About that.

Uh we're gonna uh call to order the February 18, 2026, Juliet Arts Commission meeting.

Want to start with roll call, Katie.

Uh Commissioner Flatto?

Uh Commissioner Frank Tappley?

Here.

Commissioner Gertowski?

Here.

Commissioner Romero?

Here.

Commissioner Rosato.

Rosati, sorry.

Not here.

Commissioner Simpson?

Here.

Commissioner Schroeder?

Here.

Commissioner Summers?

Here.

Commissioner Vowling.

Okay.

So approval of our meeting minutes from 1119.

2025.

Did everybody get them?

So move.

Accept them.

Second.

Any discussion?

Nope.

Roll call.

And the special meeting minutes from 1210.

Everybody get to read those.

Yes.

We need approval in a second.

I'll make it a motion.

One second.

Okay, any discussion on that?

Okay.

Aye.

Yeah, I think we need a roll call on both.

Right.

Roll call on both.

Okay.

Commissioner Falato is not present.

Commissioner Frank Tapley?

Yes.

What do we have?

Commissioner Gertowski.

Commissioner Armada.

Who?

Oh.

I sorry.

Commissioner Simpson?

Aye.

Commissioner Stroiberg?

Aye.

Sorry.

Commissioner Summers?

Aye.

Commissioner Bowling.

Sorry, you didn't read those minutes.

I wasn't at the meeting, so need to be in.

Did you did you read them?

Or no?

No, we thought it wasn't in this last thing now.

The one you just sent out for the agenda?

I didn't see the okay.

That's fine.

So that was from the uh 1119 meeting.

How about the 1210 meeting?

Let's go around again on that one.

And that wasn't uh an attachment, it was uh linked to for the approval.

Right.

You can abstain that's like that.

That's right.

The 1210 meeting.

Commissioner Frank Sappley?

Yes.

Aye.

Commissioner Gertowski?

Aye.

Commissioner Romano.

Aye.

Sorry.

Commissioner Simpson?

Aye.

Commissioner Strober?

Aye.

Commissioner Summers?

Aye.

Commissioner Bowling.

Aye.

All right.

Go into our agenda now.

We got a couple of things on our agenda for tonight.

The Arts Commission.

Ann, you want to take that over?

Yes.

Can you guys hear me okay?

Yep.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you for that.

Okay.

And apologies as a little bit of repetitiveness if you guys did see the actual presentation I did for the city council last a couple weeks ago.

But I've added to it as well.

So want to start us off with just a reminder that I keep trying to say to quite a few people.

Arts and culture are not luxuries.

They're powerful, cost-effective ways to activate spaces, boost local economies, strengthen community pride and enhance well-being, making Joliet a more vibrant place to live and visit.

And just as kind of a preface to this for the strip the strategic goals and priorities.

So overall, the strategic priorities.

Now this is for our Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is to activate downtown Joliet through City Square, enhance programming and utilization of Billy Leemacher Bicentennial Park, strengthen citywide programming and partnerships, improve efficiency and coordination of the event permitting process, and to conduct a cultural asset review while strengthening arts commission engagement.

I also want to take a moment to acknowledge that we are in the process of our first comprehensive plan, which is incredibly important.

And I want to note that these priorities will remain flexible and responsive, evolving as needed to align with and align with and support the plan's goals, recommendations, and long-term vision for the community.

And I appreciate all of you that have participated in those community engagement sessions.

City Square.

So we're looking to position City Square as Joliet's central gathering place through coordinated branding and promotion.

The way that I'm approaching this for 2026 is a couple of different levels.

I'm looking to have consistent event series featuring weekly, bi-monthly, and marquee events to activate downtown year-round, looking to strengthen downtown partnerships with the surrounding businesses and co-promote events and to collaborate with community and cultural partners to deliver inclusive programming.

For weekly programming, I'm focusing on June through August.

There are some events that are going to be coming in May and also into September and possibly even October, but the core for consistency is going to be June through August.

And this will include workouts in the square, which are morning fitness classes, dancing in the square, so a little bit of instruction to learn how to dance, followed by a either a DJ or a band performing.

Very excited to be partnering with Michelle at Interno to bring back the Chicago Street Farmers Market to City Square.

And then live at the Square Music Series.

So we'll have I'm aiming towards having at least once a week live music.

And then partnering with the Chicago Public, excuse me, the Joliet Public Library for Family Story Time as well outside.

