January 28, 2026 — Boulder Arts Commission Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:00] Excuse me already, but yeah. Sorry. Totally useless. Yeah, that's not right. If you can keep it, my dad sends me pens for… So, I love that. Tends to be cool. It's fine. Welcome to the Boulder Arts Commission's meeting. It is January 28, 2026, and I will call a roll. Cheryl Carnosa? Maria Cole. Here. Jeffrey Katt? Jill Katzenberger. I see Jill online. Please promote her to panelists.

[1:01] I am here. Alright, Caroline Kurt? Yeah. Yaya Vinay? Yeah. Yale? Present? I will turn the meeting over to Chair Kirk for procedure. Great, thank you. Welcome to the January 28, 2026, we're in 2026 Arts Commission meeting, and we'll open the meeting with a very gentle… All right, we, will start with approving the agenda for today. I'll move to approve. I'll second. All in favor? Right? That passes unanimously. And approval of the November 2025 meeting minutes, which were in the packet. Any changes to that? Just need a motion to approve those. Second, I'll move to approve. I'll second. All in favor?

[2:00] Great, that's unanimous. And has anybody shown up for public participation? I saw a hand up over here. Not to… only to observe. Okay, great. Excellent. Great, so we will move right into matters from the Commissioners, and, start with the land acknowledgement, which I need to pull something up for. I apologize. You'll notice that… Contrary to what has been the norm, I did not read a land acknowledgement at the meeting, and we talked about it a little bit at the November meeting, but I just wanted to touch back into it again. And, I don't know if people had a chance to read the language in the packet about it. You didn't? So the main takeaway, there are notes in the packet, I won't read them verbatim, but the main takeaway

[3:09] And the conversations with the city, and the city's engagement team is that, really, the best practice and what we should be doing with the land of acknowledgement across commissions and departments is to invoke it if we have business before the Commission, that directly impacts, Indigenous… interests. So, what… what we've… What we would like to do is, respect that request. And if we do have something that's In particular, related to those interests, then we can use that at any of those particular meetings. Do you mean things like a grant request, or… Yes, a grant request, or, grant work.

[4:03] giving a specific call-out for a public art piece from a perspective, or something like that. And you'll flag that? Right. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions? Oh, it's… Great! Cool. The next one is liaison roles and responsibilities, and we just wanted to sort of tap in on this. And revisit a little bit, now that we've had kind of a year, year and a half under our belt of doing the, the liaison, reports in the meeting. And… And we're starting to really kind of get into a rhythm of reaching out to our liaison groups. These groups have gotten very big. And, We just want to make sure that everybody feels comfortable about what the expectations are, what the boundaries are of that, answer any questions, anything you…

[5:04] No, I was just pulling up what… we send out a very general, this is informational, and it has become… it is a very purposeful and very useful position, as I'm sure that you've all noticed. We love to hear from all of you what's happening in the community, and we deeply, deeply appreciate it, and I know that the arts community that is connected with you really also appreciates it, right? But in the past, we just had a very general high-level contact them once or twice a year to see how they're faring, if they have challenges, triumphs, and sending them updates that we kind of funnel through YouTube, right? And we just wanted to be sure that everybody's comfortable with the… what you're doing, how it's going. We expect the same numbers in our operating support grantees next year, and, if we need to set down some more, kind of. You know, guidelines, but if you want to just be a little bit more firm with each other about

[6:00] How it's playing out, so liaisons feel comfortable with whoever they're working with, and there's kind of consistency across all of our 46 general support grantees, right? Yeah. Is there some concerns that you have, or, how it's going, or how we're communicating, or maybe we should… seems like there's something you're… maybe we should just be… Sure. I think that it's just, there's a lot of work going on, and I want to be sure that everybody in the arts community is getting the same kind of contact and response and connection to their liaison, and it's super hard because everybody has such a different like, time and energy and what they can do and what they can work on, and self-improved, right? So we understand that, and we also want to be clear with all of our… all of you are volunteers, right? So I think as… We start our new year, and we're welcoming two new commissioners, that we all set a new set of, and a whole bunch of new operating support grantees that we just have a good, like. This is what we've all kind of agreed upon.

[7:02] That above and beyond is welcome, but it also can be a little challenging for people that might not be able to do that, like, to accommodate that kind of you know, connections and that sort of thing. That's also why we have our ticket fund and that kind of stuff, right, just to try to support you as you're connecting with arts organizations. I don't know what would be helpful to try and… I'm just… I'm just… I'm pausing because I'm… I'm wondering if I should be like, well, this is what I do. I… I don't know what's helpful to this, or if there are any concerns that people want to talk through, or… I know… I know for me, what it ends up looking like is just trying to touch base, like, at least once a quarter with people. Maybe we'll go out to coffee,

[8:03] And asking them about just any concerns they have about their grant, or reporting, or what the schedule looks like. I don't know what it looks like for other people. what's helpful, what I found the most interesting, is to try to understand friends in the art. We have enough that we can be friends and share those friends. People struggling, implementing, Friends? Are they having trouble, Finding, you know. finding people that can live in Boulder, that meet all of our requirements. I mean, I think those… I feel like that's I'm usually trying to see if there are trends across… that I can share with all of you. And then I'm just making sure they know they can reach out to us and share that kind of information privately, you know, they don't have to save in a public forum, and we can share it without At least that's what I find most useful. I know that's been wonderful, because I've heard that come back from you, too, so it's confirmed. Oh, yes. Go ahead, John.

[9:04] Sure, yeah, I mean, I'd be curious to do a… A similar survey across grant recipients just to see, you know, if they're getting what they want from their liaison contact, or what it is that they're appreciating the most, because I've had those conversations one-on-one, with some of… some of my organizations. I've shared this before, that I've gotten… I've gotten good feedback and enjoyed getting them together more as a group, which also obviously takes a little bit off of my plate, instead of having to set up individual meetings, kind of making it… one of… one of mine was a more of a open drop-in kind of thing, and then the other one was the one that Gaia and I hosted together. And yeah, it feels like there was a lot of positive feedback around them being able to collaborate and, meet each other. This is Kismet. She'll probably try to walk on the keyboards a lot.

