Good afternoon, everyone.

I would like to call the March nineteenth meeting to order at four PM.

Uh Deputy City Clerk, are we in compliance?

Yes, Chair, we are.

Um, for item number one, we will need to do the roll call.

Chair Beals.

Here.

Vice Chair Bednarchik.

Here.

Second, Vice Chair Roberts.

Here.

Commissioner Clevin.

Here.

Commissioner Douglas.

Here.

Commissioner DeSantis.

Here.

Commissioner Chirk.

Here.

Commissioner Portnoy.

Here.

Commissioner Chi.

Excused.

Commissioner Von Bastians.

Here.

Commissioner Galatian.

Here.

Thank you, Chair.

You have a quorum.

Thank you so much, Yvette.

This meeting has been properly noticed and posted within the has this meeting been properly noted and posted within the open meeting law.

Yes, Chair has.

Thank you so much.

Now we'll move on to item number two, announcement regarding oh, item number three.

I'm sorry, you all.

Item number three, public comment.

Comment during this portion of the agenda must be limited to matters on the agenda for action.

If you wish to be heard, come forward and give your name for the record.

The amount of discussion as well as the amount of time any single speaker is allowed may be limited.

Do we have anyone at this time?

I'm moving on to item number four for possible action to approve the final minutes by reference of the regular meeting of February nineteenth, two thousand twenty-six.

Motion passes.

Next, I would like to move to item number five report by Carmen Beals, Art Commission chair regarding a monthly summary of current initiatives, cultural events, and opportunities awards.

Join us this evening for the Nations of Erasure reception, March 19th, 5 to 7 p.m.

at City Hall Chamber Gallery.

Notions of Erasure is an exhibition of Nevada Arts Council Fellowship recipients on view through April 23rd.

Join us for a workshop led by Artist Lois Ledris, how to craft your first public art proposal Thursday, March 26th from 6 30 to 7 30 at Civic Center Public Meeting Room.

This educational workshop will break down the key elements of creating a strong public art proposal.

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information about these events, please visit WWW.artslas Vegas org or call 702 229 Arts 2787.

Do any commissioners have additional events or happenings they would like to mention?

This is Commissioner Trick.

I would like to invite all Nevada artists to attend two free workshop hosted by Nevada Arts Council, um, Artist Inc.

and supported by Emily Hall Tremain Foundation.

It is called What Works Essential.

Um, the two part uh uh webinars will happen on April 3rd and April 13th.

Um, and that will include um let me read the Suscription, excuse me.

What Work Essential is the first in a two-part workshop series for Nevada based artists and creatives.

Essential is based on sharing the common behaviors of successful artists, entrepreneurs.

Uh this training includes gold setting and planning portfolio careers and multiple income streams, communication, marketing and branding, strategic networking, financial planning, and much more.

Uh please register uh online at nbartcouncil.org or m.org slash events.

Um let me just make sure the date.

And yeah, so the first workshop is April 3rd, and the second workshop is April 13th.

Thank you.

This is Commissioner Portnoy.

Um the 14th, Tuesday, 14th of April at 5 30.

I have an exhibit opening reception at the West Charleston Library.

It is the endangered species series.

There are 15 original works of art, all framed up.

And it's gonna be an exhibit running for a couple months and possibly through the entire library system here in Las Vegas.

So the opening reception will be Tuesday, the 14th at 5 30, the West Charleston Library.

Next Thursday, the 26th, um LGA Architecture is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and we're having a reception.

And as part of the reception, we have our alley gallery set up with work from the uh the employees of LGA based on the theme deep roots bold growth.

Um, so I'd like to invite you all if you want to stop by.

There will be uh there'll be uh beer and wine and some refreshment.

So you come for the art, come for the wine, whatever.

Come on by if you have a chance.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

This is Commissioner Douglas.

There's a few events that are happening at the Nubu Art Gallery and Community Center.

Uh this week, well, tomorrow for Friday, it's the Scrambled Eggs Presents Art Jam.

You could bring a project or start a new one, and it'll be at the New Boo Art Gallery at 1331 South Maryland Parkway.

And the last day for this season is going to be tomorrow on Friday from 4 p.m.

to 8 p.m.

So check that out.

And you can look at Scrambled Egg sites for that.

And this Saturday we have Tejito at New Wu Art Gallery.

It's a communal fiber arts workshop.

Uh masks are encouraged, it's a career safe, all ages and all skill levels, um, arts, art jam.

Bring any projects, teach, learn a new skill, or spend time with us.

Learn to weave and community together.

And it's also at the New Woo Art Gallery and Community Center this Saturday, March 21st from noon to 4 p.m.

at 1331 South Maryland Parkway.

And last we have, oh, not last.

Uh Monday on March 23rd is Mollinali Productions presents creators space as a space for artists, creatives, and community, and it's at Mollinali Studios at 1335 South Maryland Parkway.

And that will be from 6 to 9 p.m.

Similar to Art Gem.

Just you know, creatives come out and have fun.

And then we also have the Healing the Heart closing reception.

That will be at the gallery, and that'll be March 27th on Final Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.

at the New Boot Art Gallery and Community Center.

And one event that is not at the gallery but definitely notable is the Phenomenal Women Poetry Festival, hosted by Elle Hope and Spotlight Poetry.

It starts on Thursday, March 26 and runs through the weekend through the 28th.

It's the Phenomenal Women Poetry Festival.

It's a three-day gathering designed to uplift, empower, and celebrate women and femme poets of all of all experience levels.

And there's tickets available.

You can go to SpotlightPoetry.org.

That site again is Spotlight Poetry.org for the Phenomenal Women Poetry Festival.

Thank you.

This is Commissioner Clevin.

I'd like to invite everyone on Saturday to the Art You OK Wellness Festival here at the Civic Center in the plaza from noon to six.

We'll have vendors, wellness vendors and great artistic performances.

So hopefully we see you there.

Well, that's it.

Well, thank you so much.

And for the event last week, I personally would like to thank the city of Las Vegas and this amazing department and everyone who came out to support the opening of Rhythm and Resilience, Black Vegas.

Thank you so much.

Now thanks.

Thank you.

Now moving on to item number six presentation by Corey Fagan, Executive Director, First Friday Foundation, regarding a summary of current initiatives ward three, Councilwoman Diaz.

Hi.

Hi everyone.

It's always an honor to share what we're doing with First Friday.

Do I get to sit?

Oh good, that's even better.

We're a lot more comfortable than it's much more comfortable to sit down, yes.

I'm not a professional speaker, but always an honor to share what we're doing with First Friday in downtown Las Vegas and within our arts district.

I'm very proud of it.

I'm the executive director, and my name is Corey Fagan for those of you that do not know me.

Our purpose is to create platforms for emerging artists and support community connection and bring artistic experiences to the community through outreach programs to constantly and emphatically seek, discover, inspire, and explore creativity in all of its forms, and to ignite the creative spirit that exists within and defines us all as human.

