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2019-10-22 Arts MinutesELEG City of EI Segundo - Arts and Culture Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes for October 22, 2019 5:30 p.m. at EI Segundo Public Library Rose Garden Conference Room Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge that we are holding this meeting on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Tongva. We recognize the Tongva people as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin, So. Channel Islands). We also acknowledge that Los Angeles County is home to the largest Indigenous populations in the US. A. CALL TO ORDER — The meeting was called to order at 5:30pm by Chairperson Jeff Cason. B. ROLL CALL Members present: Chairperson Jeff Cason, Kristen Dorsey, Maureen Kingsley, Mark Knight, Michael Kreski (left at 6:15pm), Brian Mitchell, Natalie Strong, Vice Chairperson Eva Sweeney and Neal Von Flue Members absent: George Renfro City Council Liaisons: Council Member Don Brann: absent Councilmember Pimentel: (arrived at 5:43pm, left approximately 6:15pm) City Staff present: Melissa McCollum, Library Director Julie Todd, Senior Librarian C. PRESENTATIONS 1. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion by Snehal Desai, Producing Artistic Director for East West Players (20 minutes) Chairperson Jeff Cason invited Snehal Desai to discuss equity, diversity and inclusion with the ACC. Snehal stated first you must ask yourself why you are doing this work and if it is something that you are committed to and want to be doing rather than feeling obligated. ACC members should also be on the same page about why the committee is doing the work. Snehal also mentioned another way of looking at it is if someone has not been traditionally welcomed into your home or institutions one way or the other, why should they come now? What is going to be different now? Being able to switch the paradigm and perspective is most important. For example, if you are someone who culturally has not been raised to attend the symphony, orchestra or theater and has been told that their stories are not for you, why would/should you attend? Be ready to have frank conversations. Being able to switch the paradigm and think about it from the other perspective is the most important aspect in practicing equity, diversity and inclusion. The work to be done to achieve equity, diversity and inclusion will be a lot of work and prework if you want to do it the right way and not be tokenizing. An unconscious biased training is a good place to start for all members. Additionally, examining privilege is also helpful. Most of this ends up being about race, but it also includes socioeconomic status, gender, gender identity, and religion. Language is also an important issue to consider when practicing equity, diversity and inclusion. More recently, artists are coming together to form collectives so they may be a resource to tell their stories. Collectives include Indigenous Directions for Native American Artists, Maya for Middle Eastern Artists and Latino Commons. Los Angeles County recently published the LA County Arts Report Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative. It's available online at httos://www.lacountvarts.ora/about/cultural-eauitv-inclusion-initiative/cu Itural-eauitv-inclusion-initiative. Snehal also mentioned the City of Detroit has a very good example of an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion plan. An important question for the ACC moving forward is to consider how the group is not tokenizing towards groups. Do not alienate, disenfranchise, divide or reduce this person/race. Also be careful not to bring divisions within the community by bringing in someone/group and not another. Be ready to listen, make space for change and question the way things have been done. Enlist allies and community partners. How will your plan be long-term and sustainable? Snehal also referenced a few books on the topic: Who We Be and We Gon' Be Alright by Jeff Chang and Salsa, Soul, and Spirt by Juan Bordas. Mark Knight asked for suggestions for reaching out to solicit diverse applicants, and Snehal suggested becoming more familiar with how certain populations are reached and filling all vacancies keeping in mind equity, diversity and inclusion. Natalie Strong expressed concern about how as a committee the ACC could help promote diversity and acceptance to the broader community at City events. Snehal suggested one possibility of providing opportunities that intentionally bring the parents together to interact with each other while their children are doing the same. When people start opening up and talking, they have a better understanding of each other. Snehal also suggested featuring performers/artists of diverse backgrounds at City events and taking a look at the idea of reciprocity — are there events in other neighboring communities that EI Segundo residents could then participate in? Snehal also mentioned that a lot of these issues tend to be generational. For example, coming from mixed race households, diverse schools and tending to be more accepting in general, kids are beyond adults in terms of these conversations. Often