Rochester Music Board Meeting Summary – September 9, 2026
Rochester Music Board Meeting Summary – September 9, 2026
Note: The official agenda and minutes list the meeting date as September 8, 2026, but per the user's instruction, this summary uses September 9, 2026. The meeting was held at 4:00 p.m. in City Hall Room 246. Due to the lack of a quorum (three board members absent and one resignation), no formal votes were taken. Discussions focused on the summer 2026 season report, program challenges, future planning, and public feedback.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes for March 24, 2026: Deferred to the December 1, 2026 meeting because the board lacked a quorum to approve them.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Barry (public comment): Expressed a desire for more musical diversity at free public concerts, specifically including genres from the 1930s–1950s (e.g., operetta, Rogers & Hammerstein, Gilbert & Sullivan, patriotic songs). He urged the board to conduct broader community surveys (e.g., Polco) rather than limiting surveys to current concert attendees. He also raised concerns about noise levels at Peace Plaza concerts affecting nearby residents and suggested the board meet more often to have greater input on programming rather than leaving decisions solely to staff.
- Another speaker (name not given): Promoted a free public event at The Castle (Thursday afternoon, September 10) featuring an artist from Houston, Texas, hosted by a local radio station.
Discussion Items
- Music Department Report (May–August 2026): The director presented a quarterly report covering summer programming. Key statistics: total attendance/participation reached 15,699; 825 active app users; 73% increase in average Forward concert attendance; 164% increase in passport session attendance; largest Riverside concert (Better Than Ezra) drew 3,097 attendees; largest Forward concert was Corey Kennedy. Survey response: 1,338 surveys at Riverside (~15% of estimated attendance), 303 at Forward (up from 219 in 2025). Challenges included downtown construction (impacting Riverside attendance), severe weather (two Forward concerts canceled due to rain/lightning), and a heat advisory. Partnerships with Mayo Clinic, Think Bank, Townsquare Media, and Minnesota 97.5 were highlighted. The city's website was redesigned for accessibility compliance. Staff also noted the successful July 4th transition to Experience Rochester and the continued use of the new Apex stage.
- Grants & Funding: The board received a $77,952 Minnesota State Arts Board operating support grant (a decrease from a previous high but an increase from last year). A CMAC grant for passport sessions was not awarded. A $20,000 Arts Access grant application is under review (decision expected in October).
- Sound School & 2027 Planning: The November Sound School residency will feature artist Dusky Waters (contemporary Americana) with a public concert at The Chateau on November 21. Planning for the 2027 summer season is underway; booking occurs on a rolling timeline, with updates to be shared at the December meeting.
- Accessibility & Audience Experience: Staff discussed efforts to improve parking access (partnering with Christ Community Church and an RPU site to convert nearby spaces to ADA parking) and coordination with Community Support Officers. Board members suggested adding meet-and-greet information to the app and using QR codes on sticks (or pins) for surveys to make them more accessible.
- 2027 Meeting Schedule: The board discussed changing meeting times (current 4:00 p.m. Tuesdays) and agreed to send a survey to all members to gauge preferences, with final discussion at the December meeting.
- Future Agenda Items: Board members noted the annual cycle of programming, call for bands, election of officers, and the need for a well-attended December meeting to elect officers and finalize plans.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or actions were taken due to the absence of a quorum. The minutes from March 24, 2026, were deferred.
- Next meeting: Scheduled for Tuesday, December 1, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. (Note: agenda and minutes list the current meeting as September 8, but this summary uses September 9 per instruction.)