That's our mission statement, and that is what we do daily.

We're best known for the big event that we host downtown, where we see over 20,000 people in a six-hour period come through the event, and we support over 200 artists on the art walk, and we have about 40 different food trucks, small businesses and vendors that participate.

And it is a space where the local community can gather together and creatively express themselves and connect with each other.

We do have a lot of outside programming outside of the event, and Art You OK, which is happening this week is one of those things.

We strongly believe that art breaks down barriers, create creates connectivity, and that it's necessary.

Art is always beautiful to look at, but historically, we believe that it is absolutely necessary for our mental health.

We believe that creativity helps students navigate through big emotions like anxiety, depression, isolation, suicidal thoughts.

We have programs in over 19 different Clark County schools with Art U OK, and this weekend on Saturday, we celebrate our annual Art U OK Resource Fair, which we've been doing since 2018 with the city of Las Vegas proudly.

And we see we're uh the RSVP this um this month, this will be our biggest one at Civic Center, is about 800 people currently, and we have about 46 uh Nevada resources that um are on uh that uh support mental health that will be at the event along with some incredible programming for the beautiful stage that we have here in Civic Center, um, and a lot of great special speakers, the guest speakers that will talk on mental health.

We have about 16 workshops that are free to the community that the people can navigate through, like painting by expression, journaling, um, uh dance, yoga on the lawn, breath work, uh, a lyrical workshop where they'll actually learn to write lyrics and then actually perform a song on the city stage at about four o'clock.

And then we have the local band, The Otherwise, which is a local touring band, and we have shoulder to shoulder Bobby Gibson, which is our veterans program.

We also have a senior creative aging program through the Art EOK program, and that allows seniors to kind of connect and not feel isolated and kind of express themselves through creativity.

So I'm really proud of those programs.

We engage with a lot of nonprofits.

First Friday is a 501c3, but we are we there probably isn't a nonprofit that we haven't collaborated with in the 24 years that we've been we've been putting on First Fridays.

And they'll be out at the Art U OK Saturday as well.

But they were they had the best time, and they did an art project.

They got some of their art badges by participating and showing up.

The library district comes out and they create bookmarks with the community and do some really fun things with them out at the event as well.

So I love I love the nonprofits that we get to participate with.

Dazzle Africa is a really interesting one because it allowed us to actually help the Girl Scouts get their first clean water badge, which is a little bit off of art, but we were able to engage with people in a in a in Ethiopia in their uh Dazzle Africa as part of conservation and education and water efforts, clean water efforts in a little town called Mafui.

And the students in Mafui were able to make this beautiful art on banana paper with berries and all of these different things and bring that art.

The executive director brought that art here, and then our artists created the framework to go around that artwork.

And then we were able to showcase that and sell the artwork to that went back to clean water efforts.

So that was one of the programs we were able to do, and we were able to tell students that no matter where they lived, they could make a difference in different parts of the world through art, and we thought that was really important and necessary.

Um October's anniversary is our anniversary month.

This month, this year we'll celebrate 24 years.

We always do the theme One World Through Art, where we bring in all of the different cultures and communities, their traditions, their food, their dance, their music, their art.

We bring all of those cultures together on this one special night.

We usually have about 32 different cultures that kind of join us.

They share their traditions, their food, their dance, their art.

We work very closely with the fusion unit during this time to engage community policing so that we can kind of tap into allowing a lot of our community members that contribute to Las Vegas kind of have this space to feel safe and to connect with the community and create understanding because some people, you know, everyone's different, and it's just an opportunity for everyone to learn more about each other.

So I love the theme that we have in October, and how we're able to work with our local police department during that month as well.

Um let's see.

Did I?

I hope so.

I think I did.

This is a project that we did at Rancho High School.

Um, it's one of the things that we do.

Um, this is our artist Nancy Good, who's one of our local artists, and we allow the through we we do about a two-week summer camp in the high schools.

And Rancho High School, um, they had just gone through that terrible time when they had a murder in their school, which is a terrible thing, and Rancho High School reached out to us and said, Can you help us heal our school through the Art EOK program?

We want our our freshmen that are coming into the school to feel more included.

We want them to be able to get out a lot of the anxiety that they're feeling about coming to the school, and their parents were a little bit nervous about their freshman students coming into the school.

So that was a big deal to me, and you'll notice this mural at the very front of the school when you go in today.

Um, it's the first thing that you see in the school.

And so, through you know, visualization and breath work and conversation and journaling, we were able to on the midweek have the kids write, and you'll see in here a lot of the things that they wrote, um worthless, things that they were feeling, that they were scared.

One of the students wrote abuse, and that's kind of what this picture is showcasing right there.

We had school counselors there to kind of work with her after she wrote that because it was very emotional.

One of the teachers wrote Fat Times 2, and she was in tears because she said she tells herself that she's fat and feels defeated before she even gets into her classroom every day.

So a lot of emotions were taken out through this through this particular project.

The next day after this, we had them liberate themselves and we had them paint over it.

And the idea was that all those things live within us.

We all have emotions and thoughts and feelings, but they don't necessarily define who we are.

And um, and so I loved this project project.

Afterwards, we had them write in clear gloss positive words like hope and love and things that were they felt good about themselves about.

And when you they wrote it because it was clear gloss, you could actually see it, but then when it dried, it disappeared because we don't always walk around with smiles on our face, and we're not always walking around happy and joyful, so positivity doesn't even necessarily live within us all the time.

The idea was that this mural and these projects and these thoughts in this camp that it would stay with those students, and when they went into the school every day, they would see this because it's part of their school and something that they did together.

And I thought I had another picture of this.

Can I go?

Oh, there it is on the bottom.

That's the completed mural.

We do an unveiling and an opening on the bottom.

You'll see that with the students.

Councilwoman Diaz was there, um, the principal was there.

Uh Evans was there on that day as well.

And um, and and that is the finished project.

It's a beautiful mural, and all of those things that they went through, they're gonna remember and connect with the with the students that they went through.

We found through these programs, it's our third year at Rancho High School.

The attendance is better, the grades are better, students are more engaged, they're more active, and they've connected with a community of about 50 to 48, 48 to 50 students that have been in this program that they kind of when they start school, they already know these kids, so we love that.

Um, this is our uh Art U OK poster that we did.

Um we have a local artist, Mila, and I don't know that the did the video not load up.

Okay.

So Mila May um at Green Morning Art, she won our poster contest and was stipend 2500 to create our posters each month, and um she's getting ready to have a baby, and so now she had a little extra income, and she's able to do something at home while she's getting ready to have a baby.

So um, so she's doing our posters each month, and that was this month's poster.

So I think that's all I thought.

Oh, there is there she is.

But the video's not loaded, the video doesn't load up.

And that's it.

