Arts Commission - Regular Meeting

Alright. It is 04:30. Welcome, everyone. I call this meeting to order. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

I make a motion to approve?

It's been moved. Do we have a second?

I'll second. Great.

It's been We have

an amendment to the agenda actually for today. Our first item that was listed on the agenda, our Grand Connection Crossing art plan update. Our artist has become ill and will need to postpone. So we will reschedule that agenda item for January or February when they're Okay. Feeling

So all in favor of the amended agenda, please say aye. Aye. Motion carries. And then we have approval of a of minutes from the November 2025 meeting. Do I have a motion?

I have a comment on the minutes. So I there is something that I would like to be changed. Page number six in the package that you sent. So the last comment says that commissioner Shane referenced the economic development plan. Actually, it was me who made the comment. So it will be, like, the only change.

Okay. And with that amendment, do you do you move approval of the minutes? Yes. Looking for a motion. Okay. And do we have a second? Second from Erica. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. And I am going to not vote because I was not present. Alright. And oral communications. So do we have any sign ups? We have one. We have one sign up. Please come to the mic if you want to speak.

Maybe somebody too. I'll be happy.

No. You're the only sign up we have. Yes.

I know very unusual. I was changed because I cannot sit. Yeah. You broke my knee. That's that's my case. Yeah. It's okay. Yeah. I understand. Thank you very much. I'm so sorry. For me to sit down. It's a it's a huge conflict.

Yeah. Mister Zimmerman, your time starts now.

Yeah. Time is okay. Don't worry. I speak every day everywhere. So oh, it's my sign. Yeah. Good. Post a bit. Post a Oops. Stay. Nice boy. Okay. My name, Alex. When I come to you guy, no. I don't talk to you. You for me look not exactly like human. You different kinds of animal. I spoke to people of Bellevue. This is exactly what. You know, I once speak about something absolutely critical what this government did to me many time.

So may Robinson make a trust fight trespasses for me. You see this? This is everywhere. Five trespasses. This are fraud, lie, but it's not a point. Point, what is I come in talking about this? Five times, I give appeal. This appeal copy from US Supreme Court decision. I can read this to you. Legal guide to handle disruption people in public meeting. You cannot doing this. When you're talking like I talking to you, there's nothing criminal. It you cannot doing this trespass. In five times, mayor Robinson and consul refused doing this. They accept my trespasses.

Situation, very simple. I try and understand why mayor Robinson doing this. Why this trespasses, your information here is a pure fraud and lie? Because she looked to me like a cheap, dirty prostitute. You know what this mean? This is exactly what has happened. It's a serious problem what is we have. We have a government who don't have one honest people who work and include you. No one from you will be read this and don't understand this. Exactly you will understand this.

It's very simple. When I understand, you can understand too. But I never see one person in Bellevue from all government, in Coco, all commissioner who told, yeah, this this is a good idea. Your supreme court always right. And they give me trust my election against mayor Robinson. Is this statement what has happened couple months ago? They take total out all 200 page 200 word. And I have before 15 election. So this first election in my life for forty year. What is they did this dirty trick?

Yeah. He's a pure Nazi pig. Guys, I want to explain to people who listen to me. There's only one way we need stopping this Nazi. You stop a fascist pig. We were Trump. We were new American revolution. Stand up, slave, and happy cow. We need stopping this. This government, what is we have is up soon. Thank you very

much. Minutes are up. Yeah. You very much.

Thank you very much. I very appreciate it.

Alright. We are going to move on to action discussion and information items, and we are going to start with an update on the Bell Red Arts District Community Alliance.

Thank you very much. Yep.

Hi, Maria. This is a former chair of the arts commission.

Hello. Hello. My name is Sandy Vo, and I'm the executive director for the Bell Red Arts District Community Alliance.

And I'm Maria Lau Hui. I'm the chair of the Bell Red Arts District Community Alliance.

We're here today to talk a little bit about our nonprofit organization, a bit of an update about what's happened happening, what we plan for in 2026, as well as our long term vision for the future. Thank you again for making time to hear our presentation, and we'll just go ahead and start. So this is just a little bit about ourself. As I mentioned, we are a nonprofit organization, and we're very fortunate and lucky enough to be leading the strategic and sustainable growth of the Belgrade Arts District here in Bellevue. We like to call ourselves connectors and amplifiers.

Our goal is to really build the community by uniting artists, creative businesses, organizations, and community partners to elevate the district's visibility, fuel local economic vitality, and shape a lasting cultural destination on the East Side. And this is a little bit about our mission and vision. We're really here cultivate a sustainable and vibrant creative district that celebrates a diverse community and meaningfully connects everyone through arts, culture, and innovation. And our vision is really championing a BellRed as a dynamic evolving cultural hub where creativity and innovation drive social and economic vitality. We really want the Arts District to be a gathering place for people where they can find accessible arts and cultural experiences here in Bellevue and on the East Side.

And we put this slide here because we really wanted to hone in on why we exist in the first place other than the fact that the city of Bellevue has been part of the plan for almost three decades. We know that arts matter here in Bellevue. They fuel local economy, as you can see from the data source from arts and economic prosperity six impact study. 54,300,000 were spent in 2022, and people were spending $49, more than $10 above the national average here in Bellevue. Around 850,000 people were attending arts and cultural events programming here, and 20% of those were visitors from outside of King County.

This really goes to show that arts and culture is a vital part of our ecosystem, and it sustains us. So this is a little bit about the journey so far, and it talks a little bit more about our successes. This is just we're a nonprofit formation in November 2023. We're officially recognized as a nonprofit organization in the state of Washington, and this is our logo that we came up with in the beginning. We really wanted to add that spark of pink and red into the mix that shows that we are an arts organization here in Bellevue.

And then we had the really awesome opportunity to produce the two line opening celebration at the BellRed Light Rail Station in partnership with Sound Transit in the city of Bellevue. We hosted live performances. We brought out local community organizations and businesses in the area so they can showcase what they're doing within the community. And Sound Transit estimated about 17,000 people came into the Arts District. District.

Event was really meaningful for us because we were just starting out. We wanted to introduce people to the community, and what a great way to do so. You know, we heard a lot of people say, we've never seen this before. We didn't even know the Arts District was a thing, and that was really meaningful to us because we were able to introduce them to this area. Our next big thing was we were really proud of was installing the first ever large scale artwork that was installed by us, designed by artist Brady Black in partnership with us.

We are calling this Joyful Connections. It features the faces of local children come to life through the hands of over a 100 community members, business owner, and local artists. The installation really started out at the two line sound transit opening, and then it rains. And then we had to throw another painting party to get people to come and finish the artwork. It turned out really well.

We hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony with the artist. And we called it joyful connection because this a 100 and foot a 150 foot mural is a simple reminder that imagination stories string us together. You know, the message might change as it's passed along, but the connection that we share will always remain the same. And then we hired me, the first full time executive director in June. We knew that a first time full time staff was really important for us to scale properly as what we were seeing the district was developing.