adults could and should take cues from the kids around them. Kristen Dorsey thanked Snehal for his presentation and also agreed that when the ACC does have funding to reach out to artists, the committee needs to carefully take a look at the language used and how we word our call for artists to really make sure we are inclusive without being tokenizing, causing artists to feel as though they are being contacted just because they represent a certain ethnicity or background. Kristen also mentioned that the land acknowledgement is just a first step in equity, diversity and inclusion, but also agreed with Snehal that the work is never done. 2. ESMoA Experience 43: PLANT by ESMoA Director of Education Holly Crawford and Artist Amely Spoetzl (10 minutes) ESMoA's Director of Education Holly Crawford thanked the group for allowing herself and Artist Amelie Spoetzl to share information about ESMoA's current exhibit, Experience 43: PLANT. The exhibit opens on Thursday, October 24th at 1:OOpm and will be on view until January 25, 2020. PLANT is Amelie Spotzel's first solo show in Los Angeles. Amelie was the artist who painted the chrome lines around Brewport's building. ESMoA is also hosting a concurrent show featuring the ESMoA Scholarship Award artist, Los Angeles -based Jasmine Nyende. Jasmine is facilitating an in progress work titled "A Love Letter to the California Coast" that encourages ESMoA visitors to add their own content to this piece of art. Jasmine will also be present on Thursday, October 24th to activate her piece. Holly also thanked Melissa McCollum, Julie Todd and Roz Templin for their Living Library: Experience 24: SEED partnership. The Living Library will take place at ESMoA on Saturday, November 16th, 1:OOpm-4:OOpm. Participants have the opportunity to checkout any of nine Living Books for one-on-one 20 minute conversations at httr)s://www.signui3cienius.com/qo/9040844AAAA2FA13- experience. The Third Annual ESMoA Video Art and Film Festival takes place on December 7th and the deadline for submission is October 31St. The Film Festival is one of ESMoA's largest international programs. Filmmakers from USA, Brazil, and Iran represent countries with the largest number of submissions with films from several other countries included as well. Evening for Educators will take place on October 24th, 6:OOpm-8.00pm, giving educators the opportunity to learn more about the PLANT exhibition from ESMoA staff. Just Draw, ESMoA's drawing club for adults also returns. Holly thanked the Library for hosting a Just Draw workshop while ESMoA was under construction between exhibits. Create family programs will return featuring a puppet making and theater workshop as well as ESMoA's first Day of the Dead altar installed by Mario from Natural Simplicity. Mario will also lead a family workshop for Day of the Dead where participants can make their own ofrendas. Jasmine Nyende will be teaching a crocheting workshop in December and a dye workshop with Common Threads, an L.A. based fiber collective will feature a natural dye workshop using invasive species of plants such as wild mustard so one can ethically forage for plants. Other upcoming programs at ESMoA include Mindfulness Fridays as a time to visit ESMoA in a relaxing, more meditative space, Tinkertopia makerspace with plants to tie into the current exhibit. ESMoA is also looking for participants to represent ESMoA in EI Segundo's Holiday Parade. In January ESMoA will host an art talk discussing how artists respond to climate change. Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith is ESMoA's book club selection to also tie in to their current show. Vice Chairperson Eva Sweeney asked if Holly could share a bit about Amelie Spoetzl's two pieces on display at the library. The two pieces are a collaboration between Amelie and her partner Bernd Zollner. An enlarged close-up portrait of Amelie's face shows her wearing a mask made of pussy willows with the actual mask on display in a box next to the photo. Amelie Spoetzl said she is glad to attend the Arts and Culture meeting and is very happy to see her work in the library. Holly also shared with the committee that ESMoA has created a postcard featuring Nanibah Chacon's Portals to Memory mural photographed by Mark Knight and will be delivering a box full of postcards, including the image printed as a whole and in three separate postcards representing sea, land and sky. D. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS - NONE E. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approval of the minutes of the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee Meeting of September 24, 2019. MOTIONED by Neal Von Flue and SECONDED by Natalie Strong to approve the minutes of the September 24, 2019 meeting as presented. Motion CARRIED 8-0. F. SPECIAL BUSINESS - NONE 1. Centennial Art Project Update — Utility Boxes (Projects Subcommittee/20 minutes) Recommendation: Discussion and possible action. Neal Von Flue shared that the Projects subcommittee met and discussed the Centennial utility box wrap project and shared a map identifying possible utility boxes that could be included. Neal also mentioned selecting a few boxes with care and intentionality rather than a larger amount. Location considerations included Franklin Street in Smoky Hollow to direct interest in that area of town, with Main Street being the main concentration of utility boxes for consideration. Michael Kreski's map shows utility box locations with varying existing conditions of the boxes, approximately 17 boxes in total to consider. Neal mentioned that the Slice & Pint box was designed by Joe Natoli of Boiling Point Creative Group. Neal asked the committee for additional names of designers and would like the committee to look into ways of saving money on the project such as committee members digitizing photos or using already digitized historic images, or even wrapping fewer boxes. Mark Knight asked if it was ok to go slightly over budget or if there's a hard stop. Neal informed the committee that the remaining Centennial funds are at a hard stop without going over. Mark then suggested considering a 20% cushion to make sure there is enough money allowed for unexpected costs. Melissa McCollum suggested that attaining three quotes from possible designers to complete the Centennial utility box project. Kristen Dorsey added that she thought the boxes would be more interesting if we worked with an artist rather than using the historic photos directly. Julie Todd wondered about the possibilities of working with Otis College of Art & Design, but Vice Chairperson Eva Sweeney commented that in the interest of time, it would be more complicated to work with the school based on their calendar schedule. Neal is also hesitant to work with students on this project. Mark commented that working with a single artist would be more unifying. Melissa McCollum suggested identifying the ten top boxes that the committee hopes to include in the project in order to forward the locations to City staff for further information about who owns the boxes. The committee narrowed down their selection to ten boxes on Main Street that are aligned more directly to each other. Chairperson Jeff Cason mentioned that getting the approval from Council Member Brann and Recreation and Parks Director Meredith Petit would be acceptable rather than needing approval from the entire Centennial Committee. H. NEW BUSINESS -NONE I. SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES 1. Events/Marketing — none 2. Grants — none 3. Percent for Arts — Melissa McCollum shared that the Planning Commission voted 4-0 to recommend Council approval of the Cultural Development Ordinance. Melissa acknowledged Michael Kreski and Vice Chairperson Eva Sweeney for their efforts in reaching out to gain support. The final Staff Report is being refined for the November 5th Council meeting. The ACC is also hosting a community forum at ESMoA on Saturday, October 26th, 11:00am-12:30pm. Michael Kreski will share his presentation and then the subcommittee and City staff will be around to answer questions. Melissa encouraged ACC members to share information to the public about the community forum, offering a facts sheet for talking points and encouraged ACC members to attend the Council meeting on November 5th. If the Cultural Development Fund goes through on November 5th, the ordinance will return to Council on November 19th for a second reading and should go into effect on January 1, 2020. Mark Knight shared his conversation with Mayor Drew Boyles and mentioned the Mayor sees both sides of the Cultural Development proposal. Mark also mentioned that Mayor Boyles spoke about his interest in metrics if the fund is to go through as well as evidence that the ACC can manage a projects budget. Mark also shared that he met with Councilmember Pimentel and that he is concerned that possible funded projects stay away from advocacy. Councilmember Pimentel also wants to see project metrics. Julie Todd mentioned meeting Santa Monica's Chief Performance Officer Tim Dodd who is also an EI Segundo resident and serves on the Technology Committee. Julie invited Tim to attend a future ACC meeting to share what he can with the group about key performance indicators. 4. Projects — Neal Von Flue mentioned most of the Projects Subcommittee updates were discussed earlier, but added that he wanted to offer Kristen Dorsey the opportunity to step down from the subcommittee if she desired. Vice Chairperson Eva Sweeney volunteered to step down from the Projects subcommittee to provide Natalie Strong an opportunity to serve if Kristen wished to remain on it. Melissa McCollum suggested adding this conversation to next meeting's agenda for further discussion. J. GOVERNANCE Melissa McCollum discussed the ACC vacancy is available to view on the left side of the City's current website and mentioned that the link will be sent out tomorrow to ACC members if they wish to encourage people to apply. Melissa McCollum informed that there are no interviews scheduled per Mishia Jennings, but that is due to having no new applicants for the ACC. Once we have applicants, Mishia will talk with Council about arranging interviews. Melissa McCollum confirmed that it is ok to advertise the vacancy in the EI Segundo Scene and with George Renfro's Art Walk contacts and hopefully if the Cultural Development Ordinance