Parks, Arts, & Community Services Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the Arts Commission meeting of Thursday, 04/03/2025. I now call the meeting to order at 6PM. Pledge of Allegiance. We will begin the Pledge of Allegiance. Commissioner Ford, would you mind leading? Next order of business is roll call. Ms. Fetua.

Let the record reflect all commissioners are present.

Okay, next order of business are presentations. The first presentation is by the director of Orange Coast College. Oh, To any one of these. Our first presentation is from the director of Orange Coast College, Frank M. Doyle Pavilion, Dakota Newt. Welcome.

Oh my god, it's on. Okay. Oh, wow. Okay. A little performance. Oh, hey. Greetings, everyone. My name is Dakota Newt. I work at the Frankham Doyle Arts Pavilion. We are the art gallery for Orange Coast College across the street. I'm coming to roll now probably like a year and a half into it, but I previously worked at Orange Coast for the past seven years, just different jobs. So I'm like, it's kind of great to finally venture across one whole block. So this is kind of just a quick snapshot of wait. Oh. Oh my gosh.

Here's just a quick snapshot of our shows. This is our current show that came down where we had a bunch of artists who appear on a podcast together. Some of them had connections to Orange County, some from the broad area from LA. As you see, there's a mix of fibers, sculptures, installation. This is our previous show from the fall. Again, we also do a lot of workshops geared towards students such as on the left where it's like really a printmaking lecture talking about the process. Here's another example of the program they did. There was a book launch tied into the exhibit with the artist, Larissa Brown. So we also do events tied into the exhibits too. There's more than just the work on the walls.

Also, is our annual student show. That'll be our next upcoming exhibit in three weeks. Who's counting? I don't know. Someone will figure out to hang all the work. But it's just really exciting too. This is a great event. We're like probably like a 100 to 200 students showcasing our gallery at once. So it's kind of a great outreach for our campus. Also, this is kind of a big thing too, more tied into the community of Costa Mesa. We work with the Newport Mesa Unified School District. So this will be upcoming the May from the twelfth to fifteenth. We'll have an exhibit up of their work from the districts. There's probably hundreds.

Yeah. I don't I can't count that.

But the teachers didn't solve themselves, so I love them for that. But it's a really great way to end the year, also to bring in artists too. It's kind of cool. It's like, okay. You can see yourself going to a community college by coming here. Also, just a great way to, like, display their work in a really formal setting, be super positive with them. Yeah. So again, like, feel free to if you ever wanna come explore, our regular hours are Monday through Thursday, eleven to five too. So again, we'll be open for both the student show and the high school show for open hours. If for some reason you wanna arrange like a visit outside of it that goes for anyone, just like contact me. My email is on the website for the Franco New Arts

Pavilion.

Cool. Thank you.

Our contact next email presentation is is from on the the City Of Costa Mesa's Poet Laureate in celebration of National Poetry Month. Danielle Hansen, welcome.

You. Fisher, did you have some things to say about National Poetry Month? You had a great presentation the other day, or I'll just dive in either way.

Would you like me to say something?

I'd love that.

Okay.

Introduced Well, chair Cho and myself introduced Danielle on Tuesday evening here in the chambers for the city council meeting. And I opened it with a just a little quick overview about poetry and and national poetry. I'll I'll save you the bits about Good evening council and all that and just launch into it if you'll you'll give me give me a minute to do this. When the city adopted its art and culture master plan in March 2021, one of its goals was to live up to our reputation as the city of the arts. That's not simply about placing art on walls or on stages, but making the arts a meaningful part of our everyday civic life.

The poet laureate program is one of the ways we do that. It brings poetry, something often seen as quiet and personal, into public spaces and public conversations. In the broader dialogue that shapes the city where we talk in terms of policy and ordinances, budgets and tax revenue infrastructure and growth, poetry offers a different kind of voice. It doesn't rush to persuade or instruct. It reflects, it reveals, it invites us to pause, to feel, and to think more deeply. That's what this month celebrates, and that's what this program, the poet laureate program, is meant to sustain. A city that makes room for poetry is a city that cares not just about what it builds, but how it lives. I'll give it back to you, Danielle.

Thank you so much. So, I'm going to start with a poem, and then I have another little something. Coyote. The crows throw their caws from the eucalyptus down to the shape of a coyote in brush. The shadow stands, shakes the caws off onto rocky dust. It only wants to be silent. Let air shape around its fur like a tongue on a pup. It stands and looks at us, quiet eyes and curious. It turns and drifts downhill. Okay.

So, it's National Poetry Month, so I'd love to tell you where you can go find poetry. I'm going to share five resources with you. The first three are online print poems a day. Poems.com, which is through George Mason University. They have something called Poetry Daily.

Poem a Day, which is by the Academy of American Poets, who is behind National Poetry Month. And then verstdaily.org, which is curated. All of these are curated by well read, well known poets. That one's a little more private. But all of them take a poem every day that has come out in some other print or online format and reserves it to you.

So you get a good variety. Once you find poets that you like from these kinds of websites, then you can go to the library and request the book. So then you can read a little bit more. You can also search for that poet's name, and then I would suggest putting poem afterwards and get some of their other online poems. And then you can always give or request books of poetry as gifts. They're really cheap, under $20 Great gifts for people. The other two resources I'm going to give you, The Slow Down, which is a podcast. It used to be curated by our US Poet Laureate. It kind of hands down from esteemed poet to esteemed poet. But it's less than ten minutes every day.

They read one poem and discuss it a little bit. So, little bit of context with the poem. And the last one I want to share is the University of Arizona has just taken all their reading and both their video and their audio and their print archive and put them online at a website called VOCA. So you can go and listen to full readings by a number of very well known poets. All right. Thank you very much.

Thank you for those presentations. Next is public comments, matters not listed in the agenda. Just a reminder, comments are limited to three minutes or as otherwise directed. Anyone here for public comments? Please step to either podium.

Items not on the agenda, correct.

If there's anyone on Zoom who wishes to speak, raise your hand. There are no hands raised. Chair.

Hello, is this on? Can you hear me? Laura, where are you? I think you have a video for me. Pardon me? It's under local arts.

Yeah, go ahead.

Thank you. I'm Mark Kaufman. I'm the founder and publisher of Local Arts Magazine and Local Arts Studios and a twenty four year resident of Costa Mesa. You just watched four of our thirty four years pass by you. So you can imagine what's not there.

As a formally trained fine artist, actor, editor, and publisher, I've spent thirty four years promoting the arts of Orange County and have produced over 10,000 pages of art related content. My deep understanding, association, and commitment to the arts warrants strong consideration, not only as an entity in need, but as an arbiter of the arts. Any financial assistance granted local arts helps promote and uplift every aspect of the arts, from community theater, private studios, commercial galleries, to established museums, cultural venues, and every creative endeavor in between. If Costa Mesa is truly the city of the arts, it must recognize the arts collectively and promote the city as an art centric destination regionally. You cannot be city of the arts twenty minutes from Laguna Beach, California, and not fill your community with visual reminders.

Thank you very much.

There are no, Zoom, members raised.

Thank you, Ms. Futua. Public comments are now closed. We will now move on to commissioner comments.

May I speak, please? I just wanted to remind everyone of a celebration coming up for children here in Orange County called Imagination Celebration. And if you aren't aware of this, this is wonderful for all ages, but it really highlights different events happening throughout the county, April 12 through the twenty fifth. And Arts Orange County, if you go to artsorangecounty.org or artsoc.org, you can find out more information about different events happening all over the county. Again, if you have children that are interested in becoming exposed to the arts or want to find more ways to get them involved, there's something happening every single weekend from April 12 till May 25.

So I just wanted to make sure everyone knew about that.

Thank you. Commissioner Wondrchuk, vice chair. Miss Eschendorf.

Thank you. Just a couple of comments. First of all, last month we were graced with Alicia Rojas at the Norma Herzog Community Center. She spoke there. She's a muralist whose work is on display on a cement block wall on Baker Street, Baker Avenue, if you have an opportunity to see it.

It's voices and faces of women. It's a beautiful, beautiful mural. Secondly, I want to remind everyone that we do have a Costa Mesa playhouse here. And Uncle Vanya is now at Costa Mesa playhouse through April 13. Seats are reasonable and available, so please support local theater.

And finally, welcome again, Danielle. It's nice to see you. Supporting Poetry Month, I just wanted to let you know that after our council presentation on Tuesday, I went over the next day to Mesa Verde Library. And as you reminded us, the library now is chock full of library books on poetry. And the library head librarian went to the to the computer, saw your face, and she put it right there with all the poetry books. So if any of you live near Duncan Library, please go and see your librarian there and help us promote, our poet laureate. Thank you.

Okay. I'd like to thank the mayor and city council for their warm welcome of the poet laureate program at Tuesday's meeting. A council member even reached out to me Mr. Gruner and Ms. Gardner about some thoughtful suggestions on how poetry might be integrated into the landscape, as well as extended a congratulations to Daniel Hansen. Thank you again for being here and presenting today. And we're excited to support your work and grow together in community. Members of this commission have shown interest in OCC. Thank you, Dakota Newt, presenting for this evening. I wanted to extend it's just exciting to see these updates and developments across the street.

