Public Art Commission - Special Meeting

thank you so much I another woman and I were on a different screen and so Barbara maybe do you know who B with or oh Bonnie bur Bonnie Bonnie yeah she's on she's on the other screen do you have can somebody text her this link um I also I just had it in my calendar invite and I clicked on that link and it brought me into like not a zoom but a different platform yeah we need to maybe get that get that clear yeah Bonnie is going to join us uh a as a guest um I wonder if we can send her how to sign on um I can actually do it on my phone probably I can probably get into that link oh that would be great on Andrea if you could do that M for one sec yeah just so you know Elizabeth and this has happened before I do end up having a literally register through Google uh before I get the zoom link so I don't yeah I did too today and I said I'll just bite the bullet and go right for it so I registered first yeah so I'm gonna actually show you how I did it because I was trying to make it easier this time and clearly that did not work so in the invite I put the link with all the agenda in it when you click on it were you able to see that no no I just clicked on to attend register and then uh uh I had to register with all my name and address and all that and and that's fine so you couldn't see this when you when you clicked through the invite uh I don't think so let me actually yeah Elizabeth I think I did I see I think if I'm just looking at your

the smaller screen on the left not the calendar in the background but okay so when I click on the calendar invite that I sent you yeah this is in that yes but I still ended up being directed to Google meet and then oh you clicked on this is like I see what you're saying well no even when I clicked below not just on the Google I clicked on what now I got the whole agenda Elizabeth uh well anyway we we'll figure out how to how to do it yeah it's just kind of cumber the whole thing is I was trying to make it simpler clear did not make it simpler you're doing a fine job Elizabeth as always yeah yeah Andrea when you were in the wrong place was it because you were in Google meet so what it went directly as like when I got the Evite and I accepted that's so when I went into my calendar I went join and that's where it took me that's where Bonnie was and I just went into that and and she's not there anymore so if someone wants to send her the link to the zoom I don't have her uh contact info I can do that okay yeah all right so with with a quorum should we just get started or should we wait uh I haven't seen anything uh from uh aren or uh or Le uh good uh so I don't know whether I from either one of them all right well we'll just we'll move on then uh we've got a lot of wonderful things to cover uh and with the people who are here that's uh that's a plus is four four out of our seven so uh let me start right in uh we have a an agenda of about

uh seven wonderful things to talk about so I'm going to start right at the top and I'll ask as always everyone to join in with comments questions and Robin has a couple of reports for us as well so uh at the top of the uh of the list the Michael borderers show uh that is still on and progressing I actually uh spoke with Michael borders just an hour ago uh and uh uh a number of us uh have met with him at the uh Philly house Barn where uh we spent quite some time in quite a cold day uh laying out his panels and measuring uh and uh he has asked and this is for your benefit as well as everyone Robin uh that he come to the barn again next week uh to do measurements so I got a call from him I was afraid he was going to say well he changed his mind but he didn't he's moving right along uh and he wants to do more measurements and uh we're planning this as we uh said previously uh uh for probably uh the middle of May we'll look at Mother's Day and try to do it after that uh through uh June while we can still uh have uh some students attend and uh it's a it's a nice time of year for people to see a show so that is uh item one I don't know if you want to add anything Robin on that topic because were with us when uh we uh we saw Michael last uh just the only thing I would add is uh that I have a Ironwood Community Partners meeting on Friday of this week and Ron marquetti will be there and he

um as you may recall Bob I'm not sure if the rest of you um know who he is but he's a wonderful longtime Bloomfield resident uh former uh teacher And he as a matter of fact not too long ago he and Dale beroldy did a uh kind of historic house tour in and around Bloomfield with some students and the reason I mentioned that is uh we may try to connect with him uh to figure out a way to have a bus load of students come to the Michael borders exhibit so terrific terrific and uh we we have uh Al schwap who's our town manager uh joining us now and uh uh we had just started Al so just to bring you up up to date I was reporting and Robin was adding uh that the Michael border show which we have playing for next spring is is on schedule uh and Michael is working with us uh to take measurements and uh all the preparation for that so we're meeting with him again next week uh and uh just for the uh uh commission's uh purpose uh good to see you Al thank you for joining us uh he's muted so you might want to that's okay unless he wants to U join in uh we do uh have uh sufficient funds in our current years's uh fiscal budget uh we have not actually spent in this year because interestingly the the show in May was in last year's fiscal budget so we still have our our budget for this year which should be sufficient to uh allow us to present the Border show so that's that's item one on

our agenda uh item two I'd like to again turn over to Robin uh ining that we attended the Bloomfield a photo uh show of trees and I'll ask Robin to tell about that and what our involvement is going to be going forward Robin yeah um thank you Bob it was the trees for Bloomfield photo contest and uh that has been a wonderful townwide initiative that I believe both Sharon man and Paula Jones started a handful of years ago and it's uh quite successful and uh people can submit photos each it's a once a year event um they recently held the awards ceremony at the Leisure Services building or the parks and wreck building I never know there's so many names for it I never know how to refer to it but anyway it was a terrific event um I happened to have been asked by Paula Jones to be one of the judges so I was there and Bob attended as well um but Paula Jones has tapped us uh the Bloomfield art commission to perhaps partner with them um in the coming year and so of course you know we felt that that might be a really wonderful thing to uh add our uh ideas and creativity to and uh Andrea I know you have a particular interest in uh photography so we can uh talk more about that but yeah it's a wonderful event they print the winning photos and have them on display for a period of time at the Leisure Services building and then I believe if there it's if it's similar to what they've done in years past it's a movable exhibit and then

they move them from that building to town hall the library and uh anyway it's just a a really wonderful uh event in a great way for people and you don't have to be a professional by the way these are amateur photographers so uh anyone can submit and Robin uh if I may uh add in uh to that uh there has been some discussion that as long as uh they're asking us to be involved uh uh in this uh show uh that the commission might be interested in expanding this uh with them uh to some other uh medium uh so uh in addition to photography uh and and this is up for discussion and your input as our commissioners uh um we might add uh some uh children's exhibit for instance next year or uh uh other uh forms of uh keeping their their theme uh trees because they have been very successful in in uh planting trees for Bloomfield around the the city but maybe uh water color contest or something up for grabs as long as we're being involved rather than just put our name on the on the uh poster uh we thought we uh we might have some input so that's up for discussion uh going down going down the road uh anyone at this point have any questions or comments on those and then there's a whole bunch of wonderful things to still talk about yeah yes I was able to um talk to Paula about that too and I think um Beyond helping with the scope of it it's also all the all

the stuff that leads up to it so the volunteer end I think they need help with too um I let her know that I I would also be interested in helping great well thank you Elizabeth yeah uh I mean and as we are attempting to do and and I might say I'm pleased with having some success we're we're starting to to show up as a presence in town uh for the Arts and how we can connect with the Arts uh the next item on my list uh and I think you'll all get a kick out of this but it is actually moving ahead uh in a particular interest to Elizabeth perhaps we've talked in the past about the tree that was saved uh from the front lawn of of the library uh I don't recall if I had already reported in last month's uh Commission meeting I went to visit the tree I told someone that and they said what what do the tree have to tell you but uh Public Works has done a wonderful job of uh saving this uh putting it to dry uh out on their land uh it is uh a uh section of the tree which is it's a pin oak and it is 10 feet long and has a five foot caliper which means uh that's how wide it is across the midle uh so it is a hugely uh uh a huge opportunity for us uh to do something fun we've discussed in the past and this is moving along a bit that maybe we could have a beay carved out of it uh and we've been batting around some ideas I actually found four artists who could potentially do this work two are uh too geographically remote out but I had a very lengthy conversation with one

uh just yesterday uh and uh he is quite expert at doing this kind of thing with a chainsaw that's the way you uh you sculpt Uh Wood of this size uh and he is very eager to uh meet with us I will fill you in on more details about him and we're batting around some ideas but one of them that has come up and uh we discussed with this fellow and he said actually uh he could accomplish this is perhaps having a bear uh sitting on the lawn of the library uh and I said sitting reading a book and he said he thought that he could accomplish that he's done that in the past something like that so it's still early but the report is this progress we actually can get it done I will tell you that the budgetary item I was pleasantly surprised the first fellow I spoke to was in Maine and he said well it'll be 20 to $40,000 and I said thank you very much we'll get back in touch with you uh this fellow who is more local he's in bethl Conneticut uh said he would probably be able to do it for $33,000 so that is very doable uh uh and when I say doable we are of course in a mode where every project the commission is taking on now we will be looking for funding elsewhere um the town is giving us a budget each year and we appreciate that but for things like this uh we intend to and are starting to develop a plan to tap the local uh corporations that have connection with Bloomfield uh foundations I uh met with uh at a holid holiday event last month uh the uh

new chair of the Greater Hartford Arts Council who actually uh used to be uh the first chair of this commission uh when she lived in Bloomfield uh she's now in Hartford and we're meeting with them they may be able to uh help fund us so we're really um we're establishing ourselves so uh the the wood bear uh which of course has to meet uh Elizabeth's criteria the library committee and we would hope the commission will take up uh any uh designs and and forward movement uh and uh we'll report back to you on that but that's a very very positive uh a development uh any questions comments or thoughts on the subject of the bear sculpture Andrea please um have you seen his prior work yes and I will send uh a a link to his website uh where we can all see it needless to say I have not progressed any further than a phone call and he wants to come see the woods so he can tell us what he can do with it uh but yes uh I will make a note to send everyone his uh his uh uh web uh uh connection and it is very impressive he's done a lot uh and he's he's a full-time professional artist using a chainsaw so um I'm making a note send link any other thoughts questions uh Bob I I may know somebody who um is also a chainsaw artist who great might be interested I'll I'll check it out and let you know let us know let us know and uh our uh our

thoughts at this point are of course we've as I said said we're collecting information have made no commitments uh and uh so we're open to more information uh and uh as well uh timing on this and this is very much in Elizabeth's uh domain and um and the library committee uh there's nothing that says this has to be accomplished by the day the library opens uh the library wants to have its own opening and establish itself as the new library and if this gets done uh you know some period maybe uh during the summer or or the fall uh as as a completed project we still have plenty of time uh to develop that so um Elizabeth any thoughts questions concerns I also I was also able to meet with Dan and go look at the wood Bob I thought Dan said that it needed more time outside to I don't know if I'm using the right terminology to cure yes uh but that's why I just said Elizabeth uh there's no need for us to rush uh to get this done in the next six months uh at when the library opens uh that wood will have been curing for about two years okay because I couldn't remember how much longer he had recommended yeah yeah no you're quite right and that's one of the reasons that this fellow uh and others if they want to come bid on it uh want to inspect the wood in person uh it's not just simply we got a piece of wood would you come do it they want to look at it they want to check it out and see uh if it uh uh it is suitable but how how they would attack it you know uh and he said of course we have to look to see how it's

drying if there are insects uh all those things he's aware of and by the way just a little detail for us all to pay attention to uh the um uh when he completes it he actually uh preserves it with some special products which he says are used on log cabins uh so uh he he's an expert in this and uh we will be open to looking for others um Bob I have one other question please Neil go ahead um and I may have missed this because I'm rather new to the public art commission um do we have any provisions in uh our government for funding public art on public buildings when you say in our government are you talking about I mean I mean the the town budget is is there is there any kind of uh um yeah dedicated language or provision uh that that ows that to happen or uh to to tell you just my limited knowledge and I don't know whether Al wants to comment or would prefer not to uh there is nothing that I know of where there's a special budget allocated for uh public art in town there are uh events and I'm going to talk about one in a minute uh that um the town has in the past supported and uh I imagine it would need to go through uh finance and and possibly even the Town Council to uh to approve uh but on a case-by casee basis yes uh in the past I I do think the town has lent some

