We're ready to go.

Does the chair want to make a vice chair?

Pro tem make a welcome?

Well, I think the first thing we have to do is uh make a motion to accept a pro temp.

Okay.

Is there a motion to accept if you want me to chair somebody has to make a motion?

So that was Donna.

Yeah, uh motion that my uh Ron be the uh chair on my side.

So I guess who's the second?

Okay.

Okay, you got that?

All right, so we have a motion and a second for the make pro temper attorns I'm usually doing.

Okay, all those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

All right, so I'd like to call the uh City of Juliet Arts Commission meeting uh to order for Wednesday, November 19th 2025.

First up is roll call.

Sure.

Um Deborah Falato absent.

Donna Frank Stapley here.

Tom Gotowski absent, Ron Romero.

Here Julia Rossati.

John Simpson Jr.

is absent.

Peg Stoiber here.

Deborah Summers.

Deborah Balling.

Did I say that right?

Balling?

Okay.

Right, there is quorum.

Next item is approval of minutes from the meeting from 101525.

Um should be in your package there.

So any questions.

If not, we would need a motion to accept as presented.

I move to accept the minutes as presented.

Okay.

I said.

I'm sorry, who said the second?

Yep.

Okay.

Motion seconded.

All right, there was a motion and a second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Okay.

And uh next item is citizens to be heard on agenda items, seeing no citizens here.

Seeing none, we'll move on to agenda items, which is a staff update on the draft public art ordinance.

Right.

Okay.

Let me I have a presentation.

We have a presentation.

Um it's been quite some time.

I think that that has been discussed in detail.

Um as you may or may not know, Ray Heitner and I, and and our and staff have been working over the last many months to um prepare a public art ordinance.

And so the direction that this ended up taking.

So there was this public arts policy document that the commission here had been working on.

Um staff kept diving into the details of that policy document.

We just kept coming back to um how but how how do people how does the city enable public art to actually get put up in the city?

What is the process to intake art for the city of Joliet?

Um and then some of you know here, I I am the director of the planning division, so I'm my name's Jane Bernhardt.

And one of the tasks that we have in the planning division is to um is to work with our sign regulations.

So again, how do signs get put up?

How do objects get put up in the city?

Um we work closely with our building division to do that.

So this so where I'm gonna where I'm going with what I'm gonna show you, we'll jump right in.

Um, is is to talk about the process of that we're proposing to intake art, public art into the city of Juliet.

Both art that would be I guess paid for through city grant funds as well as private citizens and private um entities, how they would um how what's the enabling process for them to move forward.

So just some background information.

Um, this arts commission was established in 2019 to review proposals and assist in the process.

Um to create art projects in the cities, which and which are located in the public realm, and we know that there is a desire from this commission and the public to see more public art installations throughout Juliet, and it's been a frequent topic at this meeting.

The city doesn't have a clear and transparent process right now to enable public art on private and public property.

So a purpose of this ordinance would be to regulate how the city defines intakes, reviews, accepts, and removes or deaccessions, public art in the public realm.

So I want to stop for a second, draw your attention to the two images on the screen.

So the first on the left is a mural that is at the location of a barbershop on Plainfield Road.

Um is this public art or is it signage?

So the city right now would we don't have an art a public art process, as I just said, so we would evaluate this with as a sign ordinance, and it we would identify how much signage this property has, how much they're allotted, because each property is allotted a certain amount of signage, and I'll get to that in a second.

Um if they're over that amount of signage, they would have to apply for a variance.

Um I will say in this case, this image in front of you, there was no application, and they it's just it just happened, and this would be an instance of where we have to go back and work with existing art, whether it's with this, you know, and to kind of try to figure out how we get the uh an installation like this to compliance.

Um this, as you can see, is definitely calls attention to that business.

So this would be one of those considerations that would have to be thought through through the arts commission as well as the staff permitting process.

So I'm bringing this to your attention because these are the nuances that we have been trying to sort through at the staff level and we're bringing to your attention as arts commission members.

Um the other image on your right is is the blank canvas.

So this is I think that actual um we call that a uh kind of an embankment or abutment.

That's owned by the city, I believe that's owned by the city, but right behind it is owned by the relevant company.

So in any case, public art could go there and get what's the process for allowing and enabling that to happen.

So these are just examples.

Um an objective of the public art ordinance is to really clarify this relationship between Joliet sign regulations, so which is in the zoning ordinance, and then the municipal code with regulating and permitting public art.