The mentorship and exhibitions are invaluable programs to our city. And I hope the artists and staff at OCC will participate in our upcoming ArtVenture exhibition. More on that later. And finally, welcome to Commissioner Ford. So glad for you to join us, and look forward to working together and hearing more of your singing.

Next order of business is the consent calendar. All matters listed under the consent calendar are considered to be routine and will be acted upon in one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless members of the Arts Commission, staff, or public request specific items to be discussed and or removed from consent calendar for discussion. We have one item under is that correct? Under the consent calendar, approving of the minutes for let's see, I'm sorry.

April 3?

March 6.

I'm sorry, March 6. Are there any comments from the Commission?

Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes with a correction on the adjournment that was by yourself instead of Chair Wondrczek.

I second that motion.

Everyone may vote on your dais. Motion carries seven zero to approve the amended minutes.

Okay, next order of business is old business. Staff presentation.

Actually, Chair Ochoa, it's monthly reports. It's an art specialist report. And then we'll go to old business right after. Thank you. So, good evening to the Costa Mesa Arts Commission. This is my April art specialist report. So just a few items. We have a quick update to the ART call. The website is now current with all the information about the next one that's happening on 05/24/2025. A flyer is also available on the website, and registration will open to public on April 14, just for all of your information.

The Poet Laureate Program. For next month's meeting, I'll bring back a schedule for our new Poet Laureate, Danielle Hansen, who we've all met many times now, which is great. Her schedule will encompass her duties for the next year so that we can all promote all these new activities coming to Costa Mesa in the next year. I'll make sure to put everything on the arts calendar we have and on the arts and culture web pages and on department and city events calendars as well once we establish those. We're meeting next week and we'll bring something back next month for all of you to take a look at.

And exhibition spaces. The next reception for the exhibition at the senior center on the 2nd Floor is scheduled for May 16 from four to 6PM. Charlie Grow will be featuring his photographs and handmade frames. Charlie has also participated in Art Venture in the past, and so it's great to see another Art Venture artist showcased at our Senior Center. And as for our youth art wall, we are currently featuring artwork from the Blue Ribbon Art Contest hosted by the RAISE Foundation. So, artwork is up currently. It was just put up, I think, a couple days ago. So, take a look at that at the City Hall lobby. And then that concludes my April art specialist report. Thank you.

Are there any questions from the commission? Thank you, Ms. Gardner, the presentation. It's great to see these exhibition opportunities for the youth and our ArtVenture artists. I think it continues to kind of strengthen the bonds between the city and the community.

And thank you staff for all your efforts making possible. Are there members of the public who wish to speak on this item?

No?

Shall we move on to old business? The arts grant review guidelines?

Yes, and I can kind of host that one too. I have up on the screen some data from our past three years for the arts grant program for us to review. For this agenda item, we're bringing back the Arts Grant program review of guidelines that was originally brought to the Arts Commission about two years ago. So, we've had some time to kind of look at the program, which I think is great. As per the request of Chair Ochoa, we are bringing this document forward again to take a look at whether or not applicants can apply every year for funds, and of course to make any other edits to the Arts Commission sees fit to change.

Before we discuss, I wanted to give a little bit of background information that might assist with our discussion. I've included four attachments on this report, the guidelines themselves as they currently are. Two examples, one from another city and one from a nonprofit arts organization, and the City Council policy regarding arts grant funding. So, the two arts grant guideline examples are from organizations that I've personally worked with, so we've had a lot of these same discussions. These two examples informed how I created the arts grant guidelines for the city of Costa Mesa currently.

So, the main difference, I would say, is the amount of funds being distributed. The city of Carlsbad and Lane Arts Council that gives our funds that gives funds from the city of Eugene, kind of as a sponsor, and they give those out as a nonprofit. They both give out over 100,000 per year and have been distributing arts grants funding for over twenty years. I think Carlsbad may be closer to 40. So, both organizations receive a lot of applications each year.

Sometimes the funding cycle can be competitive, and not all applicants are awarded funds. I mention this because the City of Costa Mesa's Arts Grant Program is relatively new, and for the past three years has been able to award all the qualified applicants with some kind of funding. And I've seen a steady increase in applications, as you can see on the screen. I mean, but we have some more that we haven't seen before. So, when the first draft of the Arts Grant Guidelines created, my intent was to keep things as simple as possible for new and small organizations, while also creating a new agreement and contract for applicants, a new online application, and simplified record keeping.

So, all these changes are in line with the arts and culture master plan goal number four. And from a staff perspective, the arts grant program is still in early stages and is hopefully growing, and to hopefully be like examples that I provided maybe some years down the road. That being said, some things to think about as we consider changes to who might apply for City of Costa Mesa Arts grants. And I'm just gonna give a few like question prompts. These are a lot of things that have come up for me in my past work as an arts administrator.

So, a larger question I think that would be great for us all to kind of put our heads on is what types of art organizations do we want to support? So, it's like my big umbrella question. And then underneath that would be larger budgets. They have expertise in how to create quality programs for the public or smaller budgets, less experience but could learn and benefit from funding and the financial need. Organizations that support a one time event annually.

Do we want to encourage small organizations that may never grow larger but only exist to perform small activities and or events each year in Costa Mesa is there an expectation that eventually smaller organizations will be able to fund their own events without city funding, or that they may always need funding, and is that okay? And then, is consistency of programming a focus, or are new ideas preferable? And then, let's see. And, is it important that our organizations are all from Costa Mesa, or only that they serve in Costa Mesa? And then, my second large question, as per the arts grant mission that we currently have in the guidelines, do we want to focus on the benefit of arts grant funding to the Costa community as something that enhances the quality of life?

And the questions inside that would be, is it important to have consistent programming that builds from year to year? Is the volume of events offered important? So, those are just a few of my thoughts that hopefully we can assist with our discussion with reviewing the arts grant again this time around. And lastly, I would say that if we intend to change some of the more important aspects of the program, like the mission or who may apply, I would suggest we make motions and vote on separate items. As to other simple edits to grammar and language, I can go ahead and change those on my end with no vote needed. So, I just thought that was worth stating. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Gardner. Do any of the commissioners have comments?

That was a lot of questions. I think if we can you were asking what type of grants we would want to give out or what type of organizations. With us being the Arts Commission, we obviously I shouldn't say obviously. I think we should make sure we reach into every art form that's there. So theater, dance, visual arts, just all of them, if we could instrumental music and things of that sort.

Regarding the small versus large, I am seeing that there are a couple of very large organizations here. With the dollar amount being only $2,500 given, I know every dollar counts for any organization, I would think we might want to limit the organizational budget amount of what organization we would give to so that we are serving organizations that are in Costa Mesa serving Costa Mesa and it just be more accessible for maybe some of the smaller groups with the fact that it's only $2,500 So that's just my 2¢. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Ms. Garner. As I was reviewing this, and given that we had $20,000 this past fiscal year, and God willing, $20,000 at the least this next fiscal year, was wondering if it would be beneficial to even consider increasing the maximum award account amount, excuse me, to $5,000 even. 2,500, while good. And of course, it's as we can see with the next agenda item, there's a number of organizations that will be receiving.

I just worry that it's a very small kind of splash. Not even a splash, guess a drip. We're not even getting a puddle or anything of that sort from it. I think it's worth us considering larger programmatic ambitions perhaps from organizations that are operating within the city or trying to do things around the city. And again, 5,000, though not large, is still a step up from 2,500.

And unless we get more funding allocated going forward for the grant amounts, I think that would be at least beneficial to allow for additional requests to come in of that size. To the question of what kind of arts organizations we want to support, I actually think commissioner Wontechak made a good point about limiting it to a certain size. That that seems like a a worthwhile thing because, of course, you know, as wonderful as as the Pacific Crown, Pacific Symphony are, and I think these were I was on the review review panel for the next item for the grants to the arts organizations. It's a fantastic application and a wonderful program. But again, the question comes up especially as we hopefully get more applicants.

Is $5,000 to a multi million dollar budget helpful? And especially if they have staff that are already doing these sorts of things, it's just one and another. Having experience from a nonprofit, I understand and appreciate the fact that it takes some time to fill these things out. And if I had a staff member, it'd be much easier just to kind of spray and pray and get as much funding as possible. So I think there would be some benefit in that. And then I was going to say something else, but I blanked on it. So I might have another comment in a minute.

Any other commissioners? Commissioner Aschendorf? Thank you.

As far as size, I think what's important to also remember, we had a couple of awardees last year. One was Gibson and the foundation, and the other one was Levi Prary and the Tone Men. And while we anticipated, when they were here making the presentation, that it might be small, it really blossomed with public participation. And so I like the fact that we are considering supporting organizations that may be smaller in size but have an opportunity to grow share in our community.

I was also going to mention, kind of to your point, there could be smaller organizations that are applying for this, but also to see the amount of individuals that are impacted. I believe that was the case with was it the Prairie one? Which one did the concert I'm sorry, I don't know the name. Was it Gibson Foundation? That was wonderful. I think we should look at the grant based on the amount of individuals impacted as well.

Thank you for your comments, Commissioner. I do have a question for all of you, though. What inspired me to kind of look into this was rules and eligibility as well. I noticed a number of these organizations have received consecutive grants, and is that a concern for anyone at this point?