additional support uh most importantly uh in uh in uh services and uh uh employee support uh they as I said the public works is helping us with with this particular project and have been very Cooperative uh Al did you have a comment on that or not yeah I I have a comment good evening and and happy New Year to all and and thank you for the opportunity to to speak to you as a as a collective um uh very excited for 2025 and and all the positive things it's going to bring to our community and uh it just so happens um last week Elizabeth myself um uh Matt chis from from um from our facilities director uh Dave mesco uh as everyone knows Dave uh we were present with an artist uh we met with an artist and and and from that uh discussion uh came a a lot of positive um thoughts uh that that that spoke to enhancing our environment and um uh from everything from um uh how our our street signs are are are um are decorated with with um with signs of Bloomfield to perhaps looking into murals on the sides of some buildings uh to um impacting our library and um and what I came away with from that discussion and uh and and I don't know if this is was accurate or not is that uh there currently exists like a $5,000 budget uh that commission that this commission has uh to function and um so I'm I'm curious to know how how does that um align with uh communities that um really take the Arts

in in the in the most uh conscientious uh serious way to enhance uh their their environments uh what what is happening in other communities in terms of that funding uh because I I want to see where we can place ourselves at least in requesting uh through the budget process um similar type funding uh to see uh what we can what we can do from the town side to possibly um complement uh resources that uh you already mentioned that you may be looking to to tap into as uh possible Revenue sources um but I think um we have to we we have to um have some meat in the game right you have to have some skin in the game and uh and it doesn't seem to me like $55,000 uh comes close to uh really changing anything in in town when it comes to the Arts so um I would love to have a follow-up discussion and and we won't need to bring everyone in but I would love to have a follow-up discussion where we can um talk about um what uh a a a reasonable realistic uh budget would be because um in in my world as I was thinking about this last week it would be awesome to like have a an artist as a consultant right so if we want something we we already have that that artist already here and and and you know a list of artists already at our disposal that we can say okay we're looking to do this project at at at town hall or we're looking to do this project you know uh we may have some influence in convincing kacos to do something on the side of um on the side of um what do you call it um Planet Fitness right that's a huge wall there and I think that that huge wall there is probably be going to waste where it could be used to exactly showcase Bloomfield as someone coming in

from that side of town it could be a huge billboard of um of uh displaying you know who we are as a community and and so on so forth we can we can find those places throughout town and and probably with some cooperation of businesses look to do something elsewhere as well so um but I think first and foremost we we need to understand um what right looks like from those communities that are are are are truly committed to to this type of uh uh initiatives and and once we get that then um we can see where we would stand with Bloomfield and the timing is now because we're starting to put together absolutely the budget for for next fiscal year and um and I can tell you that there's a lot of apprehension about um spending money because of obviously the the reval and and everything that goes with that we have a very fiscally conservative uh Council but um but you you you don't know what you can get a let you ask and to ask may I respectfully ask who who was the artist you spoke with and I I wish that uh the uh the Arts commission had known about it we would like to be included in in future meetings because these are all agenda items we have been discussing for some years improving the signage the murals we're very involved with this and we'd like to stay involved so who is the artist that you met with um that was uh Sophie uh grunstein grunstein grunstein Sophie grunstein and who is she that's that's that's her name no I mean what how was she brought in well she wasn't brought in to be honest with you um I I happened to know her cousin and her cousin her cousin um realized my position and um and told me that uh you know he had somebody who was good in the Arts uh you had any thoughts about doing any artwork in Bloomfield and this had been kicking

around in my mind I said actually we do you know and then um I mentioned her name I mentioned her name to Dave and Dave said that he knew her because she may have been a part of the mural that's on 3:30 Park AV at least the group that she's associated with so so from there some some connects were made and and nothing was cemented it was just uh good to okay well we would appreciate it you know since we we've met with you a number of times and you've been wonderful about being supportive of the Arts that that we're included in these as an item you'll hear today and uh and uh uh Robin and and Wendy who's just joined us a moment ago uh can comment we actually have assembled a directory of people in the town of Bloomfield it's now I believe uh Wendy with the additions that Robin has provided well over 75 people who've registered and and and you know and that's what motiv me to be on the call tonight with you because Elizabeth Elizabeth knew that all that background and so you know through Elizabeth she said you know um these things may already be in in place at least some structure to to um to start some of these thoughts well we love what you're doing we just like to coordinate with you so we're all on the same page yeah yeah that's great that's great so I you know I wasn't making the jump from the enhanc of the Town through ART with you know the Arts itself like the theaters and and and the Arts exhibits and all that kind of stuff that that that didn't go like this to me but uh but after Elizabeth said so then it it sort of made more sense so yeah definitely moving forward we we'll make concertive efforts and that that will be how we'll do business wonderful thank you thank you and that actually brings us uh since we're talking about dollars and I'm so glad that Bonnie burth uh could join us you'll see her at the bottom of the screen and and Bonnie is

the chair of our uh Economic Development commission that I also uh serve on uh and we've invited her to uh to join us uh generally but for a very specific topic and that is we've discussed in the past that uh we'd like to revive or even not talk about Reviving but start again the drum Festival in Bloomfield uh Bonnie was instrumental in having uh this presented uh between 1999 and 2005 uh and it was a rather substantial undertaking uh I have met with her and spoken with her about a number of things and I'd ask her to maybe just give us a few comments but one of them to put on the page and this goes to your comments about funding Al uh is uh the last time they did this which was 20 years ago it cost $65,000 and they were able to get the sponsorship of Corporations and Foundations and donors to underwrite that so it is doable and that's why we're thinking in terms of uh getting additional funding and we appreciate everything we can get that the town would support but I'm a taxpayer in this town too so I know there are limits to what the Town Council can uh authorize but but there are a lot of uh entities in town with a lot of money that we'd like to ask to help support the Arts so Bonnie would you uh introduce yourself and just uh uh give us a couple of comments about what's involved with the uh with the drum Festival all I can say Bob before before Bon starts is some people don't need any introduction okay so so well I just meant to say hi all

right all right all right yes yes thank you nice to see you in person yeah hello everyone thank you very much for inviting me to the meeting sorry I had a little bit of technical difficulty getting in here but I am here and I can see you and I guess you can see and hear me um the first thing I want to do is I want to correct I wasn't quite sure if the last time we did the festival was 2005 it wasn't it was 2004 from my notes I we had sold copaco Shopping Center in March of 2005 and I was pretty sure that at that point I wasn't involved in the festival however I've been involved over the years very deeply involved with the chamber and the Chamber was a driving force really behind this um I don't know if anyone Wendy if anyone else has been around long enough to uh have remembered the festival you nodding a great event yeah you know and and it kind of grew um we started it in 1999 we we figured it was going to cost us about 60,000 $40,000 cost us a little more than that but it was interesting I went through the bu I won't Bor B you with it now but basically after the first year we were able to self fund or get very close to self-funding a lot of that had to do with the chamber being very generous which it may or may not be in that ability to do that things have changed for Chambers uh siga was a $20,000 contributor and that was let's remember 20 years ago with a lot of inflation we have to deal with um and we were able to sell sponsorships we were able to sell boosts um it was it was truly a community event it was truly an intergenerational event and it would it was meant I started this event and I started it because I wanted to celebrate the distinctive character of Bloomfield and

that is our diversity and I think that sometimes we want to kind of make it milk toasty we're not we're we're a whole bunch of different people Liv living together interacting with one another and doing it pretty well most of the time you know better than most drums are like the heartbeat drums speak to everyone drums are in every kind of culture and I looked at the very last uh time that we did the festival and I think we had drumming from either 15 or 18 different either cultures or religions um always had a drum circle drum circles speak to everyone we had the original it's I think they're still around the original um marching band from somewhere in the southern part of the state that's still uses the brown drum um and I'm not going to keep on going on but I would love to be involved I'd love to to remind you of is whatever I remember doing I don't have a I don't have really in-depth notes but I do have notes on on the events and um I have an idea of how we can get started I'm going to reach out to some of the people that were involved with um Laura saw was one person who people may or may not know she's a a organizer and she was very involved with it there were the two women that ran the West Harvard um arts and craft show uh Barbara Belmont and I forget the other woman's name off the top of my head but um they also were involved with it for a while so I think it's a a great vehicle for the Arts commission and I would think it would be um just a I think it would be a very healing event for our community thank you for letting me join you today thank you Bonnie I'd like to just make uh uh two comments and one is a a respectful quote from ALS schap

because he was a speaker briefly at this uh uh trees for Bloomfield uh event just last month uh in which and I really appreciated what you said Al uh that he said you know we don't want to be uh a off or a mini version of West Hartford or Simsbury we want to be the very best Bloomfield that we are uniquely and we think this drum Festival is is a fabulous way to do that I will I will give a quick update uh something that Bonnie doesn't even know about she gave me the name of uh of of Vera uh Smith Winfrey who is the director of the chamber and I spoke with her today uh and uh she uh is very excited about the idea of our doing the drums again she said just don't let it conflict we have uh a uh and this may please you Al because we've talked about this uh she said we already have a date booked for the food truck festival uh September 13th and uh she said don't conflict with that and I quickly thought well wait a second uh we're not going to do two big events back to back uh I said would you consider that we share the dates for the uh food truck festival and we could work together with you and she said that's a possibility let's talk about it so we might actually already have half an event planned and underwritten that we could join in with get additional underwriting and uh we might not be able to have as big uh an event as uh Bonnie and her crew had 20 years ago but it could be a start with a number of Acts some drumming and so uh people are already uh

buying into the idea it's very very exciting uh report on that that is very exciting but the other things that were were components of the drum Festival from the start one was food the other was Art the other was a was a a farm to like a farmers market and there was always something for the children there was always some kind of an arts and crafts I think think what we did the first year I think they made drums the first year so that's something we really want to think of because if you bring the kids the adults will come with them you'll have well and one of the people I've spoken with uh who actually specializes this this is his thing uh in doing shows uh drumming shows for kids is a a fellow named Robert godfried Rob godfried who is a well-known drummer he lives in West Hartford but I've already spoken with him about our drum Festival he is a uh a colleague and has drummed with J Mo who is someone we've talked about but also Rob godfried has drummed with Ginger Baker and all the top drummers really in the world and he's very interested in helping us with our Festival so uh this could move along quite interestingly and we would love to get everyone on the commission here uh involved in uh in participating contributing to ideas Etc uh any other comments questions suggestions on that item Al please uh and and not so much on that item but I do uh look forward to opportunity to engage and and discuss some more and and see what that looks like if it's if it can be our reality this year or not but um but this is just a lot of good energy and and I I I bring compliments uh to to you Rob and and Robin leading leading the charge and making these things happen uh we need to

get together again real soon I I I like to look at how we can approach this strategically to to Really um focus our efforts because we we plan if we throw everything in the air but we plan for nothing then everything's just goingon to come crashing down so we really need to see what's within our our scope and abilities to to make happen because whatever we do even if we do one thing let's knock it out the park you know one thing in in spectacular fashion leave a good taste on people's mind than than 10 things that are that are sort of like ah whatever you know it could have been I could have spent my time elsewhere right so uh so but I think we need to capture what those things are and and we really need to think in terms of the the resources needed because when you talk about um having events here in the center of town we start to talk about impact on traffic uh impact on Public Works impact on policing so there there's some things that that go along with that so I I do believe uh combining events uh is is a force multiplier so that you don't have to keep tapping on those resources that makes things more expensive but U but I'm looking forward to um some more dialogue I'm I'm I'm pressed against the hard time of 6 PM right now because I I have a public safety call I have to jump over to but um but I look forward if if you and Robin want to come to the office and and and Elizabeth has another full-time staff going to come to the office everybody's welcome but it's been you and Robin so uh I just mentioned you too uh but uh if you want to come to office and and and really uh share with me your thoughts this is your commission right this is your you're driving this thing we will set that up with you Al we look forward to it yeah but just and and all I'm doing I'm I'm not directing anything I'm I'm listening and and trying to be in a position where I can best support but um but I but in addition to that I

want to see if you do that homework as to how other um like bodies are being funded by their by their um communities um let's see what that looks like and and and see if we can um up that um that funding a little bit although it's hard times um for the Tom Bloomfield for this coming budget okay perfect thanks so very much Al for joining us thank thank you all your enthusiasm yes yes you have it you have me you had me locked in from the time we first met and I still want to do that that visit over there to torington just to see what they have going on with the over there we'll set a meeting with you anyone on the commission's welcome to join us but Robin and I uh will be happy to and I I think Bonnie would probably join us as well and we'll uh we'll lay out some plans and I know Elizabeth she she'll like to come along too and and well Elizabeth's always part of it that's what I'm talking about all right well thank you all I wish you and your families the very best I got to jump on to another call but thank you all have a great rest of your evening thank you thanks for joining thank you thank you uh well that's great those are the major projects and and we will go over in detail with Al uh uh and all of you but but we actually do have two uh that are already uh well underway the Border show is is is an event it's done uh and we already know that we can pay for that uh and the beay whatever we do with the with the uh uh wood is uh a project that's already underway and uh we believe is is doable so that can be realized uh the festival will we'll dig into and we'll see what can be accomplished uh I'm not ending things there's more to talk about uh just uh briefly uh uh the uh community meeting

uh we had discussed we wanted to have that and that still on our agenda Elizabeth uh just briefly uh and throw open for everyone's discussion uh we're thinking that's going to take a bit of uh organizing publicizing and coordinating with you of course for the use of the library uh tentatively we were going to propose uh that we perhaps could do it in March does that make sense to you Elizabeth and and the commissioners um yes I I just wanted to note that McMahon whittenbury Library which is going to be in and of itself I think and um and cultural experience we plan to have a soft opening of McMahon sometime mid-march um so I'm wondering if perhaps we could have that meeting there instead of the atrium Oh by all means it might be a fun way to attract people um and then I also wanted to know that this year for take your child to the library day we are hosting a um an African drummer his name is anara ramen um to perform an all ages show concert to celebrate Black History Month and take your child to the library day um so I just wanted to note that and then I just had one question for Bonnie Bonnie when did you say was the last time this um event happened the last notes that I have are 2000 4 and I think that may have been the last time because again we were kind of a paco was a driving force behind this and uh we gone by 2005 we were sold we were sold to another company I have a question um Bonnie um so what was the was everything taking place in the center of town on the town yeah I I wanted to mention to Al but he

had to leave what we actually did was we shut down uh Park Avenue between Jerome and and Bloomfield Avenue and um we had shuttles that ran from well what used to be the middle school so it would run it would run from 3:30 park into the center of town and there was parking in the in the parking lot and so it worked it it was the town green it was the Town Center I mean the yeah the town the town green the the uh the town hall area and then we use some of the front part of the parking area of the um of the winbury mall well as Al said and and if we can uh meet meet uh gently and politely with the chamber but but uh persuade them to share their date uh with us uh part of the uh lifting and as L was concerned the the cost to the town of of uh you know uh Public Works and police and all of that uh might be a way to bootstrap the drum Fest festival for this first year and have a a couple of Acts I will circulate for everyone when Bonnie sent me the poster for the last time they did it and I uh when I got through fainting I got her on the phone and she said believe it or not it's doable uh they had I I think something like 12 or 15 separate drumming performance acts through a day from 10 to 5:00 uh on multiple stages so I don't know whether we'll accomplish all of that uh this first year and I don't think you should I don't think you should I think you should start out slowly can I say something too I I don't think we should either because I think that celebrate Bloomfield is celebrate Bloomfield and that's what the chamber is running and I think if we want a true drum Festival I think we can bring in a little bit for

the drum festival and kind of work our way in but I agree with Bonnie it's a different experience yeah and to drop it on top of celebrate Bloomfield we had so many people there the last time I felt bad for Vera she never expected that sort of a you know never expected it so I wouldn't want to lose sight I believe we could maybe bring drummers in you know they had a lot of different um that might be sufficient yeah yeah and just kind of ease our way in with drummers in a little bit that way but I do agree with you Bob I don't want to do a ton of heavy lifting on top of it and I think it gets our name out there we can be a part of it but we don't have to have an entire Festival this year kind of work our way in I I think that's wise and we can all discuss that I I have uh I personally but speaking for the commission and everyone speaks for themselves uh have no ideas that we're going to accomplish everything to the nth degree in in one year we already have a couple of major projects underway uh and uh that uh if we if we had even one or two events or or a drum circle on the side or someone leading some drumming uh that might be a wonderful way to share just as we are going to uh try to share with the trees for Bloomfield and and introduce ourselves small to start I agree absolutely yep one more thing I would also strongly urge the commission to hire somebody to help you with this um I gave you I gave you one name uh it's it's not an exorbitant amount issue to have an event planner but they have the connections they they know the people um like I said Laura did a fabulous job as did the other two women when we brought them in and um you're still going to do a ton of work okay that's just how it is no matter whether you have one stage or four stages but um you need it makes it