[10:03] And yeah, I've shared this before, too, that it… just putting it out there, that when we get a couple new commissioners, and when we do the kind of reorg of who is whose liaison contact, there could be an opportunity there to, group them with either similar-sized organizations, with a liaison or similar types, you know, whether it's within music or dance and theater or something like that, so that then there could be more opportunity for them to talk to each other and potentially collaborate, which I know we want to see even more in, you know, the arts here. Yeah, that's all. Well, I think it would be good to know… Actually, Sarah messaged me. I didn't think of this at all. She said that she's happy to send out a message to our… groups, especially as we're, like, closing the general operating support reporting for this year to ask, but it would be good to have a couple… a set of questions from you. And I just wanted to throw in, too, that I think,

[11:10] it's incredible that Jill has the opportunity to use her space to get a very, very, very cool space to get people together, that maybe if you want to organize something with your liaisons, and you don't have a space potential, then I can also help this beautiful room, and I'd be happy to organize something in one of these outstanding city spaces. I mean, I can try to organize something cooler, but, if that's something that you want help with, then I can… We can find event space, at least, and maybe, you know, some soda or something, but, If you have some questions that we'd be… just a couple that we could send out to the groups would be wonderful. Of, like, was this useful to you? Do you have any preferences? Do you have any… asks that weren't met, like, you know. How often do you want to talk to your leader? Right.

[12:04] I'd be happy to donate space as well. Like, if we were to make something like a every quarter is a liaison roundtable that… you know, we as… I don't know how this would work, but the space is large enough that we could have separate groups with their liaison if we wanted to, but I don't know if that would constitute you know, being in the same space, even if we're having separate conversations, I don't know. But, yeah, I'm sure that we could work out something that if you wanted a space to host your group, reach out to me, and we could find a time, I'm sure, at the junkyard. I think that, it might be helpful to have Just… I was going back to this thing of, like. everybody has different time available, and so maybe, you know, they email me and I don't respond fast enough, like, is there another email that they should CC?

[13:01] if that's something that's a time crunch, like, say something that's traveling or whatever else, I think that's just good guidance, too. Sure. To share with liaisons, like, if you communicate with Gaia, like. CC, you know, Lauren, or CC Sarah, if it's something that's timely and related to grants, and she doesn't respond in 24 hours, then you know how to reach out, who to reach out to. That could be… maybe the Cultural Grants general email, too. And then there's, like, 3 people with me and I on it. Yeah, feel free to, right? But I… I don't know if you should put. too many requirements, because so many people… I'm just afraid that I'll start excluding people from wanting to apply and become… liaison, if you say, like, this is what we apply, blah blah blah, because I think people get stressed out, you know? I mean, that's part of the reason why people want to… don't want to join a board, is they're like, oh, I don't know about the campaign. Put these rules out there that they get anybody.

[14:01] real nervous about it. I agree. But maybe it's, like, good to have some. Like, these meetings twice is good, maybe, like, join. You know, you'll be asked to join one graph band at all, like… how when you get a four-degree man, you're like, you're required to, like, do some meetings, and, like, you have to be in this executive committee, and, like, attend four events, so, like. something like that, like, but make it more as a suggestion would be good. And I think this is a good place to, like, suggest. Like, I say you attend four events, and we have a ticket fund, and… So people know that they can… Four events for each liaison? No, like, in total. Each, like, commissioner attends at least four. Oh, four, throughout the year. Not four beliefs, but, like, just four in general, whatever. Something… yeah.

[15:00] More like the… like the… I don't… we're kind of… basic understanding. So also, it's also for the organizations to know, like, okay, I'll be able to connect with them twice a year, privately if they want, or, you know, in a group meeting if they want, right? So they are comfortable also reaching out. Like, I do think there is a little bit of intimidation sometimes of, like, these are the grant makers, arts leaders, and to make a lot of cozy, right? But I think this… getting two commissioners together in the non-profit space. a lot of joy to be found in that. Like I said, I know we can't do 3 people at a time. But two is… is nice, like, the commissioners feel, like, yeah, company, too. You know, especially if it's a commissioner who's been a commissioner for a while, and somebody who's new to the committee, I think it's nice to just show up with that experience. It could be… it's a nice evening. Do you have your questions? Yes, I also wanted to add, speaking of, like, the intimidation factor, it might be helpful to tell your liaisons

[16:07] to talk to me if they have something they're nervous about, because you guys are the ones that officially award the grants. I'm not a panelist, I'm not a commissioner. I see myself as an ally to these grantees to help them brainstorm solutions to things or find other resources, so that might be helpful, I don't know Alright. Like, how often do you want to talk to your liaison? What has been most beneficial? What would you like to see in the future? What could be better? Yeah, like, nice stuff around it, and that's… Cool. Clark. All right, liaison updates! Speaking of liaison… I can go over here. I went to Band of Tufts Jin and Gothic show a couple weekends ago. They, they held a test.

[17:04] At the junkyard a while back, and I knew that they had planned to refine it, and had the desires of throwing it, or putting it on in a… more of a house setting, and so they found this farmhouse near Yellow Barn, and yeah, it was fantastic. It's based off of the Bronte sisters' original play. Lots of, Powerful moments that felt connected to the political climate today, so… I loved it. I… one of my liaisons, Groundworks, I'm working with their team to actually do a screen printing workshop with my staff. We're paying for it, but it's been cool to work with them, kind of on a side project, and they're gonna help us screen print. you know, like, upcycled clothing with junkyard logos for the staff, so it'll be fun to do a workshop with them and kind of see what they do in their space. I know that Frequent Flyers has a show coming up in Valentine's Day, and… or on Valentine's Day, and the executive director of Frequent Flyers, Nancy Smith, is in a show with me this weekend at the Junkyard, which I shared with you all at our retreat that I was excited to help produce.