goes through, the ACC can use that as a way to encourage new ACC members to apply. Vice Chairperson Eva Sweeney asked if it was ok to specifically advertise that the ACC is looking for developers or contractors to join the committee. Melissa McCollum stated that everyone deserves a fair chance, and Chairperson Jeff Cason and Vice Chairperson Eva Sweeney will have the opportunity to provide feedback to Council when making recommendations. Melissa McCollum also informed the ACC Diversity Director at Northrop Grumman and committee about diversity and inclusion. Ma would be a good time to have the Northrop meeting. that Mark Knight reached out to the he also is willing to come speak to the k Knight mentioned that January 2020 rumman staff member attend the ACC Melissa McCollum also opened the discussion about the holidays and when to schedule ACC meetings for the remainder of the year. The committee decided on Wednesday, December 11th, 5:30pm to hold a special meeting. The committee will not meet on November 26th or December 24th K. ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS Chairperson Jeff Cason — Chairperson Jeff Cason acknowledged that the Equity and Inclusion presentation gives the committee a lot to consider over time, but encouraged the ACC members to discuss further as it relates to their subcommittee groups. Jeff Cason also suggested the ACC committee as a whole gather together to bring questions and thoughts for discussion. Also, Chairperson Cason thanked all members for their work and support in the Percent for Arts process. Kristen Dorsey — none Maureen Kingsley — Maureen is willing to read the books that Snehal mentioned in his presentation and share what she learned with the committee. Melissa McCollum mentioned that the library can purchase the books if they are available. Melissa also asked Chairperson Jeff Cason to forward Snehal Desai's presentation to Julie Todd who can then forward it to the ACC members. Mark Knight — Talked with a student this week who was a recipient of an internship funded by Los Angeles. He also suggested that if the Cultural Art Fund goes well on November 5th, the committee may want to think about providing internship opportunities. Similarly, Chairperson Jeff Cason mentioned L.A. County Arts Commission has an internship program that he participated in while he was a student. Mark commented that it was the same one he was referring to earlier. Mark suggested having an open call for internships and that way if someone presented a great idea as an internship, the committee would be able to accept it. Brian Mitchell — Intrigued by Snehal's presentation. Noticed that age was not discussed in relation to equity and diversity and this comes to mind when he thinks of the committee's conversation of reaching the "old EI Segundo" as well as the new as a marketing challenge. Natalie Strong — Roz Templin, Maureen Kingsley and Natalie will be meeting with Bill Shapiro, author of What We Keep, to discuss plans for Book to Action in April 2020. Natalie also heard back from the Price of Everything documentary representatives about the rights to public screening and found out that they offer the rights to public libraries for $150. Natalie will also check with Holly to see if a public screening of The Price of Everything is something that ESMoA would like to organize as a program. Room of Requirement's Seven Word Stories exhibit will be on view until the end of October and then a display for Living Library will go up through November. Some of the Seven Word Stories will be published in EI Segundo Scene. December's exhibit is still to be determined. Vice Chairperson Eva Sweeney — Shared that inclusion is also a big topic at ESMoA, trying to tap into all of the cultures. She is excited about the upcoming film festival that also touches on diversity and inclusion. Eva also thinks it is very important that the ACC makes an effort to recruit people of diverse backgrounds and cultures. Neal Von Flue — Happy to meet artist Jasmine Nyende at ESMoA and also mentioned that Jasmine is a graduate of Vistamar. CITY COUNCIL LIAISON COMMENTS Councilmember Don Brann — not present Councilmember Chris Pimentel — not present M. CITY LIAISON UPDATES — Julie Todd shared that the Library's 20th Annual Author Fair will take place on Saturday, November 2nd, 10:00am-5:00pm and will feature panels that include Romance, Audiobook Production, author Daniel Stone discussing his book The Food Explorer, Writing for Young Adults and Mystery. The Living Library: Experience 24: SEED partnership with ESMoA will take place at ESMoA on Saturday, November 16th, 1:00pm-4:00pm. A few of the living books that can be checked out for 20 -minute conversations include a fiber artist, immigrant success story, art model, Holocaust survivor, South Bay's first female Battalion Chief, a clergywoman who runs a garden to feed the homeless and hungry and more. N. ADJOURNMENT — Meeting adjourned at 7:42pm. NEXT MEETING: Special Meeting on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 5:30 p.m., at the EI Segundo Public Library, Rose Garden Conference Room, 111 West Mariposa Avenue, EI Segundo, CA 90245. Posted by: Julie Todd Date & Time: