Arts Commission - Regular Meeting

Hello. Good evening, everyone. I call this meeting to order. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

I can motion.

And can I get a second? Yep. All in favor of the agenda, say aye. Aye. Aye.

Okay. So next, can I get a motion to approve the minutes?

I motion. Oh.

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes.

Thank you. And a second? Okay. All in favor of the minutes Aye. Okay. So first order, do we have any oral communications for this meeting? Okay. Staff is saying no, so we won't have to read this script. Alright. So, thanks, everyone. So we are going to move to our agenda items.

Monday.

This year well, for a little bit of overview, project grants, their yearly grants, They provide funding for art, culture, and heritage prods that serve Bellevue residents and visitors. This year, we upped the request amounts. Formerly, they were one, two, and 3,000. Now applicants can choose three, five, or 7,000, and those are all or nothing requests. So the considerations for the grantees were either we fund them at that request or none at all.

This was a change we made several years ago just to set expectations and to make sure artists, organizers who were proposing projects with a specific budget could know that they could expect a certain amount instead of saying, hey. I want 5,000 from a project, and then we give them a thousand. Seems a bit of a of an ask. It's just scale down your project or expect it to be the same with with smaller ones. So that was a change we made.

And and on top of the project grant, if a grantee is interested in bringing their project to BellRed, which is we defined as the whole neighborhood of Bell Red. Applicants could choose, to apply for this bonus, which was an extra thousand dollars, with the aim to incentivize more happenings, and awareness of the arts district. That was too far. There we go. So just a reminder, EAP support grants, which is our other program that's on a two year cycle, so we'd not be looking at that.

Nobody applied this year. That was new. It's all the same applicants. They get the same award in the second year. I review them all just to make sure they're still a legitimate organization doing business, and they will go to council as an FYI, but no changes to those.

Project grants, the award recommendations were developed by the allocations committee, which consisted of Martinez, McIntyre, and Era of Theater thirty three, who quite a few of you are familiar with. Era is also part of the Bell Red Arts District Community Alliance. So lots of helpful knowledge about BellRed and the bonus, and also having been having applied to many different grants in the area has a lot of grant experience. So it's very helpful for, I think, our deliberations, that experience. This year, surprise, when you increase the amount that artists can and businesses and nonprofits can request, you see quite an appetite.

So this year, we had 67 eligible applications requesting 464,000 in funding request. This includes the bonus requests. This is a 394% increase from last year. Last year, we had 26 applicants or 26 applications and funded 24 of them for a total of 71,000. So a very different a different different year.

So the committee recommends allocating a $187,000 to 31 project grants and 13,000 to 13 Belvoir bonuses because they're each a thousand dollars for a total of $200,000, this would be 43% of the total funding requests, which is pretty in line. It's definitely a a lower percentage. I would say this is probably more in line to our EAP grant program. Here are some of the proposed results In the memo I sent you or the the commission packet that I sent you, there was an error. I said project grants and EAP grants.

Your agenda packet that I sent actually was only project grants. So I corrected that online, but here is both programs, one including EAP grants on the top, and then project grants alone are on the bottom there. And, yeah, just some other little pieces of information. I went through all of them and try to put them into buckets while while difficult. There's a lot of overlap.

You know? People are doing festivals. They also have workshops and whatnot. There are four in educational realm, so that is some kind of art or cultural teaching. Seven exhibitions, so maybe it's an art show. Seven festivals, so more of those bigger productions. 16 performances. There's a lot of overlap on the festivals and performances, and then five workshops. Yeah. Any questions about the process or the grants?

Your packet has a exhaustive breakdown of all of the project proposals and then the ones that are recommended for funding. Happy to answer any questions, and I also wanna open up to our two reviewers if you have anything to say or wanna answer any questions that might come up.

I do. I'd first like to say that we appreciate the effort it took to apply. So we appreciate the 67 people who show, groups that chose to apply and appreciate their effort. I can attest that the committee, performed a thorough and and thoughtful, review of each one. And, and our approach, I think, was, valid.

And that, certainly, I'd like to thank Monet for for organizing the entire thing. That's a that's a a large effort, and it was very well organized, I thought, for my first time. And that, I believe that this rep these recipients represent a solid list of of arts related, activities that, will benefit the city in in the coming year.

