Um, this is the last public art commission meeting.

I'm will be presiding over.

I've been serving for too many years, so I'm retiring.

Um, but welcome.

Uh tonight we have to flip flop things around a little bit.

Um, sorry I didn't mention that.

Um, before we continue, I'm gonna have everyone introduce themselves around the table.

I'll start.

Am I right?

Lisa Lambert.

So we're waiting till six.

We got a couple commissioners out sick.

We got a couple of commissioners come in late.

Um, so we're we'll we'll move the voting items to six o'clock, and then the other discussions up.

So we're not able to review the minutes and approve them, so we're gonna skip that.

Um nor the uh proposal that was submitted.

So if the DOT is ready, we'll be happy to have you come join us if you'd like.

Sit at the table.

And tonight we have did Tanisha leave?

Oh Tanisha, oh my god.

Do you want to do you want to come up here?

You did.

Yeah, come on up.

Uh Tanisha Murphy, John Adams, and Betsy Parmelee.

And so the reason why we've asked you to come tonight is because Emmanuel has been spearheading this, you know, DOT IAD1 project and how we can integrate art into it.

Um since I think I started on the commission in in 2018, it feels like it's been a long time since you've been discussing this.

Maybe it hasn't been that long, but not quite that long, but not but some years.

Um and I know that there's been several discussions, and we're trying to figure out how the public art commission can best help be a tool to be integrated into these things and help bring in local artists uh in and just support you know the art scene and celebrate our community in a respectful way uh through art, um you know, hopefully in a collaboration.

So Emmanuel, I'm gonna let you take the lead on everything and sort of go over all the stuff we've been working on.

Okay, all right.

Well, thank you, Tina.

Um does everybody have uh one of these sheets?

Okay, so I just tried to summarize um sort of where we are and what needs to be done, and um so put simply um in thinking about the Almond Street corridor, uh which will be the boulevard at grade um as part of this larger project.

Um the city has an interest in doing two things uh well more than two things, but but I think the ones that are pertinent to us right now uh and directly related to the work of the parks department and the public art commission is finding space for public art.

Um most well okay, just finding space for public art, sculpture uh seems to be the preferred way to go.

Um just because we don't have walls you know in uh you know that that are that are part of the uh of the project.

Um and secondly, uh space for uh lots of planting uh for for urban forestry, okay.

Um with that in mind, um some of us in the public art commission and in the parks department began discussions about things like you know what can the city provide and and what does the city need?

And so uh if you look at you know what the city needs, so space for public artist sculpture, the construction of pedestals for public art for public sculptures, um, which um my understanding is the parks department can build, um, and how big those things are uh depends on I guess the ultimate dimensions that the DOT team has for the boulevard, um, and that will also determine the kind of work that we can put there, uh the scale of the work that we can put there.

Um now at the moment the city does not have sculpture, all right.

So we talked, I say we, uh Ann Cofer and uh Tina was involved, Josh Wilcox, uh Commissioner Byrd, uh in s in discussions over the last year and a half or so about developing a system whereby we can borrow sculpture from local universities or from art parks or from museums, okay, with the idea that the city would build a relationship with a network uh of institutions, and uh would it would try to borrow pieces uh of appropriate scale um that we could install in the boulevard for say two to three years, uh maybe longer, maybe less, but certainly two to three years seems seemed reasonable in our initial discussions.

Um and and and pursuant to that uh uh there were some initial discussions about the extent to which the city would be responsible for transporting the art, insuring it, um uh and installing it.

Okay.

Because it's my understanding the state doesn't do that.

So yeah, the city would take on that.

We've gone through a couple of iterations of letters that we would send out to institutions seeking such a relationship.

We haven't yet done anything with it, partly because we haven't yet had this kind of discussion where everybody who's a participant is in the same room, okay.

Not because we have a big sack of money or something, but that we might go for grants and then work through the uh Syracuse Parks Conservancy, which can receive money and handle it more flexibly than the municipality can, uh, and that that would be another way to get art.

Um in that case, reaching out to individuals, um, but also uh reaching out to say universities saying to students that may do a sculptural piece as a thesis that you know we're looking for a piece of a certain kind of scale that might end up in the boulevard uh and then challenge the the art the student artist to come up with something bold and you know um and and compelling so which would be a good way to build a good relationship between the public art commission and the parks department on the city end with those institutions, okay, and with the understanding that DOT always gets something of quality in those on those pedestals, okay.

Um so uh you know, as we were talking about before we all began the meeting, um right now the public art commission is having this discussion, the parks department is having this discussion.

Um there is a an almond street um what is it uh the Almond Street Corridor Committee that is having this discussion and we need to somehow find a way to get some some people from all of those groups in the same space to talk about this.

Um by the way, with the understanding that any art that ends up being displayed in the corridor still ends up coming before the public art commission.

Okay.

Um so um so I'm hoping that you know at in the foreseeable future that we'll have an opportunity to have the DOT team talk about you know where it is with regard to the design of uh of the boulevard um and then how that design has space for Steve Harris's team's plantings, um, you know, and and and uh and he has certain spatial needs and so on and so on, and then uh where on each block we might have opportunities for for public art, so that we get out of this eventually not simply excuse me, a traffic corridor, but a really um an urban design statement, okay, that it you know that speaks of what Syracuse has been about, is about, maybe come, okay, and and an ongoing relationship between the city and the state about you know keeping that um that that urban design that compelling urban design statement alive and evolving.

So that's that's where we are as I see it at the moment, and um and again I've been with the Almond Street team.

I've been with the public art commission.

Um Tina and I have had some meetings at the Parks Department.

Um, and we just need to find a way to there's there's no it yet that we can either modify or react to or anything.

Um I'm a little worried that uh particularly with the Almond Street team, which has a bunch of architects on it, so um, we could get way into the weeds about dimensionality, and still not quite know what we're talking about and working with.

Um I'll say thank you for having us.