[18:19] A show inspired by a good friend's cancer journey, and yeah, so we have two nights of that coming up, Friday and Saturday. It's really beautiful, and I… invite you all to join us. I'm coming down with a cold and trying to hold it together and having 3 late nights of rehearsals and shows this weekend, which is why I'm home. But, but yeah, excited to see it all, come together. And then, I was just gonna give a quick update on… for the Junkyard Community Grant Project of 2025. We got a small extension and completed the project in January this month. This was the mural with artist Bimmer Torres, Chicano artist, created in…

[19:08] with 15 kids, and it was… it was just such a cool experience to watch. So, it is completed. The mural is up on the wall. If you come to the shows this weekend, you can see it. So, I'm finishing up my grant report. But yeah. thank, you know, the Arts Commission for, making that possible. Jill, can I ask you a question? Yeah. I see, I think I saw an email from Groundworks that Carrie is, stepping down from… Did you get… did you get that email? I did, I… yeah, I have not talked to her specifically about that, but I am curious as well, and can… can follow up, because yeah, she hasn't been my point of contact for this specific workshop, so I haven't been in touch with her, but yeah, I… that is… was news to me, and Gaia and I saw her at the meeting that we held not that long ago, and that was not brought up then. So, yeah, I can… I'm curious, I'll try to see if I can get more information on that, just so we're… we understand what's going on.

[20:22] We had some updates that I shared with the two of you. Do I need to… Would it be beautiful to love it? I think, shape. If it just… Sorry, but this is very long. It's very long. Okay, so the first twist from, Kutandra. They are very grateful for the town. waiver grant that they got, and that's happening on May 3rd at eTel. 6PM doors and 7 p.m. concert, and it really celebrates a lot of Zimbabwean artists, educators, and leaders. They're also going to be collaborating with the Board of Corral for their 60th anniversary celebration.

[21:05] They are seeking a new location. Their space is not viable. You've got the email from them, because they have a dog food place next to their space, and it's really smelling and making it unannable for them, so… They are participating in Boulder Arts Week, so everybody, please let your liaisons know, and big shout out to Cindy, who's been so organized with getting information out there, and they have a four-week class that they're launching, to try something new, Legal Commitment and PutePoint students. And they're in the early stages of building a marinva class for, neurodivergent young people, and then parent or adult caregivers. fun as well. Streetwise kicked off a new expanded partner program with older housing partners in, Tantra Lake, providing, free youth arts programming. And, they're also kicking off a year-long public art program funded by

[22:10] for permaculture workshops, on-site food forests, also at Tantron Lake, and they're launching a new community mural program with Age well. Funded in part by the Old Arts Commission Artists Hiring Brant. And then they are also participating in Boulder Arts Week as well. And then Chautauqua has been working super hard on the winterization, in time for 2027, and they're on track for construction and financing. They're going to be ready for Sundance, and the goal is to keep the space open for an additional 200 days a year. You know, it's going to have a seasonal interior tent. And, it's the interior air conditioning, and a heating system, and in May, the tent will come down, and it'll return the auditorium to its historic charm. They sent around a video as well of what the nutrients look like.

[23:10] There's… the dairy I know, is not one of my liaisons, but because I'm on the board, I will mention that they have a, really fun new exhibition by… a young Boulder resident who's curated the exhibition, and she's brought in a ton of work from artists all over the world, and it's all polyglot, and it's up for two weeks, it's a pop-up that they have. So please have time, go check it out. then, Bruce Music Project has have amazing events, they have, like, some secret, sort of, concerts that they're starting up, and VIP programming that they're starting, and they have a lot of really awesome, fun weekend events. They hold schedules up, and so they would love to see you do that.

[24:01] That wasn't so bad. I wanted to hear that show, not him. For me, the Spark Theater is about to do, a production of Alice in Wonderland that's running from February 14th through the 22nd, and then I'm waiting to hear back from everyone else, so… Mine's pretty short, too. I spoke to the Minnesota Collective, and they have, Resonances, they're showing that's happening this weekend, so they've got Friday and Saturday shows at 7.30, and then a Sunday show, matinee, at 2 o'clock, and they're super excited. I told them that we have line items for… they wanted to gift you guys all tickets, but I told them, we'll pay for the tickets. So, if anybody's interested, they're really excited to have us there. They were… they were one of the, sort of add-on general operating support grants, and they…

[25:00] We're just so grateful for that, and it's really helping them In terms of building some sustainability within their just their staffing and things like that, so they've been… really, really grateful for that. Kind of talked about the… got them on board with the grant calendar and all the different offerings there are, other than the general operating support, talked a little bit about what's coming on board for the… new blueprint, and, so they're… they're excited to kind of Have a little piece of… Of what's going on, a little bit. closer information. So, And then I did get to go to the dairy, and I, you know, I have gone to Jeff Cash's, his film series, which is amazing, and super fun, and I just hadn't ever plugged in to the other film series that goes on there.

[26:00] And I'm a huge film nerd, and on my birthday, they were showing, like, it's our house film, right? One of my favorite directors, and I… was so excited to just be reminded that that's such a great program they have. There's so many good films that they have. We have 700 films a year. Wow. So… Wow. I, I don't know how I just forgot about that. I just, like, ISS. Yeah. So, I'll be back for a while. Yeah. And then, this isn't a liaison thing, but I wanted… I thought this was a good place to plug it, but we had… Lauren and the staff put together this really cool event that happened here of inviting people who were interested in Applying for commissions. Oh, Cindy! Cindy did that. Cindy did that. And, it was a great turnout. There were, like, 20, 30 people in the room. Excited to hear about what it was like to be on a commission, what's the time, expectation, like, and I just encourage them to listen to meetings and reach out to commissioners.