If you wanna comment on the panel. If if you wanna add on to that, I I just have a few questions.

So Okay. So, yeah, I really I really love the

It's on.

On. Oh, wrong one. Thank you. Yeah. It's on. Yeah. But this one is closer to me. Thank you. So I really, really like the activity. As Charles says, it was a really thoughtful and really analyze exercise that we did. I mean, with the help of Manette and the analysis that you help us also, Laurie. So it was really gratifying to be in this in this analysis and allocation. Found a lot of interesting projects. I mean, I'm I'm amazed about the diversity and all the creative things that people think through. I love it.

Individuals, organizations really love it. I was a little bit surprised that most of the people a lot of people didn't know what the Belgrade Art District is. Sorry to say, but a lot of them, do you see that the number of organization that we analyze with the bonus add on is because some of them even mentioned organization or something in that area. So we talk about it. We you have been improving the way that is written, but we have to find a way for people to give me the address or something that made them go and look.

K? So that was something that was in a point that was really funny. And the other thing that I would like to add is in Megan's question, what is art? What is culture? What is entertainment? So it was a real question that you, Charles, mentioned, and I think that is something worth to be analyzed. And also when we talk about the city strategy, it will be something that we must be I mean, we must talk about it. Thank you.

Thanks for your comments on the panel participation. It sounds like it was a very worthwhile experience. And I'm interested in that 346% spike in applications. I'm wondering, did we do anything additional to the marketing strategy as far as going through different cultural organizations? And also, there's an that's an overwhelming spike in demand for funding.

So I'm assuming that if we continue this for the next few years, we can bring this data to the council and ask, hey, is there a way that we can increase the budget for these project grants? I mean, as I'm sure we'll have to tie it to some, like, economic benefit for the city. But, yeah, it just sounds like it's really the start of something new and also just the start of just more cultural activities around these parts?

I think the spike was purely because of the request amounts. The fact that we are now offering up to 7,000 was very attractive. And I think that that just attracted things that people are like, oh, I can actually do what I wanna do instead of a 3,000 where it's like, festival, probably not gonna be able to help my festival. Yeah.

To I don't know how many, but most of the requests were around the 7,000.

Yeah.

I think it shows it reflects the increased cost of producing arts and culture events. Our award levels had not changed for a couple decades. And so just being really honest that it's much more expensive to produce an arts and culture event. If we were giving out a $1,000 award, it's a night at the Main Bowers, seven to eight. So it doesn't it doesn't get you there. And these made it possible for the awards to actually help substantively on a on a project.

Yeah. I didn't change my marketing strategy. That could not I mean, other than our social media presence grows every year, so I guess we benefit from that.

I also have one more question about the application itself. And maybe this is more directed to you, Minette, since I believe it's your first time serving on the project grants panel. But have we noticed, like, an increase in the quality of the applications as far as the content itself?

I would say I can't quite comment on quality, but I will say more and more people are using AI to generate their answers. And sometimes it is incredibly obvious. I have no no qualms with people using AI as long as they use it as a tool and not as an excuse to write for them. So I I think it's very helpful to get your thoughts going and, you know, start your answer, but don't just copy and paste what it spit out. So I think that's definitely a concern is maybe the quality dips when people rely too heavily on AI.

But it's it's a world. It's new. It's exciting, and you can't blame people for using a tool that exists. So you know?

Yeah. That's a good tip that, you know, people are encouraged to utilize it, especially if it helps them get their, like, mission and their, vision out there on paper. But, yeah, copying is plagiarism, essentially. So I think that's a really good note to call out for, like, future grants that we do is that, you know, we encourage the use of, like, these artificial intelligence tools as long as it's authentic to your voice.

Thank you.

More questions, though, Bennett. So, the applicants were already made aware much in advance that this time around, we're going to make it all or nothing?

Yeah. It has been for a while now, and it is yeah.

Okay. Yeah.

I have some comments on this. So last year, I participated participated in the committee as well. I think this year, we see a big jump. I personally posted on some of my social media. So I I saw a lot of names there. But, unfortunately, I think most of my friends didn't get the grants.

