RAC May 2020 minutesRichfield Arts Commission Minutes
Thursday May 7th, 2020 7:00 PM, Meeting held online due to Covid‐19 rules
Commission Members Present: Larry Nelson, Mia Simpson, Chelsea Knauf, Karin Wolverton,
Brittany Trushin, Janie Mork Youth Member, Elise Melendez
Absent: Joyce Marie
Community Service Liaison: N/A
City Staff: Amy Markle, Marykaye Champa
City Council Liaison: Mary Supple
Guests:
Called to Order‐ 7:10 PM
Agenda: approved with addition of Section 8 housing waiting room
Minutes‐ approved by voice vote
Covid 19 Update Amy/Marykaye
There has been a significant impact on the Rec. department because of Covid‐19 and Shelter in Place
Rules. Right now, they are looking at all summer activities and there will be an announcement from the
rec. department on Friday May 8th. Look for summer activities to go online in different ways.
The RAC poetry event which had been scheduled for August has been postponed until it can be done
safely possibly sometime later in the fall at the bandshell or community center.
There may be some opportunities for RAC to do some art opportunities online such as an online art
opening, virtual poetry walk, or online family art activities.
Amy Markle will talk to the city manager to see what is going to happen with pool mural.
Sidewalk Poetry Selection
30 panels are going in. We are going with 27 newly selected poems there are an additional two poems
from last year and we will be using one of the panels for the RAC logo. Fourteen poems are youth poems
and thirteen adult poems made the final selection.
An announcement will go out from Mia/Joyce on behalf of RAC to both those were and were not
selected. They will try to get some feed back from poets to see if they want to do a video or some type
of poetry event this fall assuming public gatherings will be allowed.
Augsburg Library Grant Proposal
No updates. All Hennepin County libraries are currently shut down due to Covid ‐19. There was a lot of
interest in the project prior to the shutdown.
Section 8 Waiting Room update
RAC was asked to help provide some artwork and update the section 8 waiting room at city hall. This is
the room families/individuals wait while applying for section 8 vouchers. Chelsea has already spent $40
on some artwork for the room. Some pictures from Tom, a former commission member had been
donated and Britany might have some ceramic pieces to donate A motion was made and approved to
spend up to $250 for artwork and to fix up toybox in the room provided the money is available in the
RAC budget
Announcements/Updates ‐ Marykaye
Marykaye has heard from an author who is looking for an illustrator for a children’s book. He wanted to
see if RAC may know anyone who might be interested. The author is Bob Fox. His number is 715‐781‐
0166.
Marykaye mentioned neighborhood art crawls where people stand in their yard or driveway with a
piece of artwork and neighbors walk by and look at the artwork from a safe distance. This is one idea
that RAC could investigate doing this year.
Next meeting will be June 4th and will probably be online as well
Adjourned at 8: 34pm.
Respectfully Submitted by Larry Nelson, RAC Secretary