For monthly and bi-monthly programming, actually had a great conversation with the park district yesterday about partnering to bring in some movies in the square.

Thanks to the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum.

We will be bringing back cars and guitars twice a month.

Family performances in partnership with the Joliet Public Library twice during the summer.

And a community corner.

So looking to partner with City Center Partnership.

There's a smaller stage in City Square that we believe provides kind of an opportunity for organizations in the surrounding area and in Joliet to really kind of highlight some of what they do.

Red Carpet Corridor is taking place from Route 66 from May 1st through the 3rd.

And actually, some of you have already been part of conversations for a sounds of Route 66, which is going to take place on Friday, May 1st in City Square and in the surrounding businesses.

Annual events are coming back, including Star Wars Day and Kids Fest.

Cultural celebrations, we're talking with the Joliette Chamber of Commerce as well as other community organizations to bring back some previous events that have taken place there.

Seasonal celebrations like Light Up the Holidays Festival and Parade.

Race fan rally is coming back.

And then civic events, including a Memorial Day commemoration and the 25th anniversary of September 11th.

I do want to note that the official City Square ribbon cutting is scheduled for June 26th and 27th, featuring music, food, and a drum show.

You have already seen this, but this is the final presentation for the Unity Dome by artist C Zia Chen, which we are very, very excited about, and we think will really make be the centerpiece of City Square.

For Billy Leemacher Bicentennial Park, looking to leverage the park as a shared platform for cultural organizations.

So looking to partner with them to host festivals and community events, establishing a partnership with Joliet Drama Guild as a resident theater partner to deliver consistent and diverse season of programming.

They're actually going to partner with us for the summer drama camp, which we're actually calling Bridge to Broadway, as well as a new winter camp.

And we are very excited to be announcing that we're going to be doing our first all-in-Spanish language theater production in May.

Expanded access to arts education in partnership with Drama Guild, and then to still continue and grow on the signature music programming, including concerts on the Hill.

For citywide programming and partnerships, I'm one of the things I'm really trying to focus on is to partner with the park district and other community organizations that have kind of been doing things in silo and to ask them to work with us to create kind of a citywide calendar so that we are aware of everything that is going on in the city of Joliet.

So the park district, the Joliet Drama Guild will be actually doing a Shakespeare on tour.

They'll be performing at Bicentennial Park, City Square, and then two parks in partnership with the park district, and we're actually in the process of finalizing those.

And then we will be doing the Fourth of July Fireworks celebrating the 250th anniversary.

Very excited to have NASCAR back in Joliet and everything that comes along with that.

The big house ball game at the old Joliet Prison, acknowledging the Joliet Slammer season and taking advantage of both residents and tourists coming for that, and to enhance citywide activation, visibility, and civic pride.

And then to develop and maintain a coordinated calendar of citywide programs.

There's a lot going on in 2026, a lot of anniversaries.

The ones I think you know very near and dear for Joliet is Route 66 Centennial.

We also have the 250th of America, and then the Realto, the County, and the public library are also celebrating anniversaries as well.

Special event permitting, I'm not sure how many of you have actually had to fill out a special event permit, but we are looking to improve efficiency and coordination for that process to make it much more user-friendly for the organizations applying, but also on the other side to make it easier for city agencies to be able to know what they need out of that to be able to support these events.

And then building a cultural framework.

And this is where the arts commission really starts to come in.

So conducting a cultural asset review.

I know work was started to evaluate evaluate Joliet's murals, sculptures, and cultural organizations, but really trying to get an overall kind of to assess all of the assets that exist in Joliet citywide.

Create meaningful opportunities for local artists, performers, and cultural organizations.

This is something I know Deb Falato is not here, but I know this is something that she has been very interested in, has been talking with me and I believe others about as well.

And to re-engage and strengthen the arts commission.

So, you know, we want to, you have been telling me since I first got this that you're ready to go, you're looking for things to do, so figuring out a way to move forward on that, and thank you for your patience on that.

I also started to develop some 2026 commission priorities for public art guidelines, developer update the comprehensive public art guidelines to establish a transparent process for commissioning, installing, maintaining, and de-assessioning public art throughout the city of Joliet.

This work I know has been a couple years in the making, so looking forward to making it the number one priority for next year.

So in line with that, really creating a centralized registry documenting existing murals in order to maintain them.