Well, I will say a lot of first time applicants Yeah. It is very common that it may take a few times just to get in the groove. And the comments from the reviewers are made available. So any any helpful, you know, comments may help them put together a better application next year.

And another thought about AI. I think it breaks the language barrier for a lot of cultural organizations. I I really like that tool to be able to help them with grant writing. I think this is very helpful because we can see from the presentations, a lot of organizations, especially cultural organization, they do have language barriers. Yeah. I think this is a very helpful tool if we can give them some suggestion or advice how to use that tool properly when they write the grant, that'd be very helpful. Mhmm. That's great. And and another point I would like to know is, as you mentioned that, how do you do we define art and culture? Right?

So if we can have, like, a like, a pivot table or something that's how many grants we awarded to different category of, like, art art perform, like performance art or visual arts or digital arts and all the or culture. For for example, last year, I I I give a lot of priority for the culture group. If they present a special culture group, I think that's value for the city. So if we can have that data to share, that'll be great. That would be also kind of guidance for the next year.

So we award this culture group or this type of art form. And next year, we can probably prioritize to cover more broad organizations.

I think that's a really good point, and it's been in the back of my mind. I hate making an application longer because we've tried so hard to make it as short as possible. But I think a a question where you, you know, click a button takes, you know, ten seconds. Are you, you know, proposing a a cultural festival, an art festival, a workshop? Workshop.

You know, we'll have to think about how many are appropriate and, you know, do we wanna those buckets can get a little complicated when you're in art and culture, which is such a big amorphous space. But, yeah, we have another program through the diversity advantage team, cross cultural grants. We're seeing a lot of overlap amongst our program. And they do a good job on asking, like, what what are you proposing? What type of thing is it?

And that's just helpful for them to see, like, are we funding a lot of this type or that type or you know? So I think that might be a question we consider adding in the future.

And I Artist Trust, what we had done is, like, we had reported the data of, like, you know, those categories of how many applications versus how many awarded. So you see that percentage breakdown, And then you can use that to gauge, like, you know, the upcoming years, like, award allocations to say like you're mentioning, like, we've awarded this much to, like, performance pieces. Like, what about we focus on, like, cultural festivals? So I think that might be a good model to also look at. I think they report it through the press releases and things like

that. I

think that is important to share the information, but I wouldn't like that to be, like, a limitation for the committee to select the best representation, the best project that you see. So I think that is important that we have, a mixed thing, but it it can be, like, intentional. So I don't imagine that 30% have to be this kind of thing. Okay? Mhmm.

So it's it's worth to have the information because we were thinking through, like because we we try to make the mix. But if it was something that we didn't even really see, like, something that will be like, for example, remember that we had three we were directed to have three levels of of qualification. The art, artistic innovation, the public benefit, and the feasibility. So if you go through this through so, I mean, I think that the qualification helped us a lot to get to that. But, yeah, my point is, like, it's it's good to have the information, but not to Yeah. Limit what we can select. Anyone who can do it next time.

I don't think we would make a selection criteria based on we must fund

There's many of this or whatever.

Yeah. Because then you're forcing applications that might you you throw the whole review out the window if you do that. But I think it's helpful information

Yes.

To know it's

like how

we I mean, I anecdotally know that we form a lot of performance art, and that's there's a lot of appetite for that. Does that mean then, though, that we could do a better job getting people more interested in doing workshops or doing other types? And then maybe we see a higher application rate in there, and then we can fund more, in certain sections. Who knows? So, Minette, I have a tracking.

Yeah. I was also gonna say, do we also actually have access to how many of these events that are funded? Do we actually get analytics about it? Like, do we know exactly how many people have either it's virtual or how many walked in through the door? Yes. We get information.

So, these are all reimbursable grants and enables for them to get their award, they must report on how the event went or the workshop or whatever it is, and we ask the numbers.

Also, one more question. So these completed forms that applicants given, is that publicly available? Can anybody pull up to see who applied and what did they write about their organization?

So the whole packet is public, and then it it is doubly public because it comes to you all. So it's online, and then it goes to city council, and they get basically the same amount of information. So all of that is public. Their whole application is not

A completed application is what I'm No.

