Art in Public Places Board - Regular Meeting

you and other vehicles in case you need to change lanes when approaching your vehicle keep your keys in your hand unlock the door with the key fob if possible and

Thank you. you you

If you intend to testify in these proceedings, please remain standing and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will give the truth and nothing but the truth? Thank you. You may be seated.

I'll go ahead and do roll call. Thank you.

Calling Member Christina Cuervo. Here. Thank you. Calling Member Nelson Delgado. Calling member Maria Napoles. Here. Thank you. Calling member Gary Feinberg.

Here.

Thank you. Calling member Juan Valadez. Thank you. Calling member and welcome our new member, Mrs. Jacqueline Roche.

Here. Welcome.

Thank you. Calling member Odalis Deyure. Thank you. Calling chair Francisco Jerez.

Here.

Thank you. And calling vice chair Olga Granda. We do have two members that requested an absentee waiver. That would be Member Nelson Delgado and Vice Chair Olga Granda. And we do have Coral.

Thank you very much. I understood that Odalis de Uri was no longer going to be a board member. Is that the case or not?

No? I never received it.

I thought she had resigned. No?

No. Formally, she hasn't resigned.

Oh, formally, she hasn't. Okay. All right.

And then we have the matter of the absent waiver request for Nelson Delgado and Vice Chair Olga Granda.

Yes. Can you make a motion to accept the absence waivers?

Yes, I'll make a motion that we accept the absent waivers of Nelson Delgado and Olga Granda. Second.

Second by Ms. Napoles. All those in favor, say aye. Aye.

Thank you. It passes by a vote of six to zero.

Thank you. Is there... Lobbyist note, please.

Hello, Raymond Pineda from the Office of the City Attorney. Any person who receives compensation, remuneration or expenses for conducting lobbying activities is required to register as a lobbyist with the city clerk prior to engaging in lobbying activities before city staff, boards, committees or the city commission. Copy of the applicable ordinance is available at the Office of the City Clerk, Miami City Hall, located at 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, 33133. Thank you.

Excellent. Do we have any minutes to approve today? No, we don't have any minutes to approve.

Thank you. Indira, are we modifying the order at all?

Yes, I am requesting to defer item number four on the agenda and change the order on some of the other items. As the artist is present, Xavier Cortada, he has two items on the agenda today and he would like for them to be read together.

Why are we deferring?

It was a request from the administration.

We're continuing until the next meeting? That's correct. Okay. And so the first item that you want to read into the...

The first item will be item number one.

First item will be number one. And then?

And then we will read item number five, followed by item number three. I actually have it in my slide. Then it will be item number two, and lastly the calendar.

Okay. So... That's okay.

Ready to go?

Yes, please. Let's start with number one.

Item number one, file ID 17821, a resolution of the Art in Public Places Board with attachments pursuant to Chapter 62, Article 16, titled Art in Public Places of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended... approving a modification to the artwork by artist Xavier Cortada, previously approved pursuant to resolution AIPPR 25014 for the integration of public art with Manolo Reyes Park, located approximately at 6030 Southwest 2nd Street, authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute any and all agreements in furtherance of this purpose in forms acceptable to the city attorney and in compliance with all applicable laws, including without limitation the city code as amended. Sorry, I believe the board has to vote on the deferral for the item, item number four.

Okay, but do we have to do that right now? We can, you know.

We can do it after? Okay, we'll do it after that.

Yeah, we're already in the middle of this one. So if you want, we can do it right after this one.

Okay.

Okay? So to provide some background information, AIP resolution AIPP 22007 approved the allocation of funds for design services commissioning and acquisition of installation at West End Park, formerly West End Park, now named Manolo Reyes Park. AEIPP Resolution 25014, the AIPP Board approved the recommendation of the finalists, of two finalists, one being artist Xavier Cortada. Artist Xavier Cortada is proposing a modification to the previously approved mural, now titled With an artwork now titled Pigeon Plum Native Flags Project, the revised artwork retains the original medium and the designated location on the splash pad wall, which was identified as an opportunity site for the integration of public art in the original call to artists. Revised design continues to emphasize the ecological significance of the Everglades consistent with the original concept while offering a more focused and participatory approach to expressing environmental themes within the available space. So, for reference, this is the site, Manolo Reyes Park. The artwork will be located on the blue .

That's strange.

Let me . OK. Sorry for that. For reference, this is a site. The area would be the wall that serves as a threshold between the pool facilities and the splash pad at Manolo Reyes Park. This is an image showing the location and calling out the fire extinguisher currently there, which will be relocated to accommodate the artwork and signage. is the previously approved artwork. It was previously, it was called the Wading Birds of the Everglades. And here is the artist statement for the proposed modifications to the artwork. Can I move on to the next slide? This is the updated proposal for the mural. It is titled Native Flags, Pigeon Plum. The medium is ceramic tile glaze with the dimensions of 48 inches by 72 inches. This is a rendering provided by the artist of the artwork on site. And these are signage options provided by the artist and the standardized signage that the Art in Public Places program has created for all city parks. So we are, as part of the resolution, we're adding a condition to work with the artist to standardize and merge the signage proposed by the artist and our own to keep a cohesive graphic language at all city parks with public art. Here are images of the process and artist initiatives which he can further elaborate on. And the artist's bio and a letter of support from Commissioner Ralph Rosado for this project and for the modification of the artwork. And we do have the artist present. We do have the artist present. Would you like, do you have any questions prior to having the artist expand on the modifications?

Did the PAC review this?

Yes. Yes?

Hi, thanks for joining us tonight. I'm just curious, you mentioned the budget was one reason for modifying this? In what way? Yeah, thanks.

If you could read your name and your address.

Hi, I'm Xavier Cortada. Address and all that. So my foundation is at 3621 Southwest 3rd Avenue, Miami, Florida 33145. And I'm happy to be here with you. Thank you for listening to this proposal. Yeah, this was a call to artists that's very old, as you may know. We learned that we were finalists many, many months after we submitted it. There was never a presentation. Like, I never got to present the proposal. And I got an email basically saying that a fraction of my huge proposal about... creating interventions across the entire park, including two murals, one night, one day, about the Everglades at night and day. It wasn't awarded, I forget the amount, $24,000, I think, out of the original budget, so I needed to modify that, and I thought a good way of modifying it was to create a single piece and to put that single piece in a location that serves as an anchor for a participatory project. And that's what Pigeon Plum is. Pigeon Plum is one of my 12 native trees that I've been working on having people plant in Miami-Dade County since 2007, something I started with a science museum way back when. It's a project that we've taken to 336 schools. We did so for a decade, planting native trees all across the community. And I'm actually thrilled because that project has been somewhat dormant, active at Pinecrest Gardens, active in a handful of schools in Hialeah, but not... sort of having its space until this opportunity came up. And now I get the chance to, if you allow this to happen, to partner with a new commissioner in helping launch what I think is a reforestation campaign in his district with this effort. And he's excited about donating some of these plants to the after school program in the school that's adjacent to the park. Our foundation would provide for the programming, and hopefully this will grow to do the same thing in other parks. And at the core, I think it's very consistent with the project. All of my public art blurs object and process. All of my public art is blurring private and public. I want you to have a piece of this mural in your house. And what I'm doing is, not painting the bird that I can't afford to paint anymore, but encouraging you to plant the tree in your house to give you that bird. Uh, so in many ways it's bringing the long, uh, plowed over Everglades back into West Miami, literally by planting one tree at a time in people's yards. But I don't have to go into all the conceptual or eco-art stuff. I think it's a beautiful piece of art. It's a ceramic piece that we are putting in that location. We're just giving you an added extra layer to it. Cool.

That's great.

Thanks for all the work you do.

Of course. Thanks.

Any other questions on this one? No, no, I mean, it's a public art commission that I was involved to. Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, yeah, there was a second artist, a dear friend of mine, Carola Bravo, she got the commission. I don't know how, I wasn't there, I don't know how the sausage was made, but I know that budgetarily-wise, you know, it's really her project, and there was a little bit left over, and I think that's what I have here. I don't know what she's going to make, but everything she makes is awesome, so I'm sure it's going to be great. I think it's a three-dimensional...

Yes, if the board recalls, the project was brought before the board a few months back. The PAC reviewed the project and selected Carola Bravo as one of the finalists, but they felt that the location by the splash pad could also be further activated. So they also selected Xavier for a smaller commission, but they were mainly impressed with the use of the colors and the medium and highlighting the everglades, which is still in the theme of the modified proposal.

And if you want to get into the technical stuff, from a maintenance point of view, it's by a pool, it's ceramic, it's glazed, it's, you know, so it has all the attributes that you would need for a splash pad or a pool. It checks all those boxes. And I'll be putting a blue tile frame all around it. And that's the scale there.

Sorry, if I could just make a quick note, if everybody could just, when they're speaking, speak into the microphone. Thank you.

So it's a painting of my digital art pieces that I created. for this campaign, and those of you who go to the Frost Art Museum, all of you who go to the Frost Art Museum and see my banners hang at the entrance, this is the hand-painted version of that digital print that features these 12 native species with those banners.

Will there be native plants at this park?