An artist registry, so going back on what I said before, about establishing an inclusive artist registry to identify and engage local and regional artists.

And this is not only for us to know how to support artists, but to let people know about opportunities when they happen.

So it's kind of a database there.

So if there's an event coming up, something like that, we can send out notifications to artists to let them know of opportunities to participate.

And then board expansion and governance.

So strengthening the arts commission through strategic recruitment, onboarding and engagement of commissioners to reflect diverse skills, disciplines, and community representation.

I do also want to have a conversation.

I recommend at the next committee meeting about the Poet Laureate program.

I have had an opportunity to meet with Ux Martores, who is wonderful, and learn a little bit about what he's done.

He is he completes his year, I believe, in July.

So I would like to have a conversation about people's thoughts on how that program went for its inaugural year, what you know were some of the strength and weaknesses, and if we want to move forward with that, and what changes we would want to do if we did.

Part of what I'm trying to do, and this is where I need your support as well, is to come up with kind of a committee structure and more commissioner roles.

Some of you have already kind of reached out or identified as being interested in specific priorities that I outlined in the previous slide.

So for public art and policy committee, for example, those of you that have already been part of the public art kind of ordinance and governance would be looking to kind of have you spearhead that initiative.

Arts and community engagement committee.

Um so supporting artist registry and outreach initi initiatives, excuse me, Deb Falato has already expressed interest in helping to spearhead something like that.

And then governance and recruitment committee.

So figuring out I know there are terms that are coming up soon.

Uh we also have a conversation today about chair and vice chair moving forward.

Um, but really figuring out um how we can expand and utilize um other representatives in Julia to help us as we develop these priorities and goals.

And then just acknowledging in here a time um limited task force if we feel that that's appropriate for the poet laureate.

Obviously, I want everyone's input in this, but it might be helpful to have someone kind of spearheading evaluating what that is and being responsible for it.

And that is it.

That's all for 2026, we've got it.

Yes, yes.

I personally am getting involved with a lot of pollinator mics.

Okay.

Turn the mic on.

Oh, yeah, can you turn your mark on mic on?

I'm sorry.

Just thank you, Ron.

Oh, sorry.

Um how would I go about proposing to Joliet that um we do have pilot pollinator garden in, like, say a 60-foot 60 square foot section of the Billy Lew Micropark speak through each or probably me.

Yeah, yeah.

If you can come up with a proposal, um I think we can discuss what the possibilities are for that and get the right people in the room to talk about that.

Okay, probably outside.

It's sort of related to it.

Sort of related, sort of outside.

Uh you hopefully everyone here knows.

I am always um, I always enjoy listening to potential opportunities and making sure the right people are in the room to touch discuss those.

Okay, sure.

I'll send an email in.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

This we can just sell, right?

Ron, did you did you want to talk about the public arts policy that's already been established?

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, uh I guess a couple things I'd say is for as long as I've been on here, and I know there's people that have been on here much longer, um, it's nice to see a plan to see what's out here.

So uh you've heard my grievances before that you know that uh Peg and I put some time into the policy, public arts policy, and we felt like it was just a completely ignored, fell on deaf ears.

Uh everybody had time to put their input on it.

We approved it to be to go to the next step and it didn't go anywhere.

Uh as you pointed out, two, two and a half years ago we started that, I think it was.

Yeah.

So I think, at least from my perspective, this is the first time I've actually seen a roadmap of what the arts commission is and what we're gonna do.

Okay.

Um and I personally speaking, not for anybody else, but personally speaking, I was kind of losing interest because we weren't getting anything done.

But I I hung on uh Ann because I knew you were new and you had the experience and of course Tom being chairman and stuff.

Um I'm kind of glad I did know because it looks like we have a bit of a um now we have to put it into action.

That's I think gonna be the main goal here is to see it put into action.

But it's good to see at least a roadmap.

Yeah, uh thank you for that, and I agree it's good to have a roadmap, but I think also working with you and others to identify um some goals for timelines too.

Um I do know that you know things didn't move forward for a couple years.

Um I do believe, and I know we gave a little bit of a presentation about some of the thoughts from the city side, but I'd really look forward, and I think that's kind of why I'm also coming up with those like I say subcommittees or people to kind of help spearhead it, because quite honestly, it's probably a little bit more that we can get done in this meeting.

I think it's more of a um, and we'll I'll have to know all the rules on how to do this, because I know there's different rules about commissioners meeting and numbers and things like that, but if we can meet offline to have people really be um to spearhead those projects and work with me and then come back to this group showing where we are with it.