so much easier if someone who's done it uh I agree and understand that that uh uh and when we spoke Bonnie I realiz that that that would be the key none of us is going to uh pick up and run an entire Festival e even Wendy as you said for for one event uh it's a lot of lifting but uh to get some uh expertise and that uh I know from business experience that's a a a self-funding uh hire uh someone who helps you with that kind of planning also helps uh with getting the money to pay them for it so uh that would be a plus definitely um okay uh the last item really I have on the list uh is uh uh to tell you that uh uh we have been approached by John capadona who uh you all I believe should know is the new director of the Historical Society in town and we are meeting with him later this month uh anyone who would like to join us is welcome of course uh to discuss how we can well basically co-promote things the historical society is trying to uh make their presence uh more known uh and uh uh we'd like to coordinate again it's the same theme you're hearing multiple times uh partner with other organizations to bring the Arts uh to town Arts component uh as Al said uh uh he had this meeting uh uh that was brought to him uh and we certainly do want to be involved in those kinds of meetings going forward uh so that that's all I have uh on my agenda is there anything else new or that we should

introduce uh to discuss and then I believe uh we just have our uh our minutes to review open for couple comments if I may please please Robin um first of all just quickly going back to F I love the idea of a drum Festival but I do agree that you know we should do it right if we're going to do it we should do it very thoughtfully and uh start small and build uh from there um and not having children in the school system I'm curious if I have a wonderful memory when I was at Harford public high many many years ago of uh a drill team performing during football game and it blew me away they were just so much fun and they had of course you know I don't know what types of drums but it was just I'm just thinking that wouldn't that be cool to see our if Bloomfield High has a drill team that perhaps they could be part of the the drum Festival um and on top of that this is on a different subject Bob but uh connecting to the home uh funding of events and so forth does it make sense to uh mention the 1% set aside we remember 1% for Arts we talked about absolutely uh quite a while ago what I don't remember is if that is already written and is was that part of our mission statement or let let me explain on that I introduce that uh when the uh the town was uh doing their uh strategic plan I submitted a document suggesting that however uh uh 1% of for the Arts I'll just give comments and

throw it open for anyone uh uh requires actually an ordinance it has to be written it has to be written into the legal regulations of the Town Charter uh which which Goes to Town Council and uh the planning and zoning it's a big deal uh and in addition in the short range short term uh if we're going around to the major corporations and asking them to start supporting us even on things uh uh like uh uh the the small drum festival or or the bear sculpture if if it is going to be a bear um we don't want to scare them uh by saying oh yeah by the way we're going to require you to pay 1% of all your uh development work uh for the Arts that's a long-term uh project but we haven't forgotten about it uh we should we should be keeping it on our on our low burner I was also agenda call if it was it specifically just for state and government buildings or am I wrong about that was or what you're you're wrong uh uh the the history of it is uh starting with very large cities like Houston uh in New York by the way uh but all the way down to small towns in Connecticut there are 29 towns in Connecticut that have 1% for the Arts written into their uh town uh um uh ordinances uh so uh it hasn't been defined but it's intended that uh we would have to work with the planning and zoning and building department Etc what the qualifying requirement are uh if you if you put a new roof on on your house a single family house we're not going to

uh require that you pay 1% but if you're if you're building 40 apartments in the center of town uh the ordinance would contemplate that but that's a ways off I see it is a way open for discussion anyone who has questions comments or thoughts on that I think it's a ways off I would agree with you Bob I I think there's a lot of other things that are running in ahead of it yeah fortunately or unfortunately but I I feel like we could try it but at least in the next year or two I not sure that we would get too far we would do a lot of heavy lifting and yeah have to go through tpcs like you said and I'm not sure that we would get that far I yeah I you yeah if you don't mind I can tell you that it comes up in our design review meetings with uh properties in apart in particular apartments and buildings that we've reviewed and we have asked the developers to uh you know make make an effort um through we don't have the power to force them to do it right but in our advisory uh capacity we um stress that point of public art or some accommodation some lands set aside where maybe a sculpture can be placed or so forth so we're pushing it um without without teeth but um and we haven't met any particular resistance um for example uh the the new apartments that are over by the by Republic uh Butler is supposed to be you know I don't think he's done it yet but I think he will um adhere to some sort of some of our

recommendations and right do something so we're you know we're working on that but um for some reason I thought there was something that was good that was part of um public buildings were always funded with some money for public art I was just wrong but well thank you thank you Neil that's very very useful Elizabeth please I wanted to say that I did put the 1% request um on the town manager's radar and I think that when we talk to him again we should further um discuss that and perhaps show him that list of 29 towns wonder it would help him um in moving forward with that um also when we had that meeting last week um I know that we had somebody from the public works team who was also interested in eliciting our help when when trying to think quickly and that that's the thing a lot of times when we're we're trying to get projects done it's like it's so fast yeah um as we're getting in those end stages so I know that um somebody from Public Works was like wow I really love to balance ideas off the public art commission um my next question was um do we have a date set for the Michael borders event and what is it uh we do not but we probably should pick that and we could look at a calendar right now and and uh discuss it uh vote on it or I don't know I don't have a a clock in front of me I don't want to yeah 617 we're doing pretty well uh uh does anyone want to uh discuss that right now we could pin it down because Michael is totally amenable we we can tell him when we want to put it on what's so I guess my big question is what's going to be the leg work ahead of it like uh Robin that Robin what's the you