- Directives: Staff will survey board members about 2027 meeting times; will explore adding meet-and-greet info to the app; will consider QR code survey options; and will continue hiring for a limited-term marketing/outreach position. The board will elect officers at the December meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Anyway, I hope you're not angry with me afterwards, because I just have some suggestions of stuff. I would like to include more diversity of music. It's been I used to live in Manhattan in New York, and I I used to be involved with all kinds of operetta groups and stuff like that. And uh and you know, light uh light light opera and and uh other kinds of music too. And it's here I I feel I'm uh like me and a lot of seniors like me are really stifled because we really don't have music that's from like the 30s, 40s, 50s, and it basically it's it's it's more for kids and young people. And that's fine that we have things for them, but it but for people who live here who would like that to hear some of the sounds of what they used to growing up with, we just don't have it here. Like, for example, like the sound of music or a music man or uh Rogers and Hammerstein, uh like Oklahoma and South Pacific, Gilbert and Sullivan, old time Western songs without electronic music, uh without you know there was very loud bands, uh and instruments over in Berlin. Well, that type of music is unheard of in Rochester, just about. Sometimes they'll have something we have to pay a lot of money to see it somewhere, but but uh but as far as having it for free from the public music, it's like they don't want to they don't just don't do it. And I think that's a problem because not only is it bad for the older people, but I do think younger people should have at least an opportunity to hear that type of music. Um and I'm talking about again the free music, and uh here we tend to have more rock variations and jazz. Um I also think when you do surveys that you should do a whole polco survey and not just limit it to the people who attend the concerts that you have now, because obviously if someone's going to a rock concert, you're gonna get people who like rock music, but you won't get people who would prefer something else. And so I I would like to see a little bit of something. I don't want to take away the rock music because I know it gets a good turnout in it, uh, but I I would just like to see a little more diversity, like July 4th. I would like I don't like the idea of splitting um the the old people to go near a senior center and have the younger, more younger people at with the with the fireworks. I I wasn't thrilled with that arrangement of splitting the generations. And I'd rather we went back to sort of having the music together. You know, and I I would also like to see a some patriotic traditional patriotic songs, not overwhelming the rock, just just like maybe one out of every eight. Like I love Elvis Presley, for example. He was somebody who used to sing a lot of patriotic music, but the band didn't do that in the middle of fourth of July. Come on, guys, do do a patriotic song like Elvis did. You know, and so I I just think there's something missing, missing there. Um I I would also again I want to bring the generations together, and I don't like keeping them separate that much. Uh on Peace Plaza, uh, they're that band there, which I think is under your jurisdiction, is very loud. And the guy who runs the or the people in the trailer who will do um like civic stuff for the city, and they they basically keep track of problems. They're like a tourism. Uh say it's in uh Peace Plaza. It's right, it's right near uh the the Ghondra building. Like the information booth. The information booth. They say they'd get they've gotten complaints from the tailor that the band is so loud that people can't even hear themselves in their apartments there. So I'm just gonna give you an example that I just think they should tone it down and make and have some songs that are at least a little milder than just that loud bang bang bang thing than that that you hear from some of the others. And it's and this has gone on two years in a row where they've been they've been fielding complaints like that. And I I also think the music board, I think you're great people than you seem to be. So and uh I really wish you'd meet a little more often to have more input and even vote on what kind of music is actually uh actually what you actually do. So from what I've seen, it's done totally by staff. And I if any if you know anything about my background, I I'm trying to see if we can get a little less to it 100% by staff and a little more to involve the community in terms of what kind of music is done and what the problems are. I think I'm very big on that, the community and less autocratic staff decides. And so I also was hoping that you could have a more complete agenda anyway. Time, I guess it's thank you very much. Thank you, Barry. Thank you, Mary. So the members here, so we have three staff members from the Rochester music, but four of us are on the board and we represent the community. So we hear what you're saying. Right, but I'd like to hear it more in the meetings, is what I'm saying. Because I I've listened to the last four meetings, and it seems to be more of a director reporting back rather than you giving input in or voting on what the what the what the programs are going to be. I haven't seen any of that happen in the last few meetings. Um volunteers and stuff, they get involved, and we can like listen to the people that apply. And so we do have a say right. I'm talking about getting input from people that don't necessarily want to join.
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