Questions.

Does anyone have any questions?

Well, this is wonderful.

I'm definitely going to attend Art U OK on March 21st.

It's a beautiful presentation, and I love the poster and the support of Mila.

This is Commissioner Clemen.

I just want to say thank you so much for the work you do.

You bring a lot of cultural vibrancy and expression to downtown, and I think that's one of the anchors of DTLV, and it's a lot of that is because of what First Friday does.

So we appreciate what you're doing.

Commissioner Douglas, I was just gonna echo exactly what Jen said.

But yes, thank you so much for your work and your dedication to the community.

This is uh Commissioner Portnoy.

I have one question because I'm still the newbie on the uh council here, but uh I've been here now for 10 years, and first Friday has always been you know Las Vegas tradition, First Friday.

And the 16 years, correct that you've been running it.

Has it expanded it all territorially?

I mean, the arts I have a gallery just outside the district, so I'm not in the district yet, a very vibrant, you know, 3200 square foot gallery.

Have you expanded?

Has it been any thought of you've now working with the schools, which I think is a tremendous idea, get the kids involved.

But traveling the first Friday theme around the valley.

Other than just First Friday, you know, it's always preview Thursday.

This first Friday, you know, the whole drill.

Absolutely.

So we do a lot of ancillary events.

We have two farmers markets with the city of Las Vegas as well, um, the second and fourth Thursday of every month.

Uh we have the Art U OK program, and then we have another farmer's market on the second and fourth Friday of each and every month.

We have expanded onto Main Street, going more north of Charleston.

So Maine to Hoover.

I don't know where your gallery west in Wyoming, right on the corner, right by the road trust.

Which we used to be south of first of Charleston as well.

And it it's just the cost and the expense and the liability of being continuing to grow.

And we are growing, but there's a lot of challenges that come with that as well.

Always with growth.

I mean, the arts district is is growing and it's um there's a lot of new development, which is exciting and and um, but it does present you know a lot of different challenges with trying to uh deal with unaccompanied minors and you know, just sit normal situations that you would see with any big event.

So we find those challenges, but always open to new ideas that are doing a great job.

For artists, we're always looking for that.

So yeah.

Well, there's if there's nothing else, thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to share First Friday.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And now we would like to move to item number seven report by Jonathan Mesa, Cultural Affairs Manager regarding festivals and current initiatives.

Hello.

Hello.

How's everyone doing wonderful?

Thank you again, commissioners.

Uh good afternoon or slightly good evening.

Uh what we call this portion of the day.

Um again, my name is Jonathan Mesa.

I'm the Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Las Vegas in charge of the performing arts division.

And my purpose today is to introduce what my division, what my team does um in supporting our ecosystem of performers.

Um everyone that comes to Las Vegas really experiences Las Vegas as a performance-based town, um, which we're extremely proud of.

So it's it's really my team's purpose, my team's uh drive to um showcase what uh performers are able to do, put them on stage and create this ecosystem of performers.

Um so as we dive into it.

Our goal is to highlight and support local artists by providing opportunities for them to share their talent and contribute to vibrant uh community events.

We are proud to say that more than 60 percent of the artists in our entire in our current season are right here in Las Vegas.

Uh we achieve this by uh prioritizing local dancers, musicians, theater performers, and spoken word artists, also by providing performance opportunities at festival concerts and events, supporting paid opportunities for local artists and promoting performances through city channels and cultural programming, really at the core of what we do is putting artists on stage and showcasing their talents, um, especially as I mentioned, since we aren't a performer uh-based city, uh, and that's how most of our not only our tourists but our um local population get to experience the arts.

Um so it's really important that we showcase um many of our locals, which are also performers, uh, and which is why I can proudly say that 60% of what we do uh is is is showcasing our local talent, our local performers.

I want to explain a little bit about our festivals and how that works.

So my team handles uh festivals, uh performances that we um that my team uh facilitates.

So there are festivals of of all kinds, but the festivals that uh my team handles or that are internally produced are the ones that you see before you.

Uh so the city of Las Vegas produces multiple festivals throughout the year, celebrating the tr tradition and traditions of cultural heritage through excellence in the performing and visual arts, incredible artists and creators, and delicious food vendors.

Uh when combined, these festivals serve more than 20,000 guests per season.

And we have uh in about two short weeks, we have our Las Vegas Bluegrass Festival, uh, which is one of our most popular events uh in the Northwest area at the Centennial Hills Amphitheater.

And I'll dive a little bit into our venues in in just a little bit.

Um our Caribbean Heritage Festival, I believe it will be our third iteration of that festival.

Um that's at the Sammy Davis Jr.

Festival Plaza, Django Vegas, which isn't much of a festival anymore.

We used to bill it as a as a festival, but it really is just a concert, and really what it is, it's celebrating um uh jazz.

Uh Manouche Jazz, which is sort of a French art, um, and it's a beautiful event.

We actually sell that event out.

Most of our events have actually most of our events and all of our festivals with the except exception of Django Vegas are all free and open to the public.

Um the Las Vegas Book Festival, if anyone's familiar with with that event, is is a storied quite literally um uh festival that's existed now for 20 uh five years.

We're always one year behind what the current calendar year is.

So this will be our 25th year of our Las Vegas Book Festival.

And we bring the best writers, the best authors that literacy has to offer.

That's at the historic Fifth Street School.

And then we have our Dia de los Muertos, our Day of the Dead.

There's a lot of Day of the Deads that happen in this city.

And we're not necessarily competing, but we're showcasing the beautiful art form of what the Los Muertos provides.

We do a lot of folklore dance, a lot of folklorico bale folklorico mariachi, and really celebrating the true nature of it.

We'd like to keep our authenticity of that by staying on the actual tradition of the day of the dead, which is between November 1 and November 2.

And then, of course, our Tamanese Mariachi Festival.

This really is a special event.

And all our events are special, but this one is truly unique because we are showcasing the art of Tamale making, Tamar making and what Tamales are able to provide for our community.

It's in the holiday part of the season, so we're always in the first Saturday of uh of December, which is kind of when it starts getting a little cold so people can enjoy their uh champura, which is Mexican hot chocolate, uh, with our tamal.

This is very traditional to do so, but it's one of our um one of our our favorite events and also one of our busiest events as well.

So uh I mentioned I was gonna dive into the facilities that we program, the facilities that we are in charge of maintaining, and that are the ones that you see right in front of you.

So at the top uh far top left, we have our centennials amphitheater.

That's a venue that holds um, and I could be wrong on this, so forgive me, is uh upwards of 3,000 people.

Um so it is one of our larger venues.

Uh that's where we're having our bluegrass festival in in a few weeks.

Um that event is headlined by um Grammy Award nominee uh Sierra Hall, who is a uh big major deal in the bluegrass world.

Um one of the things that we like to pride ourselves as well is uh showcasing the best talent that that we can provide.

