Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission Meeting - August 13, 2018
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Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission Meeting - August 13, 2018
The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC) held its regular meeting on Monday, August 13, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. The meeting began with a special presentation honoring outgoing commissioners Rebecca Garrison and Donnie Blumenstock for their years of service, followed by unanimous approval of consent items and discussion of arts education, cultural planning, and community film initiatives.
Consent Calendar
- Item 1: Approval of July 23, 2018 Special Meeting Minutes – Approved unanimously by voice vote.
- Item 2: Selection of Matthew Gilliam as Art in Public Places (APP) Committee Member – Approved unanimously by voice vote.
Discussion Items
- Item 3: Any Given Child Teaching Arts Residency & Arts Exposure Experience Roster – Staff report by Melissa Cirone. The program currently partners with five school districts (Sacramento City Unified, Twin Rivers, Elk Grove, Gault, and Robla). Due to a shortage of vetted teaching artists and limited arts organizations, the program struggled to fill requests (45 residencies and 120 assemblies requested in 2017-2018). A panel review added six teaching artists (Kimberly Eddington, Lauren Rondez, Nicole Matthews, Sasha Molina, Christy O'Shiro, Crystal Ruiz) and one arts organization (Pan United Youth Movement) to the roster for 2018-2019. Commissioner Veronica Delgado served on the panel. The motion to approve the roster passed unanimously.
- Item 4: Update on Cultural Plan – Director Jonathon Glus reported three priorities: (1) an RFP for an equity audit of the Arts Commission, (2) an RFP for a film industry assessment in partnership with the Community Development Block Grant program, and (3) ongoing negotiations with the county for a formal restructuring of the arts commission, with updates expected by early 2019.
- Item 5: Update on Strategic Division/SMAC Assessment – The assessment conducted by Third Plateau is nearing completion and will be presented to the Advocacy Committee later in August, then to the full commission in September.
- Committee Reports:
- Outreach and Advocacy Committee: No August meeting scheduled; no update.
- Grants and Education Committee: Commissioner Delgado reported focus on the Any Given Child application process and the consortium development.
- Art in Public Places Committee: Commissioner Ishmael reported on phase one of the theater/convention center selection process (three artists selected for the plaza site and three for the J Street site; proposals due September 24). Also, the River Crossing temporary public art project deadline was August 13, 2018, at 5 p.m. A panel will select three finalists in September, with the final artist chosen in December 2018 and installation expected near September 2019.
- Director's Report: Jonathon Glus announced final interviews for a new arts administrator position to implement the cultural plan, ongoing site visits to cultural organizations (e.g., Sojourner Museum, Mexican Cultural Center), and collaboration on a Law and Social Justice Summit (led by California Lawyers for the Arts) and an Arts Equity Summit (co-produced with the Region Foundation in January).
- Chair's Report: Chair Jason Silva opened the floor for public comments.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jorge Santana (Professor Emeritus, Sacramento State) and Martin Anaya (California Film Foundation) spoke in support of Cine Latino and the Sacramento International Film Festival. They highlighted the need for a full-time film commissioner, professional film education programs (First Saturday filmmaking, Second Saturday screenwriting, Third Saturday acting), and opportunities to retain local film talent. They noted that many successful Sacramento filmmakers (e.g., from Lady Bird, Black Panther) have left the area. Commissioner Matthew Gilliam echoed the need to keep talent and revenue in Sacramento, suggesting a restructuring of the film commission.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar: Approved unanimously.
- Approval of Any Given Child Roster: Approved unanimously with added teaching artists and one arts organization.
- Cultural Plan Update: Received and filed; further reports expected.
- Strategic Division/SMAC Assessment Update: Received and filed; full report in September.
- Committee Reports: Received and filed.
- Director's and Chair's Reports: Received and filed.
- Commissioner Comments: Commissioner Veronica Delgado promoted the Wide Open Walls mural festival (37-38 artists, culminating with Shepard Fairey on Del Paso Boulevard).
- Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned without further action.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, do we have enough people here? Are we expecting anyone else? Okay. Well, they'll show up on the show. We have a quorum, right? All right. Let us all come together here to uh open the session of the Monday, the August thirteenth, two thousand and eighteen of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. And we've got uh some honored guests here. Um it's Monday, let's just call it that right now. I'm still dealing with Monday. Um, it came with a with a bang. Um so let us start off with roll calls. Maya Wallace. Wonderful, thank you guys. I think about five years working with the arts commission. And I can say that probably the you know, up there is the two that were most influential to me, and I don't think I could even fill in their shadows and shoes in large part um their dedication to the commission as a whole. And I think they, you know, we'll have their continued uh over, you know, uh, you know, hopefully the continued push to the embracement of the arts and um in our city and county. And so I want to invite Donnie Blumenstock and uh Rebecca Garrison to um I think we're gonna come down to you, Steve. You want to come down and I say hi. Donnie. No, no, no. And Rebecca. Oh, so like this. Is this the way to do it? It doesn't sound like that. Does this work well? Or is there a it works? Hello, hello, hello. Um this is uh kind of a weird format here, but we wanted to take this opportunity to uh celebrate all the years and the support. Umnie, you're this uh I you've got so many of those um uh quips, and and uh uh um there's always some witty um I've lost my words today, but uh you you've never been without words to really help help us define um the current situation and what isn't right, and that is uh, and I know your work in this and your work in all the other avenues has been uh amazing, and uh you know that is incredible. And Rebecca, your work in really supporting the county and also the nuts and bolts. I mean, in a sense, you're a bit of a I want to say a bit of a wonk uh in terms of in terms of the uh uh your efforts and the the in reality we didn't get there it through another avenue kind of broke apart. Uh I think hopefully for the betterment of the the whole um of the whole uh but I think that your efforts towards that have really brought uh shined a light on the county-city relationship, and you've also brought in that lexicon of the two by two to our our our work here. And so I wanted to uh thank you guys and honor you with a plaque and let's see who's first here. Donnie where shall we stand? Oh, we shall we do classic in the middle? Classic in the middle. In the middle like this. Yeah, with the seal. Thank you, and some flags. And another one, yeah. Can you hold on? Where's the uh where's the the director? I'm your back up. Rebecca, your turn. Okay. Anything after? Or is this? Could we stop her? Right.
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