Yeah, there are native plants. I wanted to plant the pigeon plum nearby, but I'm surrounded by concrete. So instead, I think we're going to plant one on the park. That was one of the things I talked to the commissioner about. And then we're going to give the smaller saplings to hopefully 60 or 100 kids in the school. We'll probably plant the green flag like we normally do. So there's a PDF that talks to you about native flags there. And I don't want to give you too many notes. I know there's a small little mural on the side. I don't want to complicate things. If you want to keep it simple, I'm creating a ceramic mural for a pool. I'm just giving you a bunch of other wonderful things attached to it.

Cool. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Evan.

Thank you. Any questions? Okay. All right.

Do you want me to make a motion?

Yes, please.

Okay. So I make a motion that we approve the resolution in file 17821 of the Art in Public Places Board with attachments pursuant to Chapter 62, Article 16, titled Art in Public Places of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended approving a modification to the artwork by artist Javier Cortada, previously approved pursuant to resolution AIPPR 25-10. 014 for the integration of the public art within Manolo Reyes Park, located at approximately 6030 Southwest 2nd Street, authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute any and all agreements. In furtherance of this purpose, in forms acceptable to the city attorney and in compliance with all applicable laws, including without limitation the city code as amended and providing for an effective date. Second.

Thank you, Christina. Thank you, Ms. Napoles. Seconded by Ms. Napoles. May we have a roll call vote, please?

Yes. Calling Member Christina Cuervo. Yes. Thank you. Calling Member Maria Napoles.

Yes.

Thank you. Calling Member Gary Feinberg.

Yes.

Thank you. Calling Member Juan Valadez.

Yes.

Thank you. Calling Member Jacqueline Roach.

Yes.

Thank you. And calling Chair Francisco Jerez.

Yes.

Thank you. It passes by a vote of six to zero.

The following item would be item number five. He's back. So a resolution of the Art in Public Places with attachments pursuant to chapter 62. entitled, and Article 16 titled, Art in Public Places of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, approving a donation of permanent public art installations by artist Xavier Cortada, titled Elevation Sculptures, to be installed in various parks located in District 4, Miami, Florida, making findings and containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date. So this item is a proposed donation to seven parks located within District 4 of the City of Miami, Florida. The artist is proposing to install elevation markers. And here are images of the markers provided in the artist's submission. This is a list of the parks that the district office has identified for the elevation markers. So it'll be Bay of Pigs, Bryant Park, Coral Gate Park, Douglas Park, Bear Lawn Community Park, Gold Star Family Memorial Mini Park, and Manolo Reyes Park. And this is the artist statement for the proposed project.

Is there a dollar amount on this?

It's a donation.

Do we have an image that we can see in?

Yes, so these are images provided by the artist during the, I believe, fabrication process of the sculptures. And these are the sculptures on site, the elevation markers. As part of the donation, the artist is also proposing a community engagement component to the project in collaboration with District 4 Commission Office and neighbors of the District 4 District. And the conditions of approval listed on the resolution is that the final design shall be approved and reviewed by the Public Art Division. The PAC suggested the artist make aesthetic amendments to differentiate the markers in the City of Miami's public art collection from those in Miami-Dade County's public art collection. Number three, the artist shall work with the public art division to standardize signage as permitted by the parameters of the artwork. Condition number four, the applicant shall obtain all necessary approvals from appropriate departments, divisions, and agencies prior to installation. Condition number five, the artist shall provide a detailed maintenance plan to the public art division for review and approval, outlining materials, maintenance schedule, and responsible parties. And condition number six, the artist shall work with Arts in Public Places staff and their district office to provide a community engagement component, such as an artist talk, workshop, and or educational materials. And the artist Xavier Cortada can also expand on the plans for those educational component workshops.

Yeah, I mean, I think this is great.

Do these have additional lighting or landscaping associated or, I don't know if?

No, there is no, but there is lighting within the park, so the final locations will be identified with that in mind.

And that's a QR code embedded top left? Yeah.

So it's my pleasure to present to you the Underwater Project. The Underwater Project is a participatory art project that helps people understand their vulnerability to rising seas in Miami-Dade County. And I think many of us aren't aware of that vulnerability. Because of human impact on climate, we are getting hotter. and that heat is melting the glaciers, it's expanding our waters, and it is bringing a climate catastrophe to our planet. Because it's not in front of us now, people can't really visualize or understand just how troublesome this is. But in the years to come, Miami and Florida will understand that. This is a project that my foundation has launched. While I was the inaugural artist in residence at the county, I worked at the mayor's office promulgate this project to every single county park, and we are in the process of doing that. It's a slow process, but we are in the process of doing that. In the interim, I thought to reach out to the city and to see if we could also extend that donation. All of this is free to both the county and to you. to the city parks. And all this is is a marker, it's a platform. You may be familiar with my work where thousands, literally thousands of yard signs have been distributed to our community where people use the QR code to type in their address and figure out how many feet above sea level their home is. That's important, an important consideration because it helps you understand flood insurance and flooding And particularly for families like those in District 4 who don't live at the water's edge, who don't understand that they too are vulnerable, it helps them understand that. And I am particularly interested in those individuals who don't understand that in time, their property values may decrease. will decrease because of the impacts of climate. So we as a community can begin to put markers, not in just museums and cultural centers, but in parks, the most public of institutions. You don't even need to go through a metal detector to get there. It's wide open. And in these parks, you can have the opportunity to look at something bizarre and weird, like a piece of concrete with a number on it, and that's gonna peak your curiosity enough to pull out your phone and scan that QR code, you'll find out that that park, a few blocks from your house, is at a certain elevation, because each of these markers are the elevation of these parks. They're site-specific. then you can continue going down that QR code and type your address. And you can continue going down that QR code and learn about climate and learn about what nonprofit groups you can volunteer with and learn what you can do to be part of the climate solution. So this is my way of using art to engage our community in creative and collective problem solving. It is subtle. It is 18 inches off the ground. It's not scandalous, it doesn't try to do anything. It just is a piece of concrete asking you to take a look at it. And the most important, well, it's not the most important part. The most important part is that it has an elevation and it's a platform for interaction. But a really important component to that, it's all made of sustainable concrete. There's a poetic gesture and time, in time, in time, every single one of those markers will be submerged. That's happening in time. Not so long, but in time. By next century, I doubt a single one of them will be above water. And they will be there because they're not made with iron and concrete, they're made with fiberglass and sustainable concrete. So they'll be a marker of us as humans. But between now and then, they're a sentinel telling us It was 10 feet above sea level where this city hall is in 2025, but it'll be nine feet a few decades from now. And by the end of this century, it'll be three feet. And it is just a way of having a collective understanding of our climate vulnerability. And to me, I think that's important because unless we know a problem, we won't be able to face it. And there's no city more vulnerable, but there's no city more resilient. My parents were refugees. They had nothing, and they built everything in a place they didn't understand because they were doing it in community. And if we as Miamians understand that we have a crisis, we will come together, and we will solve it. And it is just my way, in the middle of the spectacle of everything is fine and Zillow prices going through the roof, of letting us know that there's this little Achilles heel out there called sea level rise and that we have to face it. And I think this is what art is supposed to do. And I particularly think that this is what public art is supposed to do. So through my foundation, I'm trying to model what artists can and should do when they interface with the public. And because of that, I want to donate these sculptures and through my foundation, create the programming and through the QR code, have an educational component that anyone can see to help move the conversation forward.

That's why I would like to do that.

The landscaping is simple. The grass will grow around it. Those pictures were taken right after we put them in the ground. The lighting, I don't think we need it. Parks aren't visited at night. I just want people to be able to see this during the day. And the QR code will work. And that's really all of the information. My practice is also beginning to pivot towards augmented reality components to my public artwork. In time, it may be that we may be able to activate these sculptures with augmented reality where you can actually see the water rising. But that's part of the programming that you'll see with, you know, with the QR code over time. So I don't want to be long-winded, but I do want to explain to you, because you may look at it and go, well, these are seven pieces of concrete. Whoop-dee-doo. But it's really more than that. It's a campaign aimed at helping us connect with one another, understand our vulnerability, and give us a proactive way to move forward together.

So the QR... is going to explain the same thing that you just did now?

Yeah, if you were to go to the QR code, it'll take you to Cortada Foundation forward slash underwater. You can go there right now.

Are you using the art as a vehicle?

