ST. GEORGE ART MUSEUM
Minutes of the Advisory Board Meeting
Wednesday November 18, 2015
Opening
Chairwoman Linda Sappington called the meeting to order at 8:04 am
Present
Linda Sappington, Kam Capik, Mary Smiley, Collin Davis, Terance White, Deborah Reeder
Approval of Minutes
Motion by Kam Capik to approve the minutes of October 21, 2015; motion was seconded by Mary Smiley
Arts Commission Report
The Arts Commission Meeting was held Thursday October 22, 2015. Most of the upcoming art events discussed at that meeting have already taken place including school musicals, marching band competition, Tuacahn violin student performances with The Piano Guys, Pine View HS – winner of Shakespeare dance competition, St. George Book Fest, Spooky Town Fair which helps schools, Book Fest charity dinner, Heritage Choir, performance (Nov 8 & Nov 15), Zion Park Foundation Plein Air Art Festival and Auction (Nov 6), a lecture at the library on the Paiute language (Nov 14).
There will be an Art and Studio Tour Nov 20, November Street Fest will be a gingerbread tour – Deborah will send an email about that event to everyone.
The Children’s Museum (building?) is correctly titled Dixie Academy and the old airport complex is titled Ridge Top.
Discussed at the meeting – County RAP tax has received 50 applications totaling about 1 million dollars. There is only $150,000 available to be distributed in February. (SGAM has requested $20K)
City RAP tax has a bond to do recreation first, applications will be available in the spring; then available amount will be released.
All Ability Part construction continues.
Electric Theater has received Certificate of Occupancy although painting and light fixtures are still being completed. Gary and Angie have moved in. Southern Utah Art Guild will have a space to use by the 3rd week of Nov. Gary has a list of people who want to rent space and have concerts. There will be a Christmas show.
Rental agreement for Theater will have 2-4 hour blocks and there is a proposed fee schedule; resident of the Theater gets 6 rentals a year = 36 nights of performances; Non-profits will have access to one or two rentals through Angie & Gary. The Theater has a baby grand piano and 12 music stands. Oasis Stage Works of SLC did the stage set up.
There are 2 homes west of the library available.
Alisha is stepping down as chair or the Arts Commission Board. Paul Abegg was nominated and is thinking about it…
Old Business
Property next door: The city is interested but the property behind the house has already been sold. House will go on the market soon. Janey Argyle knows another quilter who had done fundraising for the Jubilee of Trees and would like to be involved in fundraising to acquire the house for the Museum to use and Quilt Guild to be involved in its use. Museum would use space for classes and other events.
Home Tour wrap-up – Everyone received a copy of the accounting for ticket sales and sponsorships. Kam thought Home Tour was wonderful with only a few glitches. The bus drivers were late on Saturday which caused a panic because no one knew who they were or how to get in touch with them. Some evaluations were not handed out on Friday. Melanie did not find the materials she was supposed to hand out to her bus riders and as first time host and tour participant she should have had a co-host on her bus. Kam recommended that 2 hosts per bus would probably work better on all buses so both the driver and participants can get assistance at the same time. Carol Lakin designed the bus routes and helped direct the driver on her bus which was very helpful. Deborah explained that Carol was a former member of the board and very instrumental in the development of the Home Tour fundraiser. She also said that the tour is always a bit chaotic in the morning and that will probably not change. Deborah has created a bullet point list for the bus hosts for use next year.
Participants were very happy with the variety and very positive about the tour. Steve Fellows house was much talked about and although there was a comment that it wasn’t really art, it was more of an installation and excellent display of craftsmanship. Linda wants to consider going back to the Fellows house sometime on a future tour after landscaping is done. Carol Lakin was responsible for recommending his house and is much appreciated for that idea.
Mary commented that everyone loved the tour and people who didn’t go missed out. Seidman art was fabulous and would love to see and exhibit of his work in the Museum.
Linda has notified Durham Jones Pinegar that we did not receive their sponsorship check and hopefully we will receive a check soon.
Steven Brough bought tickets for his clients but they were not able to attend which is unfortunate because it was a wonderful opportunity to introduce them to what the SGAM and the art community have to offer.
Kam and Linda Lowe have already found houses for next year’s tour.
New Business
Board elections will take place on January 20th the first meeting of 2016. Terance White has already advised that he will resign from the board at the end of his term on December 31st. Linda Sappington is still undecided whether to continue on the board or resign at that time as well.
2016 Soup N Bowl on March 4th: There was much discussion about the next fundraiser – should there be changes? Linda has heard people say that they don’t go anymore because they don’t want any more bowls. There was a general description of the Soup N Bowl for those who have not attended before and several ideas were discussed for alternative fundraisers or adjustments to the current SNB format.
Terance talked about a fundraiser he learned about in North Carolina that involves dinners at houses of interest in the community. A portion of the ticket sales go to sponsor artist to come to the dinner so ticket buyers can meet and socialize with the artists. The homeowner hosts the event and provides the dinner. Deborah will forward a link with info about this event.
Other ideas discussed for consideration – evening event instead of lunch, possibly with artists in the museum at the same time. Kam suggested a barbeque with outdoor seating and service to help with long soup lines and congestion in the social hall. Deborah said we could possibly get a tent. Consider making it a two day event or and day and evening event to allow more space and also to accommodate working people. Tie into first Friday George Fest events since if falls on the same day.
Linda mentioned that the life expectancy of an event without changes is about 5 years. Deborah said that there is an inclination to give up on a new idea if it doesn’t go well the first time but that alternatives are always good and worth revisiting.
A chair for the Soup N Bowl needs to be chosen and committee formed. The hardest job is getting pottery commitments and rounding up the pottery for the event. Community Pot Throw will take place on January 29th.
Art Conversations: Hal Hickman’s on Saturday November 14th was very interesting and informative. 17 people attended. The next Art Conversation is tomorrow November 19th with Margaret Abramshe of Studio Art Quilt Associates on the Celebrating Silver exhibit.
2016 National Parks Juried Shows website is set up with Entrythingy and has been accepting entries with some problems which we are resolving as they come up.
Fashion Show set for December 5th 8 teams have signed up and it should be an exciting event with lots of creativity.
Director’s Report
As stated in the printed Directors Report distributed at the meeting with further discussion on:
James Aton will present an art conversation in January to talk about artist Jim Jones who painted many national parks and lived and worked with a view of Zion. Aton recently published a book on the artist.
Deborah is considering a “Music of the National Parks” art conversation for 2016 as well. She is also working on collaborations with Brian Passey of The Spectrum and the Southwest Symphony for the National Parks centennial.
Action items:
Deborah will email statistics and program for last year’s Soup N Bowl to board for review. She will also forward Terance’s email with link to NC fundraiser to all.
Deborah to contact Stewart Seidman about possible Art Conversation
Plan to attend Fashion Show on December 5th.
Linda will revise Fashion Show article to direct focus on inviting people to attend and send to newspapers.
Be thinking about Chair for the Soup N Bowl as well as well as a replacement for Terance on the Advisory Board.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 9:28. The next general meeting will be at 8:00 on December 16th.
Minutes submitted by: April Cummings
Approved by: [Name]