Things were coming in. We needed someone to spearhead the fundraising portion, the community engagement portion, the activation portion. And so I'm really honored to be in this role. And then I was hired in June, and then we produced our first annual Ballarat Arts Night Market in August. This was really special because it's our first tradition that we are able to start in the Arts District.

We brought together 10 live culture performances, 40 vendor booths made up of creative businesses organization, Arts Activation, and Food Truck for a really great evening in the Arts District. The we saw about 500 attendees on the hottest day of the year. I believe we passed out so many water bottles. People really started showing up around 7PM as it got a little bit cooler, and we hope that to continue this next year on a really not as hot date. And then these are some of the photos.

We had Emerald Ballet Theater perform. People were dancing. Artists were selling their work. It was just a great platform for a lot of artists who some of them were new, and they never showcased their work before, and some of them were returning and found us as a venue for themselves. And then, of course, the big thing is transit oriented projects coming soon.

So the city of Bellevue selected bridge housing and sue developments to build multifamily housing complexes with affordable housing and amenities for artists on two separate city owned properties right in the Bell Red Arts District. This was a marker for us, I would say. It's it showcases that the neighborhood is developing really quickly, and our organization needed to develop with it. So we were very lucky and fortunate enough to work with these two developers on the RFP and RFQ application process, and we'll be continuing the partnership by planning and programming and managing the ground floor retail spaces to create an arts and cultural hub and center here in Bellevue. And then, of course, the grand opening of the BellRed Art Studio.

So with the transit oriented project coming, we wanted to begin building the creative density needed in order to make sure that project was a success. And we were very lucky enough to be able to open a new arts and cultural facility in the Arts District. It's conveniently located next to the BellRed Light Rail Station. It features six affordable artist studios in a central gathering area where we will be activating art classes, workshop programming, and cultural events all year round. Artists are currently working there right now.

We're maxed out. We have about eight artists in there who have twenty four seven access to the space, inspiration of natural lighting, street facing windows. And I really think that activating that building really invites the community to say, you know, what's going on in there? I wanna be a part of it. And this is really the start of let's show our experience of being able to manage a small space like this, six hun 1,600 square feet, in order to manage something at a greater scale for the projects that are coming in.

And these are some photos of today. Our first event that we hosted is, in partnership with North Bellevue Community Center. They do a wisdom walks for older adults, and we brought them in. We gave them canvases, paints, and they just sat there for an hour, hung out. I got to know a lot of them.

This is exactly the type of programming that we would like to do, exposing people to more arts and cultural experiences that are accessible. And these are some of the current resident artists in our studio that are renting out their spaces. As you can see, half of them live in Bellevue, and almost all of them live on the East Side, which is great. We know that we are serving our community directly, and we hope to serve even more. This is our artist application when we sent out our beta testing process.

And as you can see, this really goes to show exactly what top challenges our our artists are facing. Our top is space studio access. And so we're very fortunate enough to offer that at the moment to fill that gap and hopefully are able to support them with the rest of the challenges. A lot of our artists were working from home, and they are from communities that typically don't have access to this. So we want to make sure that they are involved when we're talking about diversity and equity and inclusion.

And then 2026, planning. So it's December. And so we really are thinking about what and how can we expand next year. So our primary goal is that we want more accessible arts and culture experiences in 2026. One of the things that we're bringing back is the BellRed Arts Night Market on a broader scale.

Something new that we are starting is Art in Session, BellRed's creative series. We wanna present a series of free or low cost arts and cultural programming, events, workshop, exhibit, and classes for the public all year long. These examples will be held in the art studio. For example, First Friday art walk, cultural exhibit, art classes, artist talk, open studio tours. We want people to access them all year long to make sure that as more as many people can participate in what we're doing.

Our next thing is a soccer party at Bell Red Arts District. So as you guys have probably heard, FIFA is coming in 2026, and we are very fortunate enough to work with the city of Bellevue to put on something for the community during one of the game days next year that will activate the light rail station. Multiple activities include highlighting the creative businesses and local artists, combining elements of soccer with arts, and creating that cultural programming that highlights Bellevue's diversity. We're thinking of these are the people who are traveling by light rail to get to the game, or maybe they're just someone who doesn't wanna be in the crowd and they wanna be part of the experience there, we're here to offer that as well. As we're planning to scale, we are thinking of fundraising events and programs for next year.

One of them is a Run Walk for the Arts in partnership with Spring District in East Trail. Run Walk for the Arts will be a fundraising program that features a five k route, live music along East Trail, and a concert at the Inn, plus swag giveaways and more. We're still planning it out. But it's really a great way to raise money for us as well as bring people into the public spaces and partner with our community partners who have supported us from the very beginning. And lastly, experience the art auction.

This is a bit more formal. It's night of drinks, conversation, and arts. In 2026, you know, going along with our goal of more accessible arts and cultural experiences, we've noticed a lot of people don't know how many arts and culture experience are in the greater Seattle area. And I think this is a really great way to be able to auction off those experiences and introduce people to a new arts organization they don't know about or an arts business that they've never heard of. So that really is centering not only us, but our partners, our arts partners around us as well.

And this is planning for the future. So a couple slides ago, we talked about our long term development that's coming up in the future. And we really came at this with a community lens. We didn't want to just build something that people weren't gonna use or leave empty, and so we started an ongoing creative space needs survey in 2025 that continues to be spread across different communities to ensure all voices are heard. And then Maria is gonna go ahead and talk about what we're hearing from the community.

Yeah. So as Sandy said, you know, we are doing surveys throughout our our development timeline to understand what the communities are seeking, what they want to see, might be implemented, not just at this moment in time, but also into the future. And so we have developed a series of questions. And one of our survey that went out was in spring two thousand twenty five. And the questions asked about, you know, what kind of spaces do you want to see?

You know, what kind of medium? What kind of what kind of, you know, amenities is desired in these spaces? So you could see it's pretty typical. The work focuses are mostly visual that we have collected, visual arts, oil, acrylic, ceramic sculpture, so on. But there is also calls for performance arts too.

They wanted to be able to, you know, have you know, experience perform in terms of theaters, dances, and things like that too. And so there is a very strong demand for various types of spaces that use that we have heard from the community. And then we also wanted to understand, you know, how frequent will these these artists wants to use the space. And so as, you know, as our art space alluded to, they want daily access, you know, ability to come in twenty four seven anytime they want, so that they could, do their work. We also asked about budget and size.

So that is a wide range. You know? Some goes down from, like, 200 square foot all the way up to 3,000 square foot. But on average, it's about 1,000 square foot that we are hearing from our community. Affordability is a primary consideration.

A lot of artists, you know, they don't make that much money. And so so they want something that's affordable within the price range, not at market rate at all. Infrastructure, that is the amenity that we they wanted to see, you know, what what if the dream space is available, what will it include? Natural lighting is very important, you know, especially for the visual artists who are doing painting and whatnot. They want it to have high ceilings.