I have a nonprofit organization, and typically with grants that we've received, after receiving it for three years, they ask you to pause for a year and then apply again. So we could put some type of statement of that sort with this, but that's just the thought.

I absolutely appreciate that, and I was looking at that when you had mentioned it. And I feel like sometimes that might be a smaller organization. They will start to rely on that funding every year. So I don't know if we want to do that, like you said, maybe every two years. Then after that, there is a pause or something.

But on another note with that, I know I wasn't here last month, and I don't even know if we're going to address this or how to address this. I've got the Jim Fitzpatrick letter, and who says there's apparently so much more money. I don't know how he would know that. So I know that you guys know how much is in a budget for us. And that's what we deal with is what we're told how much we have to allocate.

And I had the privilege of last year doing the grants review and helping pick the organizations and how much they got. And it was really fun, and it's a great experience. And it would be great to have more of them and to be able to give more money out, of course, and to be doing bigger projects. I think that's our ultimate goal here is to do that. And I know we would like our funding, of course, to be a lot bigger. And I guess we need the cannabis industry to be doing a lot better in order for us to have more money. So is there any information on that that we need that he came out with?

Mr. Greiner?

Yeah, there will be an update at the end of the agenda on the last item. We're going to dive into the budget a little bit further.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Okay, so what I'm hearing is that we should make a motion to limit this organization size for these future applications.

Yes, I think that would be a good place to start, absolutely.

Okay, I will make a motion for that. Public comments please.

Through the chair. Don't worry, madam chair. The air traffic controlling of being a chairperson, it'll get easier over time. But you're doing a great job. Good, good. Let's take the mic. Thank you. I just wanted to and first of all, Commissioner, I'm Jim Fitzpatrick, the person who's been sending all this stuff. I know we're going talk about the budget later, but I'm just underwhelmed that we're only talking about 20,000 here. We don't have a money problem in this city.

We have a spending problem where we're allocating these things. So when I look at this, in this commission, through these wonderful applications, to pick winners and losers. You know, I'm just underwhelmed by the 2,500 limit. You know, we have a poet laureate here, right, who talked about going out in the community and really touching our kids and doing so many wonderful things for $2,500 And we're gonna talk later about allocating $30,000 to a consultant on the master plan that could be done and should be done by chat GPT, what message are you sending to the starving artists out there? Where your priorities are and where you're spending your tax dollars?

Right? We could be making just unbelievable impact on our community. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for this commission. It's a commission, not a committee. It's a decision making body. You guys have real power in this city, and they need you to step up and execute it. Okay. What's really interesting is you look at these policies. First of all, why not have a multi year? Right? But I see restrictions on you can't have a for profit business. Why not? What if a business wants to hire a muralist? Right? And why not have matching funds come where they take $2,500, the private business matches $2,500, and then the starting artist can really eat.

Right? Like, really want you guys are supposed to be the most creative group in our entire city. Really wanna see you guys get creative. What's really interesting is, and it's interesting for our next conversation, on what the funds can and cannot be used for. Right? The city staff, I think this approach is good for me, but not for they. They can use the cannabis tax on a consultant, on paying staff, but here it says you can't. You cannot use for, what does it say, consultants who are members, right? So why can't an applicant do it but the city can't? I don't think the city shouldn't.

And that's your reason to kind of sorry, I'm from Boston to arm wrestle with staff over this. That number, 20,000, needs to be so much more. So much more. And we'll talk about that during the budget process. But I just think you should review this, and I'd be happy to comment on this. There's a better way to process this. There's a way to make it open broader. There's a way to bring more people in. If you want to go wide all the different arts types, your budget is insufficient for that. We need to talk about that a little bit later. Thank you for all your service. I appreciate it.

You. Public comments from Mr. Fitzpatrick. We appreciate your perspective and passion, and I think we all agree that we could use more funding in our grant program. At this time, I would like to make a motion.

Zoom comments are there's also no hands raised at this time.

Thank you, Ms. Fotua. At this time, I can make a motion to amend the eligibility to include limit the size of the organization.

Real quick, do you want to give a number, like a budget size number for that? Like, you know, under $500,000 budget or under $200,000 budget, that kind of thing.

Commissioner Wondrchuk?

I don't know the budgets of all those other organizations because I know some are over 1,000,000. So I don't know. Might maybe we say $750,000 or less or $500,000 I would say $750 or less.

$750 or less?

I'm not sure I'd want to vote to approve that before we take a look at what some of the budgets are

The budgets.

Of the organizations.

Do we know what they are?

So Commissioner Lucia, I don't have all that data on hand. You can find all that information on GuideStar, which I'm happy to look at. Yeah, we can come back with that information if you'd like to.

I still think just because it's so new we're interested in improving efficacy and we can talk about positive outcomes of what these organizations have been able to do with the grants and the impact they've been able to make in Costa Mesa. So I'm

not sure

if that's what I want to focus on first.

I'd like to focus on impact for sure within it. So I agree with that.

Something I think that was positive, and maybe to Ms. Garner's other questions about what types of arts organizations do we want to support, volume of events, consistency of programming, I noticed something that really stood out to me in a couple of the past arts grantees was that they had a component that was educational, and they went into Newport Mesa Unified School District and brought a dance show or some other programming into the schools. And I thought that was something that really had a positive outsized impact, could be a force multiplier in our school districts. So that could be something that we would perhaps provide priority for in the consideration.

Well, and I'm now remembering the points that I want to raise. One of which was being building off of what what mister Fitzpatrick mentioned, which was matching. I think at the very least, we should have language within the application kind of guidelines that encourages it. You know, perhaps at this stage, to the point of Commissioner Lucia, we may not yet be at a place in which the grant program is established enough to require it, though that's certainly perhaps the way that we want to go. But but to miss Garner's questions as well, I think just getting to the larger question, that first one, what kind of arts organizations do we want to support?

Having reviewed this year's grant applications, Many of them were public engagement and education based, which is fantastic, and I think there's really good things that happen with that. Of course, there's a whole point in which one looks for accessibility and bringing good artists to people who would otherwise not have access to that. But I think I'd also love to see actual art being created beyond just public engagement. These kinds of nice things. Of course, there's wonderful concerts and these sorts of things.

Gibson has come back and asked for more. But I'd certainly like to encourage as well art being created and actually going to support the artists on top of other kind of educational organizations coming in and getting some funding to do a wonderful program where they come and teach dance, for instance. I think there's two programs doing that to low income areas within the city and working with students and having a performance. So that's that's one thing I'd like to to put out there. But but perhaps and and I might make the suggestion. I won't make the motion yet, but would love to hear from everyone. At the very least, we can raise the amount of the maximum from from 2,500 to, you know, god, please, $5,000. I if that's agreeable to everyone, I'll I'll let others speak into that. But perhaps can we start there? Would that be something we can all agree on?

My question is if we raise it to $5,000 so that means it's fewer individuals receiving it, right?

Not necessarily. So it could be just a maximum of 5,000. As you see, we have someone that's we say 1,000 up to So 2,005 if there's a really worthwhile program and if all we have is 20,000 or if all we have is 10,000, please let that not happen. But if that's all we have, we can, of course, make those decisions. The review body would look at the applications and make the suggestions to us, but then it would be up to us to vote as to whether or not to approve that in the next fiscal year.

And if you're making that emotion of increasing it to $5,000 at this point because we're not this is a living document. We will be revisiting it again. So I would, you know, support that.

I move to raise the maximum amount limit of grants for this program to $5,000

I second. I

second. I second for a third time.

Motion carries seven zero.

Can we also make the grant more about accessibility? Like if there's a piece in there about accessibility for maybe Title I schools or students who don't have access to the arts or something to that effect where we're that would be considered on a higher level of about just we're all about accessibility here. So I just wanted to see if that could be a part of the grant as well.

Absolutely. Commissioner Dudarian, I had a question. So what you're proposing is an individual artist grant to support a production of an artwork? Is that what your comments were about earlier?

Yeah, I'm not sure. I was just reviewing some of the other programs that were included within the agenda right now to see how they did this. But I think something of that sort. And to commissioner Wundercheck's question, again, having reviewed grants just the than the last week, it's it's all over the application, both the guidelines and the actual rubric. So I don't I don't know if anything necessarily needs to be added in addition to that because that's really what it is about.

It's it's about accessibility and and really educational programs. So I think perhaps it would be great to, as you you mentioned, Cherry Ochella, add add something where artists can apply, though. Perhaps this this raises another question. Would they have to have five zero one c three backing staff? Is that something that they would have to and and getting to mister Fitzpatrick's point, why we can't give it to a business?

Yeah. So there's also a city council policy that's in your agenda item. So, that is part of the arts grant funding requirement is being nonprofit. But, they can also get a fiscal sponsor, which means they just have a nonprofit sponsor them. It's a way of accounting for tax dollars and, you know, to have accountability for them. Yes.

Ms. Gardner, in the document you're referring to is the one from the cultural program funding? Correct. Correct. Yes.