did the last I'll give a couple of coms and ask Robin ask Robin to jump in uh unlike uh the uh Festival where uh we we had to hire police and and all of that this is going to be uh an ongoing exhibit uh probably although again to pin it down exactly uh three-day weekends say a Friday Saturday Sunday uh I was interested to see and you would know more about this Elizabeth than than any of us uh major museums now are not open uh every day of the week they are only open several days of the week so uh we've discussed this with Michael uh and we would uh probably the major uh things necessary would be helping him Mount the exhibit which we can have volunteers uh do that and that's just literally heavy lifting uh and we will get people to help with that we'll put out the word uh and he will uh he will obtain his own Vehicles so we'll uh uh to transport we will reimburse him for that and then the big item uh and then please jump in Robin is doents people who are sitting uh and uh uh answering questions making sure people are safe uh even if we have a crowd uh monitoring how many people go through the exhibit at a time Robin do you want to add to that and then everyone please jump in yeah I mean just uh to kind of reiterate we we were talking about doing it over the course of several weekends and we want to make sure we don't run into like we did with the found out Festival uh we want to avoid uh Mother's Day we know that from from last time even though it was still

a very successful Festival but yeah to your point Wendy I I actually feel like this will be a Qui type of okay uh thing it's not going to be a festival it's literally just a oneman show if you will and so I am ma in my mind I'm just imagining it being you know people coming to check it out on a Saturday or a Sunday uh afternoon it'll be limited hours um but we absolutely are going to need uh volunteer dosent and that's where hopefully some of the Historical Society people who helped us with the found out found out uh f uh can also uh join us or partner with us again and Wendy you were terrific about getting people to as well so yeah we're just gonna you know the major thing is going to be promoting it you know and advertising it and getting some press in advance uh to get you know Michael the attention I think he deserves for this kind of Epic large scale to provide some some helpful information uh Mother's Day this year is on the 11th of May uh and so uh tentatively I'll just put it out for discussion we could have uh Michael's show start on the 16th which is the following Friday and if we wanted it to run for for four weeks it would run through June 6th if we extended it uh another week say it would uh go through the weekend of the 13th to 15th and the contemplation again is as we've discussed is to make sure that this show uh is still uh is able to be uh shown when people are still in town and uh kids are still in school because part of uh the whole uh concept of this is that

Michael has agreed uh that he would do small uh student groups where uh he could have uh uh classes from high school or middle school come and he could explain it uh because there's quite a bit of fascinating information in the panels which is artistically exciting but historically he knows everything that's gone in there uh and so for four or five weeks it could be the weekends starting uh uh May uh 13th and 14th should we uh contemplate that and vote on it without it being binding uh what would you all like to do Elizabeth please I have a couple questions regarding liability yes uh please go ahead but but do let me jump in with one item okay this has come up uh and that is that the liability for the uh for the property we've looked into it because Ironwood as you know manages the property for the town uh the uh property is covered under the town's liability policy so the only liability insurance that would be required and we will reimburse for that is for his art and he would obtain the insurance for that and we would pay him okay for the insurance now if there are other questions on that please go ahead yes um having the artist and or volunteers helping Mount that could somebody her doing that yep that's my next question yep uh it's possible uh and he's done it uh he he's been doing this show for for more than 20 years uh and so uh we'd

want to be careful and and uh if someone was injured uh doing this on Town property I suppose there would be something we'd have to deal with the town on to yeah maybe it would be prudent to have uh to requ EST that Public Works assist yes oh by all means so perhaps instead of having that route we uh do another route of people who are um experts yeah um that's smart and then my next question has to do with in terms of getting this information out and thinking of the students do you think having this go over multiple weekends or having it like be like a true like a a popup where it's like eight days in a row and we go all out trying to you know this one week we're going to have this everybody try to come I don't I don't know what would resonate better with the public I like that because I was going to go off of with the kids if we get in front of the schools we have cracks we have magnets if he's willing we could have the schools potentially locally have field trips there it does not cost as much if they stay in town I'm a little worried that if we have it four or five weekends everyone's going to keep saying oh I can do it next weekend up I can do it next weekend one of the weekends is Memorial Day weekend which I yeah you know I like the idea of one solid week and just make maybe a mini event every day or even for a five-day block maybe not here's the issue here's the issue uh and I I should have clarified and it's still up the discussion amongst us of course the the student component of this would be during the work week the school week not

on the weekends this is too major an exhibit for him to hang for a single week that's the problem it is a major uh um technological I'll just say it that way a feat to get this uh um uh established hung uh Etc and he's very excited about being able to put it in the Philly Barn because it has the uh capacity to handle it but it is a big big project to ask him to do it for one week that's the problem uh we could uh uh discuss amongst ourselves and and he's Cooperative very uh that we uh we maybe have a a solid week uh uh that it's open and then maybe some additional weekends following that uh that uh people could uh still come if they've missed it before uh but uh we could bring that up with him but I fear that we'd really be imposing he he has always had shows of at least a month or longer uh of this uh this uh exhibit and so that's why we had proposed uh doing a solid month of of weekends but it's still up for discussion uh we don't have to pin down the dates finally at at this point uh uh and we can ask him about that but uhu uh students coming during a solid week by all means so maybe then we back it up to April 27th because I think if we push out we we go into May and June and that is a rough time we have spring Sports we're fighting spring Sports on the weekends we've got gr not graduations we've got froms we've got so many other things