They want to be have ability to project. Sound system is also crucial, you know, especially especially for for musical and theater performances. Having kitchen, you know, common amenities is is something that they want. And finally, you know, what are these spaces being used for? Again, we hear all sorts of different answers, you know, including fun, you know, have been having the ability to have classes there, being able to have speakers panels, you know, being able to do art exhibitions, being able to perform.

Right? So these are all the things that we are hearing through the surveys. And this series of surveys, we intended to continue doing it every year because we wanted to hear what the feedbacks are, you know, as we develop the programs for our future spaces.

This is just a timeline that we've put together. You've heard a lot. We're we're planning to do a lot, and we need to be able to prepare for that. So we're starting with continuously. We're always building our board to fit the skills and experience that we need to tackle on that program, to tackle on how do you even acquire this space, how are you how do you work with developers, lawyers, accountants?

All of those skills are necessary to be a really sustainable board and sustainable organization. In 2026, we are planning to do a prefeasibility study. The space, the multi hub campus is not cheap. So we will plan to do a prefeasibility study before our fundraising campaign to ensure we know where we stand with the community and to know where we can get money from and what is achievable and what isn't. That helps us frame our strategic plan really well. Eventually, in 2027, we have already started our creative district certification, but we're hoping to get that certified by 2027 to ensure that we get

So that we actually are recognized as a Yeah.

As a district. Well, we get the marketing. It's the marketing platform that they provide that offers us to bring more visibility to the area. In 2027 and 2028, we plan to be become a business improvement area that is establishment for sustainable fundraising for us and sustainable funding for us in general. As an organization, we need to be sustainable in order to sustain the community that we serve.

And, of course, the future, that is exactly what we're planning. We're planning the bridge housing and student development, arts and cultural hub, and being able to prepare ourselves to what we want to build. Are we thinking are the studios, performance spaces, galleries, restaurants? We want a cohesive center that complements the district itself and provides space for everyone that's already currently there or coming in. Yeah.

No. That's very good. No. I mean, again, just to we emphasize more on the, you know, the idea behind the district having this multi hub system is really to amplify the presence of the art and culture that exists in Bellevue overall. Right? It's not a one off, but we are a community that that exists here. And it's more than just one place. It's everywhere in this area. So I think that's that's our hope and dreams, you know, moving forward.

And we're not doing this alone. We're working with our community to ensure that what we build in the future is exactly what they need. We've seen empty ground floor retails. We've seen empty artist housing, and we don't wanna go in that direction. We wanna make sure that the neighborhood and the area is constantly activated and gives people a reason to gather. First one. I just really wanna say thank you. Sorry for my brain. I was trying to remember the word marketing there. I really appreciate you guys listening to us and hearing more about our organization, and our contact information is on the site if you have any other future questions.

I I have a few questions. I don't know about the rest of the board. One of my questions is how how was the survey issued? Because I'm an artist in Bellevue, and I never got one. So how how how is your list created, and how did you issue?

We have a we have a distribution list, a email list. So anyone who comes to our website could subscribe to a newsletter, and that's how we typically, yeah, distribute our information and surveys.

We've also utilized our social media and passed it along to our local creative businesses in the area as well as we also have a list of outside of Bell Reds.

Well, I would recommend, for instance, you make sure the current Bellevue Arts Commission is on your list. True. You know? But we connect to other people in the community. So each one of us links to a different part of the community, and we're pretty easy to Maria, you know how to find us. So that would that would be one of my recommendations. Couple other questions. The Bellevue Arts Studio, is that an existing older building?

It is. That is an existing

older building. And how are the how are studios advertised rented? How does that work?

Yeah. So we started off with a beta testing process where it was to understand what artists needed. We put out an artist call to gather artists into the space for free rent for about three weeks. They can work in the space, and they give us feedback in exchange for that. So we issued that out in the same manner that we do email lists, our Instagram, our social media, as well as other listings on 4Culture.

And Artist Trust, I believe, has an artist call listing. And we got about 13 out of 26 artists. And about seven of those artists stayed because we only had room for that much. We actually over anticipated our common area is also a shared artist space. But as we found out, only about two or three can actually fit into that space at once. And that process was a voting process. So we distributed the list without names, but just the information, their answers from the application process, their artwork, and we graded it from there. As a board? Or As a board. Yeah.

Okay. And then over time, because studios change, I mean, are are people there for a limited term? Is it unlimited? How does that work? How do you get new lifeblood in? How do you make it an opportunity for the community on an ongoing basis? So it's not just those original seven people.

Right. Yeah. Absolutely. So right now, the artists are a six month lease at the moment. Our common space artists a they can choose between three to twelve months. But we do have one rotating artist studio. So one of them is currently occupied for three months, And then we're actually working with Republic Services to do an artist residency that will be exchanged out with another artist. So we'll do another artist call for that particular studio.

That's great. That's great. Good to hear that. And I think that's all of my I was I was also going to ask you how Arts Night was advertised, but probably similarly. Right?

With also, additionally printed materials, we handed out flyers to businesses in Seattle as well as across the East Side. And we also did a radio ad as well as a TV ad. Yes.

I have a question about zoning. And I think it's interesting. I think at the final sentences of your presentation, you mentioned potential restaurants in the retail spaces. I think that's important. I think when we think about arts and culture, one of the motivating factors is food, and I feel like that's the main driver of people making an effort to going out, spending time with friends, walking around.

And I at least I know just from my experience just walking around, at least by the Pacific Northwest Ballet, there's not a lot of food options, which is terrible because you you wanna spend time there, but you're hungry, and then you have to leave. And then what's the chances you'll come back? You know? So if that's something that's already in the zoning for the Arts District to have, like, food establishments, I think that would be a really big game changer. And I'm just thinking of, like, Central District Seattle and how they've really revamped, like, 23rd and how it's just, like, you know, you go there to eat at communion or something, or you go and eat at all these other cultural, like, spaces.

But then they also have, like, galleries and shops. And I yeah. I think just for people, the incentive to go out, enjoy a meal, and also enjoy a particular type of cuisine and culture while also walking around, taking in, like, the ambiance of the district is at least for me and the folks I know, that's the main reason why we get out of the house is we need to eat, and we want to eat with people.

Yeah. Yeah. The Community Alliance is really taking this as a cohesive approach. We don't want just galleries lined up. We want to make sure, like you mentioned, different experiences at different moments of time. When we really thought about the idea of a bar or restaurants in those spaces, We really took the idea from Edmunds Graphite, where they have a restaurant connected to their gallery. And it's really interesting to see people plan their nights out. They're going to eat at a restaurant, but they're also really excited to see what the gallery is all about the next door. So we want to make sure that when we're talking to the community, we're not only talking to arts and culture organizations and businesses. We're talking to the car dealerships.