I mean, it is it is a public record. Okay. So, technically, if someone did a public records request, it would go through our public records office. They would just see if anything is personal and need to be retracted. But, yes, the whole application would technically be open.

I guess what I was actually trying to understand was if anybody who's a first time applicant, they're interested to see what sort of Oh. Answers will help me put my case forward, like, if I am a first time applicant. Yeah. Do do do applicants get any guidance?

So this year, we had, I had office hours. I think I had four or three. And that was a suggestion, I think, by one of you maybe. And so free for all, anybody can ask any kind of questions. I think there was maybe about across of all of them, maybe 20 to 30 people attended. So that was pretty gratifying that people showed up and asked a lot of questions. And so that was one way. And some people ended up sending me their whole application afterwards and be like, hey. Can you take a look at this and see if I'm on the right Mhmm. And so, obviously, I can't say, like, this is great, but it's like, yes.

You're on the right track. The right direction. Like a legit application. You're answering the right questions. In terms of after everything is reviewed, they can get comments from their viewers. Mhmm. You are familiar, you know. Yep. I'm happy to sit down with people and talk things through. We don't record the meetings where the the determinations are made, so those specific comments are not. Mhmm.

But they get the written, like, comments that we

make as the Yeah. Are put into the applications are public. Alright. Yeah. It's not perfect.

Nope. That's

But I I would love I would love to have huge written long, like, this is exactly how you can improve, but that's a lot of work. Mhmm.

Any other questions from the commission or Joydeep? I see you're on the call. Do you have any questions, comments about this? Oh,

I went two places at once.

Well, now the COVID that advertising was excellent. I made every effort to tell everybody that I knew. Please apply. And somebody that has been an artist for about ten, twelve years, never applied his whole life, he got it. And I'm happy that I was not part of the ones we chose. This is really awesome.

See, it was the commission that

was the increased marketing. It was y'all. There you go.

Signed up for a partnership, so we were shouting everywhere. Like, we're a happy town. We like ours. Don't take us against because of our tech background. We are human beings here.

Nice.

We have the lady with red hair. But we are awesome people. No. This has been an amazing turnout. I'm super happy with that, And sorry for being late. I forgot I dropped my daughter there.

Alright. So thanks, everyone. So it looks like we have two options for a motion. Option one is move to recommend the approval of the two n e 26 project grants as recommended by the allocations committee. Option two is move to not recommend the approval of the 20 26 project grants as recommended by the allocations committee. So can I get a motion to approve, which would be option one?

I would motion to approve.

I second.

Can I Okay? Chonky seconds. Thank you so much. Okay.

All in favor?

Oh. All in favor, say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Alright. So we have a motion to approve. So thank you, everybody. Next on the agenda is confirm committee assignments.

Yes. So it should be pretty straightforward. Nothing has changed since September when we all had you sign up for committees. I just wanted to bring this back as a little reminder, and so you have this in your packet, to refer to in the future when we call upon you. These will be the committees for the New Year.

Yeah. That's it. Any questions or concerns? Okay.

Next on the agenda, art and culture capital facility grant program update.

So coming to a close, the first year of our capital it's just just very grant heavy night. Our art and culture capital facility grant program, is the newest of our grants. We had a budget of 1.8, for the next two years. 1,800,000.0. Yes.

We had 22,703,498 in in funding requests through this program. The allocations committee recommendations, which were approved by the Arts Commission and city council through a whole lovely process, were awarded to five applicants, and I will go through where we're kinda sitting with these grants. First off, there has been an update since the packet was published. The two remaining contracts that were waiting to be processed have either been completely signed or in or in process of being signed. So that is exciting because that took a year.

Well, a little bit less than a year because we had to to write the contracts, but that was kind of my goal to get that all wrapped up, get everybody under contract by the end of this year, and I think we're able to meet goal. Kids Quest, who we awarded 400,000 to, finished up super quick. They completed their renovations of the water room in opened in August. So their grant fully closed out. I went and checked it out.

There is a a little sign that says city of Bellevue. It seems to imply that the whole Bottom Floor is funded by us. So I did that. We'll take it. Yeah. 1st Floor Exhibit Gallery, city of Bellevue. That's what officially what the sign says. So that's exciting. I also wanted to note KidsQuest has been in the media recently. I don't know if you've all so we'll get more of an update there. But I don't want you to see this and be like, wait, but they're moving. Why did we put money into this? It'll take them a long time to move. Their potential new facility will take a bunch of upgrades. It's a whole another thing.

