingle with their chamber members.

So they could start making those direct relationships and connections.

Um I think that type of event is exactly what you're leaning towards there, where how do we get those groups who might have philanthropic interest and who might want to support the arts just to know who the um organization right?

What are the opportunities?

Um so I think that you're hitting the nail on the head of something that there might be some grid traction happening in our community towards that already.

Just the gaming companies, nobody else.

You just want the gaming company just about I mean, I get it, the creative economy.

Because Nintendo made a record sale this year.

Yes.

My my kid contributed heavily, yes.

Because on Monday, a group called Future Arts is meeting on Monday, um, downtown Seattle.

And one of the three pillars is arts and technology.

Yeah, they're doing a lot more on the augmented reality, and not like the NFT wall art, but something that's through an Instagram or things like that.

Yeah.

Any other thoughts?

No.

I have one other thought that I was just thinking in my head, but um, and I don't know how feasible this is, but you know, like when you go to Tacoma and you see they have their entire glass um museum, but they also have this glass institute for learning, right?

I forget the official name for it.

I actually feel, and so coming from my experience in India, where I went to fine arts college and we had a museum right next door.

So it kind of helps people, it brings people in not just to come and see existing art, but people who are curious to learn.

And we have so many great artists here.

Maybe we should really be considering having like a fine arts college.

I know it's a little far-fetched, but I think if you know, if it's something that can be really um looked into, it would really drive home a lot of funding, finances, and artistic involvement with the community in many different ways.

So that's just my two things.

Well, I want to add to that, because I think that's the future for artistry.

Uh, because we have uh an art hub that um artists be part of that, and they can have classes.

I think we already have a small uh portion initial form of that.

Um, because um I talked to a lot of artists in the area, and they have been dreaming about that, and they would like to contribute as well.

And I see a lot of artists in the actually, and they have all studio very successful um business.

So that can be well the major funding as well.

Yeah.

Yeah, you know, Bahabna, Bahamna.

If you go to the Back Bay section of Boston, there's uh the brightest object is the Boston Symphony Orchestra uh hall.

But next door is the New England conservatory with 500 students.

Next door to that is the Berkeley School of Music with 5,000 students.

Um the Boston Conservatory, is there?

I mean, there's the learning institutions that gather around the symphony is it keeps the flywheel going forever.

Yeah, right.

And the students are working as ushers in the in the orchestra.

They're they're the they're the next generation of people going into it.

So combining art and education directly is a fantastic idea.

Yeah, yeah.

Mentioned that in my I have a junior in high school, and New England keeps coming up because liberal arts colleges is the focus, and that seems to be like the hub.

So yeah, creating a reputation around you know, whatever we see Bellevue as, and maybe the city conducting some surveys to understand what the public wants.

Like it we can all have a different opinion.

One of us could say Nintendo tech or music performance.

I could say painting, you know.

But what is it that the public wants and that's something that we could pursue?

Uh I think it would be a great um investment of city time.

So yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

We're very excited for cultural planning.

Yes.

All right.

And what's missing from the region?

You know, say we're not competing with Tacoma and Glass, you know.

Seattle has Sam, they have the Asian art museum as well, right?

They have education and then Mohai, what is that?

History and industry, and then they have Mopop and they have like they are already branching into so many different I think they get traction in all of their museums.

I honestly have been to each one.

I'm sure many of us have done that.

So I mean, is that the way we want to go?

I I don't know.

Yeah.

But it's something worth explaining exploring, yeah.

Okay.

Laurie, when I think you shared with us the creative economy or the cultural planning study.

Feel like a lot of what we're discussing here was addressed in that write-up that we shared maybe a year ago about you know the different layers of cultural planning we are doing, or is it the economic development or it's like city planning, like the exact comprehensive plan?

Is that the comprehensive plan?

Yes.

So this is a good question.

So the city has our founding like policy document, right?

Which is the comprehensive plan.

And you guys were part of that process, particularly your um opinions were requested around what's called the urban design and the arts section.