Oh, AR, yes, AR. I mean, there's a group in Seattle that we're working on a completely different art project that I'm doing in Doral about the Everglades, having nothing to do with this, where we're looking at that technology to do things. And that group is interested in... helping us pro bono on this project. So hopefully they will do that. But I don't want to offer that because I don't have that. All I have are the goodwill of the University of Miami, Structures and Materials Lab, which created the formula and the process for the sustainable concrete, the donation of Supermix, a company that they partner with, big cement contractor, that I'm working with to try to model what sustainable practices are. They're a mega company. They build all the concrete around us. As an artist, I'm cognizant of the fact that I am partnering with one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Concrete is a very dirty medium because it's so big. Water is the biggest material humans make. Purifying it, concrete is the second biggest. It contributes an inordinate amount of carbon into the atmosphere. And if we can model practices that show us how to make concrete that doesn't need to be pure because there's no metal rusting inside, it's just fiberglass. If an artist can work with engineers and private sector to model that, and you can put it at people's, you know... connection points in their public parks, then hopefully we can begin to also have a conversation, not just about the bad things that are coming, but what we can do to prevent those bad things from happening. You know, by pivoting towards clean practices. And the QR code has all that currently on the website. In time, because it's my foundation that's donating this and sustaining this, the foundation will you know, continue enhancing and giving you other dimensions and hopefully one of those dimensions will be augmented reality. Because that will be really impactful for you to see your garage coming with water as opposed to looking at a number on a map. Just to give you a little background, this project was inspired by my trip to Antarctica in 2006 with the National Science Foundation. I was an artist in residence there. Scientists there gave me a piece of ice and told me this will melt and drown your city. That was 06. Most of us then and many of us now aren't aware about that. And since then, nonstop, I have been working on sea level rise themed work. Initially, they were ice paintings. I melted that ice and created these watercolors of the precursor of the horrors to come. The backdrop of the signs and the texture behind each of these numbers, these are sculptural replicas of the art signs have those antarctic ice paintings and the point is when the water melts when antarctica melts to the level of your home then that little wave will come to your doorstep and your home will be underwater So that project has had a lot of, I think, respect. The White House featured it in their fifth climate assessment, where scientists communicated the climate science to the rest of the world. It was the first time they used artists in that assessment. It was highlighted by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a featured way of engaging communities. And it won me a pretty prestigious award at another academy, the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Science Communication Excellence Award, and was the subject of a solo show I had in D.C. that just ended last December on this very, very project. So it's a project that has been covered by the Washington Post, by CNN, by PBS NewsHour, by the New York Times, by the Herald. It's a project that has been around for a minute, and I just want to cement it, pardon every pun, in your parks and work with your commissioners in advancing that message to the residents of Miami. So that's why I'm gifting it to you.

Actually, I'm familiar with the products. There are other global muralists and sculptors that are using it already as well. Very little portion of the artist family, but they are there already. And I think this is good for the public sculpture.

Are you in agreement with the conditions?

Oh, that's the thing. So I hand-carved every one of those, and the university made my molds, and I can't... un-carve them, that's what they are. So I don't know how, I mean there are ways that we can creatively, every condition is fine, the only one that I can't do is change the sculpture.

Can you put those up on the screen again so we can see?

I think it was number two, thanks for bringing that up.

Okay. I think it's slide 24.

So aesthetic amendments to differentiate the markers. I mean, they're site-specific to each community. I mean, there's signage that you can add to it. But I mean, it's basically concrete that's poured at the concrete plant in the Bird Road area in the Bird Arts District on molds made out of sustainable concrete.

Aren't they different by virtue of listing the elevation?

Yes, and this is something the PAC and the commissioner's office was aware of. They did say that aesthetic amendments can include signage. Just they wanted to differentiate the markers within the city of Miami boundaries from those in the county because they will be in the city's collection. So we can work and administratively...

I am happy to... you know, put pavers around them to put signage. In fact, the more the city owns them, the happier you make them. So, yeah, that's not an issue.

But the actual piece of concrete... Yeah, no, it wasn't referring to the... Yeah, they do understand that they were mold, so it wasn't specifically for the...

Can they be painted at all? Maybe along the border?

No, the concrete won't stick to the... I want you to see this raw concrete. I know there's an aesthetic value. I make sculptures, too, and I paint them and glaze them and all that. But what I'm trying to show off here is this sustainable concrete. You know the Surfside building that fell down? Had we made that out of sustainable concrete, it wouldn't have happened. There's all these... benefits to society. So as an artist, I work at different levels and different points, and one of my audiences is the industry, so that they can pivot in that direction.

I'm sure you can come up with something to differentiate that these are in the city of Miami and different from the counties.

Yeah, I think a border all around it is the way to go. I think a green, yellow, and orange border, you know? Well, I don't know if that's what the county colors, but I was thinking of our flag. But we'll figure something out. There is a way of differentiating.

You're saying that's something the district commissioner wanted?

Yes, that's correct. So can we add it?

this condition to be worked out with the commissioner? Yeah, I'll work out with the commissioner's office, sure. Okay.

And just so you know, Commissioner Rosado isn't the only commissioner who took interest. Commissioner Pardo was very interested in this too, and I've been working with his team and bringing this to his parks. And just like I brought this to every park in Miami-Dade County, the goal is to bring it to all the city parks. And at the end, it's about your tax base, right? Like one district won't survive if the other one is flooded, right? It's about protecting the whole. The only thing in front of you is obviously District 4, but I want you to know that it is my intention to be back here to ask you for other districts as I am allowed to do so.

Okay. Who are the applicants in condition number 4? The applicants shall obtain necessary approvals.

the applicants, the artists.

So what does that mean? I have to get the permits?

Yes, this is referring to building permits and any permits necessary to install the sculptures.

We'll work with you. I am trying to be very generous, but my foundation doesn't have deep pockets. It's basically the public art you commissioned me to do is what I use to buy these things. It's not like I'm rolling in the cash with your dollars, so...

Yeah, that's why I was reading number four. Let's say that the city shall work with the applicant to obtain all necessary permits.

Yes, that's a standard condition, but yes.

Yeah, in the county, the county handles those things.

What I do is I pay for the sculpture to get delivered and installed at the park. So I pay for that. The foundation pays for that, and we pay through our... donors, you know, the university and SuperMix to create the piece. But I don't think I want to be burdened with the paperwork of getting your permits. What we're told at the county is this is where it goes. I mean, we talk to them, but it goes here and then our thing comes and installs it there.

Yes, staff is happy to assist with the permitting process. Okay, thank you.

Yeah, no, absolutely. I agree. I think that this, you know, I think approvals may not be permits necessarily, so maybe this is something a little bit more.

Yeah, I think it's just, I mean, I want to make sure it goes wherever the park wants it to go, right? I don't want it to go where your picnics, you know, I don't want it to get in the way of park function. So that's what I'm saying. I defer to the city or the park department. Where do you want it? And then we put it, we normally put it, as you saw in the other pictures, near where people go, right? So it's usually near the building where the bathrooms are so that people see it. But again, it's up to the city as to where it wants it in the parks.

Thank you for your openness.

I mean, you haven't approved it yet, but I'm feeling a lot of support, and I just want to thank you for your openness to what others may see as something weird. So thank you.

I think it's great.

Are there any other questions?

Would we have any funds to help with this?

Oh, I would love that. My foundation would absolutely welcome that.

We are in conversations with the district office to acquire funding for the maintenance of the sculpture. So this is something we are working on with the district office.

The sculptures are not requiring maintenance. I would love for Art in Public Places to do the thing you do with your sculptures on an annual basis to make sure they're there. It's concrete. It's just water. There's no drama with these sculptures. And over time, they will hopefully feel time pass through them. So I'm not that concerned about them. But if there are funds to help with the campaign, to help grow it.

Maybe the placing of the papers that you mentioned or that sort of thing.

Also the interaction with the schools.

There's a campaign where, so what you're seeing there, that is in Goulds, and what I'm doing at that park is the elderly who come to that park are activating the sculpture by pouring salt water, seawater on it and saying this is the last time that seawater will touch the sculpture if we have anything to do with it. So it's their way of taking ownership of the problem. So I create these rituals and processes around them. There are yard signs and all sorts of other trappings that we could do, and those cost money. So if there's ways of having an engaged campaign around it, that would be great. But I'm not trying to give you a gift and charge you for it. I'm just trying to give you a gift. But if you want to add to the gift, you're more than welcome to.

I think so. This is the purpose. Because they are not really coloring-attractive. So the purpose is education. I think if we can get some schools involved in some kind of a program that fits the purpose of the sculptures.

Look, if you as a committee want to in time partner with your sustainability office to create some sort of program that oversees this kind of work, and I'm sure you are commissioning other artists to do environmental or community work. It might not be a bad idea for some of your maintenance dollars to go to programming dollars so that you can help lift the community and educate the community. Art is the biggest resource that any community has. And Miami particularly is feeling the pinch of displacement because people can't afford to live here anymore. And I think art allows people to connect. It disarms them. It allows them to imagine differently. And if this committee could rise to the moment of Miami, a tale of two cities, to use art to convene, to inspire, to activate, and if you could use your most public of places just to create dialogue between people at a time when we're so polarized and hardly believe one another, then I think that's the greatest aesthetic The greatest aesthetic you could bring to this city. So think about that. Not all your public art pieces have to be bricks and mortar. I know there's ordinances, but there are ways of taking some of those dollars, leveraging them, and doing what you're talking about. Bringing in school children, bringing in elderly, bringing community, and have them be the artists. Have them have that voice and that soul. So if you can do that, this could be the Miami method. That's the way we do art, right? Might be a good opportunity. If you lead, the artist will follow. If you fund it, if you make this part, you do it now, like part of the public art dollars have to, a little bit of it has to go to education. But if you lead strong, we're the top three cultural cities in this hemisphere. We're respected as an art city. Let's gain some respect as a social practice city, as a city that really has art in the veins of the people in the community. And I think a group like this is ripe to do that. So I know November's around the corner. I know things are happening. I know budgets are crazy. But I just want to put that to you as an opportunity as well. Okay? Anyway, I think I should stop talking because we have a lot of other things to do tonight. But thank you so much for listening.

Thank you. Very good. Okay. Ms. Cuervo, please, can you make a motion and remember on those conditions that we're going to work with the foundation and the artists for the permitting?

Okay. So I make a motion that we approve AIPP resolution with file 18198. of the Art in Public Places Board with attachments pursuant to Chapter 62, Article 16, titled Art in Public Places of the Court of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, approving a donation of the permanent public art installations by artist Javier Cortada, titled Elevation Sculptures to be installed in various parks located in District 4, Miami, Florida, making findings, continuous durability clouds, and providing for an effective date and subject to the conditions that have been proposed by staff. and that condition number two be worked out between the artist and the district commissioner in terms of the aesthetic amendments that have been requested, and item condition number four as it relates to working with the artist in terms of permitting and any other regulatory requirements.

Thank you very much, Ms. Cueto. Second. Second by Ms. Napolis. May we have a roll call vote, please?

Calling Member Christina Cuervo.

Yes.

Thank you. Calling Member Maria Napolis. Yes. Thank you. Calling Member Gary Feinberg.

Yes.

Thank you. Calling Member Juan Valadez.

Yes.

Thank you. Calling Member Jacqueline Roach. Yes. Thank you. And calling Chair Francisco Jerez. Yes. Thank you. This passes by a vote of six to zero.

Thank you. Thank you.

Also, Chair, may we close the online public comment?

Sure?

Okay, thank you.

Thank you for reminding us. Alrighty. Thank you, Mr. Cortada. Next item.

Next item would be the requesting deferment on item number four, file ID 18184.

I'll make a motion to defer

Item number four.

I'll second it.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Okay, thank you.

Calling Chair Francisco-Heretis.

It was just an up or down vote.

Okay.

So we all in favor. There were no objections or no nos. And...

That's it. And this will be deferred to the November meeting, correct?

Yes, please.

Thank you.

Next item will be item number three. Excuse the technical difficulties. Item number three, file ID 1A027, a resolution of the Art in Public Places Board pursuant to chapter 62, article 16, entitled Art in Public Places of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, recommending approval or denial to the planning director for an art installation by artist Muta Santiago, works by Muta Vision, as part of a public art condition associated with a warrant for a development located approximately at 601 North Miami Avenue and 25 Northeast 6th Street, Miami, Florida containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date. So the board in this case will be making a recommendation to the planning director. for a permanent public art installation by artist Muta Santiago to be integrated at the northwest corner of the development site as a condition of warrant number PZ2111454 for the Crosby at Miami World Center. The project is a 33-story mixed-use tower with 450 residential units. The project went through an approval process for two warrants to allow for the development of a mixed-use tower and to allow for micro units in a transit-oriented development. And one of the conditions, the condition relevant to the AIPP board is that the art must be reviewed by the planning director upon recommendation of the public art and public places board. These are images of the aerial images of the development and elevations calling out the location for the proposed murals. So it would be the northeast and west elevations. And here are details of the proposed artwork and the corresponding elevations. The artist is also present. This is information and artist's bio.

Come up and tell us a little bit about the mural. How are you?

Good, nice to meet you all. Nice to meet you.

Can you start with your name and address, just for the record?

Yeah, my name is Muta Santiago, or Amir Santiago, and I go by the artist alliance of Muta Vision.

Excuse me, a little bit your microphone, close to the microphone, please. Okay, I'm sorry, podiums make me nervous. It's okay, thank you.

Here we go.

Tell us a little bit about the mural, what's your...

Right, the mural was, it's being commissioned by a related art group and they reached out to me to create this mural for the west side of their buildings and the mural really kind of leaned towards making a visual graphic that kind of echoes the movement of in and out of that building and the traffic and lives and people that live in downtown. This mural kind of, reflects a little bit of the work that I explore, and the things that I do in my murals, my street art, or my studio practices, and it's a lot with, it deals with a lot of movement, or at least I like to call it echoes of movement that happen with certain subjects that I like to highlight, whether they're people of the community, or they're friends and amitas, and it's, This artwork that I created for the Crosby kind of also, I wanted to make it a little bit more aligned with their branding as well, but also have a play in using colors that we see in our skyline that's constantly evolving or the colors we see around in Miami that we're used to. Some of the inspiration that I pull from in exploring my work and for that specific design on the Crosby is... from people like Carlos Diaz or people like Wassily Kandinsky that really deal with more exploring like colors with movement or sounds with movement and trying to explore that and share that visually.

It's beautiful. Since when you are being achieving your artists or expressing your artists as public?

For quite a while. I started out doing graffiti and vandalizing the city a bit, to be quite honest, but this has started something around 12 years ago. Great.

Here in Miami?

Here in Miami. I've traveled the states a bit. I was a military brat, so I've traveled the states quite a bit and all throughout Florida as well.

Do you have any particular zone where I can think of your mural here?

We just currently did this one in Fort Lauderdale in downtown.

That one in Fort Lauderdale, yeah.

Yeah, we redid one of the historical murals that was there that was kind of problematic. And that's definitely a zone in downtown Fort Lauderdale or in the Wynwood area. The Wynwood, yes.

I recognize your art, yes. That's wonderful. Thank you.

Any other questions? No? For the artists? No?

Okay. We'll make a motion. Is everybody in agreement?

Thank you very much, my friend. Thank you, guys.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much.

Okay. So I'll make a motion that we approve AIPP resolution in file 18027 of the Art in Public Places Board, pursuant to Chapter 62, Article 16, entitled Art in Public Places of the Court of the City of Miami, as amended, recommending approval to the planning director for an art installation by artist Muta Santiago, works by Muta Vision, as part of the public art condition located with a warrant for the development located at approximately 601 North Miami Avenue and 25 Northeast 6th Street, Miami, Florida, containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date.

Second. Thank you, Ms. Napoles. Thank you, Ms. Cuervo. Do we have a roll call vote, please?

Calling Member Cristina Cuervo.

Yes.

Thank you. Calling Member Maria Napoles. Yes. Thank you. Calling Member Gary Feinberg.

Yes.

Thank you. And calling Member Juan Valadez.

Yes.

Thank you. And calling Member Jacqueline Roach. Yes. Thank you. And calling Chair Francisco Jerez. Yes. Thank you. This passes by a vote of six to zero.

Thank you very much, looking forward to it.

Thank you. Next item would be item number two on the agenda. file ID 17822, a resolution of the Art in Public Places Board with attachments pursuant to chapter 62, article 16, titled Art in Public Places of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, approving the acquisition and exhibition of public art installation by artist Ignacio Gana, titled Chocolate Girl, to be installed at the City of Miami, Florida, The city of Miami owned property located approximately 501 Brickell Avenue, Miami, Florida, also known as Brickell Park, authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute any and all agreements and furtherance of this purpose in forms acceptable to the city attorney and in compliance with all applicable laws, including without limitation the city code as amended and providing for an effective date. So the request is to approve a temporary art acquisition and exhibition of a public art installation by artist Ignacio Gana, titled Chocolate Girl, to be installed at the City of Miami-owned property located at 501 Brickell Avenue. It's also known as Mary Brickell Park. The proposed duration is one year. This is an image of the site and the sculpture in relation to the site. And to provide some background, on January of this year, the AIPP board passed a resolution AAPP-25003 approving the allocation of $9,700 from the Public Art Fund to establish a temporary art program for fiscal year 2024-2025. This program allowed for the temporary display of artworks at city-owned sites, including the Miami Riverside Center, Brickell Park, which is this location, and David T. Kennedy Park. Each temporary installation under the program limited to a maximum duration of three months. Given the proposed 12-month duration of the artwork and the visibility of the Brickell Park along a major corridor, the City's Public Art Division seeks formal review and consideration by the Art in Public Places Board to ensure alignment with the City's public art goals and community standards. The artist could not be present today. He is currently in Chile for other commitments. But this is a artist's bio and information provided by the artist.

And how was the artist selected?

The artist approached the city to temporarily donate the sculpture and install it.

So not donate, just loan it, right?

Yes, it was a loan.

He's a local artist?

Yes, I believe he is out of, he's based in Miami, and he works internationally as well.

But explain, how was he selected for this?

Because it says here the professional advisory committee recommended him, so can you explain?

The city's public art staff was approached by the artist for the loan and the temporary installation. Due to our guidelines, the proposal has to be brought before the PAC, so the PAC didn't review the proposal.

The PAC didn't review it?

Yes. And has this been presented to the district commissioner?

We have been, we have provided the package to the district.

So the PAC, continue a little bit. So the PAC reviewed this. So normally the PAC reviews and selects among different options, et cetera, but what was their process for this? What does the PAC do for this?

They reviewed the proposal by the artist. They reviewed the artist's bio, qualifications, the proposal for the location, the artwork, and his body of work. So that was presented to the PAC, and a report was included in the agenda package for the PAC. And in the next slides, I have recommendations from the PAC for this. So this is the initial proposal by the artist. It's titled Chocolate Girl. And the statement provided by the artist.

So who pays for the installation of this?

The artist will pay for it.

And maintenance and insurance and all that stuff, right?

The artist will also pay for it. So the proposed sculpture was approximately 19 feet tall. And here are other renderings.

This is all copper?

It's bronze. Bronze.

Bronze.

Yes. These are excerpts from the PAC meeting. The PAC, the Professional Advisory Committee was convened at the Miami Riverside Center. Following review and discussion, the committee unanimously recommended that a different artwork from this artist portfolio be considered for Mary Brickle Park. In providing their feedback, the PAC emphasized the importance of context-sensitive public art and offered the following recommendations. To prioritize placemaking by selecting artwork and enhances the character of the park and its role in the public realm, to consider how the artwork will be experienced by a diverse audience, including families, children, and residents, to ensure the subject matter is thematically appropriate for the neighborhood park setting. And the PAC is suggesting that the artists explore alternative sculptures from the artist's portfolio that may be better aligned with the site's identity. A recommendation is that as a possible direction, the PAC suggests a more sports theme or a more playful, suitable option be given consideration by the board. These recommendations were then shared with the artists, and the artists shared two other options for the location. Option number two is Flamingo Girl.