Our zoning ordinance defines signs in a way that allows for the regulation of things like murals and statues and other attention generating objects.

We require permits.

Um each property has a total amount of signage that's allotted to them.

We regulate the placement of signs or objects.

Um we our building department takes a very hard look at the installation to make sure they meet public safety requirements, and then we are enabled through our zoning ordinance to look at the duration of signs and objects in the city of Juliet.

Okay.

And again, this is an update of where we're at with our thought process, and we'll break and we'll want to hear your questions and feedback on this.

Um, is that all public art proposals would initially be reviewed through the city sign ordinance?

So this chart on the right hand side is a overview of all the zoning district categories in the city and what their total sign area allowance is for each of those zoning districts.

Um proposals that fall within a property's allotted square footage for signage could be reviewed administratively and wouldn't need to go through a public process here.

But properties that exceed a property's allotted square footage for signage would require a public art permit.

This public art permit would it would be a formal application and it would include basic information in addition to a plan detailing what is the artistic intent and the what's the narrative that'll be documented in this application.

It'll detail how that artwork will be installed, how it's going to be maintained, and then it will detail removal requirements.

There will be a clear designation of who's responsible for the installation, maintenance and removal of the artwork, and then there will be an outline of the estimated costs associated with the installation, maintenance and removal, which that's something standard in at least in the building division, are all of our applications for building permits and for sign permits require an estimated cost of the value of that construction work.

So some I guess some key terms to think about is a session.

So we so we're thinking about this in the sense that someone who's proposing a mural on the side of a building, it's most likely to exceed the sign allotment for that property.

So in the downtown, for example, the a property is allotted around 120 square feet of signage, and that really doesn't go that's enough for that property to have a wall sign, maybe some window signs, maybe a ground sign if they even have a place to put a ground sign.

Um murals can be you know 300 square feet, 600 square feet in size.

So any mural would likely already surpass this total sign area for that property.

Um the thought is that they would apply, there would be a sessioning process to become part of the city's collection.

So by the arts commission granting, we'll get to the grant the per the permit review part in a second.

By the arts commission granting this permit, it the city is now accepting it into the arts, the city art collection.

Um then there is a this there'll be an art display agreement, which says formally details the duration, installation removal responsibilities and other conditions, which kind of speaks to the concerns that we've heard through the last couple of years.

I think this arts commission has been has responded to is we have older murals, you know, there's no one responsible for taking them down or fixing them at this point.

So this art display agreement would uh detail out these installation removal responsibilities.

Um the public art ordinance would also outline how how public art is removed from the city collection.

We'll go through that at the end of this short presentation.

Um we just talked about the public art permit, which is a document that we issued upon approval of a public of the proposed public artwork, and then what would be considered to be part of this, what would be considered part of your purview to review and for a public art permit.

So it's really anything that can be viewed within or from the public right-of-way or from a public setting.

Um I used an example that would I what we don't contemplate regulating is if someone was putting up a statue in the backyard of a business or a corporation that's not viewed from a public street or a public alley, and so it's not meant to be enjoyed or seen from the public.

That is not something that this is intending to regulate.

There would be a review and approval then.

So we talked about administrative review can happen if if it's a very small piece that wouldn't exceed that property's sign allotment.

Um so we could do that administratively here at the staff level.

Um then the next level would be administrative review to make sure that the public art application is complete, it's got all the necessary components then for this arts commission to review and approve.

And then a third tier is that city council approval may be required for projects that were valued at like over $25,000.

So that's been that's what's something that we're evaluating right now.

Um but the goal the goal at this point in time would be to have the arts commission up review and approval.

Yeah, well, city spent, yeah, they would have to do that, yeah.

The arts commission uh would be the review and approval authority for the public, most of the public art permits.

Um these are some draft evaluation standards.

So the again, what would make so your review would look at the quality of the work, aesthetic merit.

So under consideration would be is this more advertisement or is this just art for art's sake?

Um you would think about the context within how this proposed piece fits within the context of the city's public art collection.

You would evaluate the suitability of the proposed site.

Um look at the installation requirements and then maintenance requirements and durability of the artwork.

And then this slide just details what our thoughts are related to how you would de-assession how how artwork would be then removed from the city's collection, which which is okay.

Um again, these public art, the public art permit and the agreement specifies a time frame.

So a mural is not meant to last 30 years, it's not meant to last probably more than 10 years.

I don't have that exact number, but this permit and the agreement would detail the terms of the of that mural, I'm using mural as an example to be on a property.