They're gonna get a lot of love and use out of this room. It's still an asset to them. This facility will be in operation for quite a while. And that was, I think, something that we talked about in their award was to make sure in case they did move, grantees would need to certify that whatever we are helping them with would get at least, I think, three to five years of use. And that's definitely gonna take three plus years to move to a new facility for them.

So that wasn't a concern for us, but I just wanted to bring that up. The other grantee, Theater thirty three, they had two grants, a capital project grant of $462,500. This was for the construction of their theater space, which completed actually before they applied for this grant. This grant covers two years looking into the future, two years looking back. So they are able to submit invoices for work that happened in 2023 and 2024.

So I'm in the process of getting that all wrapped up for them. They're they also applied for maintenance grant. The maintenance was for installing a proper HVAC system, not just heat pumps, but also air conditioning, which was imperative in a metal box, which essentially they're in. It gets really hot, and they do a lot of summer programming and workshops and stuff with kids. So for them to use their space, they desperately needed air conditioning, which the tenant or which the owner was not willing to supply and was not offered.

And their contractors are something we made. We checked out. We don't want people doing improvements on their facility that should be within the landlord's responsibilities and providing AC is not covered. So they installed that themselves, and we're in the process of closing that contract out as well.

Question.

No. Not that really. I went there in the summer, and they gave you how do you call? Yeah. Yeah. Funds. So you have to enter and and watch out the the play, and you were

like Yeah. It got really hot. Yeah.

It was needed. Yeah.

Yeah. So the last two grantees are American Asian Performing Arts Theater, APAT for short. That was a $600,000 grant for the construction of their new dance studio. I received an update, I think, late last week that they are continuing through the process of our permitting, which is really fun. But they are making progress.

So I think the permitting office got back with them recently, and they are now sending over some more information, and they hope to break break ground early next year. So they're they're on on schedule. I will be speaking to them very soon about that schedule and how you know, we only have one more year of this program to to make sure that they they get stuff going and can invoice us in time. But it's all looking very hopeful. There's no concerns that they know of from our permitting office, so that's good.

Last one is Carlson Theater at Bellevue College. That one too, I also got an update after I did this packet. They've completed their upgrades to lighting. I think it's like a the higher tech LED system or a reminder that this theater had not seen upgrades since it was built in the sixties, eighties? Sixties, early seventies. Seventies?

Yeah.

Yeah. So much needed updates, and then they've also updated their seats. So they have been making progress. And

Yeah. Yeah.

As a part of this grant, we were very adamant that they must get their act together and make it available to the community. And I'm happy to report that there is an actual process that people can follow now. There is a person dedicated to looking at rental requests. They're making a huge effort to make this available to the community. So if you got friends that need a theater, let them know. And then if they have issues, let me know.

But brand new seats, it should be a great audience experience. So

that's the end of that. Any questions about the facility grants, what we funded so far?

Is a deadline that they have to finish their project? Yeah.

So the the program, all the contracts end at the 2026. Mhmm. So whether or not you know, they all their work has to happen within 2026, and then they must invoice the city by the end of the year. In some very, very rare cases, we can do contract amendments, but that would have to be, you know, circumstantial. It's not an automatic, oh, well, you didn't, you know, complete. We just automatically renew your contract. That's not how we do procuring at the city. So For APAP, though, it should note they don't have to complete their entire construction by the end

of next They just have to complete enough to have enough to submit reimbursement.

And their studio is way more than $600,000 It's gonna be a couple million. So I I don't know what their current budget is, but it's definitely gonna be expensive. So if they have eligible expenses, which they will, by the end of the next year, we can more than, yeah, fill out that 600,000.

Can I ask when the next round of of this program would

So we'll cover the next two years? It's a little tricky with our internal budgeting process. I think there's gonna be a lot of moving pieces that will have to fall into place. But Laurie and I are sitting down early next year to talk about timelines when we would want this program to open again, how do we ensure that we have funds to cover, what what is our budget.