So this sculpture is not part of Art in Public Places now, because it's very close to where I live. I'm just curious.

No, I believe it was at a private development somewhere in the city of Miami. So it's a private development, and they get the approval to put that out there. Correct.

So now he wants to take it from there.

This is one of the options he's suggesting. And the other option... is the diver, which is the preferred option by the artist, given the site's proximity to the bay. The PAC also indicated they're comfortable deferring to the board's final selection, having already reviewed the artist's portfolio and body of work. And again, with a suggestion that a more sports lighter theme be selected for the site.

So the PAC is advising to look at the portfolio for different, but they don't review the different alternatives?

No, they are deferring to the board. They are deferring to the board? Yes. The board suggested that the PAC proposed, sorry, the PAC suggested that the artist propose other options to the board, and these are the two options that the artist submitted back to us based on the availability of the pieces.

Is this going to be only three options?

Yes. Yes.

The third auction, my concern is the hurricane. How much is the weight of that?

Well, it would have to go through a building permitting process, including engineering calculations and et cetera. All right.

Just as a side note, I mean, reading this text on the side, it's very clear to me that this was written by AI and not by the artist. It just... like really smacks of just AI. M-dashes? No, no, everything. Every bit of it. This isn't the artist's voice. Anyways, I guess ideally, since this is a lot, ideally there would be an open call for artists to present sculpture here if it's going to be defined as an exhibition space. And so then... The pack would have, you know, 10 or five. I mean, not many artists can say, oh, I'm going to underwrite and cover all the costs of presenting some relatively large public sculpture. But I don't know. I mean, maybe local galleries would. They'd say, oh, I've got this artist that has, you know, X, Y, and Z sculptures. And maybe they'd be considered. So I don't know. I think the pack is dealing with the hand they're dealt.

I don't understand the process for this one, though. I'm not understanding. It was the artist that came to the city first? Yes. And so the location came out of where? The artist said, you know, I'd like to put it here, or was it the city that said, you know what, we need one for this location?

No, the artist suggested the location.

So the artist is suggesting locations, and, you know, hey, here's an art piece to put here, and this goes to the pack?

Yes. So the location was also previously approved as one of those three locations for temporary art installations. But because this is the first of its kind, we did decide to take it through the whole process. We spoke with the city attorney's office and we consulted our guidelines and the selection process is to take it to the PAC and then to this board for approval.

And how are these parks originally, who approved that temporary installations could go here, and where are the other two locations?

This board approved that.

This board approved it? Yeah.

Okay. Can you recall, can you let us, can you remind us when we approved that?

Yes, it's actually, I remember.

I mean, I question, I mean, I was involved when, No, no, I'm not saying no. No, when this park was developed, was built next door and there was maintenance responsibilities passed off to to the condo association so i just don't know who's responsible for the maintenance here and then what say also i would think that the neighborhood association would have some involvement in this and obviously you know you did say that district commissioner I guess, was consulted or a package was provided for them. I mean, I would just like to know, because I think this is, my office is right across the street. I look at this, so it's a very prime location. It's, you know, you live there. I'm sure it's going to get a lot of exposure. So to your point, is this something that we should be offering to a lot of different artists to have this opportunity?

And it is up to the board's discretion to perhaps take the item back and suggest a more open process for this location because it is a prominent location.

I agree with that. Yeah, definitely. And if the PAC asks the artists for alternatives, then they go back to the PAC and then the PAC decides. The PAC shouldn't say, oh, give alternatives to the board and then we decide later and So, you know, they need to finish up their thing and then send it to us for final approval. Okay. Now, with regard to this project, what would be our recommendations? To open it up? To open it up to an open call to artists and see what galleries maybe have other sculptures that may be interested in this project? Location?

Yes, the board can do that, can request it.

And I'd like to see the legislation that Francisco asked about when we originally approved. How were these temporary sites, temporary installation sites selected? Did the city propose that these are three sites we can do temporary installations at?

Yes, earlier this year we brought before this board a request for a temporary art program. One of the sites was the Miami Riverside Center due to our temporary installations at the building. The other one was David Kennedy Park because we have hosted the movies at the park with an artistic workshop or artist-led component for community engagement. And the third was Brickell Park due to its prominent location. So those were the three areas.

Maybe I wasn't here at that meeting.

So if we approve them as locations for temporary art installations, Why not call the artists and activate them? Why not go out and say, okay, we need artists for these three locations, temporary art installations, go.

Give us ideas. Speaking as an artist, it sounds like it's a program that we have to develop. Like, this is what this looks like, and there's three locations, and this is the process. Because it sounds like he just says, I want to put the sculpture there. And what's the $9,700?

The $9,700 were funds approved by the board to support the temporary art program. So the community engagement sessions, materials, printing, promoting.

That goes to the artists or goes to the program? To the program.

Okay, to the program. So, yeah.

Well, I guess it's unusual to put out a call to artists when there's zero budget.

That's the thing.

We're offering you this lot, and everything has to be vetted by public works, and the engineering has to be approved, and there's a lot of hurdles to jump. So it's tricky in that way.

Actually, we approved this, I remember, for that part.

Yeah.

Furthermore, we approved, I think it was maybe two years ago, an international artist to the park from a very well-renowned gallery, maybe about two, three years ago.

Yeah, you wasn't here.

Was it written here that this was going to be for 12 months, Chocolate Girl?

He was proposing a 12-month duration.

Right, but here it says maximum three months.

So the resolution approved a maximum of three months. So that's one of the reasons why it's being brought up for the board, because it exceeds that three-month limit in the pre-approved resolution.

Why isn't there a permanent... piece of art in these places. If they've been identified as a good temporary, why couldn't it be a permanent thing?

There are currently no capital project funds allocated to this park. So we generate...

Okay, so once they have to be doing something in the park to generate something. Yes, to generate the funds. So when the park was originally... Commissioned or dated? Nothing was done?

Prior to our program.

Prior to the program. Oh, interesting.

Question, why three months only?

Because we were gauging more or less on the temporary work of the exhibits, so pop-up exhibits, visiting sculptures, things like that, smaller activations.

I mean, to... To Jacqueline's point, I think we should be a little bit more deliberate, right? Like we have, okay, we have these temporary locations. What is it exactly that we want to do there, right? And then, because it's right, it's not a typical call to artists, but it may be, it's a special call to artists. It may be a call to galleries and artists, say, listen, if you're willing to donate... you know, your piece or loan your piece for a certain time and these are the conditions and this is how we can make it work and then there may be some dollars for certain things or but it's kind of like we have these locations and then, you know, whoever shows up and wants to you know, plan a sculpture there, you can go ahead and do it.

Are we limited to sculpture? Like, couldn't it be, like, activation spaces?

It's not limited to sculptures, no.

What if it was, like, you know, let's say O-Miami, how O-Miami started as this very small thing, and it's become this amazing thing that happens in this city year-round now. Yeah. So... What about thinking about the space as something not just putting a sculpture in, but maybe allowing Oh Miami or somebody, whoever that is, to be able to use that space where it doesn't cost anything.

Maybe that's the call to artists is, here's this space and what can you imagine happening in this space? It's a different type of call to artists maybe, I don't know.

And do we decide that?

Yeah. Wow. We do. I like that. We do. I think it's something to think about. What I think, I mean, here's an artist that obviously wants to donate or loan his work for a time, so I don't want to be dismissive of his work either. Not sure how to move this...

Well, why don't we reject this proposal from this artist and then open it to other artists or organizations?

The board may deny the proposal and invite the artist to participate in an open call for further activation at the park.

We'll do that, but how do you suggest that open call? How do you suggest we reach out to artists or galleries to activate that location temporarily for, let's say, six months? How would you reach out to local galleries and artists?

So you would list it as an opportunity. The microphone, please. Sorry, I have the microphone. Sorry, sorry. I'm learning. I have a teacher voice, too. I'm not used to using a microphone. So an artist would go to different places to find calls for opportunities. So like the state, the Department of Cultural Affairs. So I think what's important is to decide what it is, and then it's easy to find places to put it out to. Do you know what I mean? Like what is it that we're... offering and then there's different, it doesn't only have to be through the city of Miami where you do the cult artists. You could do a national or anything.

But I think we're also assuming a certain bandwidth on behalf of Indra and her department too. Is this something that you all can manage?

That is something that influenced the lack of activation of this park and the program because as of last week, it was a team of one. So staffing issues was limiting our activation for these locations.

Do you think we're, should we propose this open call or is there not?

I think the board can propose the open call perhaps for the upcoming year and give us a year to work out the timing of that. And I can come back to the board with a proposed schedule for when we can draft and release the open call as an update.

But I have a suggestion. We are facing, in a matter of less than 30 days, the art season. If this sculptor is going to have exposure there for only three months, let's have it, because we are going to have a lot of visitors. I mean, this is going to be Basel week, and we're not going to have time to really do it different at this point why we just don't approve I propose this we'll approve this for this time and then we can develop some other ways more appropriate to the board to our board but he was this was for a year right this was for 12 months oh it's for the whole year for 12 months oh yeah

And what's the time frame anyway? I mean, there's no way that an artist would be able to put a sculpture in there and get approved within a few weeks, right?