Is that a requirement that there's absolutely no way a for profit can if a person who like

Well, so if there's an artist who doesn't have nonprofit status and they're just kind of an individual, they would just contact a nonprofit organization to sponsor them. It's basically to run the money through the nonprofit. So there's transparency in how that money is spent. But now there's in the city council policy, it does say only for nonprofit. Yes.

It is hard to get a nonprofit. I've had one before.

Absolutely. Yeah. But they can do that through a fiscal sponsorship with a nonprofit that has status already. Yes.

Kind of piggybacking a little bit on what Commissioner Wondrachek said, I'm my big focus is accessibility and making sure that as many people are exposed to as many different types of art as possible. And so it's important to me that there's a there's at least a fair distribution of the grant money between visual arts and performing arts. And I think that's really important. You don't know if you're good at something or if you like something until you've seen it. And so if the goal is to try and give as much art to as many people as possible, it seems to me that the diversity and breadth of of the types of art that they're exposed to that that the citizens and the and the the community is exposed to should be as broad as as possible.

And so I think that should be a that should be a stated goal. I don't know if that that needs to be there, but I do think that's a very important consideration in determining both the number of grants and the recipients of the grants.

Great points, Commissioner Ford. Anyone else? Ms. Futua, do we move on to new business at this point?

If there are no further motions, yes.

Let me just do a quick recap. Basically the only motion that was passed tonight that we would increase the arts grant funding amount up to amount to 5,000. From 2,500 to 5,000. So, haven't changed anything else on the arts grant guidelines. Is that correct?

I mean, would it be possible to reconsider the guidelines next meeting with perhaps some suggestions as to how to expand entities or individuals. I mean with the focus really on trying to get artists to also be included, or at least have that be a part of the guidelines that we're encouraging artists to apply through a five one c three sponsor.

Yes. Absolutely. I can kind of explore some of that, what options will be, what other cities have done, and things like that. I'd be happy to bring that back. So I would make that change that has already been voted on, and then I'll bring it back to the next meeting, and then I'll give you some language to kinda help with the discussion around the art artist support is what I'm hearing.

Yeah.

Yeah? Okay. And then

are we also going to have more information on the cutoff in terms of the budgets of the various entities so that we can intelligently pick a number.

Yeah. Yes, correct. That's great. Yeah. Thank you. So, you would want to know the current grantees what their budgets are, basically. Okay. That's correct. Definitely can do that, too.

So we can now move on to new business.

Thank you, Ms. Patua. New business. The approval of arts grants fiscal year twenty twenty four to twenty five.

Thank you, Chair Otoa. I'll take that one. I'll start us off with that one as well. So, let's see. So, this is the Arts Grant funding plan for fiscal year twenty twenty four to twenty five. This year we had 13 applications, but only nine met the qualifications in the arts grant program guidelines. All applicants that applied will receive funding this year, so everyone who applied will get some money, which is great news. So thank you to city Council for kind of expanding that amount for us this year. Each application was scored by the review panel. Perfect score was 30.

Funds were assigned based on the final score, the availability of the funds, the total amount. So, a rubric can be found in the Arts Grants Guidelines Handbook that's part of the agenda, if you'd like to reference that. And then, our review panelists this year were Jessica Watson, who's a public art manager and urban canvas coordinator for the city of Eugene. I have Vicki Schwartz, who's an art teacher for Newport Mesa Unified School District. And then our very own arts commissioner, Fisher Duderian. Those were the three panelists, and they scored them all, and then we averaged scores. And those scores that you'll see on the screen. So, at this time, I'd like to open up a discussion about the arts grant funding plan and answer any questions.

Any commissioners have comments?

Do we have commissioner comment and then public comment?

It should be commissioner questions at this time. And then we'll go to public comment and then commissioner comments and then a motion. Thank you.

Can I ask a question, miss Garner? I know one of the recipients that we have, let me find my place, Dance Art Academy, I think had a very good proposal. I was I was very pleased with with what I saw on that, which in short for those in the audience, was to do a program at three to four schools, I believe, is the number that they provided, working with students approximately up to 300 students, grades four to eight. Was there any documentation, and perhaps if there's public comment and the individuals here you can speak to it, but was there any indication that there had been communication with schools or any sort of agreement in advance, or was the understanding that once they received the funds and they'd gone solicit and this would be a fairly easy thing to achieve?

Yes. So they actually have a partnership agreement form that they filled out. Yeah. That's part of the arts grant packet. So I sent that to them, and I do have that on file. Okay.

Yes. Just wanted to double check.

Yes. You're welcome.

Comments? Public comment?

Yes, Chair. At this time, it is public comment. If you have any questions, you please come to the dais.

Mr. Fitzpatrick?

Through the chair, thank you so much. I invite the commission to dream big with me. Really big. Right? And I'll tell you what the basis of my big dream is based off of. Commissioner, you touched on how do I know this information. So, not necessarily with the present staff, but we have a real customer service issue here within our city. It's optional for most staff whether they reply or don't reply and when. But there's one thing called the California Public Records Request. When I submit that, the city, if they have the documents responsive to my request, they must do it and they shall do it date specific.

So I put in a public records request to confirm that the city was accruing cannabis tax funds into a fund. Came back, Mr. Fitzpatrick, on three eighty three page budget, on page 46, you'll find the line item and was able to confirm $400,000 exists. Also part of that, I said, what expenditures have been made? Nothing came back. So, my big dream is based off of a number of $400,000 That's annual. That's recurring. That's not a federal fund that may or may not come every year. That's recurring. You can plan for this.

It might go up and down, but you can plan for a chunk of that. And so when I listen to everything that you're saying, you're handcuffed by this low number of 20 I'd like to do this. I'd like to do that. I would like to do it all. I look at some of these things here and say, why not fund them all? Why not fund them all at $5,000 Right? I look at, you know, Pacific Symphony needs $2,500 Really? Like, come on. Right? While you're taking away from starving artists and stuff like that. But you're missing an opportunity to really match funds and do something special. So, want to invite you. You are a commission, not a committee. You're a decision making body. That means you guys can make motions.

Staff can't stop you. This stuff needs to eventually it sounds like there's policies here and ordinances at the city council that you as a group and a body need to come together, bring consensus, have that robust conversation, invite members of the community to participate, and tell you what their dreams are, and then kick it back up into City Council. Now, can't guarantee anything, but I have a really positive feeling that when you do that, city council wants to be the city of the arts. Their intention of the cannabis fund was not to bump something up $10, but was to make a meaningful difference in our community. This is the opportunity to do that.

I would love to, from a parliamentary perspective, from a process perspective, I'd love to be a resource for you. Because right now, staff is only recommending a $10,000 increase. The money is going to offset general fund, which you shouldn't be doing. It's not the council's intention. And I think when you get it back there, they'll validate that. So, let's dream big. Thank you.

I'm the founder and promoter of Songs in the Canyon, and I'm the chairman of the Give Some Foundation. And I'm glad some people heard that our event was wonderful last year and thank you for helping to fund it. I just want to make a comment on what you guys are talking about. You know, in terms of diversity of different art projects and artists and that sort of thing, a lot of it comes down to who was asked to apply for a grant. So, just so you know, I was asked by city council member Arlis Reynolds. She asked that we apply. And that's why we applied. Otherwise, I may not have known about it. And so, if there's certain people that you're looking for to apply, then go find them or find people to go find them, and then get the diversity that way as well. That's one way to go.

The other way I'd say is, last year we had the Tone Men and Levi Prairie do a Mother's Day concert, and it was great, a lot of people attended. They did that through the fiscal sponsorship of the Givsome Foundation. So, if there is an artist that needs a fiscal sponsorship, we could help them with that. Gives some foundation gives fiscal sponsorships on the regular for different projects that happen around the country. So, if we could help on that, Nathan, that way that'd be great. I do want to make a comment around the 5,000. We're going to do two songs in the canyon this summer, one on May 4 and one on September 28. So, one of the big expenses are the bathrooms at the park. There are no bathrooms. So, we have to bring in trailers.

That cost $2,500. So, if you just wanted to pay for bathrooms for those two concerts, it would be $5. Let alone not covering art. I mean, that's just your starting block, right? So, you know, these things cost money, and obviously it's an investment from individual residents, it's an investment from sponsors. We have lots of sponsors, lots of local businesses that help cover it. But we're subsidized also by the arts commission, by your guys budget that helps it happen. It will happen more, and more frequently, be more sustainable if the dollars are at a higher price. Okay. So, those are just the things I'm thinking about.

As a resident here in Costa Mesa, as I'm listening, and ways you might wanna approach it. We hope you approve the 2,500 for songs in the canyon and the Gibson Foundation this year. We're really excited about the artists that we have coming, both 1980, a number of them are here. They're gonna have a number of art displays that are gonna be up, they're gonna have artist painting, images of the park, they're gonna have installations that are there for people to see. And we have all the bands, some are and they're all local bands and it's all original music. And it'll be inspiring for a number of kids that are there, that run around and have a great time. It's just a wonderful family event. So, we hope all of you will attend May 4 from 02:30 to six at Canyon Park. Thank you.

Hi. My name is Jesse Fortune. I'm the founder and owner of Location nineteen eighty. In a certain sense, I represent those starving artists you guys keep talking about. We're also not so starving because we are for profit and we do sell art.