And if that property owner or the or the applicant wants to renew that agreement, absolutely, and they would go through this process again.

Um maybe involves refurbishing that mural or something different.

So this isn't meant to kick everything out, but it's just most it's meant to keep things looking fresh and also to hold the art, I guess the the artist or the property owner accountable for if it's not um maintaining the standards that the city would like to see, or you would like to see that that would need to come down.

Um artwork that is on private property would get be um removed by the property owner at their own cost.

And then you know what would be the next step.

So you know, I'm here tonight to get initial feedback on kind of our thoughts right now where we're at with this process.

Um we will continue to work on an ordinance, so this would be an ordinance that gets adopted by city council that clearly again clearly lays out to the public what the process would be for how the city enables um the intake of public art.

We would then draft the associated documents, so what would be the app how would that application look and what what would the permit look like?

This would come back to the arts commission for review of a real ordinance and then those application materials for your feedback, and then we take a couple meetings, but then it would move after your final recommendation to city council for approval, and then um the hope's adoption, and then be part of the public process for the intake of public art.

Um so that well, yeah, that was it.

I did, I guess I would say before I we start answering, I guess, questions is um, I guess I hit this slide.

Unhide it.

Oh, there it is.

So we did some research on our some of our more prominent peer communities too, and um, you know, I wanted to share this with you because I know you you also have done research with other communities, and we only so for this we we just specifically looked at how they intake public art and um how they work with public art that's yeah, within the public realm.

So I'll leave that on here for a second.

But yeah, I would love to hear your comments at this point on the intake of public art.

I have a question.

Yeah.

Would it be anything that addresses art that is already there prior to this proposal prior to the great great question?

Um what we are contemplating right now is to do an inventory of what is existing, and then the goal will be to bring those existing uh public art.

I'm not gonna use murals as an example, so maybe existing murals, uh, and not the ones that you've talked about here that are city that city the funds of the community public art program funded, but murals that are on private property.

Right, right.

Um, how to bring those into compliance?

Yeah, yes.

So anything that's over the signage requirement would be kicked into the public art.

Yeah, right, be yes, because right now their only option is a variance.

Okay, and the the the process of getting a variance is that the um applicant needs to prove that their request is necessary because there's a hardship.

I wouldn't, I mean, there's no hardship for these for public art.

So this we don't want to go down the path of a variance.

We think we think we want to enable a more clear, transparent process and a better process forward so that um someone's not having to get a variance for public art.

So that barbershop bureau, that's in violation of the signage because it's we have a lot of examples of that, yeah.

We have yes, it is right now.

We we have a lot of examples.

Well I shouldn't say a lot, that's exaggeration.

We have some examples which you have just brought up about we have um murals that bear more towards advertisements for the property.

Is that why we think this is a violation?

I just curious.

This is a this is definitely an advertisement for our barbershop.

Yeah.

Okay.

It's cool looking.

Well, that's subjective, I think it's cool looking, but because it has your name on there, is that why you're in an advertisement?

Yeah, it says Louise Barber Shop.

Right, but if you didn't have that, would that be considered the appetizement?

It was just you know what that that that gets the point of like what your your purview would be.

So if you know, I'm just I'm just speculating like two years down the road if this person came in and they wanted to do a gigantic mural on the side of their building.

I mean I I I think with because they don't have to there's if you would come to you, and because the only way for them to do this project, let's just say again two years down the road is to get permission from the arts commission, because otherwise they don't really qualify for a variance.

There's no hardship.

Um so you're in your review, I feel that it would be appropriate for the arts commission to say, like, well, we we like X, Y, and Z, but this really veers more towards advertisement, but I would suggest coming back to us at least the you know the Louis Barber Shop or the block or the things that you think make it screen more towards advertisement.

Now staff should have already hopefully communicated that to them too.

I'll just say that.

So we hopefully would have caught that and already made that recommendation, but at the same time, it's still the right of the applicant if they really want to bring this to your attention, they could do that.

So I have a few questions.

Yeah, I think signage and um art.

I don't know that we can define it so clearly, because this is obviously an art piece, and though it has his their name, the business name on it.

Does it learn lean to his signage?

Does it lean towards artwork?

I don't know.

How does that work for like the the ghost print that's on the back side of the Rialto?

Is that a sign or is that artwork?

Is that your advertising of Relto, but it's also uh you know, it's it's also artwork up there that's supposed to be kind of a ritual looking.