I think we're a little late for Basel.

That's what I was wondering.

We have to be realistic. Sometimes we don't make quorum, so we're going to be in the back and forth. And it's a good opportunity to have an artist there for so many years. visitors that we're going to have.

It's just that we have temporary locations, but we don't have a temporary art program. We don't have a process or a logic or anything on how to... A framework. A framework on how to activate these locations, whether it's a sculpture or it's another type of activation. We don't have that. So I think that That's what I would, I'm not sure how you would even go out to the call to artists and say, okay, we have this location, you know, and it's completely open, meaning it can be sculpture, it can be, you know, whatever, dance, it can be whatever it is. I'm not sure how to do that call, you know? Yeah, we are not a structure.

You're absolutely right at this point. But, For example, a mural program.

We would have to have, okay, this is what we're going to do. These are the walls, and this is how we're going to do it, and it's going to be for this long, this duration. We're going to get this many artists. We don't have that for temporary, so I'm not really sure how to manage these temporary art locations.

Okay. I agree with you, but I do also feel like we should have something in place. Like you said, framework is the perfect description. I mean, who knows? What if the two things, usually, I'm going back to O Miami because they've really, this is what they do. They say, okay, what is your idea? I have no idea. They don't come up with the ideas. They put it out there. But the other thing, and again, just thinking, if we really start to explore it, why not talk to, you know, maybe a museum wants to use the space. Or the bakehouse. If you put a call to art at the bakehouse. You put it on them to come up with the idea to help us figure out what's going to be the best use, I think.

That's a great idea. It's like a call to, not even a call to art, it's a call to design the program.

Like the Knight Foundation. Yeah, the Knight Foundation, that's what they do. They say, okay, tell us what you would do.

Or, oh, Miami says, what do you want to do?

Because they're happy to help, which is what we do, but maybe somebody has an idea. Yeah.

So a call for artistic proposals for the program.

But I also think, like you said, Indra. On how best to use the different locations.

But it doesn't have to be like now. You know, you just said. I mean, we have time to think about it. But it could be very exciting.

I mean, Indra, are you expecting to have more staff and colleagues?

Yes, we actually, as of last week, we have two new employees that they will be introducing themselves to the board today.

Okay, great. Congrats.

So it is also to deal with the backlog of projects. So that's also in consideration.

Cool. Okay, so...

Can I ask a question?

How do the call to artists go out now?

They are posted on the city's website. We also reach out to artistic institutions nationally. So we also share them with the county and with other cities to help us spread the word. And the FAPAP, the Florida Association of Public Art Administrators, they also help us share those. Okay.

We actually have in Miami two foundries where they have students there and a lot of international artists that created work here. Maybe we can invite them to have some kind of a competition as well. This would be a good source of sculptors.

Again, though, it is tricky to ask of artists to present large-scale works without any funding whatsoever.

I'm talking about large-scale.

Even the transportation is very different. Insurance.

Who's insuring this thing? Yeah.

I do want to share with the board that we have been contacted by other artists offering similar proposals. Not formally offering them, but they've reached out to us to see what's the process of loaning a sculpture or loaning a piece of work at a public park.

I mean, there's clearly benefits, so, you know, the work, someone might say, oh, I'd love to acquire that, or, you know, like I was just at a small gallery in Alapata, and they had a large-scale sculpture in the backyard by this artist, Justin Long, and it was good, and it was interesting. It was this sailboat upended with these palm trees growing out of it, and it's being de-installed this weekend, and, you know, I'm sure it's... I don't know if it'll even survive.

I don't know what's going to happen to this sculpture.

So anyways, yeah, I guess once your staff is in place and expanded.

This is a very prime location in Miami, and we should be more involved on the decision as a board, I feel. Okay.

Okay, so.

I would like to make a public call for ideas on how to, you know, on ideas for our temporary locations because we, you know, we don't have one yet. So if we can make a public call to artists or to non-profits or, you know, places like Bakehouse or other places that they've been suggesting and So what do we do with this item, formally?

We deny it.

And invite him to an open call.

Right, I agree with that. I don't want to just reject the artist. I think that we want to make it equitable to everyone. Oh, for sure. Offer that he can participate, you know?

Absolutely.

I mean, I appreciate that he took the initiative and he gave us some good options.

Yeah, right. And maybe we get 10 submissions and this turns out to be the best one. Exactly. And then we say, oh, thank you. Exactly.

Because, you know, there is a cost involved. And he's obviously, whoever's doing this is undertaking that cost, be it permitting, having wind load tests, all of those things. So it may not be that other artists can meet these requirements, but maybe... Mr. Chair, maybe you come back to us with what a public call to artists would look like and that's something that we review and then it's issued.

We can do that. Would the board want us to share it with the PAC, get their feedback, and then bring it to you for final feedback?

Yes, please. I would say, too, that we're going to deny this, and we're going to open a call and invite this artist as well. But the call isn't for a sculpture. It is for, you know, for...

I mean, it's a little tricky to make it that open. I'm sorry. It just is. Okay, yeah. why oh Miami versus, you know, it becomes a space that then they control and versus like the Art Center of Miami Ballet, like it's hard to have it so open and with no budget, with no like real management of that zone. It's, I don't know, it's hard to give that a...

What concerns me is that if we make an artist call, it's going to cost us as a board much more than this. A local artist or even international artist have to involve a lot of money. It's a big, large sculpture that goes there just for a year. When you make an artist call, they are encouraged because it's gonna be at certain point permanently. So they are actually willing to make little money sometimes, but they are going to have the recognition in a big city like this Miami now. If we get involved with an artist call, it's gonna cost us a lot of money. What do you think?

There's also the challenge of will the artist have the funds to de-install and remove this thing or do you get stuck with it?

I think that can be worked out in that call. Those details can be expressed in the call.

What if we invited the arts organizations on a rotating basis to have the space and then it's their decision what goes in it? I think that's good. It's just That's what I would like for...

I don't know if it's the public art division or somebody who, you know, to design. Design a program for February.

Right, so there's a calendar and Bakehouse has it for three months.

Design a program for it, you know?

It can't be just, oh, plop a sculpture there. There has to be like a process.

A structure, like you said before, Sherman. I agree on that.

So I'm just not sure who's going to create that process.

With no funding, though. Remember, you're asking for people to work for you for free.

Well, no, I mean, that's this one. But actually, I think that your point is very, very important. And that's a point that we should say, listen, if we really want to have, this is Miami. We have many locations. We want to run a temporary art program. It has to be funded. And so we'll, you know, we find a way to fund it or see what we have to do. Because if not, it's just, I mean, I don't even understand why identify locations for temporary installations if I mean, for what? Just in case an artist comes and wants to put a sculpture there? Or it doesn't really seem to follow logic.

I'd agree on that. That's the reason that the city created the board.

I think that we can talk about it. I think that the PAC can also provide some feedback. A few meetings ago, or last meeting, that we had quorum, we were going to invite the PAC to attend our meetings.

Is that a thing? Yeah, that's been discussed with the PAC. We have figured out with the clerk's office how to arrange those meetings. This meeting was not optimal because we had all these items deferred from two past meetings, so we, the PAC is aware, that's been communicated with them, and they are open to coming in and doing a joint meeting with the board. I do wanna bring up the fact that we will...

Remember, even if we don't have quorum and the PAC comes, we can have a discussion about these things. It doesn't have to, we don't even need necessarily quorum, so let's not stop, you know, get them here next time next meeting they should come okay um and if and if we have quorum we'll hear him and if we don't then fine we'll talk to them as well well sorry i know we're still on this proposal but maybe afterwards we could talk about housekeeping in regards to quorum and us

not driving here when there's no quorum and us finding out like, you know, by five, like maybe by five o'clock we can be told whether the meeting is going to be convened or not. So I think we all have cell phones and we can all be adults and say we can make it or we can't make it. It's crazy if it's left in the air. You know, Melanie or Maloney did a great job of, is that you? Oh, yeah, thank you so much for being on top of it, you know, and every hour giving us these updates because I don't live near here. to schlep out here in traffic.

I was checking my email.

It's absurd. It's absurd. So if we don't have quorum by 5 o'clock the next meeting, I'm not coming. I'm just not. I'm going to tell you I'm coming. And then at 5, you can tell us we have quorum or we don't. And I'll just respond accordingly. that's the thing we don't know like some members then the people on this board need to you know be adults and you know I mean come on they have an obligation and it's really rude to put us out like that so or I'll just resign like that's you know I'm considering doing that as well so and it's rude to the applicants too Exactly.

Sorry, back on the subject of the proposals that we get from artists, we are approached, we have been approached a lot lately about these projects of this nature. donations or temporary loans to parks. It benefits the parks because it activates the sites. It benefits the artists because it gives them exposure. And in our guidelines, it is listed as one of the selection methods. So the selection method states that we take it to the park and we bring it to the board. So how would the board like to proceed with that? knowing that this won't be the only one proposed.