[27:16] take a commissioner out for coffee, get some input on what it's really like, and so hopefully we have a lot of really great applicants across the entire city, and it was a really great event. Yes, that was Lauren's idea. When I told her, alright, find it out. We said, Lauren, we need to figure out a way to get artists to take over the world. She was like, let's start with this. So it's gonna be an annual thing, and we might do one for, like, running for office sometime in the summer. Nice. You know, I've heard… I just want to say, though, I have heard from so many people in the arts community that they so appreciate all the work that the three of you do. they feel like it's the last, like… a lot more people, I think, are applying for grants, they know about them, they are, like, able to connect with you, and I don't know what

[28:03] I mean, I've only been on the mission for, like, a year, but I don't know what's become different or what's changed, but there's, like, a lot of positivity and, like, good vibes, like, out there for, like, 3 weeks, so… so nice. Yes. Good job, y'all. And Matthew. Yeah. I mean, I was just gonna say, that's coincidentally when, like, Sarah and Matthew started working here, so… Oh, that's right. Awesome. Anybody else to please? I don't know. Oh, I just have a couple. Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, they have a… their spring opening, tomorrow evening, so you're all free, you should see that show, I saw it today, it's really interesting, so it's always compelling. The work is moving forward on their… North Boulder Campus, so that's in schematic design. Schematic design is anticipated to be done at the end of May, so that's going along well, and, they have a,

[29:03] looking for an artistic director. I think I forget the exact title, but it's on their website. Anyone that's interested in, like, an artistic director position. And that, RF… I want to say it's North Cuba, so it's a job posting. The job posting is, up, and so they're getting some interest. Colorado Music Festival has some concerts this weekend that I'll be attending, and the piano concert this Friday. But thanks to Lauren, so thank you for sponsoring. It is, that's the only updates I have. I have very little. I'm on the lesser end of… But the… the main thing I have is that I have this year's Visit Boulder meeting calendar ahead of time, which means they don't do remote meetings. And so I can now make sure that I'm not going to be driving from Aurora when those meetings are occurring, because they're at 3 o'clock. In person here, so…

[30:01] I'm just glad… I think I'll have much better attendance at their meetings this year, because I know when they are in China, so… Right, Tina. By the way, stop. I was… I know last time there was some concerns about Sundance and how they're gonna partner with nonprofits. They have a really good show with, Boulder Symphony Music, ESMA, I think? I'm going to it next weekend, or the weekend after, where they're partnering with Sundance to provide the score for, like, 5 different movies and scenes from 5 different movies. So they're really out there, like, trying to connect with various nonprofits and you know, 5 milligrams. It's great. Yeah. All right, we have four new focus areas for our committee work, so just wanted to do a quick check-in on those. Arts education?

[31:04] Oh, no, what's happening? Oh, I might be able to provide an update for all of these. Why don't you do that? Nothing's happened. Tomorrow, we have a couple meetings. Okay, yeah, we have meetings on the books for… The ball rolling. Yeah. Most of these, if not all of them, and we definitely have a lot of ideas that emerged from Sarah's work, Cindy's work, and Art's Blueprint Inspiration. We have a lot of ideas, but it's now just time to get booking, so… My apologies if I… That was a very interesting update. Things are happening, just not quite. All right, would you like to introduce Rachel? Yes! Rachel can't… I'm so happy to bring back Rachel for the fifth of our Experiment Team Public Arts series, and she'll walk through this, but I also have to say, it's been wonderful to work with you, and I'm so sad that this is our last project, and I hope that we can That's what you can worry.

[32:01] It's just the end of my contract. It's the end of the contract. I'm not going anywhere. Exactly, we'll find something. Yeah. I'm still here, just, like, in the background. Lurking, lurking. Ready to talk about public… Yes. Lovingly lurking, yes. So, project number 5. So, think back to the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. At its start, the Experiments in Public Art program has been doing projects in tandem with the BBCP, aka the Comp Plan. Over the last year and some time, and so we are finally at the end of the series with project number 5, which we are anticipating being a mural, and so this evening, I would like to run you through the process that we engaged in, and how we went from 100 artists to one recommendation for you this evening. Next slide, please. Oh my goodness, sorry.

[33:02] So, here are the project details. I won't read them to you, because I know that you can read them. But the tricky thing about this project, I will say, is that there is not a wall. within the city, where we can place a mural. And so, we've gotten creative. We wanted to produce a projected mural, and we wanted to create a mural that is portable, movable, which also means storable. So that we can install it temporarily for meetings and presentations and parties and that sort of thing, and then have it go into storage until… Until there's a home for it. Or maybe we'll just project it and there won't have to be a permanently sided kind of a thing. So there's a lot of flexibility in this project. There's a lot of, we'll know it when we get there kind of a thing happening, with regard to the placement and the location.

[34:02] But the budget is $20,000, which I think is… substantial for a project of this size, and we guess that 10 by 50 for something that would go, like, basically on the wall that you see on the other side of the room here. Maybe that's a little bit long, but yeah, it's 10x50, which is great. Next, please. Here are the selection panels. The technical review committee, TRC, was comprised of city staff, planners, and community engagement specialists, and they were tasked with helping us figure out the placement, or in this case, the temporary installation and the projection, sort of, components of the project. And then the standing selection panel was able to look at the recommendation from the technical review committee, and then whittle that down to three… 5 people that we asked to submit proposals, and they chose one more from the roster. And the next slide actually is a little bit more about the process, and a little bit more…

[35:09] a visual representation of how we got from 100 artists down to one. So, the… we used the mural roster that's on the website now. to start. So there's 100 people listed on that roster. The technical review committee looked at all 100 of those for… all 100 of those listings, essentially, and then whittled it down to 5 artists. They recommended those 5 artists, the sanding selection panel added 1. We did an RFQ for all 6 of those people, 3 people. submitted, and the deadline was January 1st, so that was tricky. And then the text… the sanding selection panel reviewed all three of them, and then recommended one. So, Arts Commission approval, one artist, you are here. This is where we're at. We started this in September, so it's…