Um the one they they did more recently, you're saying Scott Street.

Yeah, which they had to get a variance for.

Yeah.

Um I think that's you're bringing again out the the good questions, and it's something that we're still trying to tease out through this process.

Um, can it be done by percentage?

I mean, uh obviously the there's a lot of elements in this that's more lean towards art than it is his uh than his business name.

Is there you know how much of that does it lean heavily more towards artwork than uh identification or just a thought?

Yeah, yeah.

If I sustain um if I I might be able to take a stab at that.

So I think um, you know, Jane put up the slide about kind of peer reviews, and I think this is exactly why we're having this conversation.

You know, there's some big this this is a basic start.

There's some terms in here and ideas, and these are the type of questions we want to try to get answers to.

I think looking at our peers, looking at our neighboring um like surrounding towns and cities to see what they've already done would be really good examples to bring back, and then that would ultimately be part of the ordinance, which is also why we're not handing you a draft ordinance right now because we need to get met we need to get more concluding.

Yeah, before we ask you.

Yeah, yeah, no, these are exactly the type of questions that we we need to talk about now because these are the type of questions that will actually come up when that permit process is occurring.

And then also when somebody's doing the artwork, who uh owns the intellectual property?

Because then comes into play.

Is it work for hire?

Are we hiring somebody to do the artwork for the city of Juliet?

Or do they own the intellectual property?

Because the predecessor to the uh art commission was the Friends of Community Art or Friends of whatever it was called before.

And when I came on board, I mean I I had a pretty harsh phone call that was like you can't take that down because we own the intellectual property that we don't have the right to do that.

Um so how do we handle just conversation?

I can answer that.

So I'm gonna again have this keep this image up here.

So I'm gonna speak to the private sector stuff first, because I keep looking at this.

Um, how do we respond to requests that we get, so staff gets about I want to do a mural, I want to do something cool on the side of my building or on the side of that building.

And it's not we're not talking the use of city funds, so this is just a private uh citizen who or so or so someone owns a building and they engage an artist, and they the goal for me is is this process will help define how that property owner can hire their own artist and get something up on their building as art.

So to me, the intellectual property is is that artist.

I mean, this just because they're accepted in the city collection doesn't mean that we the city uh would take over that intellectual property.

Um for projects that are funded by the city, um, I don't have an answer.

So I think you bring up a good question.

But I don't um that I mean I've scrutinized a lot of friends of the community public art um agreements and documents.

I mean I there were agreements and and and stuff with the city.

I can't speak to you know um how that would unfold in the future for other kinds of um arrangements, but it wouldn't be the arts commission ever holding the intellectual property because this is a city commission.

So if there was ever an entity like Friends of the Community Public Art or the Art Movement that was in existence uh more recently, I mean that would be the entity the arts commission is uh is the city commission.

Right.

Yeah, just a recommending body.

Yeah, that's all we do.

Um I'm sorry, Ron, you know something.

Um, you know, I think a good example also is to talk about the CJ Chen sculpture and kind of the intellectual property for that.

And as I bring it up, I'm like, oh, I don't know all the details.

Yeah, but I think it's something we can look into because it's probably a lot of it city-wise, it's gonna be case-by-case basis as well.

Um, but we are already doing that with CJ Sun, she Cha Chen sculpture, excuse me.

Um, but the difference is here that James talking about is um the arts commission not only would be part of the process for city-owned art or city produced, paid for, but also private entities having a process for that, so that it's not right now with signs.

I yeah, so I would think you know, the the liability of somebody paying uh somebody to paint this on the side of the building that we see up here now, that's got to be on the owner themselves to hire them, and would it you can assume that's work for hire, but you would uh yeah, it would almost lean that way.

They hired that person, yeah.

They didn't just provide them the the you know the place to paint, they gave them they paid them to do that.

So I to de-accession that would probably not be a big thing, but anything that the city owns, I think that probably has to be written out very specifically to say that this is public property owned by us.

We don't we'll own the copyright on that.

Yeah, but then I'm sorry to be devil's advocate here, but then what about because there was other concerns about this?

We hire somebody to put that out this great mural on one of the big boards here, maybe in this thing that you have here, and that person who did that, do they own the the rights to that artwork to say I'm going to reproduce that mass reproduce that and sell them as postcards?

Can they do they have the right to do that within as intellectual property owners?

I think well there are good questions.

Well, yeah, I'll just my thought is that that would get worked out with the artists, and that's almost to me that's almost different.