We're talking to the restaurants. We're talking to the retail. We really want to make sure that everyone's on board to ensure collective success. Yes. So

I was actually very, happy to see in your, presentation that you're considering an annual first Friday artwork. Yeah. So I wanted to learn more about that from you. What sort of an artwork are you considering? Like, what the space would be, and how would you deal with the wintertime or the rainy time that we have? How will you ensure that we consistently pull in people and make this like a regular because I think it's actually a very exciting prospect. Like, what I see in Isequa, what they do, during certain months. But you mentioned annual, so I'm curious.

Yeah. We take an approach for our programming to make sure that it flexes depending on the season. So when we mentioned the first Friday art walk, we're really thinking starting off with our little plaza. And I'm not sure if you've been to the area, but our little strip building has about five or five different community arts and culture organization. There's a drum shop. There's a pottery place that's coming online next year. There's c harmony, so a music school there, and there's us. And we wanna be able to start there. Can people just start at our studio and walk down and see the rest of the arts? We wanna collaborate with those organizations to hang up art in their spaces as well.

But during the summer months, we want to expand that. Can we get different organization, arts and culture organization, that aren't entirely walkable, but they're nearby? And that's where we have plans to bring in Visit Bellevue and their bellhop. Mhmm. Can we partner with them, have them expand the boundaries for a day, or loan us a couple of cars for that day to ensure that there's no barriers when participating in this event? Mhmm. So they scale in and out. During the winters, we might scale it down a little bit more to avoid the cold weather. But during the summer, I feel like we're able to scale it out into the neighborhood. And I think that's why we don't really have a solid boundary.

There's 900 acres in the Arts District, and we're starting off around the light rail station. But, eventually, we wanna continue expanding out and out. I think it's

a great idea, especially if you can involve more businesses, as well or maybe even have, like, pop up shops. You know? So we're we're economically and artistically fueling Bellevue. I think I think that's a great way to go. Yeah. Thumbs up for that.

Just wanna say thank you, Sandy, for doing the Belver's Arts Fest. Something good came out of that is, I sent you an email a few months ago, like, how does Sound Transit let us do it? Oh, yes. Came out of that is Sound Transit said you can use every parking lot that they have all across the region for doing things like this. So on December 13, you might see 20 cars flashing lights and playing music Christmas time. So that'll be a first public event. They've allowed us to do it. So these are a bunch of Tesla nerds. They wanna get together, put a USB stick in their cars, and all the cars sing exactly same song. Doors go up and down, and kids start laughing with it. So that's gonna happen on thirteen, and you can definitely go there. You'll see lady Theresa with a big brown truck Okay. Passing on candies.

I would definitely be part

of your Belvoir Arts District too.

Well, that's great.

And some president did an amazing partner saying every parking lot all across the region for free if you're a nonprofit.

Mhmm.

So you might see some teenage bands coming, holding umbrellas, playing saxophone. So things will happen out there.

Awesome. I will Yeah.

We should send us some send us that. Yeah. A link to

your I will send you the one for thirteenth.

Okay. I'll

browsing that

mote it on our website. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

A bunch of nerds will show up. They will not talk, but the cars will be doing singing and dancing.

So,

this is more like a comment for your consideration and is that few weeks ago, we were working on the project plans. And you know that there was an add on bonus if they're going to develop the activity in the Belgrade Art District. But to our surprise, half of the people who wanted to have the bonus didn't even mention a location in the district. Mhmm. So we were a little bit surprised because it's clear in the web page everywhere, but there is some kind of disconnection somewhere.

So it's just a comment. I don't expect, like, an answer or a solution here, But just to to have it in consideration because some of the artists aren't really aware of how does it work. So for next year, maybe your participation will help in a way for them to know that if they really want it, they have to do it there. Not just to see, oh, great bonus, but, yeah, you have to do it there.

So that's actually part of our bigger marketing plan that we have coming up is that that's part of the awareness piece. People need to know that we exist and where we're located and what types of venues are up for rentals. And our website is a really big communication piece to that. So Mhmm. As we're taking a look at, you know, those confusing moments like that, we're saying, how can that be present on our website to ensure that there's no confusion? So maybe it's a list of venues that people can actually rent and participate. Maybe it's a list of businesses that are involved in the area. And so, you know, that's a great piece to think about. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you for all you've done for the community. I mean, you established in 2023 only two years, so you've done a lot. That's a lot of job done. Great work. I believe I'm in your mailing list, and my daughter and I also volunteer at your events at Art Fair and the Botanical Garden. Yeah. So my question would be it's kind of amazing. Right? Just a short such a short time. You have done a

lot of good

job. Oh, what's the your fund funding the majority of the funding source and how you make it sustainable? That's one question. And the other question is how do you decide your rent of your space? And how can you make it affordable for the artists?

And my third question is just when you talk about the spaces, I'm I'm thinking about the Reldman Reldman Senior Community Center. This this that was a really new building, and a lot of people like that. Oh. If you haven't been there, I encourage you to take a look, yeah, how they the layout, the high ceiling, and how to make it multifunctional for the community. Thank you.

Well You you wanna take on the one of the questions? The

funding sources. Right. I mean, I think well, thank you very much, you know, for your compliments. We started We started as a working board. So there's four co founders, all of us, and she went out of time.

Sandy, myself, and two other members grind through it the first year also. And we were very fortunate, you know, as as Sandy alluded and talked about, city of Bellevue has been a great supporter. And so we were able to establish MOUs with the city for the first year, and then we still actually have MOUs going on for the for two this year and next year as well. And so in the beginning, we were very frugal with our resources. And so a lot of times were contributed by the board members and volunteers as well.

And so moving forward, you know, that's when this year, we took a leap of faith, right, hiring a full time ED securing a space. So we are in the process of evaluating our funding strategies moving forward. We do have to have be more mindful about earning incomes from different sources besides just the city. And so we are out talking to different sponsors for events. We are, yeah, we are fundraising.

And so there's a lot of different moving pieces going on. And we do, we offer three of my for about sustainability, you know, how we are gonna move forward in the next two, three, four, five years down the line. In addition, you know, with what we are planning on doing in the district of the cultural Hub. And so there's a lot of, yeah, different moving parts right now going on. Yeah.

And I think that's where our prefeasibility study is coming in is we really need to take a look at the way that we are spending money and gaining money, because we really do want this to be sustainable. And we're putting in processes that will help us in the near future. And that's where, you know, the the creative district application comes in. That's where the business improvement area process comes in. We're looking at different mechanisms that provide sustainable funding for the future.

I think another one of your question was how we determine the cost of the rooms in the start studio. So we did a we did some market studies with other, artist studios in the area, and we wanted to make sure that we were a little bit below that. So our rates are about $3.02 $50 to $3 a square foot. And usually, it runs about $5 to $6 a square foot. So we're right below that market rate that they're producing for that size of studio.

So for the that rate is still affordable for the artist?