I think that's where that work comes in as an arts commissioner, and I thank you in advance for sticking around for that.

Some back history on that is there there did exist uh subcommittees of three people here before.

Okay, that's good to know.

But there wasn't much going on, and we brought we brought it voted on you know getting everybody involved making decisions, but um you know maybe that's time to revisit that now that there's a map here to I think there were three people per commission or per uh committee to do that if I would correct.

Does everybody remember that about the three people on there?

We also had a lot larger of a commission at that time.

Yeah, there was changed size.

A little bit.

Yeah.

Just because you know what little we have here, we have seven people, and that's all that can make it tonight.

So although it's good, we have to really come up with a plan how it's going to work out and what we want to do as an arts commission, you know, based on the city's recommendations, how many people are you expecting to recruit and on board to the commission so that we can form these subcommittees?

I think that that's very important.

Um, just one thing going back to the plan that you and Deb worked on.

That's a pretty comprehensive plan for public arts, and I think that uh re reviewing it shouldn't take too much of time.

Um but other things that we have come up with and talked about in our in our uh commission meetings.

Um, where did all that information go to?

Um we we came up with many, many different ideas for art and engaging the community in art around the area, and yet we've done nothing at all with it.

So a lot of us have spent a lot of time working on projects that just were either denied or just never ever followed up on.

And I think a main thing to me with with with staying on an arts commission and engaging more people to be on the arts commission if that's what the city's looking for, we have to keep in line with when we have these ideas.

We need them registered somewhere that we can actually go back to them and look at what we've already done and what uh we haven't done, which is more than what we have.

And you know, it's not a complaint by any means, but it's just a way of encouragement to let's start really looking at this, and we come up with ideas, whether it's one of us or it's two of us or ten of us or whatever it is, these have to be documented so that we have something to go by because we never see them again once we're done with our discussion here at our meeting.

And I think that's a real important part to me as as the chair, you know.

Is there uh a way to put a repository on the city website that have for the art chamber to keep their information like this so there'll be like historical minutes and all that sort of thing?

Oh, they're all posts.

It's all post it.

Oh, it is okay.

It is, yeah.

Okay.

But not probably some of the older stuff they probably didn't catch.

We didn't catch that, right?

From previous should be from all the conversations all the meetings we have should be listed on there and uh in order of timeline.

Okay then you can go back and review it.

There's a lot of things.

If you go back into the archives, yeah.

Um we should maybe have like a section that is archived art projects, art ideas for communities, so that if we want to uh touch on that at a at a meeting, we want to call a meeting and it's gonna be part of our agenda that we're gonna uh touch on what what projects we've come up with, what ideas that we've had that seemed good at the time that never went uh went into action.

We can just go to them and look at them rather than having to go back, you know, reinvest 20 meetings and data base.

We can pull something up quickly.

Yeah.

One question I have I think is pretty important is that um I I don't know that I recall seeing on your plan here in the committees finance.

Well question is uh we've been living off of Illinois Arts Council that started out, I think our max was what 21,000 or 28,000 at one point, which is now five thousand, which we can call all go to lunch on that because it doesn't do much.

We're appreciated of that, but five thousand dollars doesn't really carry very far.

So what number one, what's the city, and they have a history of giving quite a bit of money to uh to the arts.

That's why we had so many great murals that are now gone.

Um and then what are the possibilities of uh as we've all asked having fundraisers to help the arts community, or where where else do we find the funding?

Okay.

Um those are all great questions that I'm working on.

I don't have direct answers right now.

I will say that um I have to find out if like a specific finance committee can be created because um the arts commission is more of a guidance, but I think what it is is coming up with those um ideas and projects and figuring out uh then it comes back to me to figure out how to get that budget.

Yeah, and I don't think uh I think there's a lot of us up here that have ideas of how to raise that that money.

I don't think we're looking to have our own uh accounting system or our own, but we I think we've all offered ways to help.

We've oftentimes found grants to apply for, which sometimes get overlooked.

Um and we've talked about, like we said, doing fundraisers for the arts community to pay the artists to do certain projects or to take things like on that.

I guess we're I for my point we don't know what we are capable of doing because everything costs money, and if we're living off that five thousand dollars, there's not much we can do.

So that's just a question of where is the funding come from, how much we're talking about, and how can we help to bring awareness and and funding it.