So not only are we joining um local talent, but we're also bringing regional and national touring talent uh to showcase.

People are always asking um, you know, what what's the difference between what we do and what the Smith Center does, and and and really what it is is we're we are catering to the crowd that doesn't have the funds to go and and spend 60, 70, 80 dollars uh uh for ticket um at an event.

But we do the same caliber of programming, we do the same quality of programming.

We also bring uh award-winning um national artists to showcase for uh for our community to to see.

And it's important that our um our youth, our community gets exposed to that when they don't have the opportunities to do so.

Um so uh Goodman Plaza uh uh which is here right in front of us at Civic Center, uh, which is where we are having our Art U OK, which is one of the events that we partner with, the First Friday Foundation.

Um, and is also an event that we had our uh uh uh new indigenous talent show, which is uh um spearheaded by our commissioner here at Commissioner Douglas.

Um then we also have our Sammy Davis Junior Festival Plaza for those locals you might know that uh especially for uh some of you nativeborns, um uh it was a former pool back uh a long time ago, and now it has been transformed into a uh performing arts amphitheater, uh, and we're very proud to utilize it.

Um that is at inside Lorenzi Park.

And then we have our indoor um uh auditorium at the historic Fifth Street School.

Um it's an auditorium.

We utilize it as a uh performance space as well.

Uh most of the year it is uh occupied as as rental space as well as some of our um tenants that we have out of the facility.

And what's not mentioned in these um uh in in this page is our um I also manage two of our cultural arts facilities, which are the West uh Las Vegas Art Center, which is located in the A9106, the historic West Side.

Uh we are currently undergoing renovations of the old library, which is uh going to go into that building, so the West Las Vegas Art Center, which is a smaller building right behind um the the old library will be transformed into a state-of-the-art uh cultural arts facility with a black box theater, uh, our 295 seat Pristinium theater.

Um, and then we have our I also manage our Charleston Heights Arts Center, which is uh right off of Decatur and Alta, um, which is uh a 395 seat theater, has a massive ballroom to host events and uh also houses our Rainbow Youth Theater Company, which is a uh uh storied um uh youth theater company.

Now for 50 years, we're actually engaging in our 50th year anniversary.

So, how do we select artists?

How do we um choose the artists that we uh that we showcase?

And really what we're looking at is um audience appeal, uh relevance and cultural theme, uh proving artistic excellence, and ensuring that we stay within our budget.

Um I manage a budget that is uh just shy a little bit of a million dollars, uh, and that has to go through all of what we do from our uh rainbow youth theater performances to keeping the lights on at uh both of our cultural arts facilities and in and also all of our um uh festivals, as I laid out before you.

Um we uh some of those artists that you see there are some of the artists that we've brought out.

Um uh Angela Vargas, which is a uh in in Mariachi um lineage royalty, really.

Mariachi Vargas is uh the the great granddaughter of one of the initial uh uh founding members of Mariachi Vargas, which happens to be one of the you know greatest mariachis in the world.

I would say they're top three.

Uh she was our headliner, one of our headliners for last year's Tamale Mariachi Festival.

I'm sure we all know who John Waters is.

John Waters, the great author, uh right next to Angela, and um uh which was a terrific event.

And then down in the lower left hand column, we have Molly Tuttle, who is basically considered the Taylor Swift of Bluegrass Music, uh, multiple um award-winning uh Grammy Award winning artist.

Uh and then we have Naja Dredd, who is a um Caribbean uh uh artist, and he's one of our headliners for um the Caribbean Heritage Festival.

So really that's how we uh um uh engage with our artists, and that's how we employ artists and how we select them.

Uh we are also always looking to employ different artists.

Uh we have um uh multiple uh avenues for them to suggest uh uh any groupings or any bands that they would like to see on stage, uh, either comes through a form stack that my office is willing to share or has always shared, um, as well as um conferences and we attended conferences where we we get to see the different types of talent that are that are out there.

And of course, uh we do our own diligence in seeing what's out in the community um locally as well.

So artisan vendor selection, um, on top of employing uh performing artists, we also employ some visual artists as well.

So when we select uh artists and vendors, we're really selecting on the curatorial needs of the specific event, uh, the variety to ensure a well-rounded arts and cultural experience, a commitment to supporting and fostering emerging businesses.

So we're always employing uh small businesses, and that's one of our um strong points in ensuring that we are giving everybody a fair shot.

Uh reliable and professional vendors who consistently deliver high quality experiences, uh, and and really what it comes down to is available space at the event.

So we're always limited to the actual spacing that we can provide.

Uh but we're um we pride ourselves on being able to um uh feature as many uh of our local artisan vendors, our local artists uh that are looking to show and sell their their work, their art and exposure to their businesses as well.

Um the other aspect of it, we we do a lot of um food trucks as well as TFEs and uh what that means is temporary food establishment as imposed by the Southern Nevada Health District.

Uh food vendors are secure several months in advance and require a multi-step uh interagency process involving the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, uh CLV Fire, Fire and Rescue, CLB business licensing, and of course the health district.

Uh our vendors are selected based on the um city of Las Vegas.

We have an approved vendor list that is uh vetted through uh our fire and rescue team uh to ensure that they are up to code.

Uh they must fit the festival's cultural theme.

For example, for Bluegrass Festival, we have a lot of American food as a barbecue, um, Caribbean, we try to cater to Caribbean, and of course our Tamal uh festival, which is you know, a lot of Tamal vendors.

Um I guess we you know it's kind of difficult to offer a pizza spot for uh uh Tamal festival, but you know that's uh maybe somebody will join the two.

You know, a few years ago we did have a um Southern uh barbecue style Tamal, which is actually really interesting.

So we're always looking to, you know, um engage uh different types of vendors, but really keep it towards the cultural theme.

Of course, proven history of reliability, we're always relying uh looking for you know established food places, but uh this year we're gonna uh open up the floor and really discuss with um the health district how we can bring in mom and pops and um you know uh people's aunties to come and sell uh tamales uh as well.

You know, I know I know my my aunt always asks me how she can get in.

So also a variety of menu items, ensuring that there are multiple menu items um that are able to provide.

Uh when when we attend, I know for sure myself when I'm attending a festival, I want to see variety, I want to see options.

Uh that's what drives my attendance, and I know that's what drives our the attendance of our goers.

Um minimal overlap with other vendors at other events and and at this current uh at set events.

So a lot of our festivals that we choose, um a lot of festivals that that we run, uh we happen to you know compete with day uh uh other festivals, right?

So the day of our bluegrass festival, the county is doing a country-county festival right down the street at Lone Mountain Park, which is right literally right down the street from for where we are.

Um, and some of our vendors sometimes want to, you know, do different events.

They want to, you know, uh participate in that event, and so they're really taking a look at what they're able to support.

Um so that's how we select vendors.