Yes. That was one of the that was one of the when we did the beta testing, we were like, here's the price sheets. What does this seem like to you? And most of them were really shocked about the cost of the rooms in the area, which really made us have a better understanding about how much artists make for a living. And we'll continue to survey artists and to understand exactly what is affordable and what is it as the economy changes in the future. What was your other question?

The spaces design of the spaces. Yeah. I just recommend the senior center. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you

so much. Thank you.

We are very hopeful about one of our projects, especially the zoo development space. We have a we have a great partnership with them, and so we are hoping that in the future, we'll be able to maintain affordable rent for the artists that are coming into the space so that it's accessible to all. And that's our primary goal, and they understand that. That is our desire. And so we are constantly, you know, working towards moving the organization towards that direction to, yeah, to make sure arts and culture is accessible for all for everyone, not just in Bell Worldwide, but the greater Eastside community overall.

Any other questions, comments? Thank you so much. So much. Really exciting presentation.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. It's really great seeing you all.

Yeah. Alrighty. Next item on the list is arts and value discussion, and I'm not sure who's going to start that. I know I have some thoughts on that as to because we were involved in something earlier.

I could just lead you in if you want a bit. Yeah. We have been really excited this year to have all of our community partners come present, hear more directly from our arts organizations. And you all are active members of the community. You are out there.

You said earlier, Chair, you have unique circles that you're working with, very diverse groups that you partner with throughout the year. And we want to make sure that there was time here in this last session of the year for you all to have open discussion. We hear a lot from our community and some time for you all to discuss amongst yourself. This isn't intended to direct staff, but it could help inform as we move forward in our work, particularly as we look forward towards cultural planning in upcoming years. So that was our intent. It was to not over schedule and to give you all some time to discuss issues of the day.

Well, shall I start off? Okay. I have a question back to both Mineta and Lori, which is, do we have an inventory of the public art that Bellevue owns, both interior and exterior?

We do have an inventory. I will note that it exists in an Excel spreadsheet that is a little ugly. And something that is on the staff's future work plan is to get that into a more publicly accessible place, ideally on our website where folks could flick through the artworks, get information, see a photo. In addition to that, we recently had some interns at on our staff for the last couple of years who went out and surveyed every piece of art, whether it is ours or not. They geo located it, they took some photos, they got whatever information they could.

And we are working with our folks in IT to get that into an interactive mapping software. So it's a pretty ugly place right now, but good things are coming. We are moving at the speed of city on that. I will be very clear that it's not a tomorrow thing, but it is on the way.

Well, I'm gonna just maybe fill the rest of the board. And what drives my question is I had a really interesting interaction with a group that used to be the docents for the Bellevue Arts Museum. And it's a really interesting group who are, I think, 75 active members. And they have held together they have sort of renamed themselves, I think, dodo do docents for arts without walls because they have lost the the museum at the moment, but want to stay active in our community. And one of the requests they made was, could they take the public on tours of the city of City Of Bellevue Arts collections?

You know, the first being city hall. And I thought that's a wonderful idea because we have rotating collections, and this is a group of people that are used to learning about exhibits and then knowing how to you know? And this is purely volunteer on their part. So I think that would be something really excellent to support because I'm really heartbroken about the museum closing, the loss of all that knowledge and energy, and this this group is desperately trying to stay together. And one of their questions was, again, about an inventory because they'd like information.

You know? Again, if they're going to take a school you know, for instance, there's a lot of interest, as I understand, from Bellevue High School for them to bring groups through. Again, marvelous thing to do. How do we facilitate that happening? How do we support that?

Microphone.

I told them they don't have to limit themselves Bellevue because they they do come from Washoe Island, Woodenville. So they can go and do a regional one. So they don't have to depend on us alone. And as long as they have a kind of geotagged inventory, they can go around. That's all they are asking for. And and there are some new galleries coming up in Woodinville. They are super excited because no one knows about them. Mhmm. So these docents can take people around, or they can do regional, subregional, citywide tours. They're free to do whatever they want. So that's where they're heading towards.

It also might be a great resource to tie back to the BellRed, you know Yeah. As as things evolve. I mean, it's a free, highly educated group of volunteers.

Yeah. One lady was the previous CFO of Nintendo. I was like, wow.

And one question that came up in the meeting Droideep and I had that I wanted to, again, take back to staff is they said that, like, parks department have organ organized an organized volunteer group that supports volunteer work in the parks. Could the Bellevue Arts Commission have something like that for volunteers? And, you know, this group, again, could be tied to that. Again, I just don't wanna lose that energy, that that volunteerism Mhmm. Who are really excited around art and feeling a loss in our community. I

love the art docents. I think that you are right on the money and that this is an incredibly educated group of folks who have deep, deep, deep passion. And I'd love to find a way to work with them moving into the new year. We have provided some lists around the the art pieces that are both on display right now in City Hall and the ones available throughout the community. And I would continue to work with them as we get our other resources more organized and publicly available, including a large project that we are taking on for the arts collection in the next two years, which will be finally getting some more consistent signage I think that's a really big first step with QR codes to link to the list of the collection. So some of that is work in progress.

Mhmm.

I love the idea of them giving tours. I'm not sure about my capacity to organize a volunteer effort right now, but there may be resources in other parts of the city that we could look into.

Yeah. And I also suggested them to talk to was that visiting Bellevue, the the tourism department? Because they will need volunteers for FIFA. Mhmm. More than what we need they will need more Mhmm. Help than what we need from them.

It's a great idea. Yep.

I guess on the note of losing the Bellevue Arts Museum, is there any intention from the city or tourism planning to bring in arts museum or some iteration of Bellevue Arts Museum back to Bellevue. I feel like that's a crucial part of having an arts identity for any place. So would like to hear, as far as you folks know and can share, if we have any traction towards reestablishing that institution? Sure. I can share what

I know. And I think we may have given this update. I can't remember if you were at our last meeting or not. So the Bellevue Art Museum is still in the receivership process. They have a bid for their building, an offer to purchase from the Kids Couch Children's Museum. When they shut down receivership, it is very likely that they are still a functioning organization. They are exploring what that looks like in their next iteration. So it is not necessarily that the museum is going away, it's that they are not in that location anymore. And so I think that some of the things we need to start our shift is that that building is not the art museum. That is a building.

But the art museum organisation will continue, and they're looking at what that physical space might look like in the future. They were committed to continuing the art fair. So I think we might be just a little early to see where that organization makes some choices. That makes sense.

I don't know if this is relevant for us, but I think a lot of feedback is like, you know, a lot of community members invested as members to support the museum and having the museum cease operations and then be open for private parties or corporate events, I think that's a slap in the face of the community. So I'm hoping that any updates that come with their business model really bring back, you know, that trust and that, you know, sense of hope for the people that actually were, like, you know, members, patrons, you know, donated regularly because it's it's like, why would you want to support that again if you think, you know, it can be taken away at any minute? And then so I think that's just kind of my my own and Mhmm. As far as the community that I know, having read all that emails about the updates about, like, entering the receivership, Bellevue's fundraising efforts, it's yeah. It's I think it's a it's a tread a long path forward, I guess, to establish that trust.