So the comprehensive plan has kind of it's broken into two big groups.

Section one is um subject area driven.

So there's an economic development section, there is urban design and the arts.

There's a bunch of others.

I'm sure they're important, but arts is the most important.

And then the section two is the sub-area plans.

So Lake Hills has a sub-area plan.

Bell Red has a sub-area plan.

You were consulted on both the Bell Red section, since that is the home to our arts district, and the arts and urban design section.

In addition to the comprehensive plan, the city has a series of more um, I'll call them like more strategic, maybe a little bit more deep dive plans.

So earlier this year, you heard an update about our economic development plan.

So that's in a complementary document to comprehensive planning.

It might go that that one step down further, get a little bit more action itemy.

When we say cultural planning, we mean that.

So the last time the city and the art commission took on cultural planning was in 2004.

It's been a while.

Our previous cultural plan was called Cultural Compass.

Um, and and we did go ahead and retire that around it was, I think, slated to retire around 2015.

We kept it online a little bit longer and has been retired for a couple years now.

Um, many of the policies in that plan were either accomplished or worked their way into the comprehensive plan.

Um so yes, and now that next step looking forward the next 20 years, 30 years.

That's where we're at right now.

That help?

Yeah, I feel like this conversation.

This conversation is overlapping with a lot of what we reviewed.

So a lot of light bulbs are coming.

So I probably just need to review it again.

And I I know we're in the right path of like what we're trying to like discuss here with what's already been on paper.

Yeah, and today's freeform.

As we get more formally into that process, there will be a more regimented run-up.

Here's our timeline, here's our studies, here's our community surveys, that kind of stuff.

But today it's like a temperature check.

Yeah.

All right.

Thank you all.

All right.

So I think the next item on the agenda is next meeting date.

Um, the next meeting date um would be the first week in January.

Um, which might be a little too close to the holidays for people.

Well, maybe not.

January 7th.

Um, I think we we finally escaped being literally the first uh Wednesday of the of the month on the first of January.

So if the seventh works for you all, more or less.

Not for you.

Yeah, you're out of town.

So yeah, of course.

Yeah, okay.

All right, yeah.

You'll be out okay.

Two out is still two.

Oh boy, three out.

Um, do we want to look at the next Wednesday?

The following Wednesday works for me.

I don't know how everyone else that would be the 14th.

We may or may not be in this room specifically if we do the 14th.

That might be good.

We might be able to do that.

That seems to be a little bit better.

Okay, let's do the 14th.

Yeah.

Okay.

Terrible.

I shouldn't say that, should I?

I think it's a lot right.

Right.

And then we have reports, updates from staff.

Oh, project updates.

All right.

We got a couple of them for you.

Um, cultural facility grants.

All of our grantees have their contracts.

They are off and away on their work and our invoicing.

We're very excited.

We'll be updating you later in 2026 about the launch of phase two, which feels like a very big milestone for that granting program to enter into its second round.

Um EAP and project grants for 2025 are closing out.

Final reports were due at the end of November.

Um, we're happy to see those folks put in their reports, get them closed out.

Our EAP folks remember they're in the middle of their two-year process.

So they are being renewed into 2026.

Um, and that is moving right along.

Uh, updates in public art.

Uh, Yonder Sky by Po Shu Wing.

The artist is refining both the lighting and sound elements.

Um, the testing that we did and the artist samples when the uh piece was being designed previous to the light rail station being online.

We're gonna have to refine some of that sound and that light now that we are actually working with the live trains and we hear what that sound is like.

So working with our artists, make sure that the sound and the light is dialed in correctly.

Um Crossroads uh public art by Anna Millasky.

The artwork is fully installed.

We're very excited.

Please go take a look at Crossroads Park in the coming um months.

Since it is dichronic glass, you will get a very different experience.

Um happy uh to announce there was uh some media coverage of that piece in the Seattle Times.

Lovely to see that.

Um, and just it is it is truly beautiful in there and installed.

Um a lot of credit to our artists and to um Scott on our team.