We know Mark because we Mark because we have been in local arts and some of you on this commission and some on the city council have been to our our gallery and location. We've also helped hundreds of local citizens discover and buy their first piece of artwork. We've also helped Newport Mesa high school students do their art show at our gallery on our dime. Actually, the teachers funded that. So, I just wanted to say thanks Vice Chair Fischer for recognizing the local art is not so much a group or entity, but artists who are making the work and that would like to They that can touch and benefit the community.

We've done hundreds of workshops and classes for kids and adults for fifteen years. And it's important for us that we continue to help. And if we could garner some funding for parking or marketing material or just some recognition that we exist would be nice. Because a lot of times, I don't feel like the artist's individual's voices are being heard. Thank

you.

Good evening. Hi, I'm Nancy Wasser Brady. I am the Education and Community Engagement Director for Backhouse Dance. We're twenty two years of nonprofit organization doing contemporary dance in Orange County. And I just wanted to make a couple of comments.

Thank you so much for this rich conversation and also for your support of Backhouse Dance in this last year. We were very, very delighted to receive your funding so we could perform and do an education program for high school students. It was at Costa Mesa High School, attended by many different schools, Estancia and other high schools that don't have contemporary dance. And it was just a wonderful kind of education program, lecture demonstration, which was very successful. And we decided working in Costa Mesa, the city of the arts, is a priority for our tiny, tiny nonprofit.

When you talked about budgets for nonprofits, we're like the tiniest but mightiest passionate dancers ever. Many of the dancers wear so many different hats. But what I wanted to comment on is the proposal, which I'm hoping that you will be funding, our Dance for Joy and Well-being. We wanted to shift gears to be more accessible and to focus on your master plan. We saw a real gap for a void that we possibly could fill working with seniors and caregivers and veterans and other adults.

And hopefully, we can do it as an intergenerational program. But as a pilot this year at the Costa Mesa Senior Center, having our professional dancers work with groups of seniors and kind of we look at it as like we'll be an artist in residence, a dance company in residence at the Costa Mesa Senior Center, where we'll have our dancers, many of them who have trained in dance for Parkinson's and other adaptive dance forms. We can dance, teach contemporary movement, and get all the students to tell their stories. So we will create a dance, and the participants will actually perform. And also, we will, the Backhouse Dance Contemporary Company will perform at the Costa Mesa Senior Center.

But one other quick moment is that we look at this dance and movement and all of the arts as kind of a natural prescription. It's a prescription for healing, for health. You know, there's a body brain connection, and these kinds of classes experiences with dancers can help build memory. They tie to cognition. Art is health, and culture is healing. Creativity is hope. And and hope. So

Thank you, Ms. Moritz.

Good evening. On healing and hope, my name is Harley. I'm the founder and many hot wearer of Brain and Body Music Studio. And it's our founding purpose to provide accessible arts engagements for communities to heal and engage with each other. While looking at the grant guidelines, and as somebody who works with youth and actually used to work for Pacific Corral, I know that there's a gap for working class people, especially, like, 18 through 30, and especially 30 who do not have children.

And I really wanted to provide a space for intergenerational people to meet outside and take risks and get to know each other. We're living in a very divisive time, and I think that the arts are a great place for people to express themselves safely and learn that their neighbor is a human, just like them, going through similar things. So, thank you for your consideration.

Hello. Good afternoon. I'm Nadine from the Arts Spread. Thank you so much for the grant that we received this year. Last year, with your grant, we were able to serve over 150 community members.

We were also able to have over 70 people, as some of the commissioners were talking about, create their own art pieces led by artists who really understood the community and how to communicate effectively with creating your own piece, no matter your disability or strength or skill level in art. One suggestion I would have in light of the conversations, and I know working for a city, it can be complicated, but perhaps the grantees can get their fees waived or reduced when renting out city owned, space. So, for example, Norma Herzog, I think, cost us about 1,500, which in light of the space we got is great. But because of our budget not being so large, it took almost the entire budget we got from the city commissioner. So, just a suggestion.

Otherwise, we appreciate everything that you guys have given us. Thank you very much.

Again, Mark Kaufman with Local Arts. I just wanna echo what Jim said. And I'm sitting here watching this, and I'm thinking, you guys are you guys need to have a double prong, triple prong approach to this. Like he said, you need to dream big. If you want if you want Costa Mesa to really live up to the moniker of city of the arts, you 've got to think about the millions of people that drive down Newport Boulevard every year and never see that blasted anywhere. It's not posted anywhere that I know of. I mean, it should be just number one. Everybody that comes into town should see something. There should be a pedestal. They should have a long term plan where you build some sort of edifice that declares that you're city of the arts.

Because as soon as people understand that, they'll ask questions, And it will drive interest. But, until you get there, you're gonna be funding all these little programs and everybody's gonna be happy for five minutes, and you're gonna turn around and have to do it again. You've gotta get it to work for yourself. You've gotta you've gotta promote the city of the arts to the people who I mean, how many people fly over Costa Mesa every year? And you look down, you could find a building that said city of the arts. Do it on a parking lot. Get creative. This is your responsibility. If you're gonna be claiming to be the city of the arts, you better get to it. Because when I talk to all my contacts in all these other cities, and I tell them ask them what the moniker for Costa Mesa is, they have no clue.

No idea. And when I tell them it's city of the arts, they snicker. I'm sorry. It's just you know, I've dealt with it for thirty years. So I think it's really important that you look long term as well as short term. And if that funding's there, fight for it. Thank

you.

Are there any comments on Zoom?

Yes, we do have one. You may now speak. REMAX fifty eight.

Hello? Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay. I'm Frank Gutierrez, and I know quite a bit of the people here tonight. I was a chairperson of the cultural arts for eight years. And I want you to look at yourself in the mirror that if in reality, we want to create a city of the arts and we want to go in that direction is that we have to look up to somebody or a city like Laguna, Laguna Beach. And I say it in a way that, yes, it's great to give out grants, but in a certain way, it's like food stamps.

Once they run out of them, they're hungry again. We have to envision creating an environment where artists can make a living from their art. And we have to create events that generate money for artists to be part of a community where they could do that. Laguna does that. It does that with its festivals of what it does and it supports the artists because they're able to sell and live within that structure.

So that is a thought process. We have to create a machine that feeds the artists throughout the year and not just giving them food stamps for a couple of whatever it lasts because it's expensive to live in Costa Mesa and I'm pretty sure those people are in a tight situation. So I want you to think about it in that particular perspective. Thank you.

There are no other members on Zoom Chair.

Thank you miss fatuah any comments from the commissioners

more of a question in response to one of the comments but is that allowed? Comment in the form of a question?

Correct.

Okay. That's fine. Yes. I forget your name. I'm sorry. But talking about reduced rates or free rates for city property in connection with that, That just to my ear, you know, that seems like low hanging fruit. Is that something that that has been discussed or there's a policy on it? Is there is there something is there a reason why we can't do that?

For all of our city facilities, facilities, fees for those type of things are part of a citywide fee schedule that is approved by City Council. So stuff like rentals, facility rental fees for like normal Herzog Center, those are all set by City Council and they are reviewed and if desired by the council, changed by them as well.

So what would be the protocol in terms of if it were decided that that would be something to explore further or to at least discuss with the council, what would be the process to sort of get that before someone who can say, yes, we waive it or reduce it?

Yeah. So pretty much every year during the budget cycle, topics like that come up and they are discussed. Either it's directed from counsel to take a look at the fees and make adjustments to the ordinances policies, then obviously staff will follow that lead and make those recommendations to the council. We can also certainly kind of explore that here with internally and kind of make some internal discussions and not necessarily decisions, but we do have to have that directive from the council to move forward and present that up the chain of command, so to speak.

Because at a minimum, we've reviewed this. We've stated that they're deserving of grants. And so obviously, given the rubric and the various considerations, they're obviously deserving entities. This seems like a really easy way to, in some cases, double or triple the net impact of the grant without a lot of additional money or effort.

Madam Chair, there are different rates, Ms. Villasenor, for nonprofit organizations versus for profit. Is that correct?

There is lower discount rates for nonprofits in fee schedule.

Thank you.

Is there a way that we can create a separate grant for artists? Just a straightforward grant for artists? Because I know right now we're looking at arts groups that are non profits, but I'm just asking that question based on what I heard from 1980 and some of the others.

So, yes, they can. They can apply to the grant like everyone else. It's mentioned in the mission that's for artists as well, but there's not necessarily like a specific bucket for them. And the examples I provided tonight do because they're larger amounts of money, you know, a $100,000, they did that's how they worked theirs out. Like, they had a bucket for artists, a bucket for nonprofit arts organizations. So, it is something we could explore. I just think the early stages, I just I left it open just because it was a small amount amount of money. But, I mean, it's worth discussing if you'd like.

Yeah. I don't know if we would discuss it tonight. Maybe we would put that on our next agenda. But I believe it is definitely worth discussing. Thank you.

Also, may I ask, how many buckets do we have?

And what are you referring to, the programs or the arts grants?

Funds and money. Like, yeah, an artist bucket, you know, organization bucket.