[36:00] We're ready to go. Exactly, yeah. So, here's proposal number one from IKO… Mmm… spot check. Thank you. I don't know, I… Yeah. So, her proposal… The feedback we got from the standing selection panel on her proposal was that it felt too unspecific that it's not enough thought and care into the idea. There's a lot of thought and care into the symbolism, but it's not specific about what we see to Boulder. And then it's not a strong connection with the proposal. And it's also hard to imagine, I should have mentioned this before, the third component of the project, we're going to do a projected mural, a temporary mural, and then the community engagement folks and the planners want to be able to pull out vignettes. They want to be able to pull out design elements from the mural and put it into potentially print, actually in the final plan itself. And so the panelists, when they looked at this, had a

[37:09] hard time imagining what elements from this that they could possibly pull out and create sort of a… design-y element to it for print in the plan. Everyone thought it was really beautiful, so… and… I agree, it's pretty. Proposal number 2, next slide, Andre Jones. It's a little… It's a little light in the projection here, but, I think you get the idea. The feedback from the panelists was that… He has a lot of other digital work, so he'll be able to project it. In terms of the vignettes, the design people thought that they could pull out vignettes Into a printed piece.

[38:02] It's got a temporary aesthetic, it's future-forward. It does feel a little collage-y, and not blended as well as it could be. And then the committee also loved the level of detail. In the city of blocks and urban elements. And technological elements. They also were happy that it encapsulates the land use and transportation pieces. Thank you, Vanna White, for showing people the details of the mural. Yes. Okay, our tech comms team right now is, like, rolling over in their graves. And then the third project was Liz Mayer. This one's even harder to see. So we asked people for a proposal for a 10x50 image, and she misread it and did a 10x100 feet, rendering, so it is very small. There we go.

[39:11] the committee… Liked that it was human, painterly, and they imagined that you could isolate the vignettes and pieces. And it does make a community connection. It's very human, but not a futuristic perspective. That was one of the things people said about Android's work, is that it's sort of a future thinking. It's not about how Boulder is now, it's sort of futuristic thinking. And this one is… not that way. It's digestible and feels more grounded in the actual community of Boulder. It's not so idealistic or sort of, yeah, future thinking in that way. But Liz did not include a budget into her proposal, nor did she address the digital components. So she didn't really need the brief, sadly.

[40:03] If anybody ever wants to see images that are easier to see, I'm happy to email you them. I know it's a lot to try to see in a slide, in a screen that far away with that many details. But those are the three proposals we received, and so project number five recommendation is for Android Jones. So, I can go through details about the budget if you're interested. His exhibition options, I think, were really interesting. He… he recommended that we pay him to do the actual projection of the piece. He has… projectors. He's done this before. He's actually really well known in a lot of spaces for doing projections, and projection mapping on specific, like, surfaces and things. So, and then we wouldn't have to buy our own projectors, which would be nice.

[41:00] And then he also recommended third-party printing on acrylic or aluminum panels, and that those are sizable to what we decide we want the final size to be, final scale. And so acrylic… acrylic is probably heavier than aluminum, but both of these things are… movable wire. a few humans. Maybe not one person at a time, but I don't think we need to, like, hire a freight company or, like, commercial installers to be able to do it, and we'll continue to work with him on the design elements. And then he also mentioned a mural out of cloth and glue mounted on panels. So he has a lot of ideas about how this could go, and he's thought about it, and he has… he and his team actually have experience doing this. Is this the first penalty? I didn't hear the question. Is this our first NFT that,

[42:03] Pretty cool! Yeah, do you have anything you wanted to add? Yeah, I had some questions that just popped up while you were talking, and it's a little bit related to what you're saying is, you know, is there, Do we need to now develop criteria for how do you maintain digital art, and criteria for when you deaccession digital art? And then maybe third, the things you're talking about. What kind of projector, you know, are there artists' instructions? What type of projectors, or how you can use the digital art? This is why it's experiments and public art. Yes, all of that. Thank you. leading edge. Indeed. Yes, Boulder is, like, moving into the future of public art and technology. In 20 years, Rachel will be doing an inventory of whose junk drives end up working. Yeah. Yeah. Those are good questions, though, for sure. I do think there… there's some…

[43:03] I mean, this project was never meant to be permanent, and when we think about public art, I think one of the most important things we have to think about first is what the lifespan of a piece is going to be. Most people think about public art, and they think about bronze. And I think of Pearl Street Mall, and those are sort of, like, permanently sided pieces, but everything has a life span, even bronze, right? So, when we think about experiments in public art, these pieces, these projects are always supposed to be temporary, and so… The… the ability to project this artwork Depends entirely and specifically on the technology that's available. And so, if the technology changes in such a way that we can no longer project it, that's the end of its lifespan. And that's just sort of inherent in commissioning work like this. So it is definitely something to be considered, for sure. But I also think that's what makes it exciting, and that's sort of…

[44:02] that's evolution of public art, and that's to be expected, and I think that's actually something to celebrate. You're moving into the future. You know, it's fun to see because, like, most psychotic cities have, like. something that they, you know, Empire State Building changes its lights to, like, commemorate, like, something or a holiday or sell a piece of gear. With all this happening politically, there are cities that put up project hearings and, like. Show some art. I feel like bolder. Good. Do something… Lean into that, yeah. Lean into that a little bit. Like, but this? We're trying, we're trying, yeah. Sorry. Yeah, reach out. I mean, that's… that's exactly where we're trying to go with this, is to push the envelope a little bit, and that's why, to circle back to the beginning, the city can't find a wall for this. to live on, so maybe as the Western City campus gets built, and new buildings come up. then this thing will find maybe a permanent home, or maybe we'll be able to project it in indoors and places, and invite Android back, assuming that you approve the recommendation, to… to be at, I don't know, a film festival, or something. So many possibilities.

