Sacramento Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Commission Meeting – November 9, 2020
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Sacramento Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Commission Meeting – November 9, 2020
The Sacramento Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Commission met on Monday, November 9, 2020, beginning at 2:00 PM. Due to the presence of only five commissioners—below the required quorum—no formal votes or motions could be taken. The meeting proceeded as a discussion session, with staff and a councilmember presenting items for review and future action. Commissioners participated in dialogue and offered feedback, agreeing to postpone approval of pending items to the December meeting or a special meeting.
Consent Calendar
- No items were voted on due to the lack of a quorum. The approval of the September 14, 2020, and November 2, 2020, meeting minutes was deferred.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were recorded in the transcript.
Discussion Items
- Item 2 – Ordinance Amendment for Youth Seats on Commissions: Councilmember Jay Schenirer presented an ordinance to amend sections of the Sacramento City Code to add youth seats to the Parks & Community Enrichment Commission, the Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Commission, and the Community Police Review Commission. He highlighted the city’s youth-friendly efforts and introduced a video from youth advocate Naomi Piper Pell. Commissioners expressed support but could not take action due to the quorum issue; the item will return at a future meeting with sufficient membership.
- Item 3 – Rules of Procedure for the Arts Commission: Megan Van Voorhis, Cultural and Creative Economy Manager, reviewed the proposed rules. Commissioners asked clarifying questions and provided informal feedback. Formal approval was deferred.
- Item 4 – Art in Public Places Mural Program / Community Murals Sacramento: Donald Gensler, Arts Program Specialist, presented the community murals project, the last creative economy program from the first funding cycle. He noted a mural speaker series and a planned citywide mural policy. Commissioners discussed the program’s timeline and supported its release; formal approval was deferred.
- Item 5 – CARES Act Relief Fund for Nonprofit Arts Grant Guidelines: Ray Gargano, Arts Program Coordinator, presented the guidelines for a new relief fund from the California Arts Council. After discussion, staff confirmed they could release the guidelines and accept applications immediately, with final grant allocations to be approved by the commission in December retroactively. Commissioners agreed to this approach.
- Item 6 – Director’s Report: Megan Van Voorhis gave an oral report on recent grants, budget updates, and staffing. She noted the office’s commitment to providing commissioners with data tools such as district fact sheets and online dashboards to support their duties.
- Item 7 – Chairperson’s Report: Dr. Steven Winlock, Chair, commended staff and commissioners for their work on grants and CARES funding. He also mentioned the Friends of Sacramento Arts organization and its support for arts education, suggesting it be included in future presentations.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or motions were passed due to the lack of a quorum (only five of the required members present).
- All pending agenda items (minutes, rules of procedure, mural program, CARES guidelines) were deferred to the December 2020 meeting or a future special meeting with a full quorum.
- Staff will release the CARES Act Relief Fund guidelines and begin accepting applications, with final grantee approval scheduled for the December meeting (retroactive approval).
- Commissioners provided informal direction and feedback on the youth seat ordinance, rules of procedure, and mural program, to be incorporated when the items return for a vote.
- The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:50 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Oh, okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Roll call. Rick Rick Dott. Maya Wallace. Here. Andrea Lapor. Isala Perez. Bonnie Blumenstock. Luisa Lavulo. Dr. Steven Winlock. Here. Priscilla Enriquez here. Melinda, Dr. Melinda Wilson Raimi. Here. So we only have five commissioners in the meeting right now. Great. Well, let's um let's if we can. Um let's move to the um. Uh we'll move to the discussion calendar. Correct. We can't take a um a motion on uh the approval of minutes, can we no, no, no. Right. All right. I'm going to move to the discussion calendar. Item number two. Um, and again, presenters are uh council member Jay Shaneer. It's on the ordinance and amendment sections uh dealing with relating to the youth seats on the park, uh community enrichment commission, the Sacramento Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Commission, and the Sacramento County uh Police Review Commission. Again, welcome, Councilman Jay. Thanks very much, uh, Mr. Chair and members of the commission. I appreciate uh you having me here today, and Claudia Jason is from my staff is with me, as well as Naomi Piper Pell, who you saw briefly on video, and you'll hear from in a couple of minutes. Um, what I want to do is set a little bit of context if I can, and then we'll we'll see the video from Naomi, and then I will wrap it up. And while I know you can't vote, um possibly uh giving some direction would be helpful if we can do that. Um so I have been working on youth issues for many years here and doing everything we can to really create a youth-friendly city. Uh the chart before you really shows some of the efforts that the council has taken and and that I've taken to really support young people to be successful in school and career and in life. A couple of highlights here, I think that are important. One is that in 2017, uh the city council adopted a framework for children and youth services and basically took 25 to 30 years of research, um, put it into an asset mapping of what young people need to be successful, and we pass that as a framework for everything the city either funds in youth programming uh with other agencies or runs as programs themselves. Uh these things have gone into our training, and we hope are really being implemented at the ground level as we support young people. Uh in 2019, we launched our ride-free RT, which continues and is now part of the base budget for the city of Sacramento, where all young people, K-12 who live or go to school in the city can ride public transportation for free anytime, anywhere. This is uh a national leading uh program. No one else does it the same way. There are some that do to school and back or only on certain days, but anywhere, anytime is um a national leader. Um, and then most recently, um, what we did uh is we passed a resolution which redefines public safety again, something that has not happened anywhere in the country that we could find, and certainly not in California, which includes now prevention services for young people as part of what public safety is all about. So when we think about a safety in your home in your community, uh it's not just enough to have adequate fire and police and emergency services, all of which are extremely important, but we also need to think about those types of prevention services to prevent young people from going in the wrong direction.
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