that people are doing if we go right like the weekend after Easter which is that weekend of April 26th we will roll over Mother's Day but maybe that's okay since it's one of the weekends versus pushing out after Mother's Day and then rolling over all of that on top of Memorial Day weekend I just think if we really want the bang for our buck with him that's the reason we're all in school that's a reasonable proposal I'm looking at a calendar uh uh and if we chose to have it go over Mother's Day then people could that's fine come or not but we're not focusing the whole the whole festival on that weekend right uh yeah uh I know he would be amendable uh we've talked to him about it the the issue uh and I believe the end of April would would solve it is to make sure that the weather uh yeah has is is mostly safe because these these are very valuable works of art that are going to be hanging from exactly from Rafters in a barn uh and so we want to be certain that uh you know we're not in the middle of April storms or anything like that but let's take that up with him and and defer uh for now the actual dates but we're going to be meeting with him this coming week so we can discuss uh that if he would be able to uh get it to open by April 27th that's a good idea I mean it could be the first weekend in May but I just I think if we go out too far into June and we try to go over Memorial Day weekend then prom weekend I think once we get in there we're we're in trouble fair enough we were uh just by experience from last year uh uh avoiding uh Mother's Day but if that's not the central focus of of the event it's just one of the weekends it it's probably okay y yeah I just want to quickly say you're right the more I

think about it I mean if we're doing it multiple weekends maybe it doesn't matter so much that if we do it over the course of that weekend as well but I would tell you um Bob and I have been to the barn now a couple times already with Michael borders and we were there the last time we were there um we absolutely want to avoid April because of the risk of rain and water are SE in into the barn and because his artwork does need to be in an environment that we already know we're probably going to need to have dehumidifiers running in there uh to help protect it I mean you guys have all seen this is not a pristine environment any stretch of the imagination it's going to be pretty unusual and pretty unique but it's such a valuable piece of artwork yeah well maybe then uh just batting it around we we do uh open the first weekend in May uh which will be May 2nd and 3rd uh the following weekend is Mother's Day uh but we can live with that and and run it for the month month of bay ending Before Memorial Day that that could work yeah I think we should certainly also back off Michael and and make sure that he's yeah yeah no that's all fair discussion that's that's good very good anything else on any topic I am I'm still concerned about the liability issues I just want to bring it up one more time um as somebody who just got out of a building that had major water issues the former proster Library the longer we have it the more chance that there could be a storm that could be highly problematic and if you know I if we do the weekends it that's you know

it's only two two days open 5 days closed two days open but if we did it you know perhaps 14 consecutive days open or something like that and really went all in and trying to figure out also um making sure that we do have volunteers I would think that we would want at least two people per shift um I think we need to think through the logistics and how many people hours we really have before we decide on you know the length of everything um okay I don't know that's that's just me thinking out loud that was a fair uh uh uh you all should um and at some point are welcome to come to any sessions with Michael um when Robin has said uh the the the building is uh we're worried about the weather uh We've inspected it and Michael borders is is comfortable and and Dale beroldy who manages the building for the town uh the the roof is uh as a matter of fact the Bloomfield fund paid to have the roof uh uh upgraded uh just in the last couple of years uh the the roof is Totally Secure and the building is secure what uh uh is uh uh a uh moisture issue is water running across the floor because it's a stone floor that's at grade in a barn uh so we'll discuss all of this with him and see what his uh knowledge Comfort level and experiences uh these are all points that are well taken for sure bom just because you brought it up I was concerned about the floor too

the last time that I was there and you know there are flooring systems that you can get to install on a on you know not a permanent basis that could go down to make it make it easier to walk and to define a walking pattern for the people that are viewing the display oh that's a brilliant solution Neil really I mean that and I meant brilliant in the British sense it's a great idea yeah yeah you see them all the time put down in you know tent structure that they put up for events and things like that yeah could you look into that for us and and find out what's involved and and what the cost might be I'll give it a try I'm in South Carolina so I may not have a lot of resour get on the phone I can get on the phone on on the just a a starter just a starter uh you know companies that make them and and what they charge uh I stuff been uh at uh locals in Europe particularly Venice where they actually do that raise raised flooring so that if there's water it runs under under the floor uh that's a great idea thank you about Paradise City I know they have their their they have the open tents for their art show and they use a uh looks like a rubberized covering actually just on the ground and they might be able to help you out May give you some suggestions great and also DPW I can't they must have at least maybe have some people in the area more local that would be able to help like that we'll we'll uh pursue all of these if each of you would just send me uh a a reminder and a contact of how to pursue we we'll look at that and and

we'll involve Michael of course in uh what's involved I think that that could be a great solution okay yeah thank you uh Elizabeth do we have minutes that need approving yes okay um December 4 okay uh has everyone had an opportunity to look at them or at a minimum any comments questions corrections I make a motion to accept the minutes for December 4th great and do we have a second second second thank you all those in favor I I I any opposed extensions thank you that's passed and approved uh our next meeting will be on our regular schedule we did this as a special meeting because of the holiday uh and that is uh Elizabeth uh do you have the calendar in front of you February 5 February five uh we will see you all then and do please stay in touch touch with any ideas comments questions suggestions and pleas can you let me know go ahead Elizabeth I was going to say feel free to set any agenda items that you want added um and we will put that on there and I just wanted to alert everybody that um as per New Town policy we need to have the agenda in seven days prior okay so um just know that uh just so the um there's more transparency and people can just be more aware of what's happening at meetings and find out ahead of time if they want to join us terrific terrific uh thank you all uh and Bob actually can you just let us know too when you're going to meet with Alvin because I would be interested especially with the artist the work the next time you meet I may I may not be able to attend but if I'm working from home I

can swing up to the town hall so we will put the word out for sure on that and that that's uh uh very some of us uh have had the experience of trying to get meetings with with Al and uh his schedule is uh crazy busy yes so uh we we'll try to book that his assistant Anna toer uh uh is in charge of his calendar so we'll be sure that um all of you are copied on any uh date that we get with him excellent thank you thank you and thank you Bonnie for joining us and thank you Elizabeth thank you as always uh did we have a motion to we need a motion to adjourn so moved I second all those in favor I I I any opposed abstentions thank you all wonderful meeting have a wonderful night just jam-packed with great ideas bye bye take care