That's a sign from this process.

Like that's a city of Joliet funding kind of agreement with the artist, which doesn't even to me doesn't have um have to relate to the process of get getting the art piece getting installed and then maintain a de-assessioned.

I mean it relates, but like that's to me it's different.

We're gonna have to keep that in consideration.

Yes.

That same example of the friends of the art community art was we weren't able to, it was on city property and they were having a fit because we were taking down their property.

Yeah.

So I think that I don't know that we can treat this separately.

I think we need to be aware of this as we walk into it.

I think be aware of it, um, but and going back to CJ Chen only because we're we have the contract with her, you know, um within that contract, and once again, different artists are different, and public art and sculpture is also probably gonna be a little bit different than murals as well.

But there are things in there about intellectual rights, but then there's also parameters in there about reproduction and things like that, how you can use it, they are within the artist's contract, but that is going to be something that if it's city produce, city paid for, will be a little different, I think, then that but all great questions.

Yeah, I mean, I'll just put this slide up here again.

So um the third bullet, well, second and third.

So there the application will have a will outline this information, and then the like clear designation of who's responsible for the installation maintenance removal, regardless if it's private applicant or a city sponsored project, and then this art display agreement that the this agreement is what outlines again the these requirements.

So my understanding is we did not have the type of agreement that um with the friends of the community public art that would have specified the maintenance and removal requirements.

We just didn't.

I mean, it was a long time ago.

Um, but we've learned from that, and that's that was really why we have this agreement here is because we've learned from that.

That's knowing that it's necessary.

Do you know the history about that uh friends of art?

Because my understanding was that there was no quote me this, but I think that they were allowed like 250,000 a year to maintain the artwork, the to put up new artwork to maintain the artwork being the predecessor to the artist commission.

Um, do we know where the funding came from or how that all came together?

Do you know?

Um, I mean, I have it, yeah.

Well, so the Friends of the Community Public Art was funded in large part by the City of Joliet in the starting the late 90s.

So the murals, the statues with the mosaics were funded by the City of Joliet with some grant funding from the national, I believe, endowment of the humanities, but it may have been also a state grant.

The Friends of the Community Public Art was the was the entity that carried out the project.

So that answers your question, but like so there was a lot of there was a lot of funding involved at that time.

I don't my understanding is the city did not pay for ongoing maintenance at the cost that you've you just said I think they just paid for the initial for the installation, the paid for the artist to do the work.

There was um, I mean, it was exhibits, exhibit showings.

I mean, it was there was a lot of excitement at the time, um, and it was other ways that the art was promoted.

There was you know, magnets, there was postcards, I mean all that was paid for through that um through the city, or that we had some grants to help pay for that kind of like the PR component of that.

Um since that time, the city has paid some modest amounts for some maintenance, mostly to our mosaics or statues.

So that's been happening since I've been here, at least that I know of.

I don't know if that answers fully your question, but okay.

Yeah.

And it was brought to the commission before about um how to handle artwork which we voted on some time ago.

Um which was uh fix it if we can remove it if there's nothing that could be done, and then to look for so somewhere in our minutes there was something that was presented a long time, a long time ago about that that probably would be included in this over assuming.

Are they uh other comments?

Yeah, I think no, I was just I wrote some questions down earlier.

Yeah, um, is there a like what it what actually exists right now?

Is there a public art permit that exists already?

Um and then is there and did I miss it?

Is there a copy of this sign ordinance?

Um these things that still need to be created.

So public art permit doesn't exist.

That would be the end goal of this process would be to establish the requirement that you need a public art permit if you want to put up or install art that is above and beyond what is allowed under our sign ordinance.

Sign ordinance has been in existence since the 60s.

Um it's been amended from time to time.

It's it's within our zoning ordinance.

So the issue with the barbershop mural um is that it's bigger than the sign ordinance?

Bigger than what the sign allotment for that property is, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, if they if it's within their sign allotment for sure.

Yeah.

You spoke about location on the way here.

I saw it was very colorful, so I know it was beautiful.

I kind of was upset I couldn't even see it because it was at the on the back of a building.

I came here telling down about oh, it's really nice, you need to go see it.

So location matters will matter.

For example, would I get have to get a permit if I had a building and it was all on the back?

If it's not if it's not visible to the public eye, then it's okay.

Is that what you were saying in here?

That's what we're suggesting.

If it's not visible, but you just said you saw it.

I did.

I would say it's visible.

And the public can see it already.

They can see they can see the colors.

They can't figure out what it is.

But you can see I wish I could say it's beautiful.

I mean, well, I don't know what it is, so I can't tell you if it's even acceptable, but it's full of full building off the road in the back.

Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, the goal right now would be if it's visible, we would want to have it go through a process.

Um I mean, we're we're not trying to be punitive.

We're just we're trying to almost enable we're trying to enable a process.

Because right now there is no process and it's confusing.

And uh staff sign city staff has to turn projects away because there's no clear and transparent process.

Okay.

Um it also right now, because there is no process for public art, it does enable staff to turn away things that would probably be inappropriate too, but um but again that would be kind of weeded out then through a more clear and transparent process.

So our goals are to uh like we did before, did a little research and looked around at some other cities and what they have and try to come up with our own uh policy.

I mean I feel like we this was something that started some years ago, a couple years ago maybe, and then it just it sort of failed through.

So we're back at this again.

We uh presented uh I think it was October 2023 a full uh public arts policy.

And we don't know what happened to it, but I was just going through it right now, looking at it.

Some of the questions that we're asking, what should we do is already kind of hammered on in that in that policy.

Like what?

Uh for instance, uh like who owns the copyrights and things like that.

Um let me get this, pull this up here again.

Um yeah, that it could be, but would that was something that was presented some time ago.

Uh ownership and copyright policy for works included public art asset inventory, the city shall own the physical work and the copyright copyrights shall be retained by the artists with reproduction rights allowed by the city and arts commission for appropriate promotional and educational uh funded in part by the city of Julia?

Yeah.

Uh so that's some of the stuff I'm just wondering if any of this has been reviewed or been looked at.

No, it's definitely been reviewed, and I think what you just outlined would be part of that document that's part of that art display agreement.

So definitely part of this process as we've moved moving forward.

And that to me again those speaks to public the public funded art and stuff that's coming through, like your you applied for this grant, and now this arts commission is is tasked with figuring out how to spend that grant funding through that.

So to me, that's where that falls.

Um this ordinance would help address the private sector enabled projects as well.

Um you know, to maybe um Ms.

I mean, what keep giving us information if you feel like there's other communities that we haven't looked at, but at this point in time, like we know you've spent a lot of time on thinking about a public arts policy.

We took one component of that policy.

So I would so be to your point too, um, Ron, that the public arts policy hasn't been tossed aside.

Just staff took a really deep dive on how is there a path forward though for enabling public art to um happen in the city of Joliet.

So we really just took a deep dive at one of those one of the components of that public art policy.

And we're presenting to you, you know, an overview of where we're at in the process.

Um we're not expecting the arts commission to do a bunch of research at this point in time.

I mean, we were happy to take more information, but I mean we have staff now who who are you know been here to do arts and culture.

So um and the planning division staff is gonna continue to help drive um completing this type of a process.

So if you have information, we're we're happy to keep you know diving into the details, but we want to get something to use to help move public art intake forward.

And public arts policy is is still another project that the arts commission should continue to work and I know you have thoughts on that too.

I haven't you know I have this is I don't this isn't I've been at your meetings because this isn't um I haven't been the staff leading for this project, but I have been working on the side with doing what you're seeing here today.

Yes.

Where is that mural that's on central that's right around central campus on the track?

Where does that fall in terms of the accession?

Um that's a good question.

So that was a mural that was done through the Friends of the Community Public Art Initiative.

Um I don't know where that would fall with a deaccessioning process, so that was done through that big larger um effort for the murals for the city.

Something to think about.

And again, I guess to maybe Ron's point, like that question um is would be part of what your public arts policy was looking at, right?

I mean, when I read that it was talking about the de-accessioning of existing city of Joliet community funded art.

So I'm not here to talk, I guess, about that.

So I don't want to confuse the two projects, and that has that project's not dead.

It's it's just I have been working on this to get to enable a process that the arts commission can respond to in the future.

Thank you.

Do you have some last on these women so I can have a final wrap?

Yeah, that's a good question.

Um it's mid-November, so I would hope that we because we want to we want to move this forward.

I would hope by I would say I guess summer.

Um I would aim for spring, but yeah.

To have a when you get that drafted.

Oh, a draft, I'd like to have a draft to this group by spring.

Then there's things that need to still be hammered out, like have the final go to the city council the summer.

I feel like we're almost there.

I really do.

Okay.

All right.