[45:19] So… I want to check in with Jill, who's online, and make sure… She didn't have any questions, or… We'll try and get our attention. No, I… he's… he's a big deal, so it's cool. And yeah, I mean, I… I know that he has a global following, and I agree with… Gaia, I think it would be… really interesting in the future as an experiment in public art to actually, like. not choose a wall, but choose a building with facets for an artist to design a projection map onto, like they have in Montreal and other cities. But yeah, this is an interesting way to dabble into that space, and I think…

[46:09] I don't know, thoughts around him being required to be the one to project feels like it could limit its use a little bit, but maybe that's just something to think about in terms of… How and when, like, this guy travels a lot, and if the city wants to do a… an event, and he happens to be, you know… off with Spongle in Europe, like, what happened? So… Yeah, those are just some thoughts that came up. Yeah, for sure. I… I don't get the sense that he was proposing that he has exclusive rights to the projection part of things. I think it was more, like, he's helping us think through all the details of this, because we don't have the projectors, and I'm not sure that our budget Includes the cost of projectors, specifically if we want to have a 50 by 100 foot

[47:04] Projected mural, like, that's a lot of tech. So, it actually is one of those things where we probably… it's probably a more feasible project if we have him projected a couple of times, and we keep the digital files in case we want to do something else with it at some point, but I don't think that… and I'll make sure this goes through in the contracting, too, that there's no exclusivity either way about who gets to project or… Doesn't get to project. Yep. a sphere. I'm thinking Vegas Sphere. So is Boulder gonna build a sphere? I'm here. That bubble. Boulder, Buffalo 1. All right, so what… So, next, there's two more… there's two more slides. The next one is for questions and discussion, which I feel like we've already done, and then the recommended motion is thusly.

[48:01] Any other questions before we take motion, guys? Anybody like to make the motion, and then wait a second? I'll make the motion. I move that the process was properly conducted and selected artists from the experiments in public art, the BV… CP Update Mural Project Android Jones be recommended to the City Manager for approval? I second. Right? All in favor? Great, unanimous. Thank you very much, Rachel, and thanks to the committee, and yeah, very exciting. Oh, you know what? You're welcome. There is one more… Nice. with Bruce Music Festival coming up, we should reach out to them and see if they can project his way from one of the stages, because I just checked his Instagram account. There's a lot for those projections and stuff. Yeah. Perfect. Great. Awesome. So, here's a little bit of context for the rest of the timeline for experiments in public art, the comp plan series. So, in January, we're gonna contract with the muralist, Andrea Jones, out of just now. And then next month, we're gonna start…

[49:13] design, and then fabrication comes after that. March 10th, there's a… Comp plan, unveiling… Celebration at the dairy on the 10th. So, we'll have all four of the previous projects at the dairy, and depending on how far Android gets in the design process, some kind of representation of the mural there, TBD. And then April, May, the fabrication of the mural will finalize, and then in June, the entire group show of the comp plan will be at the library for 2 months, which I feel like is the… the real cherry on top of the whole thing. So it'll be the whole project, or the whole series, available for the public to see, along with elements of the plan once it's already unveiled and it's sort of solidified. Everything's had time to, like, cool down a little bit from the, like, churning of the process.

[50:08] So that the community can go to the library and see not only what the comp plan did and how the art interacted with that, and it's… kind of a cool thing. So, look forward to that, and we'll probably have some other events, maybe a reception or a party, and you're all invited. Great. Yeah. Thank you, Rachel. Absolutely, and as this is the last project. In this series, this is my last presentation to you all, so I know, I'm also sad. There's a project out in the lobby here, you may have already seen it, that is the… third project in this series, so I'm happy to talk to you about any of that, and it's been a real pleasure. Thank you for having me manage this project. Anything you would start? Angel. Great. Grants program. Sarah?

[51:08] Alright. We have four grant reports. We have the Leadership Pipeline Fund, Artist Hiring Grant, and two Community Project Grants. You can either approve all reports, approve individual reports while submitting specific questions, postpone approval of individual reports pending the answer to specific questions, or not approve the reports and cancel the final 20% statement. Are there any of these grants that anybody wants to pull out for further discussion? Can we approve them all at once? Hearing nothing, I'll take a motion for all of them. I move that we approve the grant reports from Adriana Paula. Dance with Georgia, Georgia Schmidt, and Moda Steven. One second. All in favor? And we cannot see Jill right now.

[52:03] I'm here, sorry, am I dark? Yes. Unanimous, thank you. Any discussion on any, any feedback on any of these? I wanted to talk a little bit about Adriana, so, I don't know if you all read the origin. Do you have any… anything you'd like to talk about, or that we want to talk about as a group? I felt it was… I was glad that she could find an alternative. I felt… The report was, slim. And then… and I felt like, I'm on the cusp of wanting some more information, On how it met the, goals of the… Of the grants? And then I… I sat with it a little bit, and I saw that it was in Spanish.

[53:04] And I thought about what's going on right now, and that there's a lot more important things on people's minds from that community. And… I felt okay with it. Sounded like… did she talk to you, Sarah? Okay. Can you share what that discussion was, or… I'm just curious, or is it… was it private? I can share, just insofar as we thought that the program was similar enough in scope for it to… be okay, but yeah, they reached out previously, and… be granted an extension, I think, as well. Great. Thanks. I mean, I think I read that and felt like, okay, it was vetted by you in concept, and I agree with everything you just said for now, but I thought it would be worth just a… brief conversation. Yeah. I was really excited, that Georgia, who had been struggling with venues, got to do for

[54:06] A really great show, and she had let me know, and it was in the the report also that somebody came to her show and loved it so much, they bought out the dairy, and she was able to give away tickets for free. Like, what an amazing endorsement of that program. So, congratulations. I know that was a big thing for her to overcome. And I love that she posted her whole show, but gave us the link to the entire video, so that's great. Yeah. the Motus theater, I'm just always impressed with what they're doing, and… And some of those comments from parents in the audience are tearing up, just reading their impact. Yeah, yeah, totally. I went, I saw, I cried. Oh, yeah.

[55:01] bonus things, and I cry every time. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Thank you, sir. Great. Well, as promised, I am continuing to evaluate the changes, successful or no, that were made to the grant program this year, so I have a couple updates, and then a couple slides about feedback. So, first of all, we had a grants panels training. We have one new panelists this year, Alfredo Reyes from the Latino Cultural Arts Center in Denver, and, the training went really well. They had questions about the Bedrock, grants and the blueprint, but it was… it went really well. We had a grant writing workshop at Nobel recently. There were 23 attendees. It was really workshop-style. People broke off in groups and actually were working on things, like creating budgets, and, I think it was really helpful, and I've gotten positive feedback. And additional questions of what they'd like to learn more about that will inform the February event that we're going to hold.