It's

But no sooner than 2027.

No. So most likely, we'll have an application period next year, so it'd be '26, because the next grant period would cover '27 and '28. Gotcha. Yep. Perfect.

I have a question. So is the concentrator available now, or will it be available later?

I think it is available now. Whether or not they're finished with other upgrades, there could be air you know, areas of time that they're not available for rentals because they have something planned. Also, any programming directly through the the college gets priority. So I I think we're at their behest in terms of their timelines, but it is open.

So the link is available for public now?

I think they're so they have a rental facility guide online of all of their things, and I think there's an email address, or you can always email me and say, hey, how do I get

I think you shared the occupants. I know there everyone's asking where do we go?

Yep. Yeah.

So like

this So one I can definitely and then they have a really helpful guide on, how many seats? What are the what what does it offer? There's there is the theater itself, and there's also the outside, which I'm a call the lobby area, and those are separate, or you can rent them separately if you want. And it's also quite affordable, I will say. And they have a nonprofit rate.

Yeah. If you have the link, you can just

share So I can share you the link and also who to contact. And I'll share that with all of you just because I know you're well tapped into your community, and that information is helpful to have.

I do have one comment. So there are other funding available for HVAC system. So if you get a request for upgrade the h install heat pump or HVAC, energy smart side and also the state department of commerce, they have a lot of grants allocated in the community. Yeah. Yeah. For HVAC.

Yeah. So we're looking at everybody else's schedules too for next year, and how do we fit in with the other grant programs. Mhmm. Do we go simultaneously? Do we go before? Because sometimes it's helpful to have money secured to get additional grants, and it's a it's a fun puzzle.

Alright. Thanks, Minette, for those updates. So next is commission quick business. So our next meeting date

Does the first Wednesday in December work for you all? That would be what would that be? December 3. Yeah. Okay.

That seems to be majority. So we'll have our next meeting on December 3. Additionally, parliamentary procedures training. So I didn't email you all about this. I just wanna differentiate this from the other training that was already already happened live and now is available through recordings. If you did attend that live, please let Karen Roberts know. There should be her contact information in an email. If not and you're confused, always just let me know. We'll work it out. So, yeah, if you attended that live or if you watched the recording, we need to have that information recorded because it is a requirement every four years that you receive this training.

That is not to be confused with parliamentary procedures, which is coming up on December 8. I heard from some of you, specifically let me pull up my list so I make sure. Charles, Sandra, Erica, and Lydia, anybody else that I didn't mention that wants to come? This is a training that talks about how do you pass motions? How do you have discussions?

How do you digest Robert's rules of orders, which is a manual, that is very dry, but sets out it's really the only manual that sets out how to have public meetings of this nature. And there's a lovely host who uses dinosaur stuffed animals to Is in person. It is in person. It's not recorded to my knowledge. It's more of a helpful to know information.

I'd be happy to join if you can still have.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you can't come, not a requirement. We don't need to record your attendance or anything. They would just like to know who is interested in coming. Alright. Bob, now I'll add you.

Just I'm assuming it's going to be here in Sydney.

Is in person. So dinner provided. Dinner starts at 05:30. The training starts at six, and at six to 08:30 is very long. But I promise you, it's actually kind of interesting.

Yeah. I was Good. Looking forward to it.

Which date?

It's December 8. It's a Monday, so it'd be the Monday after our meeting. Technically, 05:30 to 08:30, but there's a half hour for dinner before.

Yeah. Please send me the information. Thank you.

Do you want me to I can mark you down as you want to attend.

Yeah.

I'm here with it.

Cool. Thank you.

That's all I have. Cool. Project updates from staff.

Right. Continuing on our evening's theme of grants. Just an update on the twenty twenty five grants. Those reports those final reports, they've completed their projects for '25. They now have to submit the reports to get their payment.

Those are due November 30, and then the program closes out. If somebody's program goes beyond the thirtieth, they can submit a report now to get themselves paid because we have to get it in the payment window, and then they update the report after their grant completes or their project completes. In our planning projects, in the BellRed Arts District on October 25, the Art District Community Alliance an open house for their brand new studio space. The alliance is hosting 11 artists in the studio as a pilot program, and then it will be making those studios available at a very discounted rate to artists who want to work in the Arts District. So very exciting.