Well, um, I will continue to work with Ann and then you all, and um hope to be back in a couple months with some more updates, and Anne will continue to give you some updates on you know where we're at with this process.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

In case you're wondering why people are showing up, there's a preservation commission meeting at 6.

So hey oh, okay.

We move on through the agenda then or yes.

Okay.

So next up would just be member comments.

Um, wait, wait, no, I'm sorry, this is still part of staff updates.

Oh, we had we had um two components to kind of staff updates.

Um, Jane did the um public art, and then I just wanted to provide some updates as well.

Oh, okay.

So thanks.

Um just a couple things.

Uh, first of all, um Donna, Tom and I um really had an amazing opportunity to attend the one state for the arts and humanities in Champaign.

It was a three-day conference.

It was meeting the moment.

Um there was 307 professionals and 39 breakout sessions.

I have to say, and and Donna and I would love your input here.

I found it incredibly helpful.

You know, there's there were workshops from everything about how to budget things, how to get things done.

I mean, it and just the network of people we got to meet from different communities all throughout Illinois.

I know that I learned a lot and really came back invigorated with starting to implement things in Joliet.

Donna, did you want to add anything since you were there too?

I mean, definitely echo what you're saying.

Just being it, I'm a student of art.

Went to school in Chicago in undergrad and you know programs like Little Black Pearl, like the people at um what is it?

The Morgan, not Morgan part, what is it?

It's gone.

I am so frustrated that I can't remember the name of this art center.

But um being able to network with folks that are making decisions about what happens in their community, I thought was really enlightening.

You know, the loops to the ground of people that are literally making those decisions about how they're reaching out to their communities and networking with them.

One of my goals for wanting to attend beyond being a part of this commission was to, you know, I think in my mind somewhere, my little art studio becomes a um like the Joliet Public Arts Center where you know visual art happens, then humanities happen, and dance and theater.

And so I wanted to go to learn about how these things sort of come about.

And I'm about six years away from retirement, and I mentioned this over that over the weekend from the public school where I work, and my goal is to sort of transition right into community arts.

And so I think if there's anyone who's wanting to continue working in you know the public art spaces that you know, being a part of these conferences and going at working and meeting people is definitely to our advantage.

It's Beverly Arts Center.

I couldn't think of it.

Um but I was able to talk to the women that run the Beverly Arts Center, and they had a lot of great information to share about funding and to reach in the community.

And um, what I'll add to that as well is you know, the theme was meeting the moment, and I will say it was definitely an interesting moment that we are all meeting in, you know, with federal funding grants being changed, um, lots of things are changing, and to have all these people come together to figure out how to get through it and how to support each other.

It really makes you realize how important the network of arts and culture really exists and how how important it is.

Um it's also brought a light to sort of where we are, where I feel like not just you know what the last couple of years a part of this commission.

It sort of should again shines a light on where we are and what we need to go with a lot of um communities so far into these programming that the community can be a part of and partnerships they have with schools.

Um I just think we have a lot of work to do here.

So that that was eye-opening for me.

Yeah.

You know, I mean, and um, you know, the mayor and city manager hired me in this role and created it because they really believe that arts and culture are important to the vitality of people that live here and to bring tourism here as well.

Um and it's really great to get examples from there to kind of show the economic impact of that and like the impact it really does, so that when these projects are actually done, we can help justify them too and help see some of the return by having people move here, enjoy being here, revitalize downtown and the communities as well.

So I'm looking forward to it.

And also just a quick update on the Unity Dome update.

Um Cia Chen came here to kind of present her itinerary when she was here in October.

Um, and I do know that some people were able to join her at some of the community workshops.

Um I wanted to outline the different schools that she visited.

Um, I really took a couple of days to kind of go with her, and it was really astounding.

Um I have to say, um, congratulations and thank you.

You chose an excellent artist to really create something that's represent the city of Joliet.

I was really in awe of how she worked with anyone from second graders to very um people who were artists in high school who wanted to go into art.

I mean, just the way she worked with them to pull information from them to figure out how this unity dome will actually represent Joliet and what's meaningful to people.

Um I have been involved in 25 years of arts and culture, and it's rare that an artist will actually take the opportunity to incorporate community input in a final project.

That does not happen often.

Um and so I'm really proud of Juliet for kind of taking that step.

Um CESIA will actually be well, not be here, excuse me.

We'll do uh final presentation.

The arts commission actually uh helps to recommend for the um final um sculpture proposal on December 10th, is what I'm proposing at 5 p.m.

