HomeMy WebLinkAboutOCAC Minutes 01-13-2025 Orange County Arts Commission
January 13, 2025
Minutes
Attendees: Crystal Wu, Chair, Linda Williamson, Sec, Wendy Smith, Gideon Young, Krista Bremmer, Lindsay
Metivier, Katie Murray, Renee Hayes, Josh Rosenstein, and Heather Washburn, Cellia Gibbs,John Claude
Bemis, Denise Duffy, Vice chair
Absent: Saba Jordan &Alexa Velez
Meeting Location: Eno Arts Mill
1. Call to Order at 6:35pm by Crystal.
2. Lindsey moved to approve the November 2024 Board Minutes and Wendy seconded. All approved.
3. Board Updates
a. Francesca Talenti board nomination has been forwarded to the clerk's office for
review/approval at an upcoming county commissioner meeting. May take until March to get
through the full process.
b. 2025 executive committee- all current executive committee members are willing to serve
another year—Crystal, Denise, and Linda. Motion to accept same officers for 2025 as we had in
2024 was proposed by Heather and seconded by Josh. Board approved.
c. Joint board gathering— looking for a Tuesday night for a potluck type gathering at Eno River
Brewing in the near future for both boards. Katie will let us know a potential date.
d. Orientation —Katie will schedule a OCAC orientation after the approval process for our new
member is completed. Anyone currently on the board can join the session.
4. Director's Report: Katie reported on the following items:
a. Recent fundraising update --These events brought in critical dollars during 4t" quarter and were
well received by artists and the public.
i. Paint it Orange: $16,882
ii. Holiday Bazaar: $3,225—from Vendor booth fees
iii. Jeep: $11,131
iv. December silent auction: $2,005—event went really well.
The Board discussed these activities and the effort/impact of the events. Fund-raising
ideas should be run by both boards on a go forward basis. New ideas for sponsorship of
art and art projects were given to Katie during the discussion.
b. NEW! LGBTQ+Tween Arts Collective addition —The Teen Arts collective is one of the most
important programs we have and has changed the lives of the participants. A need has been
expressed for a younger group. The donor who has sponsored the teen programming has
increased their donation to now support this new Tween Arts Collective starting in February for
ages 9-12!
c. Joint board retreat with Katie Weeks (Armstrong McGuire)— Katie is talking to Katie Weeks
about doing an event for us since we really could benefit from this type of
training/programming and haven't had one in years. Identifying funding between the
Commission and the Alliance is still being worked out.
d. Rebrand/40th Anniversary celebration—Arts Commission was started 40 years ago in February.
If any of the board has suggestions about a cool way to celebrate the 40th year, please let Katie
know.
e. Arts Educator Grant Program — Request for 2025 applications will open March 1, 2025. The
board was asked to give Katie feedback on the guidelines and application.
f. Uproar! - core committee started meeting 4th Quarter— Linda and Wendy from this board are
working on the event. Anyone else who would like to be involved with the event should talk to
Katie. It will be Aug 1-23, 2025. Board members should put the kickoff (8/1) and closing events
(8/23) on their calendars now.
g. Eno Arts Mill— New Artists
i. Denise Page, in Studio 7, painter
ii. Amanda Blanchard, Studio 1, multi-media
iii. Diana Newton, Studio 6, mixed media sculpture
iv. Jenna Staples, Studio 2, painter
v. Jessica Sanford, Studio 9,jeweler
h. Vacant studios: Need artists of color, non-painters
i. Studio 5 (back) - $288/month, available now
ii. Studio 8 (back) - $288/month, available no
5. Liaison Reports
a. UNC Student Liaison Update— UNC Student Liaison Update—Celia reported UNC is only on the
0 day of classes. A lot of student musicians have been integrating more with town venues.
Various campus publications are coming out with UNC Student writings. Student photographers
are out and working on campus. The Carolina Film Association has started work and their film
festival should happen later in the semester. Thesis readings should happen later in the
semester as well. Arts students on campus are dealing with a lot of heavy topics like Al, the loss
of TikTok, and, because of that, moving to more physical media.
b. Chapel Hill Arts Commission —Josh reported that this board is one of the boards that Chapel Hill
is looking at eliminating due to an overabundance of boards for a town of Chapel Hill size. Josh
has voiced his opinion to the town of Chapel Hill as to why the CH Arts Commission is important
for Chapel Hill by ensuring artistic standards and guidelines are followed with public art.
c. UNC update by Crystal — The Shot with Sharon Lawrence is currently playing at PlayMakers.
Other arts events will be underway soon as the year progresses.
d. Hillsborough Arts Council —John said they are finally getting back to launching their
Hillsborough Poet Laurette. The application will open in February.
e. The ArtsCenter update by Wendy. She reported that they had great end-of-year fund-raising
activities. Also, they had 8 live performances that sold out. December was busier than
expected, but everything worked out well. Art Camps registration opened up today and is going
well including some new classes for young teens.
f. Carrboro Arts update—Wendy reported previously that the Carrboro Arts board was merged
with Parks and Rec. and they are still going through some growing pains.
g. Visitor's Bureau update by Wendy—A representative from UNC was there to discuss a new
sports facility to replace The Dean Dome. They are considering five different options. However,
it sounds like option 2 or 3 seems the most doable and popular.
i. Renovate the current Dean Dome
ii. Build a new facility right down the road in a lot that is currently parking for the Dean
Dome
iii. Build a new facility where Odom Village was.
iv. Build a new facility at Carolina North.
v. Build a new facility where the Friday Center is.
h. Orange County Artists Guild -- Heather reported that the Guild's new artist application is open
through the end of January. The next OCAG show will be at Higgins and Meyers in February
i. Calico Makers Market— Heather has turned this into a non-profit and all paperwork has come
through. The Market is looking for vendors for the spring market and to finalize the artist that
will provide art activities.
j. Carolina African American Writers Collective—one of their members was just elected president
of the Haiku society of America. She is first female elected to the position.
k. Carrboro Poets Council —Gideon said meeting later this month. The council is making plans for
upcoming poetry events, pre-planning for the 2025 Poetry Festival, and identifying additional
poets for the Council.
6. Crystal adjourned the meeting at 7:55 pm.