But, I mean, it is something that we need. So I'm hoping, I guess, the best outcome for our city and also just for the arts community and having, like, a physical space to just commune and, like, appreciate arts from in our community and also from outside.

And that's good feedback to share.

Also related with that, part of the community that I've been talking to, they think that this is a good moment to think other ideas about what will be a museum for Mhmm. So to think through different aspect of what we can think that we can use the space. Mhmm. For example, if we have all this this is an example. Of course, this is open discussion, brainstorming. They were saying, what about all the technology companies that we have here? We have Nintendo. We have Salesforce. We have Microsoft. We have Amazon.

We have Meta. What about a museum related with technology, for example? Something that will be, like, relevant to the industry and all the people that we have and also can help us with the founding because these companies maybe will be interested on even, like, having things to to support and to also to help. So for me, it's like a fresh start, I think. Like, also, I mean, to think through all, of course, hard.

Mhmm. But also something that is related to the city, something that we can say, like, Bellevue is a technology city now. So, I mean, this is great that we have this kind of discussions because we can start, like, thinking what we want. Because what I remember about my Bellevue essentially is that it take us ten years from beginning to the end. So we have enough time to think through things and and to really gather information and to, for example, do a benchmark with other cities around. What do they are doing? Right. So we can really support one to each other. So you focus on this. I focus on this one. So we can really support and create, like, an area of art and culture, like, in the East Side.

Yeah. Sandra and I have about that when we were looking at the 76 applications for for grants most recently, and they were from all walks of of life, really, and types of art. Mhmm. And the the diversity of it was, you know, amazing. And I've had the the privilege of going to several, I think, similar cities to Bellevue recently, Aspen, Colorado, which is world renowned as a place of music.

Right? And they very intentionally set that up seventy years ago or so and said, we're going all in to make ourselves a world renowned renowned music center for the summer, to bring in people throughout the year. I've been to Pasadena, California, and they've had the good fortune of having the Huntington Library based in their city. But they have become known for being renowned as a place of scholarship and library studies and so forth. And I've been thinking, does Bellevue has Bellevue, or does Bellevue plan to think through exactly what type of arts city it wants to be known for?

Does it want to be a center for something in which all of our effort, funding, focus goes towards that, to create that? And it could be that that the diversity of the city is our thing. Right? And then the diversity of our art is a mirror of the diversity of the of the of the population. That could be it.

But I'd be interested in us over, you know, a period of time creating a mission statement, a a a piece of of thought on what we wanna be fifty years from today, right, if we put all of our effort in that. It'd be very interesting to explore and see if there is something that that you know, I was just in Palm Springs recently, and they have a beautiful art museum. I mean, just a fundamentally, you know, a a a stand alone one for the size of city that they are. But they made a pretty big investment in it and a big effort to say this is what we want in the city, and it's become very popular. And I don't know that the Bellevue Arts Museum had that behind them.

You know? I think they always had a headwind against them that I think perhaps if if more people understood the importance of it, there would have been more, I think, a groundswell of of support for it over the last ten years, twenty years.

I can add to your part in two ways. One, I was inside the door in the boardroom for three years, and, unfortunately, most of them were not from the city. So they had an idea ideology about art that they looked at, which was from somebody with too much loose disposable cash, and they did not connect with the city. And that was gonna be with them for three years. Like, you guys don't know what the city is. No one so you're just part of, like, a colonial system. You're here because you can afford to pay the bills, but you don't have any idea what the city is. And that was the single most reason why they failed. My neighbors, they've been complaining. I haven't been back for twenty four years.

Nobody cares about me. I was a member for ten years before this thing happened, so that was the biggest gap. Now coming back to the industry, we have a huge gaming companies around here. Steam, Nintendo, Pokemon. I mean, all the biggest names are right here. And there is a group of people who meet in a bar, unfortunately, but they have been asked the same question that we are creatives. We don't have an outlet where we can put our creative art out. So there is a intention. I want a disconnection because they're, again, you know, they're nerds. They they don't think that we're human beings in this building.

I mean, people are scared of public sector, unfortunately, but but we're not. I mean, I don't think Laurie, Matt, and Jesse are scary people. So there's an intention to support, but they just don't know how. So we can tap into that. I

would also say that I've heard from a lot of long term members who said that, you know, the impetus for the art museum in Bellevue really came out of the Bellevue Arts Fair. And what what Bellevue was famous for was its craft art. That was the art fair. And it I think it was really successful when it focused on that because craft art has become I mean, with Chihuly and all the rest, it's gone from craft to fine art in our generation. And I think the mute and that was something that was very accessible to a lot of people because craft art is a big category, and it works with a lot of different cultures also.

And I really saw sort of an attitude at the top of the museum looking down on craft art and an attitude of the public sort of saying, there's nothing I can relate to here. And if I'm gonna go in, I might as well go to Seattle, you know, and see the best of, not sort of second rate of what I don't understand. So again, I would really think, you know, part of the discussion should be, you know, what was our history? What built it to begin with? And, you know, what's another thing that we were kind of well known for and that creates a lot of access both through a lot of different mediums and a lot of cultures. So

I think, yeah, a second, like, having that I mean, it's the arts museum. Right? It wasn't the art museum. So, like, the niche was it was craft, like, focused on craftsmanship, you know, traditional ways of making, things like that, which was an ultimate draw of why you would how you would differentiate from Sam and everything else. I think another thing is I mean, I we have a lot of companies here that make a lot of money, but I don't think it's sustainable to rely on that as a funding resource in perpetuity because, I mean

Things change.

Things change. Budgets get cut. I mean, a lot of organizations in the King County are relied so much on Paul Allen's Foundation Vulcan. And once he passed away, a lot of thought that funding got cut. So, mean, I I think there's also an opportunity not just thinking about, like, an institution, like, culture institution, but, like, what we do here is how do we instill, like, the belief in our citizens that investing in the arts of the city is important versus going to Amazon trying to get money.

I know Microsoft isn't giving money anymore, so I'm like, okay. Well, where do if you keep going to these companies and relying on them, like, it dries up. And how do we make it part of our, like, duties as being residents of Bellevue that, hey. We need to invest in this because this is gonna help our communities grow and help us thrive and and, you know, just be more future looking, forward looking, future proof people in general. So I think it's like a mindset shift as well that we kind of all have to be a philanthropist in that way, regardless of how much we can give either through time or money to fund what we are trying to do here.

Well, I also wanted to actually, there was something that was going on in my mind, and that's, exactly what Lydia said, was to go back to the history and see really where we came from and how we've evolved. So, like, a simple little thing when I go down to, you know, where the blueberry farm is, Lake Hills. Mhmm. So they have that old house there, and they have this whole information, the architecture, and how that never used to be man made. Like, you know, things like that.