[56:05] And then, last year, 10% of all first-come, first-served applicants were first-time… or, sorry. Awardees for first-time applicants, and this year, it was 76%. That is wild. I am tracking demand, though, and there were 36 inquiries, after the grants closed to people that were looking for the link to apply and wondering where it was, and I had to tell them that it was no longer up, so I am tracking demand that can inform budget proposals next time. Why do you think that increased? That's trusted. I mean, I think… A lot of outreach is part of it. Yeah, that's a good prompt. Yeah. Can I add, too, we never tracked the demand before, that was a SARA initiative idea, so it's entirely possible also that when we started doing the first serve grants, that we just never knew how many people would have applied in the days after, and we just…

[57:08] I knew it was a lot, but I had no idea that it would be, like, in the 30s and 40s. You're getting more now, right? Oh yeah, this is, like, as of now. Yeah, that's amazing. Okay, so since we were not able to restrict when people submitted their grants, and we allowed first-time applicants to apply weekly, there was confusion, so we were going to change the process in the portal to have two separate applications with two separate start dates, just so it's more clear for everyone. Speaking of previous applicants, many were disappointed that they did not receive one of these grants this round. The disappointment about these changes did all come from organizations currently receiving general operating support. The Gut program this year was influenced by the Boulder Arts Blueprint feedback, as well as the City's Racial Equity Toolkit, and we're shifting to follow community-wide interests about equity feedback, wanting to encourage experimental new artists and organizations in progress.

[58:08] Projects. And… This would allow people who would not be eligible for general operating support to have an inroad to our grant program. One general operating support organization did suggest that there be two budget line items, one for first-time applicants and one for previous applicants, so that is an idea that the Commission can consider when we create the budget for next year. But for now, if we're wanting to increase funding to up-and-coming artists, I think our current process is aligned with the mission. One change I would suggest is that we change, or we add a date range to the rental assistance grants. It's kind of a bummer if you didn't get rental assistance for round one, and your event would take place before Round 2. When some people were… who were awarded Round 1, their events were much later in the year, so that is something that we should change. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

[59:07] there was definitely joy from first-time applicants, and having met with a lot of them, this was their first time applying to a government grant ever, so it was really exciting, and I put a couple of their quotes in the manager's funnel. And lastly, I could not be happier with how the pre-application process is working, truly. For those that already know they're eligible, I chatted with them. It takes 5 minutes to complete. For gray area, it allows me to form a connection with them. I usually follow up. I met with someone today to talk about their pre-application. And even when it's determined that they're not eligible, it's like a point of contact and an opportunity for me to maybe suggest other avenues for them. And… They did express that they were grateful that they did not submit a full application. Yeah. Everyone questions about the updates and changes and stuff?

[60:05] Oh, I did have one quick question. For the grant writing workshop, have you been talking with people? I mean, I'm sure you don't have to talk with people figuring out the use of AI, but are you, like, providing best practice questions to ask? Chat? how to start thinking about raiding from using ChatGP. So when we asked for feedback about this one, that was a theme, so I think we're just gonna have to do, like, an entire special event centered around that. Because I hear from a lot of people that… I mean, I applied for a grant from school, I used ChatGPT. Yeah, it's definitely in the works. Okay. If there are no other questions, we do have, to get volunteers for the Commission liaisons for panel meetings. For each panel meeting for competitive grants, a commissioner sits as

[61:04] What's the term for when you aren't actually… involved in the deliberation? Exofficio, yes, Latin. Anyway, to sit through the panel meeting and, be there to be able to answer questions if the rest of the Commission, has any questions about the what was discussed, or how the meetings went. So, Gaia called, Boulder Vision Grants Organizations, assuming, because that's the only date she's available, and I did think that we should prioritize commissioners that haven't previously served on one of these panels, but… Yeah? Cheryl will be… Oh, yes, I did reapply. Oh, okay. But I don't know, but I… I don't know. Well, the March one is really the only day that I can do, but I might not officially bill… still be… What day is that? Oh, well, you could… okay.

[62:02] So that would be technically your last meeting, is that March 25th date. Your last formal meeting is that evening. But then you would want to come to the April meeting to… and Bruce did that, too, where he actually sat in on a panel, and then to… April. Yeah, to April for the discussions. I just don't want to, like, leave everyone else in the lurch, if I… Not here. Can you come to… yeah, if you can agree to come to the April one to give your input? Yes. I've done it before, but I could take the mate one. Yeah. Thank you. And then anyone for the June one? I can do June. Sweet. All right, thank you so much. Let's see… for next steps, we have another cultural organization summit on Frequently, asked questions.

[63:05] And I am more of an expert in public funding, I'm not an expert in corporate sponsorships, or individual donations, so we are… bringing someone in who can speak to those, so if any of your liaisons have questions about private funding, this might be a good opportunity for them to attend. Oh my goodness. So sorry. Kristen Davidson, she, has a position at CU, and she's also a consultant for nonprofits. Sorry, break apart. And then we are planning a Spring Accessibility Summit, to provide best practices and resources, and we will be doing an AI one and a sustainability one eventually. And then, for your organizations. They need to submit their reports from last year, February 1st, and they need to reapply. I think there was a couple people asking if they had to reapply, so…

[64:03] If they ask, please let them know that yes, they have to reapply. And pre-applications are due February 4th, and full applications are due February 12th. Let's see… Oh yeah, we also should change the timeline, because it's quite a burden for people to have to submit both of those things back-to-back, so there is a request that we push general operating support deadline back next year, which I think is good for them and good for your staff. And I do want to back up, sorry, really quickly, to, like, mission liaisons. I do know that, Some commissioners feel a bit removed from the process since instituting the panel, but I do want to say that all applications will be uploaded to the shared documents file, so you'll have access to everyone's applications, and then I will, like I did last year, include project summaries in the materials before approving the applications.