So, we have money for the Arts and Culture Master Plan. That's like the large bucket of money for the Arts and Culture Master Plan that funds all the programs from within it. And then so the Arts Grant Program has its own money that's designated to support that specific program. So all the money in the budget, which we'll talk about next, is designated to those programs and activities in the arts and culture master plan approved by City Council.

Seeing as the agenda items, I think once we get to the next agenda item, hopefully there'll be a lot more room for discussion around these things in particular, and perhaps exploring other things that are coming up as well in the comments which have been all wonderful. I want to thank everyone who came and joined us tonight. It's it's been fantastic to have a full room or a fuller room. Typically there's maybe one or two that leave after the first 10 So I'm glad to see people here and true artists with us outside of, you know, those of us on the dais excluded, not myself, certainly. But to just get to the comments on the actual art grants that have been considered in this agenda item, I just wanted to say, having again been on the committee, as I mentioned, more than enough times this evening, I was very impressed and pleased to hear actually from from them tonight.

But I just wanted to mention, give some foundation back house and braver players. I don't know if we had them here with us. But reading through those applications and seeing the intended groups that they were trying to reach, especially back house. I think this is one of the groups that is often overlooked when we talked about forgotten groups or or marginalized groups as the elderly. And so I was really encouraged and took heart that that Backhouse was looking at it and looking at it seriously, putting the resources and all the dancers behind it.

So I wanted to thank you specifically. But but so great to see these things. Of course, it would be wonderful to see much larger grants. I'm sure all of us up here on the dais would completely agree and hope to continue to review that. But we can review that perhaps in the next agenda item. I move to approve the grants as outlined in the recommendations from the selection committee.

I second it.

You may vote on your dais. Motion carries seven zero to approve the arts grants for fiscal year twenty four twenty five.

Congratulations to the grantees. Rubrics were very strong, and glad to see the program expanding. Our next item is the arts and culture budget for fiscal '25 or 2026.

Thank you Madam Chair and I'll take the lead on that. So it is that time of the year again, everybody's favorite season. It's not spring, It's budget season. And we're right in the middle of it, and we're getting, you know, ready to move forward and present some, you know, budget, items to the council. So I do wanna bring this up to the commission's attention in regards to budgeting process and some of the programs that are being funded currently.

As you know, there was a measure Q passed in 2020 in regards to the cannabis tax taxation and some of the taxes that would be allocated to certain programs. The arts is certainly one of them where we are scheduled to or slated to get a half a percent of the tax revenue from cannabis. Currently, the tax revenue that's coming in is not sufficient to basically fund the arts master plan. And so the council has been supplementing additional funds from the general fund to help offset that so that the arts master plan can be completed and fully completed. And as we're getting closer towards the end of the master plan, it was a five year plan and we're getting ready and kind of closing that part out, we will be asking for additional funds to, again, meet with a consultant and have those discussions and further develop the master plan for another five years out.

And there were certainly a lot of great comments here today from, I think, the community as a whole and just some of the thoughts and concerns that they had and they want to express themselves is certainly appreciated. And I think we're at a really good place where we can actually, as we move forward with the master plan development, that we can certainly get that input and kind of incorporate some of those ideas and thoughts into the next master plan for the next five years. So from a timing perspective, I think it's actually great. And there's certainly a lot of great ideas out there. There's no shortage of that.

So it's just a matter of working with the community and the commission and fine tuning and steering the next master plan in that direction that we want to see kind of occur over the next five years. So with that, I do just want to mention some of the different programs. We were talking about buckets earlier. And if you look at the attachment in the staff report, you can certainly see, if you want to look at the different numbers, those could be individual buckets. And where those funds are allocated to has been outlined by the master plan, which was adopted by the council.

And again, as we move forward with the new master plan, we can certainly incorporate and make some changes to these buckets, if we want to call them, and provide maybe more funding in a certain bucket or less funding in another bucket or create a whole new bucket. And I think that would be the right time to do that. So with that said, we do have approximately a little over $400,000 budgeted for the arts per fiscal year. And we're looking to replicate that again for the last and final year of the master plan. And then next year, we can certainly depending on how the new master plan unfolds, we can certainly look into requesting some additional funding for certain programs, activities, and so forth.

So just for an example, just some of the different programs that are funded would be for children and youth, free art experiences for art adventure, galleries, action arts, art crawl. I don't want to necessarily read all through these, but you can see the different categories that we have allocated funds for. And the total for the next fiscal year 'twenty five, 'twenty six, we're projecting about $457,000 And out of that would be staffing additional costs for travel and other of the different excursions that we're doing and the development of the art venture program, for example. So there's just a lot of different components that go into that bottom line of $428,000 or $457,000 And again, the council has been very, very supportive of the arts, and they certainly make that a priority to continue that funding, at least for next fiscal year. I do want to mention, and I mentioned it to the PACs, that basically the city is projecting a shortfall of about $6,000,000 for this fiscal year.

We're looking to mitigate that through various mitigation measures, such as deferring CIP projects, also looking at a couple of other different funding sources from the gas tax, for example, to help offset some of those projected shortcomings that we're looking at for this fiscal year. Now, what's going to happen next year? That's anybody's guess. So we do have projections. We are looking, obviously, what's happening at the federal level and how that's going to impact the state level for some of the grant funding that the city does receive.

And the city does receive quite a bit of grant funding, especially for capital projects. Right now, we have enough CIP projects to continue the planning and construction of certain projects for the next couple of years. So from that aspect, there isn't necessarily going to be an impact on the general operation of the CIP projects that are already in place and already in the works. But we do obviously have to kind of foresee what's going to happen and kind of project if there is going to be additional shortfall for next year. So that's all part of the fiscal process and the budgeting process.

And that's going be part of the discussions with the council in the next couple of months. And we are in a fiscal budget cycle of July 1 through June 30. So this will be a great time for the audience, the public to come out to provide input and feedback and be part of the budgeting process. And I know we have a couple of presentations here tonight, so we are going to dive into that next. Yeah, so that's kind of where we are budget wise right now.

And we're here to answer any questions you guys have, of course, and provide any clarification. I think there's certainly a little not as a confusion, but I think maybe misunderstandings in regards to how the budget is prepared, how the council appropriates certain funds for certain projects. And that's the clarification we want to provide tonight. So thank you.

I have a question. What's the delta between what Measure Q was projected to bring in to fund arts and culture master plan and what city council is having to augment the gap?

Well, I wasn't here at that time. But I can tell you that the projection was that the half percent of the cannabis tax would basically generate enough revenue to basically fund the arts master plan project.

So

right now, we're receiving about right around a little over $3,000,000 which equates at a half percent to about $150,000 So the council has to offset or has been offsetting the $250,000 shortfall basically. And I believe back then when this was all kind of being developed and created, I think the anticipation was that the tax revenue was going to be probably closer to $8,000,000 in order to basically fund the entire arts master plan project.

Based on how many permits allocated for cannabis shops?

I'm sorry. Say it one more time.

Was that based on a certain number of permits allocated for cannabis shops?

Yeah. I believe at that time, recreation manager may have a little bit more information on that. But I believe at that time there wasn't a limit on the number of cannabis shops could be in Costa Mesa. However, there is now a limit. And obviously that's going to be part of the factor. So I'm not sure what the projections were back then in regards to how many shops we're going to have. And we can certainly find that information out, but we don't necessarily have that right now on hand.

Because looking at how the arts and culture master plan was constructed, it was under those numbers. So do we need to reassess that going forward if we're going to have the consultant redo for the next five years? Now we have a different reality for how many permits were allocated, how much revenue is coming in, if that's the only source of revenue? Is there a different conversation that needs to be had with city council so that we don't have to go every year and ask Yeah.

Think that's going be part of the next master plan development where we can have those discussions and obviously that's going to be presented to counsel and there will be more discussions with the council as well.

So and just as a point of clarification, the arts and culture master plan came first before cannabis tax was ever considered as a supplementation to the Arts and Culture Master Plan. So that came as an afterthought when they started considering the cannabis ordinance and bringing retail shops into the city. The Arts and Culture Master Plan, I believe, has been being worked on since 2018. This has been a long time in the making before the cannabis was even considered.

Yes, thank you. First of all, when we look at the analysis that was provided by staff, it's important to note that because of because of Lorette Garner and her the muscle that she has been able to move around the city, we've expanded our venture beyond our wildest dreams of five years ago. We've elevated our gallery and exhibition spaces. And one, two, three, four, I have at least five new programs as a result of things that have come under Laurette's purview. And so for that, I want to acknowledge you because this has been you've taken us to a place that, on the cultural arts committee, we were just moving like a at a snail's pace.

So this is this is truly an accomplishment. But something that Mr. Kaufman said in his most recent comments stood with me and something that I really wanted to embrace. And that is when you look at what we have to assert the city of the art brand to the community. I think and I can't read this on the screen even with trifocals, but it looks like it's 2,500, for next year.

And I'm not quite sure that that's adequate to get the bells and the whistles that we really do need to get overexposure. So I'd like to make sure that we look at that in the budget cycle.