I saw several there. Very nice. Our economic development plan council received an update on the report in September. And then a few days later, they were here for the art commission. We will probably be a little delayed getting that economic development plan fully executed through council.

It's probably looking at going at q one in 2026, but still overall on track. That will be a six year economic development plan that does include creative economy initiatives as well. So things like our Arts District work live in our economic development plan because we are a cultural and economic development team. On public art, we have some great updates for you all tonight. Yonder Sky by Po Shu Wang on 130th And Spring Boulevard in the Arts District is fully installed and operational now.

We did have a couple hiccups on the technological elements and the sound components. But if you go out now to the Arts District and wave your hands in front of the center, the artwork will come to life and sing to you. It is very lovely. You can compose with your hands. Do go out. One of the joys there's not

many, but one of the joys of

the darker days is that all of our light art comes back out on full display and shines well. On your way out the door today, make sure you check out Longboat Read Rookery by Dan Corson outside City Hall. It lights up in a color changing show that you don't get to see during the light months, but is spectacular this time of year. Yonder Sky also has a light element that is hard to see in the summer, but as it gets darker, is much more apparent. So go check that out.

Rooted by Jill Anholt. This is our that large tree form. The piece is fabricated, and we do have it in our possession. But it is waiting for installation because we were moved forward in conjunction with our transportation department. They are making a trail between Spring Boulevard and Eastrail Eastrail Trail. And as that project moves forward, we'll move forward together to do the foundation work as they're doing the trail work there. So just holding for our partners, but we're not too concerned. We think they're going to be starting their construction in the spring. Crossroads, Pavagarpa Anamalaski is called River. Thank you.

And it is fully installed. Got in there last week in October. A lot of a lot of credit goes to the install team, both from the artist and Scott McDonald on our side. It remember that big windstorm pouring rain for four days? They were installing up on top of light poles, glass art during a rain and windstorm.

Not a damaged piece to be had. Go check that out on a nice sunny day, and then go check it out again on a cloudy day. It's dichronic glass, so the colors of the glass showcase changes depending on the light that is coming through it. It will also since it's on a light pole, there's a light above it. The glass will cast beautiful shadows down on the sidewalk in colorful rainbow fabulousness during the daylight hours and then a whole other rainbow during the evening hours. So really playing with light. There are three of those that are up. Mhmm.

And you

just follow the pathway starting at Bellevue Theatre up north towards the Pea Patch Garden, and you'll see all three. Mhmm.

Our Grand Connection artist, Matthew Mazzotta, has come through for several for a study session here in town. He met with a wide range of community stakeholders, really starting to learn, you know, what is Bellevue? What is the Grand Connection? What does artwork along here mean? And where are the opportunities for it?

His first deliverable is a public art plan. So it's not necessarily an artwork, but it is a plan for art along the connect or along the Grand Connection crossing. So the Grand Connection spans from Main Bauer Bay Park all the way over to Eastrail Trail. The section that this plan will focus on is the crossing from basically City Hall Plaza to East Rail Trail. So Matthew Mazzotta will look at locations not only for a piece of work that he may develop in the future, but where where opportunities for other artists along that whole crossing.

He will be coming to the art commission for a presentation later on in his work as well. So he will get further updates as that one goes. In temporary public art projects, you see these lovely pieces here. These panels, Remodi, are there 12 of them or nine of them? Nine. Nine of them are installed along a Hundred And 24th Avenue Northeast. It's kind of right on the edge between the Spring District and the Arts District, so right in the middle of Bell Red. Lovely pieces by our artist here, Bethany Freckle. Great opening in conjunction with the Bell Red Art District Community Alliance. We had some wonderful singing from a great performer and a poetry reading. And then we went down along this path, and community members could cut the ribbons as we went. So it was very nice. Several of you were there as well.

We have some artifacts over in the corner on the table there. You might recognize the little tadpoles from this artwork. It's a little grainy, but, yeah, you're welcome to take them. They're extra stickers from from, like, to scale. This is how big the things are.

Kind of fun.