Go ahead.

Uh this, you know, I can tell you you've done this and this mission statement is great.

I guess maybe you'll answer this.

Do you feel like you represent the whole city in this, or is this your you know, vision because of you know who you are and what your background is and you know what what's important to you, I guess you feel confident that the you know the you know the council feels the same about this mission and and the same level you do.

Uh I can actually confidently say yes.

Um so when I was developing these strategic priorities, I had quite a few meetings with different people, different representatives from council, um, different representatives in the the different businesses and things like that.

I did not meet with everybody up here, I understand, because I knew I was gonna be kind of presenting and then we could talk through some of them.

But um I I did get input um from the directors at the city of Joliet as well.

Um, you know, I uh feel very confident that we have the support of the city manager and the mayor behind this.

I think they've made that very clear.

Um and I'm excited about it, you know, and I think I'm finding ways to work with the different divisions within the cities to help support this.

You know, community development and public works, things like that.

Um, as I learn how they function and can support this, we'll work together to figure it out.

So yes, I have support.

That's my long answer.

That's encouraging.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And I I think from my standpoint, knowing that you've been here just a short while with the city, it does take you know at least a year and any job to feel comfortable enough to be able to answer a question um of such seriousness that we're talking about.

You know, this isn't this is something that we're trying to do as citizens for the betterment of the city of Joliet, for the beautification of the city of Juliet for the interest in bringing more people here that aren't from Joliet necessarily.

You're not gonna grow a city by 150,000 people if that would if that's what the goal is by just um including people from Joliet.

We have to make it something that people from all over the place are gonna come and want to come to Juliet and see the beauty and see the significance that we are in the state of Illinois.

And I think like the rock and roll museum that Ron is is working on is a great um idea to bring people from all over the world basically to come to the City of Joliet.

And our beautification program uh through the arts, I think is gonna be um just as important, if not more so, that people want to come here and see that things have been cleared up and cleaned up and and we have a commitment from from our community to make it better.

So it's it's good to see that you're working with all the groups around Juliet and finding your way through it all.

So thank you.

Give you a little time there.

Um can I ask Deborah and uh do you do you guys have any thoughts over there?

Donica?

I'm just taking it on land.

Okay, sounds good.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

You're welcome.

Just um I will send that out to all of you as well.

I think it is also available.

Is it on the website as an attachment?

I'm trying to remember.

I'll send it out to all of you so that you can see it too and and provide some additional feedback and things like that.

And please do keep in mind that this is a starting point.

You know, there's there's a lot of things going on, but there's also still a lot of um opportunities I think that can be incorporated as well.

Any other discussion on this?

No.

Okay, next up is the discussion for a new chair and vice chair.

Um you want to leave that one too, Ann?

Uh sure.

Since I'm trying to figure out exactly what that is.

Um hang on a second, let me pull up something.

Uh I don't know that I got a real answer.

Okay, so we are going to work through this because this is my first time ever doing this.

Um but I believe what we can do today is kind of talk through the process of it.

Um and then I will follow up uh with an email details on um what it is.

You guys have actually been through this before, correct?

Obviously, since you're chair.

Yeah.

Okay.

Then I might turn it back to you, Tom, on kind of how this worked before a little bit, because this is new to me.

Do you can we have a discussion today and uh maybe at the next meeting have those interested in being chair and vice chair?

Is that how it works?

I think pretty much that's what we did the last time.

I know that there was uh it might be in the bylaws what the term of the chairman is.

Yeah.

And I'm not I don't recollect exactly what that is right now, but uh I think that would be a starting point.

I don't know if it's one year or two year, and then the vice chair, I think rotates in, which would be uh um uh Donna, I believe, is the vice chair, correct?

So you would step up to the uh chairman's position in a rotation, if that's what the bylaws say, but I think we'd have to really review those.

Okay.

I think that's voted on, right?

I think so.

Yeah, I don't think it I don't think it's a succession.

I think it's uh vote on the I don't really remember.

You know, I know that it's for two years, isn't it?

That's also I don't recall the bylaws if it's one or two.

Um I'm trying to find it now, but I believe I thought the chairman was two years.

Um well the terms for commissioners shall be two years.

Right.

Um I am finding it because I thought that chairs were discussed every year.

Um I think I don't think there is a term limit.

It's not, you know, but um I thought I saw that the chairs were every year.