We actually currently don't have a meeting scheduled in December, but in order to meet the May timeline, we're looking to do that.

Um, and then I did just want to add too, you know, part of the community engagement was online submissions, and in a matter of, I want to say it was two weeks, she got 104 submissions.

So that's people from Joliet submitting their ideas and things like that that she was able to take from, in addition to the community workshops and the schools that were visited.

So any questions on um on Cha Chen.

I know hopefully most of you got an opportunity to meet her when she came here.

Okay.

And actually, I'm gonna turn it back over to Jane.

Um I do want to say something first, though, because I've had the opportunity to meet with some of you.

There's still some I do need to meet with.

Um, and one of the first questions I keep being asked is what is your vision, what is your goals?

Um, and I had a really great conversation.

So Jane is leading the comprehensive plan for the city of Joliet.

And we recently had kind of a touch point, and she was able to talk to me about some of the initial feedback from that community um workshops and things like that that are going to develop visions and goals for um for arts and culture.

So I think working along with the comprehensive plan, we've already gotten feedback from the public on what they want or from the community.

I think will actually help us to develop what we do in 2026 and moving forward.

And Jane, if you can talk to that well though.

Yeah, um, so thanks to all of you who who've already participated in the Juliet Comprehensive Plan.

Um we had a big public engagement process that started this summer, and and um you know it was the first phase kind of is winding down now.

Um we moving forward, we have um we being the advisory committee and staff are evaluating vision, goals, and objectives for these kind of big topic areas, and you'll see them on your screen right now.

Um what we would like feedback from the Arts Commission is on these objectives and goals and whether or not they align with what you see through your lived experience here in the city of Joliet and your and how in your practice or businesses.

So we are having this is done purposely, a workshop on January 21st.

It's so it's the third, the third Wednesday of the month, so it will be at 6 30 p.m.

The goal will be to uh you guys are already the theory here is to capture your attendance um for a workshop geared towards arts, culture, and heritage.

Um the details of like the questions that are going to be asked during that workshop are still being um thought through.

Um we're focusing right now to be honest on the housing neighborhoods and transportation mobility because that's happening um pretty quickly.

But I would encourage you to think about what are some things.

Um I know you haven't seen this document yet because it's in draft and the advisory committee hasn't seen it even yet, either.

It's going to be at the December meeting of our advisory committee.

Um, but you know, what are what are some things that you would like to see come out of a comprehensive plan related to arts and culture?

So just keep that in the back of your mind.

Um then as we move closer to the workshop will we would like to take that feedback from you and then build that into questions as we have a facilitated meeting that night.

Um the screen is the digital version.

Um we are encouraging people to pre-register for these workshops.

This is on the city's web site and the project web page, so you can just click on that.

I also have here if you want to take this is the print version, which has a QR code, um, so we're encouraging people to pre-register.

Um, these workshops are all open to the public, but we are targeting um you know specific people who we think would would add um specific value to these workshops.

So again, I you should have all received an email from me about this about these workshops and as especially as your role as the arts commission.

So I don't know if there's any questions I can answer about this.

Please help promote it.

This is the opportunity to really get people to have a voice with this, and it'll help us shape our 2026 and beyond goals and vision.

That's it.

Um do I for the have a meeting in December?

Is that something that needs to be done here?

No.

No.

No.

I mean I would coordinate with them just to make sure they can come.

We you can do that via email.

Yeah.

If not, pick another date or yeah.

Where was this at again on the Juliet uh website?

So good question.

Um Juliet.gov slash comprehensive plan.

So is there an option like one of the drop downs or um I don't know if it's air.

Yeah, it should be on the home page too.

Yep.

Were we planning a December meeting?

Do we do we need to I think we had talked about not doing a December meeting, but do we need to make a motion to say that we're going to have a December meeting?

That's what I was just asking.

I don't think you need to make a motion.

I mean you we it could be communication offline.

Um I guess you could also hash down now if you want.

Are people available on December tenth at five o'clock?

CJ Chen's available then.

So um I will send an email out tomorrow to all commissioners to um see if that date will work for people to get the quorum to do that.

Didn't want to go much later in December.

So any other old or new business?

If not, public comment.

And if none, then we just need a motion to adjourn.

So thank you.

So Peg made a motion, and then second was all right.

Uh all those in favor of adjournment?

I alright.

Any opposed?

Meeting adjourned.

Happy birthday, Jane.

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Would you have to hit a voice?

It is not done.

It's got to be a good idea.

I even asked the