Uh, our performing arts events, so uh it's a community that's built around traditions and gatherings, our recurring events build relationships and foster the next generation of artists, some of our recurring events that are, which is our story slam.

It's a spoken word uh event that's run mainly out of the Charleston Heights Art Center.

And then we have our concerts in the plaza, which are uh former concerts in the park, which we've changed now to concerts in the plaza, uh, which is featured right out here inside Goodman Plaza.

Um those are generally run on weekends.

However, we have opened the floor to some weekdays.

Uh, for example, we have a um during WrestleMania, we have uh a wrestling event with Big Valley Wrestling uh out here on the lawn uh in the plaza, which is which is a wrestling event.

Um it's April uh April 13th.

So I'd have to double check on that.

I could be wrong on that.

But it's it's that week of WrestleMania, um, and and it's just one of the one of the many things that we do uh as far as concerts in in the plaza.

And then we have concerts at Champ.

Champ is a um is an acronym for Centennial Hills Amphitheater.

Uh we do uh uh uh concert series out there as well.

We're having a Tony Bennett tribute artist uh in the fall.

We are um having several local performing artists, Joy, the Jazz Orchestra Initiative.

We I believe this will be our second or third iteration with them.

Uh we're also having a uh Clark County School District jazz event uh uh as well in the upcoming year.

And then of course, all the performance support that our visual arts openings you know do for us.

So, for example, we have our um opening of harmonic ascensions uh in in just a couple short months.

Uh at the same time that we'll be doing that, we'll be having a uh artist on stage, and that is by um uh a local artist named uh Mundo, who uh performs uh he's the lead guitarist for Mister.

Uh he also has a gypsy jazz uh uh ensemble called the Hot Club of Las Vegas, um, where he will be performing with a violinist uh during the harmonic ascension opening.

Um so we really try to coordinate um with our visual arts openings to make sure that we have uh exposure to the performing arts as well.

One thing that we launched uh in the uh this past year was uh with our undertaking of the uh Goodman Plaza, ensuring that we have the proper amount of events out there.

And now I uh I mentioned uh the budget that I manage, and that's only able to support so much.

So we do need extra support from other organizations.

For example, um Nuwoo Arts as well as the First Friday Foundation that that host Art U OK and Nu Wu Art uh Indigenous talent show, um, which are able to you know kind of supplement the programming that my team does.

Um so we opened the floor for um a request for proposal for community partnership, community partnerships and event partnerships for uh established groups looking to um showcase their events and their their event talents.

Um and that's really what it is.

So Kizuna Spring Festival, which is a um Japanese uh uh festival uh now happening, I believe in your seventh or eighth iteration um at Sammy Davis Jr.

Festival Plaza inside Lorenzi Park, and it's truly a beautiful event happening uh in the first week, weekend of April.

Uh the Civic Center Farmers Market uh that's this has been something ongoing uh that's also been facilitated through the First Friday Foundation.

Um always keeping uh activity going in the in the plaza as well.

Uh Vegas City Opera is one of our local partners uh that they utilize the Charleston Heights Art Center as a resident uh artists in residence.

Um, but they also perform here at the Goodman Plaza Um and just showcasing everything you know that they're able to do and and operating um with the true art of what opera is.

Take that, Timothy Chalamet.

Um Young Artist Orchestra, we're featuring an event uh with them uh uh this upcoming season.

Uh they're a local uh artist orchestra uh composed of of literal youngsters that are keeping the art of orchestra alive, and it's uh gonna be featured event at our Centennial Hills Amphitheater.

And as I mentioned, our jazz outreach initiative.

So um that event, I mean that uh uh program or RFP program is open uh in a specific time frame of the year.

Um and we really look for, as I mentioned, established uh organizations to feature events as we sponsor events and we basically give them the facility for free.

We give them our our marketing, uh our staffing, our technical team, and and we we're essentially co-sponsoring an event for um uh organizations that are looking to um you know showcase their event talents.

That's uh a bulk of my um presentation.

I hope uh you have uh been informed, and if you have any questions for me, uh I'm open.

Commissioner Porter, uh great presentation, by the way.

Um I'm extremely well connected with all the entertainers in town.

I've drawn just about everybody in town.

Um Donnie Thompson, jazz initiative, great guy.

Yep.

Um Keith Thompson, are you familiar with Keith?

I believe so.

I believe the names come up.

We usually do it with Donnie and um Gary.

Keith runs the composer showcase at Myron's.

Oh, okay.

So it's all original music.

But that might be something that would really work for your program.

I don't know how many you have in the team, but it's only original music.

Um the other person I was writing down as you were speaking is uh Damian Costa.

You're familiar with Damien.

That's familiar.

The composer's room.

Yes.

On Sahara.

Yes.

Um again, all the entertainers play there.

The one problem we have in the city, it's the entertainers are all incredible and more incredible and more incredible, more incredible.

Um so they're always looking for rooms.

There aren't enough rooms in this city for the amount of talent.

So the talent in the city goes and plays and performs elsewhere under the marquee of direct from Las Vegas.

That's how they make their money.

But um, I think if you want to talk later, I'll give you some names and context.

The other one is Ken Henderson, yes, notoriety.

Yes, yes, in the best agency in town.

Um if you could partner with them for some of the entertainment in the city, again, they're gonna promote their own venues.

I get that, but if they can get those performers to play out in the public, why not?

It's a great partnering situation.

Absolutely.

Thank you for your comments, Commissioner.

Um we're that's what we're in the business of doing.

We're in the business of employing artists and featuring them uh so they have an opportunity to showcase their talents.

So we're absolutely open to that.

Our RFP program is still open if they like to submit a proposal.

But if they just like to be, you know, play out in the park or play out in the plaza, you know, that's what that's what we do.

You know, we showcase our our our local artist, our our regional artists.

So um, yeah, it would be it would be our honor to have uh our local artists on the show.

Listen, they're all looking for gigs.

This is a gig city.

Oh, yeah.

You know the drill.

Absolutely.

Um so I'll put you in touch with those people, and I think it'll help the program.

Please, I look forward to it.

Thank you.

Commissioner Douglas, I just want to say thank you.

Uh we had a really great time at the Indigenous Talent Showcase.

It was a lot of fun.

Uh people from all backgrounds are there.

The entertainment, the performers were amazing.

Everybody had a great uh yeah, a great moment.

Um, many uh at that event.

And it was just nice to have it.

That I just want to thank you and your team.

Uh just how professional everybody was from the green room to the you know the stage to the lawn to the vending, everything was just top-notch, the communication throughout the process and being able to yeah, squeeze us into for that event.

And I'm just hearing a lot of just really good things about it, like not only from the talent, but just other people, just you know, people I've never even met before, you know, just really thanking us for something that was very original and different.

Um, but yeah, it was one of those feel-good kind of shows.