[65:00] Thank you. That's it for me, thanks. Thank you, Sarah. I have a… transitional questions, since we were talking about dates and all of that, into the questions about the manager's memo. And, the applications for this commission closed a couple days ago, and I don't have it on my radar, like, what the next When are the good interviews? When can we see those interviews? Sure. When can we see the list, if there's… Doing what you call? I would love to know that. So, at last count, there were 11 eligible applicants, though that was 4 days before. Okay. So I… I'm gonna say 20, maybe more than that. I think there's gonna be quite a few, thanks to Cindy's event, too. Interviews are happening… the first and second week of February. And then decisions are in March, but I don't know that far out about when they publish the,

[66:00] when they publish applications, and when we can see the interviews. I believe it's with a packet. Is there a list of the applicants available? I haven't seen it, I've asked about just how many. No, just names, like, if there's something that pops out that, like. I haven't seen it. I asked about it, and I haven't seen anything at all. I think he's actually on vacation. The person that manages it, I think, was like, I'll see you at a half. Yes. Sure, totally. And also send with the date when it's decided in March, because you can watch the City Council meeting. It's kind of nerve-wracking to watch a City Council meeting where they make all the decisions on all the boards and commissions. Luckily, ours is first. I've had some people reach out. It's great. Yeah. Sure, happy to send all of the update stuff. It's a really strong.

[67:00] And then the last meeting for… I don't want to talk about it. I'm not going to talk now. March 25th would be the last meeting for Cheryl and Marie, and then in April, we… welcome in our new commissioner. Trying to think if there's anything else of that update, but… Tamika. than meals. You understand? Okay, good. I loved the little choose-your-own-adventure. Oh my gosh, love you. It's so much fun. It was so popular at the grant writing workshop, people were fighting over you. So good! Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, very great. You know, the one person I wanted you to share with this, Parisa Tashkur from CU. You met her? Yeah, she's at the design and branding school, and Cindy and I met her at this event. I think she would really appreciate it, like, just sharing it with her students, because it was such a fun way to showcase.

[68:02] Yeah, totally. Was that… Well, they should hire Will for things. Yeah, yeah. If you do just have just that PDF, because it was part of the whole packet, and I didn't want to… send us a whole packet? Yes. Also, we are working on getting that remediated. It is currently not an accessible PDF, so it is currently in the works. That's why we haven't posted it to the website. But if they don't have, or are not in need of that accommodation, I can provide you the draft. Yeah, I just wanted her to see… seek the work. I mean, I put it in front of, like, CU's eyes, then… You know, you all are doing this, like, before you can start reading me, so… Just as a show-off moment for us. You should look at this. Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah. There was a SEAV student that came to Cindy's event that did

[69:00] research and a paper with recommendations on the issue of open commercial space and how that can be utilized. I like so. So, I'm excited to read it. Lauren probably has read it already. Yeah. You've read it. So… curious, as we… I can share it to anybody. Share that out? Yeah, sure. And if you would like to meet with her, she's wonderful, and I think her and her colleagues are going to apply… some friends are going to apply for, grant funding for space. I also know she applied to the Arts Commission and to Bureau, one of the other boards and submissions available, so… This is Parisa? No, Megan. Oh, sorry, sorry. Sending out article. But there was a big… KG&U had Max Law, the people today, talking about this commercial space, and… Yeah. I'm KG&U. Somebody texted me and was like, you better listen. It's like, at least.

[70:01] People make some very good points. They were very… he was very educated about the problem. He was talking about it very eloquently. Oh, yeah, and he introduced us to her, so I think he must be working on it, which is wonderful. I hope that we see her applications back. Oh, and then I do want to say that the administratively approved reports highlight in the packet is a printable version, so if you want the pretty, colorful version of photos, like, send that. Yeah, that was a nice little report, too. Big report, not little. Any other comments on the manager's memo? I'll bang us up for another visit all day. I know. Sorry, a little tikied up. I just wanted to point out our dates for the Boulder Arts Blueprint. It's in your… but I've got to say it out loud, which is the March 25th meeting. We'll have

[71:03] The Buller is different, you will see a final draft. We'll talk through it, we'll celebrate. You're also gonna get a presentation from the Comprehensive plan team that same night, so get ready, and this will package in our operating support, two-hour meeting right before that, too, so… Maybe a longer meeting, then? No, I don't think so. Because you'll have the… you'll have the arts blueprint Directory, they'll be awesome. And then the presentation to City Council is April 9th, so just… And our launch will be on April 12th during Boulder Arts Week. Boulder Arts Week. Sandy's gonna do a video. Launch. Launch. It's gonna be a launch. The Arts Commissioner's talking about their favorites for Boulder Arts Week. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry. Yeah. Yeah, we're talking about doing that, we're doing tastemaker videos for Bulldog Arts, asking people in the community to look at the calendar and make a video that we can post on social media that says, hey, I'm so-and-so.

[72:08] here's what I'm excited about. Cool! And so, Gaia was like, let's get the Arts Commission to do one. Cool. So, I don't know if you guys would… if you all would like to do one together? Or individually? Or… Whatever you want. Yeah, it's kind of whatever you want, and we can… we can make it fun. I actually was out collecting videos today for some other stuff for… Boulder Arts Week. Oh. And I'm getting really into, filming. I'm gonna become a professional quick, and… Yeah, enter movies into Sundance. Yes, yes. Style, style, this thing at Apocalypse. Like, half an hour. Come in and get style. That would be good. Let's do that. Okay. Email me. I mean, just open to everybody. Put a calendar people can select. Okay. She's coming up with these brilliant things. Yeah, everyone needs to do everything during Boulder, I don't… yes. I can help you set it. I'll get about that.

[73:19] Yeah, there you go. Okay, yay! Yeah, I volunteer. Yes, I volunteer to…