2018-04Richfield Arts Commission Minutes
Thursday April 5th, 2018 7:00 PM, Richfield Community Center 7000 Nicollet Ave S
Commission Members Present: Alex Dahl, Larry Nelson, Mia Simpson, Karin Wolverton,
Thomas Eder, Joyce Marrie, Derek Sandbeck
Absent:
Community Service Liaison: Lisa Rudolph‐ not present
City Staff Liaison : Marykaye Champa – not present
City Council Liason: Mayor Pat Elliot‐ not present
Guests: Jim Topitzhofer, City Parks and Recreation Director
Called to Order‐ 7:02PM
Agenda: approved by voice vote with the addition of the upcoming Wellness Expo added to the agenda
Minutes‐ approved by voice vote
Standing Reports
Art Display‐ Mia‐ There is a new artist in the Community Center. Need to check and see if the art
display at City Hall is full.
Little Library‐ Larry‐ It is in good shape for now. The library was full and we still have books to put in the
library.
Teen Art Show‐ Joyce/Karin‐ Both thought the Art show went well. It was an opportunity to build on
new contacts that we can use for future events. We will look at reaching out to library staff this fall to
look for ways to maintain that connection and help with future teen art events at the library.
Resource Group for local Artists‐ Tom‐ Tom discussed putting together some type of Face book group
for local artists. The group could potentially be a space for local artists to connect and promote their
work on line as well as be a space for those looking to get connected to local artists. It could also be
used to plan future artist social events. There was some discussion as to who would host or admin the
Facebook group and whether or not this could be an official Arts Commission group. The possibility of
the city acting as admin for the group was also discussed. Tom will write up something starting what he
wants the Facebook group to look like and Jim will talk with the city to see what some options might be
for using social media to promote to the artist group.
Wellness Expo‐ Mia‐ There will be a Wellness Expo at the High School on Saturday April 14th from 9am‐
12. The Arts Commission has had a table at the expo with different activities for youth and families for
the last couple of years. It was decided there was not enough time to participate or plan an activity for
the expo this year but the commission will look at participating again next year.
66th Street Project‐ Jim, Mia, Joyce.
Mia and Joyce have both been meeting with Jim and Marykaye to talk about ideas and to work
on putting together a proposal for the June 10th City Council meeting.
Right now there is money for 32 panels to go in on 66th street and that would not come out of
the $10,000 we would ask for from the city. The panels could include longer poems or even
some other types of art in addition to poems. This would take place in 2019. We can talk more
about our plan for getting poetry submissions and deciding what type of art and poetry at our
next meeting.
Right now we are also working on a theme and a mission statement for our proposal, the
theme would be “Families Flourishing” and the mission statement would include something
about, “creating a sense of pride through vibrant, imaginative, innovative art that engages
people in the community and builds a strong city”.
Right now the proposal would include a three year plan that would include;
In 2019 create a list of opportunities, complete the poetry along 66th street, and maybe put a
mural on the 66th street underpass.
2020 we would look at expanding the poetry on 66th street to include Lyndale Ave as part of
that road project.
2021 we could look at doing some RFP projects or use the money for matching grant
opportunities in which we could match funding from developers or businesses that wanted to
include some sort of art project into their development.
We would need to come up with a RFP and decide on what criteria we would include.
There are some cities that have a strong commitment to doing public art we could point to
during our proposal. Those cities include; Eagan, Ashland Wisconsin, St. Paul, and Portland
Oregon.
Some additional comments included for maybe trying to find data that shows the positive
economic impact of cities funding public art as well as start looking at other ideas for street art
in addition to poetry.
Staff Report‐ due to the time it was decided to not have a staff report.
Announcements
This is Alex Dahls last meeting. He is moving out of the area and will no longer be able to participate on
the commission. Alex s service and contributions to the commission will be missed.
Adjourned: 8:27pm
Nest meeting Thursday May 3rd, 7pm
Respectfully submitted by Larry Nelson, RAC Secretary
Comment [U1]:
New Business:
Elections for chair and Secretary for 2018 – Mia and Joyce were elected as co‐chairs. Larry was
reelected as secretary
Announcements
The Art Shanty Project taking place on Lake Harriet every weekend through Feb 11th. The Art Shanty
Project is a unique artist take on fishing houses and is free and open to the public.
Illuminate South Loop, an outdoor interactive art event will be taking place from 5pm‐10pm Feb 1st, 2nd
and 3rd across from the Health partners offices in Bloomington just west of the Mall of America
Adjourned: 8:48 PM
Next meeting will be at the Community Center at 7pm on Thursday March 1st, 2018
Submitted by Larry Nelson RAC Secretary