So important pieces of history for Bellevue. If we have a place to showcase that, I think that's a great way to go. But I actually agree with what Sandra says, and this is not a a a funding thing. But I think currently, technology is a big, a big factor. I mean, Microsoft, Amazon, they are big players here, and they we do have them here.

So I think having a place where we showcase this can also help Bellevue. I think it's a good mix of old and new. We need to have that sort of showcased, in a good way. Yeah. And I think with this whole soccer situation coming up, if we can already have something like that where we can draw in people into Bellevue, that'd be great.

These are great discussions. Thank you all. I think we are talking about branding for Bellevue Art Culture. Mhmm. And we need to come with that and focus our effort and resource on developing that branding.

I have I have another I wouldn't call it issue. Like, some some idea that I think that is worth to talk about and is that I I have mentioned before that I've been going to all the place and and things that we have been invited. Every time I'm around here, I'll go. And I love it, and and the things that I've been saying are really great, well prepared, everything. But the only thing that I miss is that I think that all of these organizations are working as a silo for their own communities.

Mhmm. And I go and you find the families, the friends from that community, And everywhere is like that. So my my my question is, how can we create bridges in between them? How can for example, the branding, the way that I know you, you know me, I go to your presentation, I go to to the the theater, to the music, to everything. So this is, like, my my questioning because the the thing that I've seen are really great, and I would love for other people to say it. But I don't know if it's a matter of publicity. I don't know. I mean, I don't have the the the answer, but it's like what I question.

Yeah. I have a suggestion. So the Dolby Chamber of Commerce, they always have these, you know, local CEOs come out coming in in. Maybe we can talk to them and fill out these these big, you know, gaming companies including Nintendo, where the CEO is like, hey. If we do something like this, would you like to support us? At least open the dialogue. Because half of them will not say no. Right. They just don't know how to talk to us. But if we do backwards since, you know, ask them a question like, you don't have to commit today. Mhmm. But if you do that, would you like to be a part of that?

Yeah. Something I think the Bovie Chamber of Commerce did this year and I I might be wrong, but

I don't think so, but I

think it was their first year. They had a nonprofit, like, meet and greet event where they invited nonprofit organizations to come and mingle with their chamber members so they could start making those direct relationships and connections. I think that type of event is exactly what you're leaning towards there, where how do we get those groups who might have philanthropic interest and who might want to support the arts just to know who the organization Right. What are the opportunities? So I think that you're hitting the nail on the head of something that there might be some good traction happening in our community towards that already.

Just the gaming companies. Nobody else.

You just want the gaming companies. Just the pumpkins. I mean, I get it. The creative economy.

Because Nintendo made a record sale this year.

Yes. My my kid contributed heavily. Yes.

Because on Monday, a group called Future Arts is meeting on Monday Mhmm. Downtown Seattle.

Mhmm.

And one of the three pillars is arson technology. Yeah. They're doing a lot more on the augmented reality Mhmm. And not like the NFT wall art, but something that's through an Instagram or things like that.

Yeah.

Any any other thoughts?

No. Actually, I have

one other thought that I was just thinking in my head, but, and I don't know how feasible this is.

But, you know, like, when you

go to Tacoma and you see they have their entire glass, museum, but they also have this glass institute for learning. Right? I forget the official name for it. I actually feel and coming from my experience in India where I went to Fine Arts College, we had a museum right next door. So it kind of helps peep it brings people in not just to come and see existing art, but people who are curious to learn.

Mhmm. And we have so many great artists here. Maybe we should really be considering having, a fine arts college. I know it's a little far fetched, but I think if, you know, if it's something that can be really looked into, it would really drive home a lot of funding, finances, and artistic involvement for the community in many different ways. So that's just my 2¢.

Well, I wanna add to that because I think that's the future for art history. Because we have an art hub that artists be part of that, and they can have classes. I think we only have a small portion initial form of that. Because I talked to a lot of artists in the area. They they have been dreaming about that, and they would like to contribute as well. And I see a lot of artists, and they actually and they have own studio, very successful business. So that can be one of the major funding as well.

Yeah.

Yeah. You know, Bov Bovna? Bovna? If you go to the Back Bay section of Boston, there's the the brightest object is the Boston Symphony Orchestra Hall. Mhmm. But next door is the New England Conservatory with 500 students. Next door to that is the Berkeley School of Music with 5,000 students. Mhmm. The Boston Conservatory is there. I mean, there's the learning institutions that gather around

Mhmm.

The symphony is it keeps the flywheel going forever. Yeah. Right? Exactly. And and the students are working as ushers in the in the orchestra. They're they're the they're the next generation of people going into it. So combining art and education Mhmm. Directly

Yeah.

Has a fantastic idea. Yeah.

Yeah. Mentioned that in my I have a a junior in high school, and New England keeps coming up because liberal arts colleges is the focus, and that seems to be, like, the hub. So, yeah, creating a reputation around, you know, whatever we see Bellevue as and maybe the city conducting some surveys to understand what the public wants. Like, it we can all have a different opinion. One of us could say Nintendo tech or music performance. I could say painting. You know? But what is it that the public wants? And that's something that we could pursue. I think it would be a great, investment of city time. So yeah. Yeah.

Yes. Very excited for cultural planning. Yes.

Alright. And what's missing from the region? You know, say we're not competing with Yeah. Tacoma on glass.

You know? Be complementary. Like, Seattle has SAM. They have the Asian Art Museum as well. Right? They have education and then or Moai. What is that? History and industry. And then they have mo pop, and they have like, they're already branching into so many different Right. And I think they get traction in all of their museums. Honestly have been to each one. I'm sure many of us have done that. So, I mean, is that the way we wanna go? I I don't know. Yeah. But it's something worth It's worth exploring. Exploring. Yeah.

Mhmm. Laurie, when I think you shared with us the creative economy or the culture planning study, feel like a lot of what we're discussing here was addressed in that write up that we shared maybe a year ago about, you know, the different layers of cultural, like, planning we're doing, or is it the economic development? Or Is, like, city planning, like, the comprehensive plan? Is that Yes.

The comprehensive Yes. So that's a good question. So the city has our founding, like, policy document, right, which is the Comprehensive Plan. And you guys were part of that process, particularly your opinions were requested around what's called the urban design and the arts section. So the Comprehensive Plan is broken into two big groups. Section one is subject area driven. So there's an economic development section, there is urban design and the arts, there's a bunch of others. I'm sure they're important, but arts is the most important. And then the section two is the sub area plans. So Lake Hills has a sub area plan.

Bell Red has a sub area plan. You were consulted on both the Bell Red section, since that is the home to our arts district, and the arts and urban design section. Mhmm. In addition to the comprehensive plan, the city has a series of more, I'll call them more strategic, maybe a little bit more deep dive plans. So earlier this year, you heard an update about our economic development plan. So that that's in a complementary document to comprehensive planning. It might go that that one step further, get a little bit more action item y. When we say cultural planning, we mean that. So the last time the city and the art commission took on cultural planning was in 2004. It's been a while.