Can we look at the installation? There's a budget or a bucket for monies towards an installation. Could that be an installation? A beautiful plaque or art work that says city of the arts, would that be considered part of the plaque or maybe? I

I can take that, I Commissioner would say, from what I interpret from the comments from Mr. Mark Kaufman, that would be, to me, be a public art project, would be a larger scope, like something that's kind of big and noticeable. I mean, that's just the way I would perceive it. I'm

sorry, I'm still on the mic. Yeah,

but I'm not sure what that would look like or what he intended. But that would be my interpretation.

Well, think I'm not speaking for you, Mr. Kaufman, but it seems like what we're trying to to get out here is elevating our brand so that people really understand that what we do is who we are, and that's the city of the arts. And it it could be a strategy to develop promotional materials or or something. Bells and whistles, I'm not quite sure.

I would like to note, for comments, they should be made after public comment.

Can I ask a few questions, Mr? Greener? So you mentioned $150,000 as the sort of, at least historically, tax revenue that's come for the arts from the cannabis tax. Is that what's generally expected for this coming fiscal year? Are we projected for that? Okay. That's good to know.

Can I also make a point of clarification that we are not the intake or the keepers of the cannabis tax? So much of the information that we receive is relayed from a finance department, and they have accurate data and information and then in anticipating that they are also bringing information on the cannabis tax fund and pot of money to council in the coming weeks with the budget. So, any questions, I think any more specific questions as related to the cannabis tax, that's more better suited for finance and counsel.

Great, thank you. Yeah, just wanted to make sure that that was a general sense of what we could at least use for the basis of this conversation going forward. Now a couple questions. Mean just looking at the web page, I guess, to say for the Arts Commission, you know, there's a handful of roles and responsibilities. And I I think it directly relates to the budget, so I wanted to raise this to mister Gruner or other staff because I you know, of course, we were all appointed by council members, and and we're glad to step up and serve.

But there is a real question, I think, as some of the comments tonight have highlighted as to what the what the exact powers are and the enumerated, excuse me, powers are of the body. And so with number five, it says to review and make recommendations to the council or city manager for the allocation of city funds for the arts and culture in the city. What exactly is our function within that? I know that's vague language, and none of us have necessarily been in the process. And thus far, the money has been appointed from Measure Q to fund the Arts and Culture Master Plan. What would a process like that look like? Is there some formal recommendations this body could make? Or how would that work?

Well, think everybody here was appointed by a council member. Having close relationship with your council members, I think, is important. And having those discussions and dialogue of what concerns you in regards to the arts and master plan. So I think that will be an appropriate place to start.

And then along with that, there's been discussion about the new master plan from Arts OC. Again, I guess this is a general question, maybe a handful have been involved in the previous process, perhaps Commissioner Ashendorf. But what does that look like from our perspective as the arts commission being involved in that discussion? I don't know, advising or leading on that, you know, even in this I think it's number one act in an advisory capacity of the city council in establishing policy on matters related to the city arts and culture master plan.

Yeah. So I mean, typically, the commission is a decision making body that can certainly vote on certain project types. If there's some type of let's say there's a mural project that needs your approval. Obviously, you guys would review that and have that discussion and then make a decision whether to move forward with it, to make adjustments to it. And that's the same process for anything else. For example, if it were to come to the master plan, you guys would be obviously very much engaged in providing those recommendations to the city council for them to make a decision.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

We can now open for public comment.

Through the chair. I had some prepared comments, thank you for staff for clarifying. So, are having some structural budget deficits. It's not that we don't have the money. We have a spending problem. And Measure Q came after the cultural arts master plan. Right? It was never intended to fund this. It was always intended to be incremental over and above to do more for the city of the arts. And now staff's approach is that it was supposed to fund and now they're having to supplement with general general funds. They got it backwards. I need your help. Okay? I'm working with the city council on these budgetary issues. But, I said, let's dream big.

Now I need you to fight big. You are up against the active transportation. I say painting our town green. I think they're creating unsafe conditions and give a false sense of safety out there. But that's what we're up against. And the city staff only thing right now is to take away the CIP, which is what does roads. They're looking to move the street sweeping fund into the gas funds. That's why we have chipped pink curves instead of red curves. We are deferring maintenance here because we're allocating funding to the wrong things. What I need you to do, have the confidence that you're you're a committee.

Right? You can say, that's interesting, staff. I make a motion to study this item and to bring it as a recommendation to city council. And no offense to staff, there's nothing they can do to stop you. I need you to get something in front of the city council so that they can discuss it and debate it because I think there's support there. I can tell you their intent was never to have it opposite to fund and subsidize the general fund. It was never intended to fund full time equivalents of a staffer. Ever ever ever. It was never the intent. It was always intended to help us become the actual city of the arts.

So I need your help. So I think you might need a leader. Since Commissioner Darien, you're the one that emailed me back, maybe it's you. And then you get another person. Right? It's not that the commissioners are excluded, but you need kind of champions of this and someone to lead. Maybe you need a study session. You know, that might take too long, but that would be great to invite the members of the community to really get some support for the recommendation. But you guys really cannot accept this. I can't I can't accept just about any staff recommendation throughout the entire city right now because it's just wrong. Right? They're not looking at at taking down the climate action plan that the city spent $500,000 on. Right? That's

not

on the table. It's it's the basic role of government is is what's on the table, and that's it. I just I need some of your help. I I know when we get this to city council, you're gonna get support. So dream dream big and just give it that give it the little push that it needs to. So thank you for your time. I I you know, we could be having these meetings quarterly. It'd be exciting. Right? But we only have $20,000. We need to we need to be bigger and better. Thank you.

Are there any comments on Zoom?

There are no members on Zoom at this time.

I'm sorry, there's one more here in public. Good

evening. My name is Seema Mishra. I am actually the CEO of Vivace Designs. We're an LA based art and design company that has actually created over 200 murals worldwide. Part of our ethos is storytelling and actually telling the stories of local cities and uplifting that voice. In fact, I submitted a PowerPoint presentation to you all and what it really means to us and how powerful of a voice that is needed for those who are powerful proponents of the arts. I think it's coming up pretty soon here. Sorry about that. Thank you for

I don't know how to work

this. Really, what I want to talk about a little bit is the power of art as a storytelling mechanism. It helps to really create identity and knowledge and learning for cities. Is there a way to move this up? I got you.

Oh, cool. Oh, I understand. I got you. Sorry. Yeah, just slide it up real quick.

Our ethos at VivaCha Designs is to uplift humanity and transform public spaces through meaningful art that bridges culture, community, and creativity. Our goal is to bring people together to engage in new and authentic ways. And, we strongly believe that art is the way. One of the big ethos that we have as a company is when we do go into cities, and we're doing it in LA, we did it for the city of commerce, we just did it for the city of Spokane, Washington, it's all about sort of reimagining what art can do for the community, using the voices of the community to give back. So, when I look at your budget, and I I have so much respect for you all, but your public arts programming is very, very low.

If you wanna think big and you really want to be the city of arts I'm coming from Los Angeles no offense, we are the city of arts as well if you want to compete, we would love to help you. But you've got to allocate not only more money, but you've got to believe in the idea that we can actually do it and use the voice of the community to do so. We're happy to help you. It doesn't have to be us, but you have to recognize and believe in the fact that you need more money towards public art in order to actually see your vision come true to be the city of the arts. If you could just go down really quickly to I believe it's thank you so much.

Keep going down. A couple more. I'm happy to just show you really quickly what we're sorry. You can stop. Yeah. Right here. We just finished this series in Spokane, Washington. It's a magical series. It's 2,800 square feet, and it's all about what the earth can do for the land and for the people. And I wanna be very clear. They're trying to create the Pike Place Market right there, and they asked us to help reimagine and rein.

Thank you.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Michael Che Romero. I am an artist currently headquartered and living in Los Angeles. Today, I invite you to see the world not just with your eyes, but with your soul. To look beyond the concrete, steel, and glass that shape our cities, and instead witness the living canvas that holds the heartbeat of our communities.

I am speaking of public art, of place making, a language of color, form, and feeling that transcends words and bridges space between us. Public art is not simply decoration. It is a declaration. It is the soul of a place made visible. When we paint murals, install sculptures, and create interactive spaces, we are doing far more than beautifying walls.

We are telling stories. Stories of who we are, where we've been, and where we're going. We are planting seeds of belonging, healing old wounds, honoring culture, and celebrating the richness of human experience. Placemaking is the intentional act of designing not just structures, but spaces that breathe, spark connection, and foster pride. It is how we transform the mundane into the meaningful.

It's how we say you belong. Because when a place is infused with purpose, when art becomes part of the everyday landscape, it changes how people relate to that space and to each other. Art in public spaces invites conversation. It challenges assumptions. It empowers voices, especially those that have been silenced.

It turns sidewalks into sanctuaries. It turns parks into poems. It turns walls into windows for the soul. And perhaps most importantly, it creates equity. Public art is for everyone.

It asks for no admission. It asks only for your presence, your reflection, your engagement. Whether you are a child on a skateboard, an elder on a morning walk, a visitor passing through, or a resident of fifty years, the art speaks to all. In the world where division and distraction often dominate, place making reminds us of what it means to belong. It invites us to slow down, to feel something, to remember that this right here is our shared space, and that we have the power to shape it together. So

Thank you, mister Romero. We're moved by your words. Thank you. Comments from the commission?