And then last public art update, we did have quite a bit of maintenance plan for 2025. All of that has been completed. In total, we maintained 30 of our 57 permanent outdoor artworks, our big sculptures, and we will maintain the rest in 2027. There are a couple of exceptions for what in the collection, particularly the root out here in front of City Hall, our big upturned tree form. It's gonna take a little bit of extra looking on maintenance.

Our estimates that came back on that were were quite expensive, so we're gonna take some time and rethink our approach to maintenance on the route. But overall, our collection is getting a lot of maintenance and love, keeping it in good nick. It's one thing to create and buy new art, but it's another thing to make sure that we are preserving that public investment. So something I'm very proud that we do quite well here. And then last update is a community update.

As we referenced earlier in the commuting, many of you have probably heard in the news that the Kids Quest Children's Museum has put in an offer to purchase the Bellevue Art Museum. That has been accepted. They are now in a due diligence period. We expect that to move forward, and that Kids' Quest and the Bellevue Art Museum will close on that sale likely in 2026. That will take some time then.

So one of the questions that we get is, does that mean Kids' is going to move right in? No, Kids' Quest will still need to do exhibit design, engage the community. They will maintain their current location and operations at their current location as they start to do some work on the Stephen Hull Building that Bellevue Art Museum used to occupy. That building will need some upgrades to get it up to code and address some deferred maintenance. KidsQuest will need to take on some of that work.

We are in continuous communication with both the Bellevue Art Museum leadership and Kids Quest. And we have heard the art museum commit to the art fair moving forward. That is still their primary program. We're excited for art fair twenty twenty six to take place, and it is something that we will continue to monitor as it goes forward. And that is all for our updates for you guys today.

We have a question. So Kids Quest will kind of repair everything that's been not done for the last few years?

I don't want to get too out over my skis. My understanding is that they will come they will commence the upgrade and maintenance work that needs to happen to make sure the building is up to code and is ready for them to start building in their exhibits. They want to make sure that that building is in good nick before they invite their guests in.

I'll try to find the name of the last person who's in the maintenance. I was part of that last maintenance schedule when I was in the BAM in Famous Trustees. So they did a really amazing job in matching CAPEX and OPEX. There are 40 things that need to be taken care of. Let me see if I can pull them out, then you can share with them.

If it's part of BAM's records, I will say they've been incredibly transparent to the process too.

This is completely

A different seven. Love to have anything you're willing to

the side jobs that it did not share. Yes.

So I have a question about you talk about the data analysis and community report in the in the update the report that you sent.

The economic development plan. Yes.

So I I have a question about it, and I was really, I mean, happy to see that one of these strategic priorities is art, culture, and entertainment. I mean, one of the five, one is this. Great. We are there in the five. Mhmm. But and it goes, Charles, to your question the other day when we're talking about the grants and is the main question that they are posing there in the analysis is what is gonna be the main focus for Bellevue? What are we going to go? Like, they were saying that what do we want to be recognized for? Mhmm. Sports, outdoor music. They were talking more, like, in a way like that. What kind of entertainment? So I I wanted to ask you, what is your what do you think about it?

It's a solid question. And and I will note, this is an economic development plan. So some of the questions are in that that phrasing of economic development. What will what will bring those dollars? Our work as a commission here, your guys' work, also includes cultural planning. So the economic development plan is a great plan. We also have cultural planning to do as well. So there are many plans within the city, all of them work in conjunction with our comprehensive plan. That's our big plan. But we are also looking at starting that cultural planning process probably in 'twenty seven.

It's been a while since the Art Commission has done that work. Our last cultural plan was Cultural Compass in 2004. It is a fully retired plan at this point, but it is probably time to pick up cultural planning again. That is not an easy plan or an easy lift that'll take organization and work to get us going there. We want to make sure, since we are in the same division of cultural and economic planning, we want to make sure the economic development plan is finished out first before our staff help take up the work of the cultural plan as well.

So yeah, we approach arts in the economic development plan, I would say, a bit more from a creative economy standpoint. But I think that there is another part of that conversation, which you just might not be seeing fully in that plan, because it's an economic development plan.

Thank you.

Cool. All right. So any other comments before we end tonight's meeting? Cool. So it is currently 05:25PM, and I adjourn this meeting. Thank you, everyone, for your participation. Thank you.