If I may, Savannah Steiner, Assistant Director, Art in Public Places is one of my, Divisions. I've listened to all of your comments, and they're all great comments, and so I want to kind of put it in little buckets for you. I think, yes, there is a temporary art program where we have pre-selected sites, and it's up to us as a staff and up to the team to develop and curate a temporary art program for those sites. kind of separately in what this kind of is, is there will always be artists that come and say, hi, I would like to have this art in this park for a year. I would like to have this series of statues throughout, I mean, I've worked in other cities where somebody came and they said, I want a series of statues throughout all of your downtown parks. So it was like, you know, seven downtown parks. and they're gonna stay for a year, it was highly successful. So you're always gonna have those situations where there's a one-off. While this happens to be a statue in one of the permanent temporary art locations that you selected, I would kind of more treat it as one of those one-offs where you've had an artist approach you, and say, I would like to do an art installation, a temporary art installation here for a year. I am willing to pay and insure it and everything and that's part of that donation of that temporary art for a year. And that also allows staff to continue to work on what that temporary art program looks. like and can come back to you and can kind of further describe that. So I wouldn't treat it as trying to combine them together, I would kind of treat them as separate items. So just because you put this statue here doesn't mean that you can't also have a temporary art program and those others selected and do a call to artists and work with either museums that have stuff in their collection that they need to get out of their warehouses and they want to put on loan with the city for a year. I've worked with major museums that have done that too. So those are all things that are great and that can be a different route to temporary art, but you're always going to have these types of situations, so I would kind of keep it in that bucket, so to speak.

Thank you. That's very helpful.

My understanding is there were a couple of locations that were originally chosen as part of a potential temporary art program. For this one, this specific artist only wants to go in this location. So that's kind of why I would deal with it there. That's what I said.

It's a prime location.

Of course, of course. And tomorrow we may have another one that comes and it'll go to the PAC and it may come with a negative recommendation and you may say, nope, we've got too much and we can't do any more. And that's part of, you know, our job, their jobs as curators to make that recommendation to the PAC and the PAC to make that recommendation to you. But you're always going to have those one-offs and they're always going to come through that process.

I'm remembering this, like, horse statue that was in Surfside. Didn't we approve, didn't we see something like this? It was like a Don Quixote on the boardwalk.

I think that's outside of the city boundaries.

Sorry?

I think it's outside of the city boundaries, city of Miami boundaries.

I know, but why, so it never came here, this thing? No.

Don Quixote is a horse. I understand. It's just that, you know, we've identified this spot and then it's a prime location and it seems as though, you know, we're not looking at any alternatives. Not even, I mean, the PAC hasn't even considered the alternatives of this same artist. They only saw option number one. They haven't seen option number two and number three yet, so.

We have.

So, you know.

Can we make a motion then to not accept this resolution? Or to deny the resolution? But I want to... I'll just make a motion.

The board may also remand it back to the PAC for further review.

Well, I think we're going to remand it back to the PAC for further review, but to propose a temporary art installation program and a call to artists that we can review. Is everybody sort of in agreement with that? I'll say that. Okay, so a motion to not approve AIPP resolution and file 17822. of the Art in Public Places Board with attachments pursuant to Chapter 62, Article 16, Title Art in Public Places, approving the temporary acquisition, not approving, not approving the temporary acquisition and exhibition of a public art installation by artist Ignacio Gana, titled Chocolate Girl, to be installed at the City of Miami-owned property located at approximately 501 Brickell Avenue, also known as Brickell Park, authorizing the city manager, no, so that's it. And then we would like this to be remanded back to the PAC for them to come forward with a call to artists for these temporary art installation sites that were previously selected and approved by the board for our review and for their further recommendations.

In collaboration with Art in Public Places staff?

Yes, in collaboration with Art in Public Places staff. Thank you.

Second. Second by Ms. Napoles. Roll call vote, please.

Yes. Calling member Christina Cuervo. Yes. Calling member Maria Napoles. Yes. Calling member Gary Feinberg. Yes. Calling member Juan Valadez. Yes. Calling member Jacqueline Roach. Yes. Thank you. And calling chair Francisco Jerez.

Yes.

Okay. This passes by a vote of six to zero. Thank you.

Next we have item number six, file ID 17963, a resolution of the City of Miami Art and Public Places Board approving the Arts and Public Places Board meeting date for the 2026 calendar year. And hearing board staff has provided each one of you a copy of the proposed calendar.

As you can see, the board meets every second Monday of the month, excluding October due to the Columbus Day, I'm sorry, due to the Columbus Day holiday. So it'll be the first Monday in October. But other than that, it's the second meeting of every month.

All right. Okay, do you want me to make a motion? Yeah. Okay, so I'll make a motion to approve file 17963 with a resolution of the City of Miami Art and Public Places Board approving the Art and Public Places Board meeting dates for the 2026 calendar.

You said except October? Excuse me? Did you mention?

It's already, it's on the calendar. It's on the calendar. I'm sorry. Okay, it's okay. It's okay.

Do you have the calendar in front of you? Yes, madam.

Okay.

No, no, no. If not, I'll give you mine.

All right. Okay.

Is there a second? Second.

Second by Ms. Napoles. Thank you, Ms. Napoles. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you.

Roll call. Calling member Christina Cuervo.

Yes.

Calling Maria Napoles.

Yes.

Calling Gary Feinberg. Yes. Calling Juan Valadez. Yes. Calling Member Jacqueline Roach. Yes. And calling Chair Francisco Jerez. Yes. It passes by a vote of six to zero with no revisions. Thank you.

So there are no more items, right?

No more items. Just a couple of updates for the board.

Please.

AIPP board vacancies have been posted. The positions and applications have been shared with the commissioner's office. One vacancy has been filled by member Jacqueline Roach. So welcome again to the board. And I wanted to give you an opportunity to introduce yourself and...

I'm sorry, can you please speak into the microphone?

So many things, I'm sorry. And I appreciate everyone's patience about this microphone and things like that. Very happy to be here. I live in the city of Miami. I'm an artist, I'm a teacher. I was part of PAC briefly for one project. And yeah, I look forward to learning and being part of this group.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Welcome. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us. She joins us as our member at large.

That's correct. Other updates, we have the planning department has concluded recruitment for two positions posted for the public art division, a part-time temporary position for full-time, part-time temporary opportunity for a curator and a full-time opportunity for a curator for the program. And I will have Irina introduce herself to you right now. Irina is our full-time curator.

Good evening.

Pleasure.

Board members, can you hear me okay?

Yes, very well.

My name is Irina Panasuk. I'm a public art curator with the City of Miami as of last Monday, a week ago. I am honored to be here. I think Miami has incredible legacy, history, but also a lot of potential and great opportunities. I've been in the public art field for the last 14 years. My background is in communications. I've done public relations before then. But ever since I received my master's in arts and curatorial practices in the public sphere, I've been working in the art world. I created and opened my consultancy, IVP Public Art, in 2017. I had a pleasure of working with the City of West Hollywood, Culver City, City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and I was part of the Public Art Department, Arts and Community Enrichment Department with LA Metro, who currently has the largest public art budget in the country, because they're preparing, gearing up for Olympics. I've been blessed with all these opportunities, but then there was a time for a change. I have been wanting to be on the city side and being able to advocate for art and bringing great projects for a while, so this is my opportunity. I'm very grateful for it. I guess something that informs My approach to public art, it's always bringing art to the people. It's connecting art, community, and place. So the projects that I've curated so far, they're multiple mediums, but really what informs it is opportunity to ensure they're impactful, relevant, and meaningful for the public, and they bring people together, and they activate the public spaces. So one of them that I would like to talk about is called Culver Current. It's a digital fountain. There is a description of it that I'll read, but I also want to tell a back story. It's actually a plaza in front of the Culver City City Hall. And Culver City is the city that hosted all the studios during the golden Hollywood era. That plaza has been there for 100 years, but people stopped coming there. So they were thinking about dismantling the plaza. The real fountain that was in that place was deactivated for a while. And then the city decided to celebrate 35 years of their public art program. And I won a competition to create a public artwork to celebrate. the anniversary. And so I arrested and I brought a young emerging artist who just graduated from UCLA, which is one of the leading universities on the West Coast, from UCLA Design Lab. And what they did, they created a dynamic digital artwork that was installed in front of the city hall. It's a nine-foot tall cylindrical sculpture, combines a steel frame, Corian shell, and Corian is a material that is used to build counters, kitchen counters. It's very sturdy, but also it's slightly transparent. You can see through it. And there is a custom-made computer inside of this core, nearly 500 LED panels. So what we created is a seamless illuminated digital surface, but that also mimics the motion of the water and the computer inside reads the data from open sources within the city and reflects the life of the city online into custom-made animations. And so the public, the audience, has a chance to interact with it in many different ways. They can come and play with it because it reflects the movement. It really acts like water. Or if they decide to engage online and post Culver Current or Culver City, certain keywords, Then the fountain reacts with a custom animation, shoots the star across the whole imagery, let the people interact with it in a digital space as well. So we installed it right before the pandemic, December 2019. Then, of course, everything closed. But what started happening is people started first walking their dogs nearby. Then the bloggers came and, you know, the skaters, they started shooting videos next to it. Then the next thing, you know, the moms and the kids, because kids can't touch, you can't do anything to that sculpture. They can play with it, it reflects the movement, but that computer can never be harmed. And so we reactivated the public space with bringing this interactive sculpture. It's been the sixth year that they have extended, you know, it was supposed to be just a year, a temporary public art installation for a year. It's been there for six years. The city found more money, and we could add more features. There was a custom... music that was written for it and it lights up at sunset and kind of like lights up the whole plaza. They even left the plaza alone for now because you know now it's all inhabited again. People come and enjoy and play and interact and come together. So I think in my opinion this is the greatest example of how public art can change you know not only the space, the place, but the whole interaction within the community, and that's kind of the goal for majority of projects that I curated. I guess another good project, this is another good view, this was one of the events, and you can see various animations. It actually, The fountain can do much more by now, but really, it's alive, and it reflects the life of a city in many different ways. This is the project that is currently being installed. It just got installed a few weeks ago, and then they're fixing the installation a little bit. I just wanted to show the variety. These are flex facades cladding screens, which usually would be installed over the parking structure. In this case, the developer, it's a private percent for the art in private development. The developer chose to use it as a fabric because the practice of this artist, Julie Chang, she works in textile. And she creates digital work, but her whole idea is interweaving stories, symbols, and waving the fabrics out of all of this interactions of different cultures and backgrounds. So this one is reflecting local fauna landmarks and architectural history with, you know, combining the symbols from different cultures. There are some, you know... some symbols from Asian culture, from Hispanic, because this is a neighborhood that is now being gentrified, and there is an influx of people from various Asian countries, while it used to be historically Hispanic neighborhood. So there are clashes, you know, there are certain things that change the neighborhood. I've done five or six installations in this neighborhood, and with all of them, I try to bring the cultures together, show how they're similar, you know, whether it's reflecting, you know, the festivities of both cultures, which was a big tile, the series of three tile murals, or this one where it intervenes the history and waves the fabric of the present and future from the beautiful inspiration from the past and symbols that