I think it's one year with two year consecutive, right?

Terms for chairperson and vice chairperson shall be one year, but an individual may succeed him herself from year to year.

So there we go.

Okay.

So do we talk about that now or do we wait till our next meeting?

Is there is there an expiration when that when the term is?

Is it June?

I will find out for you.

Tom, do you remember when you started?

It was starting in June from what I recall.

That's what I seem to recall, but it's just by memory, but thank you for your patience.

Certain things that we talk about, and that's what I'm saying, you know, like some of the projects that we go by the wayside that we never ever talk about, and we forget what it's all about.

So here it is going into maybe it was June.

I I don't I don't know if I remember.

But it seems longer than that because it's already almost March.

So I'm not I'm not really sure.

But um, as far as voting on that, do we wait to the May meeting to vote on it?

Or do we have the discussion here?

Do we vote on what's gonna happen in three months?

Um I'm not really sure.

I'm not sure.

It's clear that you can succeed yourself, correct?

So that's uh that's I think this you know if somebody if somebody determines that you know it was in March or something, and we need to do something sooner, then maybe we'll have to call a special meeting.

But otherwise I would think we're all thinking about it.

Next time we have a meeting, we can know when the deadline is and whatever the closest meeting to the expiration, we'll make nominations and go from there, no?

Okay.

Is there a way we can find that out?

We're gonna find it out.

I apologize.

I was trying to find it for this meeting and wasn't able to ultimately.

And I wasn't sure exactly what we were gonna talk about.

So I wanted I I was kind of told I needed to bring up the conversation to start it.

Um, but I was trying to find I other than what was on here, trying to find more information about the process because I'm new at it, and I hadn't been able to get um those details.

So I think we'll if we can um put it as an agenda item for the next meeting, and I'll make sure um to send in advance kind of what the bylaws are and everything like that and what the terms are and when they expire.

Sounds like a good solution to me.

Do we have to vote on that?

Or I don't think so, right?

Just to with all this that you've presented.

We're meeting what every other month or every month.

Right now it's every month.

Right, okay.

Uh just thinking that you know, with all this that there that there's some urgency just uh, you know, to bring it up and what whatever the whatever any of these things are that need our thoughts and approval on, you know we need it every month.

That's all you got correct.

Yeah.

Uh this is you know, centennial year and summer, etc.

etc.

So uh yeah, let us know how we can.

Well, I think I found what we were looking for here.

Uh the voting uh let me make sure I've got the right one.

The voting commissioners shall at the first regularly scheduled meeting of each year elect a chairperson and vice chairperson from among its members.

Nominations must be submitted and seconded by voting commissioner for each office.

A commissioner may not nominate um him or herself for consideration.

The vote shall be by separate roll call.

Uh each office candidate receiving the most uh votes assuming the office's position immediately following the vote.

Uh no commissioner shall serve more than two successive terms in any elected commission office.

That's it.

Then there's something about resignation of an officer, if that comes up.

Anyway, it's here.

Okay.

Thank you.

So this is our first.

It's our first meeting.

So that's why we're having the discussion.

I did remember seeing that, which is why I knew I needed to have the discussion.

Um I'm just not familiar with what the process is.

Well, this is that's what I'm saying.

It seems longer.

It goes by quick because we meet once a month unless there's no meeting, unless there's a holiday, unless there's so we may, out of twelve meetings, we may end up only having seven or something.

So it seems like it goes pretty quickly.

So based on what you're you're reading there, today's the day that we have to make that decision because this is the first one.

Yeah, it says the first meeting after the first year, after the first of your uh nomination and then a vote.

So I'm being told by my legal person here that um since it's not an actual agenda item, we actually don't vote on it.

Right.

It'll be on the next agenda.

All right.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

Any other discussion?

So uh staff comments.

That's me again.

You get to hear from me again.

Um hang on, let me pull my document.

Where is it?

Too many documents.

So I actually these staff updates are from Becky, um, who is our grants person who's amazing.

So when you're talking about grant opportunities and things like that, it's wonderful that we now have someone who we can give these to and who actively goes after them.

Um so we're in the process of applying for a national endowment for the arts grant to provide inclusive events for individuals with intellectual disabilities and or um individuals that have autism spectrum disorder.

These events will focus on arts and wellness, encouraging positive mental and physical health.

This program will emphasize building a healthy lifestyle through education and exposure to the arts.