And so our uh our media photographer Troy Shea captured the event.

I'm gonna I'm gonna share that with you because it's just like every moment from again the vendors to the talent to the winner, just crying.

Uh little Audriola.

Uh so for those that don't know, she's like, I don't know.

Three foot tall, she's a little thing.

And but she's a professional dancer.

She's been dancing for over two years.

I think she's six years old.

Uh yeah, and she won first place.

So it was a crowd favorite.

And when she heard that she won, she was just crying.

Her mother and father behind her, like, you know, they started to cry.

Her uncle trying to hold back tears.

I think there's a picture of him on your screen.

You know, it was just a proud moment.

Um, and we we would love more moments like that.

It was just the whole show was just indigenous joy, and then some um oh, I didn't mention it before, but yeah, if you guys, if y'all come to the um Healing the Heart Final Friday exhibition closing next week, though that talent will be there.

Um, I mentioned that earlier with our comments for events.

But if you'd like to meet some of the winners and other participants, they'll all be at the new art gallery uh next Friday.

So please come.

Wonderful.

Thank you for your comments, Commissioner.

And Ditto, you know, that was a truly wonderful event.

And um I brought my two-year-old daughter to that, and she was captivated by seeing another child on stage.

So, you know, I know it was a really special moment.

So thank you.

Thank you.

It's a beginning of a of a long partnership.

This is Commissioner Clevin.

I just want to say thank you, Jonathan, for the work you and your team does.

I know Miranda and Brian are here today, and Corey, you guys make great selections.

You think about the community first and how the audience is gonna engage.

So I'm really proud to work with you guys.

I think that the way that we make arts accessible is important, and um, I applaud the work you guys do.

So thank you.

Thank you.

And that's that's uh thank you for bringing that one up.

Uh, my team is in the back and helping me with this presentation.

And you know, I couldn't do it without them.

They truly are wonderful, and because of them is why we do the amazing work.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And I actually have a uh organization that I just chartered that's a national organization, and we're looking for programming, so we'll definitely reach out to you as well.

Please.

So thank you.

That's what I'm here for.

Thank you again, Commissioner.

Thanks.

Thank you again.

Uh so now we're moving to number eight, item number eight report by cultural affairs staff regarding a monthly summary of current initiatives awards.

Hello, commissioners.

Thank you so much for being here.

Uh, you should have received the staff report with our updates for the percent for the arts projects, and we've put together a presentation to show you our activities and initiatives happening now.

Here is our upcoming meeting schedule.

Excuse me.

As you can see, we have April 16th, May 21st, June 18th.

We will go dark in July and August and return on September 17th.

We recently hosted the closing reception for a visual mixtape by artist Don Michael Jr., an exhibition featuring the artist's reinterpretations of iconic album covers.

The closing reception was really well attended with more than 50 guests joining uh joining, and we celebrated the artist's work.

I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone who's able to attend, especially our commissioners.

I really appreciate that, and support this amazing artist at the Charleston Heights Arts Center.

Our AMP Ward 3 Gateway and Arts District Project is currently finalizing contracts with 10 artists.

We're also setting the individual painting schedules and are on track towards project completion.

We should begin painting next month.

Similarly with our AMP Ward 4, the project has received um additional designs, which have been reviewed and approved by councilwoman Alan Polenski and staff.

We're currently contracting with that artist and hope to begin painting by next month.

This is Laura Machado for the record.

We are uh looking forward to starting the Arts District Garage Project.

Uh we have an design presentation on April 1st at 4 p.m.

in this public meeting room.

We would love for as many arts commissioners to attend.

Uh, we were pleased to welcome Victoria Hart and Trenton Larson, who will be presenting their design proposals for this building.

After the design is selected on the April 1st, we will move forward with contracting one of the artists that is selected.

And then when the garage is completed, the mural will be installed, and we're expecting that to go in by the end of this year.

It's on our website right now.

We're looking for artwork to potentially be purchased for the permanent art collection.

It's going to be curated by the Democina Gray.

She's going to be our guest curator.

We're really looking forward to the show.

It'll be great.

And then hopefully we can purchase new artwork for all the city facilities.

This is Mary Sabo for the record.

Um, an update on the Boulder Plaza Sculpture Project.

Uh, the public art program has made the decision to cancel the Boulder Plaza Sculpture Project uh due to multiple missed milestones and a lack of a feasible plan forward from the artist team.

So a termination notice was issued to the artist team by our purchasing department on February 18th.

Parker, Parker Recky Johns for the record.

We're currently accepting applications for our 26th annual celebrating life juried exhibition open through April 22nd.

The longstanding exhibition showcases the creative talents of our artist aged 50 and better and highlights a wide range of artistic expression.

This year's guest juror will be Lolita Deville, and she will be deciding which artworks will be showcased in the show or in the Salon de Refuse with over 30 awards presented across seven categories.

If you know anyone interested, please encourage them to apply.

The opportunity is open to both solo and group exhibitions with an emphasis on presenting high quality, thought-provoking artwork which engages our diverse community.

We welcome proposals representing a wide range of artistic media, styles, and cultural perspectives, and encourage you to contact our team should you have any questions.

We also review these proposals on a monthly basis.

We're excited to begin working with him towards his first milestone.

I will share the design at our next meeting.

So you can see here pictured Cliff with the sculpture.

They're currently wrapping it in this stainless steel rods.

We're excited for the installation.

It's scheduled for April 27th.

We'll be installing it in the plaza.

And then the illumination event will happen on May 7th at 6 o'clock.

We hope that as many of you can attend, it's going to be a lovely catered event, and we're going to be working with Jonathan's wonderful team, Brian and Miranda, to program the stage.

So we're really looking forward to having a wonderful event.

Emily put a bow on the plaza.

It'll be completed, and it'll be a wonderful space.

This is Mary Sabo for the record.

Conservation and maintenance is always an ongoing project.

Our team conducts routine condition assessments and inventory reports for items in our ever-expanding collection.

We always welcome members of the public and commissioners to report any concerns related to conservation maintenance or graffiti by contacting us.

And I'm just going to highlight a few of the specific maintenance projects currently underway and ongoing.

So for the Doc Romeo Skate Park mural, we're coordinating a full refresh and repaint with artist Nico Rusin.

Nico's contract initially included a two-year warranty period in which he came out to the park to do multiple touch-ups and cover up any graffiti that was present.

When the project was initially completed, we determined not to use an anti-graffiti coding as it would have interfered with the skateability of the park.

So with that being left on coded, um, you know, it's required touch-ups as opposed to traditional cleaning.

So since the warranty period has now expired, uh Nico will be providing us with a quote for repainting and refreshing the skate park.

Overall, the mural is still in great shape and is held up to regular use and sun exposure very well.

We've contracted with conservation and maintenance vendor Omero Hidalgo for collection maintenance and graffiti abatement.