They installed these pieces in like gale force winds in a torrential downpour and they did it safely.

Um survived.

Nothing got broken.

They went slow and steady, but they were working in a very tight installation window.

So they just slowly worked through it.

Right.

The Grand Connection artist, like I said, um uh sick today.

We will come back in January or February, hopefully January with that one.

And then public art and maintenance.

All plan maintenance for the year has been completed.

In addition to that plan maintenance, um, we've had uh we had a report of graffiti on season shelters um at 140th Avenue Northeast in early November.

We got that taken care of.

We're also taking a look at if you remember the piece, it's called Temple of the Stones.

It's a very large piece of art at South Bellevue Community Center.

Um, these giant stones are suspended and they have a little bit of swing to them, but to prevent that from being too much swing, they are anchored at the bottom.

One of our anchors has um snapped, and so we are going to um do some I don't want to call it emergency, but very rapid maintenance to get the anchor.

Um, it's like a steel cable at the bottom to get that uh re-anchored quickly.

So night blooming.

Oh, and night blooming, thank you.

Um, a small update on there's a sculpture called night blooming.

It was a temporary artwork at the Bellevue Art Museum during a early bellwether.

Um, and at the time the city acquired the piece and then placed it at the Bellevue Botanical Garden.

It is a natural wood beehive shape.

Fabulous piece, lovely.

You can go inside it and experience it.

It's a really nice experience.

The piece was intended to degrade naturally.

That is the artist's intent.

Although the degrading degrading has happened much more rapidly than the artist had thought.

Uh, we did contact the original artist.

They did have more of the wood material.

So we had them come out, uh, pay for their time and labor and got the piece as updated as we could.

There were pieces that were obviously falling apart, rusty screws were coming up and out.

The problem is as one piece was removed, several others around it would fall apart as well.

And we we got to see how deep the um the rot is.

Once again, an intended piece of the work, just much more quickly than we had hoped.

Um, there is some more of the wood material.

So we are looking at another minor um retrofit, but likely this piece will come to the commission for a deaccession in 26, which is very sad.

It is a lovely piece.

Um but it is it is fighting time.

Um I guess the artist's intent is happening faster than we had hoped.

But there we are.

Um not at this point.

Not at this point.

Could we commission another piece that maybe was designed to not degrade?

I think we've got some time to come up with some options there.

Yeah.

Um, one of the things that is a really nice um after effect of this piece, no matter what we choose to do, is that we installed this concrete pad that the piece is installed on, which could become a plinth program in our botanical garden.

We could work with our botanical garden partners in other ways.

So there are there are good opportunities to be had.

Um I just early heads up that that one might be more discussion to come.

Oh question.

So the Boucheron piece is not functioning now.

It is functioning.

We're just dialing it in.

So we want you to know that there might be some changes.

It's quite quiet.

Okay, because I was trying something, my daughter thought I was crazy.

So I should wait.

No, it works.

So I will remind folks at the center, it or the sensor is kind of in the front.

So if you're waving your hands at the side, it might not trigger.

It is just extremely quiet now that the environment is what the environment is.

So it was set a little low.

We're gonna dial in that sound level.

Got it.

Thanks.

I also say it took me like a minute to figure out like either for the sensor to figure out where I was or myself to figure out where the sensor was.

So definitely give it some time.

And it is really hard if there are other loud noises.

So maybe wait until like the red light hits and there's no cars or trains going by.

There's a light.

So yeah.

We love that tech art, but then there's tech.

Yeah.

Yes.

Well it's almost like it needs some direction you know to go with it.

And that could be an art opportunity, you know, for someone tacky.

There are some there are some directions on the ground but it might need some more robust yeah that's guidance.

Guidance yes.

Sounds like user experience is supporting that.

Just turn out a bug it really makes you in like really you're you're very interactive.

It's just a gaslighting thing.

That's all the updates.

Thank you so much.

Thank you Lori.

And I think it is now 5 56 and the December 2025 Bellview Arts Commission meeting is adjourned.