Anybody on Zoom?

No. Sorry. Thank you. If there are no comments, shall we make a motion?

Madam chair, I can just make a quick clarification. So in regards to the commission's role, we can certainly have dialogues here and have discussions. But quite honestly, the directive has to come from counsel in regards to anything that they want to be presented with or that they want the commission to review. But that doesn't mean that the commissioners can't put something on the current agenda here for the arts. We can have those discussions and dialogue. But it has to be requested to move forward up to console. So I just want to make that clarification.

Thank you, Mr. Gruner. Powerful words from all of our presenters. I think it's great. And these are really powerful ideas. And I think we all would love to see, obviously, more visibility in our city. And that's why we're here to serve. I know myself, I will be speaking to the council member that appointed me, and I would encourage everyone on the commission to do the same, especially with regards to the budget. Also members of the public as well, please, I encourage you to speak to city council, and if you can't attend in person, I would encourage you to send in a public comment. Thank you.

And then as this is a receive and file, no motion is needed.

Thank you.

Just one additional question on the funds in front of us. This is no way a critique of the arts specialists. I'm very grateful for the arts specialists' work. I just have a more general question about the the budgeting of of the salary for miss Garner and and how it's included within the arts and culture master plan and thus funded through the cannabis tax revenue. Is that a given, or would that be seeing that she's a staff member moved into the general fund or that just have to essentially fall to the city council to approve some sort of movement of that? What would that look like to move over how she's paid?

Well, I think that's a little bit of a misunderstanding as well. I mean, you know, miss Gardner is an employee of the city. So that funding would be there unless there's some other drastic shift with employment in general here in Costa Mesa. But that would be part of the general funding, whether we have the cannabis funding or not. But that would be part of the ongoing funding process.

So just to clarify then, if we advocated in some way or another to the city council to remove the art specialist salary from the arts and culture master plan or what gets funded under that, they would just then deduct that amount. But they would say that that would be funded. If it's $400,000 they'd say, Okay, let's remove that $120,000 allocation as well as they think about it.

When the arts and culture master plan was adopted, there was no art specialist. There was no dedicated art staff employee. So, that's, I would assume, and Ms. Thomas can chime in. But, that's why it was essentially included in a master plan.

Say, if we were to get funding, because it's not guaranteed for an update to the master plan, would hope that that would not be part of the plan anymore because that plan has already been put into place. They would then move her, or if it was somebody else in the future, that person's salary into our general fund, which is currently already happening because a large portion of our master plan is supplemented by the general fund. And that position is included in a certain employee association at this moment. So, there are certain rights that are obviously bestowed upon that position now.

But

just a little bit broader thinking of it.

Yeah, thank you. I guess the one question that we're all trying to figure out and ask here is how do we get more money for the arts budget. Right? Obviously, there's this very real situation of the tax revenue and what's been put forth within the arts and culture master plan and thus, you know, what is already kind of a given or at least expected in some some sense or another. But but are there ways in which we can go about trying to beyond just simple advocacy? Is there a fundraising that can be done for this from from public efforts? Like, what what are our options here just looking at perhaps the immediate thing? Is Or it just simply we say, okay. Well, we're gonna go into the budget season. Whatever the council or the finance department and the city manager plus the council decide we get is what we get, and that's all we we have to do.

So, of course, first and foremost, absolutely reach out to your councilman. But also, if you've taken a look at our spotlight recently and you've seen an ad for sponsorships, I worked with Ms. Garner on a page dedicated to certain sponsorship properties. So we have now a sponsorship deck for a majority of our major events here in the city that we can solicit donations and sponsorships for, but also a page dedicated to the arts. So specifically, a public art trying to look yes, and establish a well sponsored public art fund through sponsorships, right?

We're just launching it, and we're just getting our feet wet in what this looks like. And, this would be outside of all the other events. We're looking at this as a separate sponsorship page, and as a deck, if you will. And then, she also has the utility box sponsors advertised in there. So, we're trying to get our feet wet in, you know, what other ways and creative ways that we can look into it outside of the budget process, because we do know that there's art donors out there and art sponsors that are really invested in the arts who want to look to contribute. And so we're looking to tap into that population and see what comes of it.

And if I just may add to that real quick. To let the commission know that the parks and community services department here in Costa Mesa is relatively young. Prior to twenty nineteen, twenty eighteen, it was part of public works. And the funding that the parks and community services had at that time was about half of what we have now. So you can imagine the acceleration with programming and activities that has occurred over the last five years is actually pretty remarkable.

And so we certainly want to continue that. And that's the dedication from the council. And that's proof right there that they're dedicated to parks and community services and the arts. So it's going to be an ongoing process. And I just want to be realistic about what we can achieve. I think with the team that we have currently in place, they've done a great job just really accelerating all the initiatives in that master plan. And we're going to move forward with the second master plan and further develop that. So it's a work in progress. And everything takes a little bit of time. But unfortunately, we live in a society where we want everything now. Now, now, now. And realistically, it's going to take time to develop. And we're going to get there. And we're going to be big. And we're going to do great things, without a doubt.

So that's all I want add to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Werner. Are you ready to adjourn if there are no further comments?

I have one. I'm sorry.

I know I've been talking a lot this this evening. I was gonna make this earlier, but I I saved it as we were warming up, and now it feels like we've really really gotten there. You know, we are entering into next year America two fiftieth, so it is the semi quincentennial celebration, the two hundred fiftieth celebration of the Declaration of Independence being signed on 07/04/1776. This is a, I think, a major opportunity nationally, of course, to reflect on on American history and American culture and its accomplishments and the ever evolving and developing story of America. But it's a perfect time, I think, well to reflect on who we are as a community.

Again, this evening has been filled with conversation as to how we get more money and how can we spend more money. But I have been talking with with various citizens as well and just trying to figure out, you know, what would be an incredible contribution. And I think a way in which we can kind of partake in that and try and encourage the city council and other constituents within our community businesses, private individuals, and so forth to to participate. And having talked with a number of people, you know, one interesting idea that was raised, and I just like to raise it here and commend it to us to consider. I don't know exactly what we do with it.

I guess perhaps we'd have to find private partners to to pursue it more. But I think it'd be wonderful to do a series of murals around town. Perhaps you do one in the district. Perhaps you focus it along harbor, something of this sort. But but a city of murals, especially reflecting on the interesting history of our community, you know, what it is that actually makes us up. Right? You have the the old native villages of Ganga and Luckup. I've looked this up. There's the Adobe House nearby. There's the towns of Fairview and Harper, the Santa Ana Army base, many more.

And I think those would be just really interesting ways in which we could depict our history and who our community actually is in some sense and how we've developed to where we are. And then of course, maybe perhaps a contemporary or modern day reflection. But that's just one idea. An individual I talked with said, well, of course, then you could start pairing with food things because Costa Mesa is known as a really kind of foodie place with a bunch of eateries. Just working with private business and trying to figure out what would a public private partnership look like.

Again, I don't know what money we have to make that happen and if we can even lobby our relevant council members that that have selected us and and try and convince them of this wonderful idea and what else would be required to do so. But but, again, just trying to think big and say, you know, what's possible and how can we even get perhaps private interests and partner with local businesses who care about this and have, say, beautiful fronts along harbor that are big blank spaces and encourage them to open that up and see if there are ways in which we can be creative about funding it and receiving those donations. I don't know. There are, I think, creative avenues for us to explore in that sense. Speaking of murals, I saw this and I was sad that they didn't submit anything to us.

But the new Chick fil A that just opened up today, actually here's a little plug for them, not that I don't know how many people are at home watching. But on Newport Boulevard, they have this great mural. I think it's by an artist's name. I sent this to someone earlier. Let me find it. Noah Elias. It's a fun you know, it's very Chick fil A. It has their branding and everything, but it's a surfer and the the various lifeguard towers and whatnot. And and I thought that was wonderful. I'm just right there at Long Harbor. So I think, you know, people are already starting to do this, and and I just wanna encourage us to think about that. And Perhaps we can have various conversations offline to get a bit more creative before we bring a discussion forward here. But that's it. I'll shut up now. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair DeDarian. I just have one quick comment. Newport Mesa Unified is having their senior showcase on April 24, four to 7PM at the Norma Herzog Community Center. There will be free food, wonderful art, and I would encourage you to attend.

Chair Chua, I would like to also add any correspondence received for today's meeting is also available on the city website.

Thank you, Ms. Batua. Comments? I would like

to add something. I think it's important that we continue, and I think Commissioner Ashtenberg can attest to this, but as we go through the next phase of our master planning, all these ideas are great. And I think we want to foster the community all these ideas. The beauty of these master plans, it helps prioritize, helps secure funding, it helps us advocate for funding. So, I think this next year, and hopefully we get that update funding, and so we can go through that process again, engage the community, engage stakeholders, engage this body here. But bringing those ideas to the table in this next year when we do this update. It allows for everyone to prioritize, and let's get some money, and so we can bring these big grand ideas, and let's bring them to fruition. That's my only thing to add. Thank you.

It's an exciting time. All right. Should we adjourn? Okay. I will now adjourn the meeting to our next regularly scheduled meeting at 05/01/2025 at pm. It is 07:59PM. Thank you.