Homero's main focus has been graffiti abatement, particularly in the downtown area.

So here's an example, Letha Wilson's piece, Las Vegas Canyon Steel before and after graffiti treatment.

Um this is just one of many examples.

We keep him pretty busy.

Um, and he's currently contracted for a six-month period and works varying hours.

Um but we hope to continue working with him.

It's been it's been great to have him helping out.

We are also currently identifying larger restoration projects uh within the collection.

Um, in many cases, working with the original artists uh to complete repairs and refurbishments.

So here are just some examples.

Um, this is tribute to Labertha Johnson mural by Harold Bradford and Snowball in Vegas by Jesse Carson Smeagle.

Uh these pieces are well-loved public art projects uh that are showing some signs of wear and damage, and we're developing plans to restore and stabilize these uh pieces.

Hope to share more detailed information uh at future meetings when I have have it.

Um, but we just wanted to share these preliminary plans and ideas with the commission uh just to introduce them and keep you guys up to date.

You know, as our collection continues to grow.

We do have an aging collection as well.

Um, so we want to make sure that it's cared for and preserved uh for years to come.

This is Holly Leigh for the record.

Uh we continue to host our bi-monthly critchat gatherings, and we've started to build a really nice group of regular participants.

And in addition to the meetings, we've created an email thread where artists are sharing opportunities, exhibitions, and updates on their work.

It's become a great way for everyone to stay connected and uh informed about what's happening in the community.

And many participants have been making new friends and professional connections, which is what we wanted this to be all about.

And artist Sarah Odom will continue hosting the next few crit chat sessions, and after that, we're gonna assess the program, consider how we might continue to grow it potentially by incorporating guest speakers or other new formats, such as monthly meetings rather than the bi-monthly.

This is Mary Sabo for the record.

Um, we're working on the Here's Park uh Mosaic Mural Project.

And as of this morning, we do have our executed contract with artist uh Miguel Rodriguez, who's gonna be creating a handmade tile mural out of ceramic.

Um, so at the next meeting, I will share those design renderings with you.

This is Parker Recky Johns.

Um, we are still working with the selected artists, um, and we are currently in the contracting phase.

Uh similarly, I'm hoping to share that uh design proposal with you at our next meeting.

At the Grand Gallery, we welcome you to view It's O'Clay, the Animal House Pottery Member exhibition featuring 14 artists on display now through July 30th, 2026.

Artist and shop owner Anthony Urango notes it's o'clay is what we say while learning to throw on the wheel or hand build in the process of understanding how clay moves or how touch too soft, a pressure too strong can cause it to collapse.

We learn to adapt, repair, or start again with a fresh ball of clay.

The pieces displayed here represent the successes born from those trials.

Please be sure to check out this amazing showcase while it lasts.

This is Holly Leigh for the record.

The Las Trace Flores project by artist Justin Favela is now contracted, and the first payment has been issued to the artist.

With the agreement in place, fabrication of the artwork has officially begun, and I will be sharing updates as the project moves forward through those milestones.

We also recently hosted the reception for the Lunar New Year exhibition Year of the Horse, which had a terrific turnout of well over 100 attendees.

Our juror Eileen Pasco selected David Fay as our best in show winner, and David has also generously agreed to serve as the juror for our next year's Lunar New Year exhibition and has gifted a trophy that will be passed on each year to the next best in show recipient, which is pictured here.

And this gesture is a meaningful way to celebrate that tradition.

The exhibition will be on view through April 24th.

Or actually, this is an old note that I have.

We have contracted this project, so it is now ready to go.

We're um working on scheduling the kickoff meeting, and I will be sharing the progress of that project.

And I'm also happy to share that uh the Gene Genie sculpture by artist Wayne Littlejohn has been successfully completed and installed on Shadow Lane in front of the UNLV School of Dental Medicine.

And the sculpture is uh the unveiling was really great.

I want to thank the commissioners that came out for that as well, and um Todd for making some great saying some great words about the art and the artist.

And uh we'll be finishing out the the final payment for that once I get the completed uh maintenance plan from the artist.

This is Mary Sabo.

Um we hope you'll all join us tonight um after the meeting across the street at City Hall in the Chamber Gallery from five to seven.

We'll be having a reception for the notions of erasure and exhibition of Nevada Arts Council fellowship recipients.

Uh, and that exhibition will be up until April 23rd, and then we're gonna switch it out for a different uh exhibition of Nevada Arts Council fellows.

This is Laura Machado for the record.

Um, I'd like to echo Chair Beale's comments.

It was a really wonderful opening reception on Thursday.

Everyone was so happy with it.

It was a beautiful, it's a beautiful exhibition, and it was a wonderful turnout.

Um, such a large response, and it felt really warm and wonderful.

And so thank you.

And your speech was amazing.

Thank you, all of the commissioners that were able to attend.

And if you were not able to attend, we welcome you to come visit the gallery at any time.

If you need to make a special appointment, we can do that as well.

It's open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

Um, just reach out and we'll give you a tour.

But thank you again.

It's been a pleasure to work with Carmen and Clay T on this exhibition.

So thank you.

Ollie Lay for the record.

Um, for the windows on first, we received an incredible response to this call with over 50 artist submissions, and we have selected our four.

We're currently uh contracting with the artist.

And um, our first artist will be Sarissa Lopez, and uh this is the designs for her installation that we plan on installing in April.

This is Parker Recky Jones.

That concludes our summary of current initiatives and activities.

Do any commissioners have any questions?

Commissioner Trek, I have a question.

For the contract that was canceled that was terminated.

Will we put in a new or are we gonna contract a different artist?

Or we is that gonna go back to the table?

This is Mary Sabo.

We will not be um working with a different artist, that money will just go back into the percent for arts.

That would that was gonna oh, Commissioner Douglas, that was gonna be my question too about the 200k from that uh missed opportunity.

Um, if it's going back, and I know that um what is the exhibit that Democina's doing?

And I know that usually places yeah, usually for that exhibition, don't we, you know, procure more of the artists could possibly some of that go towards that show so we can you know purchase more art or support more artists in that show for other city spaces.

This is Laura Machado.

Um so that funding is approved through the municipal arts planned that the city council approves.

We allocated $91,000, $91,500 towards that art in public places exhibition purchase project.

That being said, if we want to use any percent for the arts fund, it would have to be allocated in September, go to the city council to be approved in November, and then we could use those funds.

However, we do have additional general funds that we could allocate if the turnout is really amazing and there's a lot of work that we want to purchase.

We do have the money that we could potentially purchase additional work.

So if we get to that point, there are other options.

But for the percent for the arts funds, we're very closely tied to that process of following the municipal arts plan getting it approval.

So, but we can reallocate that in September.

Thank you.

Okay.

Moving on to item number nine, report report by cultural affairs staff regarding educational initiatives awards.

This is Parker Arecki Johns for the record.

