HomeMy WebLinkAboutOCAC Minutes 10-09-2022 Orange County Arts Commission
October 2022 Minutes
Attendees: Krista Bremer, Fred Joiner, Sean Bailey, Anita Mills, Mark Bettger, Katie Murray (director)
Excused: John Bemis, Saba Jordan, Lindsay Metivier, Josh Rosenstein, Marlon Torres, Linda
Williamson
Absent: Tori Danielik
1) 6:42 meeting called to order
2) Approval of September minutes were tabled until next month due to lack of a quorum.
3) Board updates:
a. Katie reports that we were supposed to welcome Josh, our newest board member, but
he had a work emergency. We will meet him at next month's meeting.
b. She also explained that county policy is that advisory board members must live in
Orange County. Jenny from the Artscenter was going to join our board and represent us
on the visitors bureau - but she lives in Durham, not Orange. Katie asked if we should
start the process of requesting an exception from the clerk due to the fact that Jenny is
the director of one of our primary arts organizations. Everyone agreed she should but
we need to official vote in November when we have a quorum.
c. We discussed the breakdown of our current board and the status of our UNC
community liaison. This is the third meeting that Tory, our UNC liaison, has missed
without notice. Katie will touch base with Tori and ask if she wants to fill this role or if we
should appoint somebody else. Another group that currently lacks an art liaison is the
Carrboro Arts Committee, In terms of artistic discipline our board is pretty balanced —
except for the glaring absence of a local working musician. The board agreed to make
this a priority.
d. The requirement that board members live in Orange County was discussed. It was
pointed out that this means we miss out on a lot of artists — including younger and more
diverse ones — who might work in this area but be unable to afford to live here. We
agreed that those who serve our community should also be considered part of
community, and that we would inquire to see if this rule was hard and fast or if it might
be flexible.
e. Katie shared the list of names of potential board members, sorted in order of priority.
She pointed out that to avoid an awkward situation we don't want to mention the
possibility to any of these people unless we have clarity and the intention to extend the
invitation.
f. Katie stated that there would be no vote tonight but she would love to pursue a
conversation with one or two people on this list. She invited board members to bring
somebody into the fold/add them for consideration.
g. Katie requested permission to check in with Jonathan Byrd and Jess (NAME), though
the expectation is that as successful musicians they will be too busy to serve. Everyone
agreed she should do this.
h. Mark also agreed to put out feelers out to folks. Anita suggested we look at Orange
County Arts Guild members.
i. We agreed to circle back to the discussion of board prospects next month.
j. Leadership Updates: We agreed to circle back to a vote on the updates below in our
November meeting.
i. Fred is reaching the end of his third term as chair
ii. Anita is willing to serve as chair
iii. Chrystal is willing to serve as vice chair
iv. Linda is willing to continue to serve as secretary
k. Holiday party update: Last year it was held at Anita's house in lieu of our December
meeting.This year Katie is inclined to do something on our December meeting date. She
suggested an event at the Ackland (Carolyn gives everybody a prompt, and there is a
cocktail reception and appetizers afterwards.) This event would take place on the night
of our December meeting instead of our meeting.
4) Director's Report
a. Paint it Orange: It was awesome this year. It included 66 artists from 4 states, and
more sponsors than ever before. We sold 22 paintings, beating last year's record of
paintings sold per month in just one day. Bonnie made the opening remarks. The quality
of the artwork was a big step up, and the juror is well respected. A lot of first timers
came in because of Jeremy Sams. It was a good show, and raised money for the
nonprofit. Katie also wanted to thank those who came to the Wednesday party.
b. Grants presentation next week: This will be next Tuesday, 10/18, at 7 pm. This will be
our first in-person grants presentation in three years. It's important for commissioners
to see all those arts people in one room. Three items were on the agenda for that
meeting:
i. A proclamation for arts & humanities
ii. Grant presentation
iii. One-year update on Eno Mil: The update on the Eno Mill was removed and then
restored to the agenda. Katie is grateful and invites the board to show up to
support the OCAC.
c. Performing arts space (Hillsborough): A small stakeholder group will convene to discuss
next steps. Katie is talking to Travis on Friday.
d. Volunteers Needed: For Eno Mill opening on 11/4. Two featured artists are well known
in the arts community. John's band Hooverville will be playing.
e. An unrestricted $10,000 grant from a local family foundation will be used to start a
BIPOC residency. Two studios are available — and a bigger one will soon come
available. Katie would love to offer the larger space for the residency - she just has to
make the math work. The rest of the grant will be allocated to Uproar.
f. First Fridays at the Mill: Katie is thinking about how to handle first Fridays in the winter,
when it will be hard for musicians to play outside. There was a discussion of purchasing
bistro patio heaters ($150 each) and using oil drum firepits.
5) Liaison reports
a. Orange County Artists Guild: Studio tour brochures are ready and distributed. There
was a request to share Judith Ernst's artists posts to publicize the event. Eno River Mill
will be part of this tour
b. Carrboro: West End poetry festival this weekend. New poet laureate Liza Francis will be
there.
Meeting adjourned at 7:53