Um it's a one-to-one cost share requirement, and we're in the process of figuring out what that budget would be because it's for 2027.

But I'm looking at approximately $20,000 that would come to my from my budget to actually go towards that.

Um we're also gathering information to apply for a fiscal year 2027 Illinois Arts Council general operating support grant that's due in March.

I just became aware of.

Um the City of Joliet has been successful in obtaining this grant in past years, and we plan um to reapply for this upcoming cycle.

Right now, I'm in conversations about this to discuss um potentially using this for the Poet Laureate program again.

Um this is what we used for the Poet Laureate before.

Um so we're considering using this for the Poet Laureate program again for 2027, because otherwise I actually I don't have specific funding allocated for the poet laureate.

And in the past, we have gotten a range anywhere from 20,000 to tw to 2500.

I think this is the one we didn't get much from last year.

So those are the two kind of overall updates I have for right now.

So we had we had uh done a large grant for murals that was sent in, I think it was through the from the national endowment.

Yes.

And do you know the status of that?

We did not get that.

We didn't get it.

We were not qualified.

Um and I will find out the reason for that.

Um that was it was a bit of a yeah, we were looking for a lot.

Yeah.

Um I will find out the exact reason why we didn't get it.

Both Becky and I were pretty upset about it because we thought we had a really good proposal.

So apologies, I should have included that as a report out.

Thank you for reminding me.

Thank you.

Can you put on your list just as a uh request here to find out because we've asked it for this well before we came here?

If we're doing uh murals, can we possibly get a corporate sponsor for that?

Is there any legal issues with getting corporate sponsorships?

Uh example, the big uh Joliet mural that's vinyl on top of the uh parking deck was done by old national bank.

Yeah.

So can we can we pull in some of those for funding?

I will ask.

I'll ask and get back to you a good question.

It's also currently peeling.

Yes.

Yeah.

I'm sorry, what was that?

It's actually peeling off right now.

Yeah, I know.

I know the life expectancy wasn't terribly long, but it seems like it should have lasted longer than it did, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's an extreme weather.

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to fix at least the top part of that, but it's tricky because it's very high up.

So I would think if it was vinyl, they probably still have that image somewhere that they could cut that section out and replace that section.

I would hope.

I don't know who did the vinyl work though.

I'll find that out as well.

And that's the whole upkeep thing that we've talked about and it's been discussed in council meetings and everything.

You know, especially when we were working on the dome.

That was a especially one of the council people was you know adamant about well, how are we going to fund this to keep up with?

And yeah, in the history of Joliet, I know that there was quite a bit of money that was reserved for art projects, and I want to say that it was uh about 250,000 a year.

Yes.

I've asked about that quite a few times.

So where do we find that funding?

One of the questions was, and I mentioned this before too, is hotel motel tax.

If we can get part of that.

Um Bob Navarro's aware of that.

I think we have some city staff here that's aware of that too that could pull in some significant dollars.

Uh hotel and motel taxes.

Do we know what that is?

Maybe seven million a year or six million dollars a year on hotel motel tax.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm trying, I know I've heard about this.

I'm trying to recall where it actually goes, if it's a general fund or something else.

The current hotel motel tax is going to general funds.

But um, as I said, I think it's it may be like the six or seven million dollar range.

Uh when Steve Jones was here, they raised it from seven percent to three percent.

That three percent was supposedly going to come to the to the arts and and marketing and things like that for downtown.

But instead that ended up going to general uh as well.

Yeah.

But I know there's been talks about raising it again and getting and in the number that I kind of heard could have been 500K to 750K.

Uh that could go to downtown marketing and and arts.

I hope.

That would be great.

Yeah.

Or perhaps it was just a dream I had one day.

I'm not sure.

Dreams are good.

And then I uh we had some discussion also about some of the leftover funds that we had that went into the general fund that we didn't use for art.

Yeah.

And that just went into whatever, but we didn't get to keep it or turn it over or use it for anything that was going on.

So if we can avoid having to give it back to give it to somebody else.

Or if we use it properly and we don't have to give it to general fund, would be the ideal situation.

I think just but better planning.

Right.

Because uh some of the old grants, especially LNR Arts Council, you get notified at the beginning of the year and the end of the year, one month before you have to do something with it.

There, you know, people are voting on it like what are you gonna do with this?

I think we just need to have better planning for what to do with those funds early on in the year.