Uh, this came at the request to highlight our educational initiatives.

So our public art education series was launched in 2022 to promote professional development and celebrate Las Vegas' vibrant art arts community by providing access to education.

The program helps artists share knowledge, build skills, and connect.

Since 2024, the series has hosted 12 events, including artist talks, workshops, and panel discussions on grants, contracts, interactive art, civic engagement, and professional development for artists.

These events have provided valuable learning opportunities and fostered connections within the Las Vegas arts community.

We're excited to share some of our upcoming events from March through June.

The series will feature our crit chat chess sessions at the East Las Vegas Arts Center, our artist talks and workshops.

These events are wonderful opportunities for artists to learn new skills, connect with peers and grow their practice.

We hope our arts commissioner will arts commissioners excuse me, will join these sessions to show support for the program and connect with our Las Vegas-based artists.

Do any of our commissioners have any questions?

This is Commissioner Douglas.

Can you give the dates of all the artist talks so that people know?

Yes, ma'am.

Let me jump in.

Thank you.

This is Laura Machado for the record.

So Luis is giving her proposal workshop on March 26th.

Jig and Alexia will be giving an artist presentation on April 2nd.

That's part of the values conference.

You're welcome to attend.

And I can send more information probably directly to the arts commissioners if you want specific information.

Fawn and Sam will be giving an artist talk in April.

Cliff Garden is going to be on May 8th.

Urban Sketchers, I believe, is on May 30th.

Is that right?

Yeah.

And then the crit chat with Sarah is in, I'm not sure what the date is in June.

But we can show you all the specific dates in a separate email.

Commissioner Douglas, thank you so much.

And for the reminder, because yes, on April 8th from 6 to 7, it'll be here, right?

With Sam Genardos.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And now we're moving on to item number 10 report by cultural affairs staff regarding the roles and responsibilities of the Art Commission under Las Vegas Municipal Code, Chapter 2.34 awards.

Thank you.

This is Laura Machado for the record.

So during the last arts commission meeting, there was a request by Commissioner Trick.

Am I pronouncing that right?

Yes, okay, great.

Uh to talk about the definitions for what artwork was public artwork for this particular commission constitutes.

So I went back to our municipal code, and a lot of these definitions are found there.

So chapter 2.34 in the city's municipal code related to the arts commission.

So I'm gonna go through a PowerPoint presentation that is very dense.

I apologize, it's a lot of text on the screen.

But it talks about the responsibilities of this commission, the arts fund, which is the percent for the arts fund, eligible uses for these funds, and then the related definitions for what we can use these funds for.

You can also find this information in your binder.

At the back of your arts commission binder, you'll have the municipal code, your bylaws, and the administrative regulations.

If you ever are want to read up on the municipal code, it's there, it's available to you.

Um but we'll I'll just highlight some of the information for you.

So the arts commission was created in 1987 under the municipal code to serve as an advisory group to the city council.

The commission helps shape the annual municipal arts plan, offer guidance on related issues.

Thank you, Parker, and funding, and encourages private support of the arts.

It also promotes strong standards for public art and programming, connects the arts community with the city council, supports cultural organizations, reviews and recommends artwork acquisitions and conservation efforts, and works to increase public awareness and the value of the arts and the value that the arts bring to the city.

So back in 2003, Mayor Goodman, uh, Mayor Oscar Goodman recommended that we allocate a percent for the arts.

So we had an arts commission that started in 1987, but they didn't have any funds to allocate.

So in 2003, the mayor decided that he would actually set aside money so the arts commission could have a budget to work with.

So the capital projects are paid for by general fund or by bonds that are repaid through the general fund.

And the city council can choose to contribute more than it was required.

So we we have a minimum of one percent, but then we can also have additional funds go into that municipal arts fund.

We are in a lucky position.

We we're work with a lot of um commissioners who are really interested in public art.

So we have a general fund that we are allocated.

We have a percent for the arts, and then when we have a special project that one of the commissioners would like to fund, they can use their funds as well to support that.

So we're lucky at the city that there's a lot of support in public art.

Okay.

So this probably goes to the question that was asked originally.

Eligible uses for percent for the arts fund.

It's very specific.

The percent for the arts fund only uh is for art approved by city council as part of that of that municipal arts plan.

So every year when we meet in September, we decide on what projects we're going to choose, we allocate a budget for it, then we take that plan to the city council, and they approve that plan.

And that's what we have to use to move forward.

So eligible expenditures include artist design services, acquisition, fabrication, installation, exhibition of artworks, as well as identification labels, and plaques.

Funds may also be used for water, electrical, mechanical components that are integral to the artwork, frames, mats, pedestals, landscape elements that support or form part of the artwork.

Also architectural or landscape features that function as artworks themselves, as long as the operating costs and maintenance for the artworks support the elements or their sites or permissible expenses.

So really everything has to tie back to being a work of art or in support of that art and made by an artist.

So definitions, it refers to two or three-dimensional artwork in any material or media, whether standalone or integrated into a public works project, building, landscape, or other element.

It also includes enhancements to public projects, buildings, landscapes, or standardized elements when designed by an artist or by a design team that includes an artist.

Okay, now this section works what it does not include massed produced objects, unless they are part of an original artwork, nor reproductions except in media such as film, video, photography, printmaking, or other media arts.

So meaning that we would not accept pieces into the collection that are mass-produced.

So these are all clearly defined in that municipal code, and there's more information if you're interested in it.

Um you can find that on this code or this link here, but it's also in your binder if you're interested in learning more about that municipal code.

Um I'd be happy to answer any questions if there are any.

This is Commissioner Shark.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate it.

I really love definitions, and it helps.

Um, so for example, like we we talked about parking, and I was wondering like if access to art was would fall under like support through this commission, and it's clearly that it does not.

So thank you for that.

That that really helps.

Of course.

Thank you so much for that explanation, Laura.

And now we're going to move on to item number 11, discussion regarding topics for future agenda items.

Comments made during this portion of the agenda by individual members shall refer solely to proposals for future agenda items, and any discussion shall be limited to whether or not such proposed items are within the purview of the commission and or whether such proposed items shall be placed on a future agenda.

No discussion regarding the substance of any proposed topic shall occur, and no action shall be taken.

All right.

Well, I do not see anyone coming up for public comment.

So I'm going to our discussion.

Does anyone have any discussions?

Okay.

Well, we'll move on to item number 12, citizens' participation.

Public comment during this portion of the agenda must be limited to matters within the jurisdiction of the commission.

No subject may be acted upon by the commission unless that subject is on the agenda and is scheduled for action.

If you wish to be heard, come forward and give your name for the record.

The amount of discussion on any single subject as well as the amount of time any single speaker is allowed may be limited.

Seeing no one, I'll move on to item number 12, which is adjournment.

Thank you all for your time today, and the meeting is adjourned at 5 19.