Our previous cultural plan was called Cultural Compass, And we did go ahead and retire that around it was, I think, slated to retire around 2015. We kept it online a little bit longer, and it has been retired for a couple years now. Many of the policies in that plan were either accomplished or worked their way into the comprehensive plan. So, yes, and now that next step, looking forward the next twenty years, thirty years. That's where we're at right now. Does that help?

Yeah, I feel like this conversation

This conversation is overlapping with a lot of what we reviewed, so a lot of light bulbs are coming. So I probably just need to review it again. And I know we're in the right path of what we're trying to discuss here with what's already been on paper.

Yeah. And today's freeform, as we get more formally into that process, there will be a more regimented run up. Here's our timeline. Here's our studies. Here's our community surveys. That kind of stuff. Today, it's like like, temperature check. Mhmm. Yeah. Alright.

Thank you all.

Alright. So I think the next item on the agenda is next meeting date.

I might do. So the next meeting date would be the first week in January, which might be a little too close to the holidays for people. Well, maybe not. January 7. I think we we finally escaped being literally the first Wednesday of the of the month on the January 1. So if the seventh works for you all more or less

For you, but

Not for you. Yeah. You're out of town. So

You'll be off court?

Yeah. Okay.

Right? Yeah.

You'll be out. Okay. Two out is still I'll

be out too.

Oh, boy. Three out. Do we wanna look at the next Wednesday?

The following Wednesday works for me. I don't know how everyone else.

That would be the fourteenth. We may or may not be in this room specifically if we do the fourteenth.

That

might be good. We might be

That seems to be a little bit better.

Within fourteen

to K.

Let's do the fourteenth. Yeah.

Okay. Terrible. I shouldn't save that, should I?

I think it's a long time. It was.

Right. And then we have reports updates from staff.

Oh, project updates. Alright. We got a couple of them for you. Cultural facility grants, all of our grantees have their contracts. They are off and away on their work and are invoicing. We're very excited. We'll be updating you later in 2026 about the launch of phase two, which feels like a a very big milestone for that granting program to enter into its second round. EAP and project grants for 2025 are closing out. Final reports were due at the November. We're happy to see those folks put in their reports, get them closed out.

Our EAP folks, remember, they're in the middle of their two year process, so they are being renewed into 2026. And that is moving right along. Updates in public art. Yonder Sky by Po Shu Wang. The artist is refining both the lighting and sound elements. The testing that we did and the artist samples when the piece was being designed previous to the light rail station being online, we're going to have to refine some of that sound and that light now that we are actually working with the live trains and we hear what that sound is like. So working with our artists, make sure that the sound and the light is dialed in correctly. Crossroads, Public Art by Anna Molesky. The artwork is fully installed. We're very excited.

Please go take a look at Crossroads Park in the coming, months. I really encourage you, Minette, to take a look at the piece both on a cloudy day and then on a full Sunday. Since it is dichronic glass, you will get a very different experience. Happy to announce there was some media coverage about the piece in The Seattle Times. Lovely to see that. And just it is it is truly beautiful in there and installed. A lot of credit to our artists and to Scott and our team. They installed these pieces in, like, gale force winds in a torrential downpour, and they did it safely. Yes. Everything has survived.

Nothing broken. They went slow and steady, but they were working in a very tight installation window. So they just slowly worked through it. Right. The Grand Connection artists, like I said, sick today. We will come back in January or February. Hopefully, January with that one. And then public art and maintenance. All planned maintenance for the year has been completed. In addition to that planned maintenance, we had a report of graffiti on seasoned shelters at 140th Avenue Northeast in early November.

We got that taken care of. We're also taking a look at, if you remember the piece, it's called Temple of the Stones. It's a very large piece of art at South Bellevue Community Center. These giant stones are suspended, and they have a little bit of swing to them. But to prevent that from being too much swing, they are anchored at the bottom. One of our anchors has snapped, and so we are going to do some I don't wanna call it emergency, but very rapid maintenance to get the anchor. It's like a steel cable at the bottom to get that re anchored quickly.

And that Night Blooming.

Oh, and Night Blooming. Thank you. A small update on there's a sculpture called Night Blooming. It was a temporary artwork at the Bellevue Art Museum during a early bellwether. And at the time, the city acquired the piece and then placed it at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. It is a natural wood beehive shape. Fabulous piece. Lovely. You can go inside it and experience it. It's a really nice experience.

The piece was intended to degrade naturally, that is the artist's intent. Although the degrading has happened much more rapidly than the artist had thought. We did contact the original artist. They did have more of the wood material. So we had them come out, pay for their time and labor, and got the piece as updated as we could.

There were pieces that were obviously falling apart, rusty screws were coming up and out. The problem is, as one piece was removed, several others around it would fall apart as well, and we got to see how deep the Rot. The rot is. Once again, an intended piece of the work just much more quickly than we had hoped. There is some more of the wood material, so we are looking at another minor retrofit.

But likely, this piece will come to the commission for a deaccession in '26, which is very sad. It is a lovely piece. But it is fighting time, and I guess the artisan tent is happening faster than we had hoped. But there we are. Can it

be placed indoors? At this Not at this point. Could we commission another piece that maybe was designed to not degrade?

I think we've got some time to come up with some options there. Yeah. One of the things that is a really nice after effect of this piece, no matter what we choose to do, is that we installed this concrete pad that the piece is installed on, which could become a plinth program in our botanical garden, we could work with our botanical garden partners in other ways. So there are good opportunities to be had. So just an early heads up that that one might be more discussion to come.

I have a question. So the potshoei piece is not functioning now?

It is functioning. We're just dialing it in. So we want you to know that there there might be some changes. It's quite quiet.

Okay. Because I was trying something. My daughter thought I was crazy, so I should wait.

No. It works. So Okay. I will remind folks that the center or the sensor is kind of in the front. So if you're waving your hands at the side, it might not trigger. It is just extremely quiet now that the environment is what the environment is. So it was set a little low. We're gonna dial in that sound level.

Got it. Thanks.

I also say it took me, like, a minute to figure out, like, either for the sensor to figure out where I was or myself to figure out where the sensor was. So definitely give it some time. And it is really hard if there are other loud noises. So maybe wait until, like, the red light hits and there's no cars or trains going by. There's a light. So yeah.

We love that tech art, but then there's tech.

Yeah. Yes.

Well, it's almost like it needs some direction, you know, to go with it. And that could be an art opportunity, you know, for someone techie.

There are some there are some directions on the ground, but it might need some more robust

Yeah. That's Guidance. Guidance. Yes. Sounds like user experience is supporting.

Turn out a bug.

It really makes you inner or, like, really, you're you're very interactive.

It's so good.

It's just a gaslighting thing.

That's all the updates. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Laurie. And I think it is now 05:56, and the December 2025 Belvieu Arts Commission meeting is adjourned.