Those grant cycles happen quicker, especially if we only have six or seven meetings a year.

Yeah, they don't.

And if you have any things that you find about grant opportunities, please send to me because off you know, Becky's usually really good about knowing what they are, but sometimes you miss things, so please.

Okay.

Any other comments?

No, we have no public comments.

Any other discussions by anyone about the arts commission tonight?

Uh I just want to throw out uh Tom's taking care of a project for the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum.

You may already know we we took out the windows on the second and third floor.

Hundred year old windows.

And we kept the frames together and we're looking for artists to do some artwork on them.

Um they are maybe what?

They're either 18 by 20 or 20 by 65, basically.

And I did get a glimpse today of one that's in the process.

It's really turning out cool.

It starts out with muddy water, I believe, and then goes into I forget the second one, but it ends up with Jack White that's called current.

So how the uh the blues started out and it got into rock and roll, and now it's uh how the transformation goes.

So she's doing some etching and different things on the glass.

It's really really awesome.

So if you need windows, or if you know anybody that's really interested, it's a really cool project, and they're gonna be hung in the museum for forever, basically.

And uh cool to be part of the art in the city of Joliet at the Illinois Rock and Museum.

Now the only thing it does have to do with Illinois music, rock and roll records, um DJs, uh radio stations, and classic boards, you know, stuff like that.

And we're we're planning on hanging a tag next to each to say who the artist was.

Uh we could possibly do a QR code or something to link to your website or whoever's website.

I think that would be an ideal.

I think the idea is just to promote the arts uh here in Juliet and the Artists, and to have that in there so Tom's heading that up.

It's a pretty cool project.

I got I got really good feedback on it.

And I still have I have several left, but not uh not not a whole lot.

So if you're interested, come and get one or two of them.

Or if you just the wooden frames of the wooden pain and the wood.

It's the wood and the panes.

Okay, it's the wood frames and the panes.

And the glass the glass and the glass.

The glass is being painted as well.

Okay, so I have someone that's interested in doing one with um uh stained glass and then some other uh form of glassware, but they kind of crush it up and color it and make designs on it.

So there's a whole lot of different ideas that are being done, and some of them actually have some hundred-year-old uh hinges and latches and things that a lot of the artists that came and looked at and were really interested in.

So if you want to get it, and I also have one pile of reclaimed wood left too.

So we're looking for some woodworkers that would like some of this wood, a great project.

We have some frames we need built for uh some pictures that Ron has at the Rock and Roll Museum, and I think that it's great to get the community involved in all that.

And also August 22nd, we finally got our date for our white wine jazz and arts fest.

Uh everybody, of course, is invited to take part of that.

We don't charge for booth space or anything like that.

It's an opportunity for artists to come out.

Um you can sell your art if you want to, you can do art there while you're there, however, whatever you choose to do with it.

Uh we bring in uh in the past we've brought in uh three or four jazz bands, and it's a wine tasting as well with local wine wineries.

So please join us for that anyway.

August 22nd.

August 22nd.

August 22nd.

Okay.

Uh no, it's gonna be a bicentennial park again this year.

And I do know that out in Frankfurt, the Frankfurt Arts Association got in touch with me because they were wanting to um they've done some fundraising, they got some money they'd like to spend to help Joliet's renovation downtown.

So uh they have a place called the Underground, which uh is on White Street in Frankfurt, and uh they came out and looked at the museum for some of those windows, and uh they'd like to become partners with us in a way where they can actually take some of the fundraising that they've done and put it into Juliet itself.

So I think that's a great thing to see another community want to get involved in helping us to renovate the the downtown area of Juliet, especially because that's what our focus seems to be on right now, and then we move on to other sections of the city, so it's good to have somebody that wants to join with us.

So it's a Frankfurt Arts Commission, they they are located at 20 South White Street, the underground, right across from the guitar store.

Um whatever that guitar stores are water street or whatever that's what we're installed, John.

You might know.

Yeah.

Uh Frankfurt down home guitars.

Sound home.

That's um, so it's right, basically Kitty Corner from them.

Any other comments or discussions?

No.

So I guess we need um someone to okay the adjournment of our meeting for today.

I moved that we adjourn our meetings.

So moved.

Second?

I'll second.

Second?

Second.

I hate to ask all in favor because it'll be thanks everybody for coming out tonight.

Thank you, everyone.

Hope we don't see you before.

We will see you in March sometime.