stayed with us culturally so that's some of the examples of the project that I like to curate but I'm sure we'll do much more here thank you for having me welcome as our curator then you're going to be the person who is going to seriously you're going to come back next time and you're going to have a plan for how to curate the temporary art exhibits in those locations. Let's think outside the box.

Ideally, as a curator, what I would propose is facilitate the work on the public art master plan. And those temporary installations should be part of a larger programming structure that should be intervened within the public art master plan. So I would focus on that.

All right, let's get to it. I think that's very good. Sounds good. Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you. Good idea.

All right. I like that too.

Me too.

Next, we have, thank you, Irina, Mario Lopez-Bissani, our other curator for the Public Art Division. Mario is part-time with the City of Miami currently. Welcome, Mario. Hello.

Good evening, everyone. Can you hear me well? My name is Mario Lopez Pisani. So I have a little bit of a background written here, but I can talk about sort of my experience here. I'm a public art professional. I've experienced curating and managing public art projects and emphasize placemaking. I am local. I grew up in Palm Beach County, so I'm very excited to be here in Miami because this is sort of like a mecca for public art lately. really worldwide. I basically grew up in the arts, sort of art education system of South Florida, first through middle school, then through high school, so magnet programs, which got me a scholarship to a school in Boston where I really honed in to studying public art and where I really learned sort of the power of art, the power of art education and the power that that has to basically change communities and help sort of growth and really incentivize a lot of positive things. As I mentioned, yeah, previously I worked as a public art professional for the village of Royal Palm Beach, a much smaller city. I sort of started a public art program there with them, and I was able to facilitate sort of from conception to completion public art projects for a city that really had none. So when I got there, maybe there were two. By the time I left, there was around 10 or 11. Talking a city of 30,000 people, so that's a big... a big difference. And yeah, so that's a little bit of my background. I do like to say that my approach is not only sort of create a vision and depth of a work of art, but also how does that impact locality, how does it impact local community members, since I grew up sort of in the area, so that's something that's important to me. And the approach that I have and experience I have is in project management, urban planning, and like I said, a creative vision to deliver thoughtful site-specific installations. I have a couple projects, if you want to maybe go to the next slide, that these are some examples I guess that I can work on. These are, this is a, For the new village hall, there was a new village hall for the Village of Royal Palm Beach, and they had an Art in Public Places budget, and we were able to create a 11 and a half foot stainless steel sculpture that's 11 foot, also wide, that was basically two intersecting leaves that had a really beautiful message because the writing that you see inside was collected from the community members themselves. And I'll read you just a really quick note from the artist. Home, when does a place start to feel like home? After we cooked in Nana's old pot and the aroma brings generational memories flooding back. After we meet our neighbors. After we find a quilting group. After the kids move back. After we start volunteering and getting plugged in. It happens differently to each of us. At some point we cross over from being a stranger, being known and loved by the people around us. Nestled within the surface of the sculpture are reflections and memories of home collected from community members. The sculpture embodies the village's commitment to preserving nature and parks. It reflects the life, growth, and vibrancy of the community. It also celebrates the life we have when we find our sense of belonging. So I thought that this was a special piece that really took the community's input and that I hope I can work in similar scenarios here in Miami, which I believe there might be many potential times I can. And the next piece is a photograph, so basically it's a photographic commission by an international photographer, his name is Sean Padron, and he chose a location, this is sort of his aesthetic, and he chooses one singular location, and chooses where to place a picture. And then he captures the residents. So these are all basically kind of Photoshopped together. And the top layer there is you see the morning, the middle layer there is the afternoon, and the bottom layer is closer to sundown. And what he tries to capture is sort of the lifespan of a day in the park. And what I love about it is that it's sort of these individuals all living their singular moments, but that together as individuals we create a community. So one plus one plus one plus one equals a whole. And this is a little bit of a snippet that he writes. The inner life of the community is captured through the individuals and then stitched together, showing various members of a community within the same composition. And so that's a special piece that I'd like to, I guess, share with you guys that I was able to commission, you know, getting the photographer, finding the place, finding a budget. And so this was a fantastic, wonderful project. And again, to make and work on projects like this for the city of Miami. And yeah, that's my... I don't know if you guys have any questions.

Welcome. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you, Mario. And one final update is on the project, the storm drain art. This project was brought before the board earlier this year. A finalist was selected by this board, and a pop-up exhibition was hosted by FIU at the Miami Beach location. All the student artists work were pinned up and the students actually got a chance to visit the opening and see their work displayed. We are moving forward with the project and we are now in the implementation phase. So we're working with the Office of Resilience and Public Works to start implementing the stencils. We have identified 10 locations citywide for the first deployment. so two per district, and the artwork by finalist Chloe Corti will be installed in, as the board saw, English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. So it's site-specific per neighborhood. So that is the face that we're in right now. And here are some pictures from the opening reception. The exhibit will be up through November 13th at the Student Washington Gallery in Miami Beach.

Thank you. That's great. Thanks. I wanted to have an item as a discussion item for this meeting and I had an email on September 10th I think with Melanie to add it and we discussed it and I thought it would be on the agenda but it's not so I don't know if I did something wrong or

The item requires no action from the board, but at the board's discretion and at the board's request, it can be voted on to be brought before the board for action. But we can discuss the item right now if you give...

So to get on the agenda, though, is there a procedure? What do you...

The board will have to request the item.

The item be on the agenda. Okay. So it's just a conversation about Freedom Park and if we can with this budget create some sort of invitational where we broadcast this to the world that we have this incredible site and an incredible budget and if we can't try and engage some artists at the early stage to come in and do something as opposed you know we haven't activated in this way I mean, we're always sort of on the back end of stuff, you know, but not ahead of it. And an artist that I thought would be interesting, again, discussion, there's many out there, but is Andy Goldsworthy, is an environmental, he comes in, you know, this is a landscape, and it could be an amazing opportunity for Miami. So that's just what I wanted to have. We've had a long meeting tonight. I don't know if the meeting, the board wants to you know, put this to the next meeting or whatever, but I think it's worthy of our discussion.

I've driven past Freedom Park. There's a lot of work going on in the site, which is surprising because last I heard, you had said that they haven't still, you know, paid into the public art fund or met the public art requirements, so I'm not really sure how they're advancing and how they're getting their permits if if they haven't gone through the public art process?

So the permits that we brought before the board last time were the phase permits, and that's how they've been able to make progress on the construction. We are working with the applicant, with the developers, on a plan for public art, and that will be presented to this board in the coming meetings. So they are submitting a package to the city of Miami They have been in conversations with the planning department and with the administration and the division.

About public art?

Yes, about submitting a plan for public art for the project, specifically a mini master plan for the project. That's nice.

I remember also, can you please ask them to come to one of our meetings?

Yes, I have asked them. Next meeting. Okay.

And then we can have the conversation that Gary wants to have. We can have it with the applicant here and we can have that discussion.

I will extend that invitation again.

Please, and put it on the agenda.

Okay.

Do we need to take a vote or anything for that? No? All right. Let's put it on the agenda then.

Anything else? Yeah, that fun question of quorum. So is it, so the fact that there's six people here, so six people didn't all reply to the email, so is it possible to send us all a text message and say, are you able to come tonight? Is that an option?

No, it's not an option for hearing boards. We communicate with you via the email.

Okay.

We had five yeses, I think, right?

The sunshine low.

There were five yeses?

No, she only had four yeses. She had four. She only had four yeses.

I only had four responses. As I said, we don't know who's gonna appear. We still have to come and call the meeting. So we never know who's gonna show up until we come in the meeting to start the meeting.

Yeah.

And some, and we've not had quorum for two months. So some will say they're coming and they don't show up at all. So, I mean.

That's ridiculous, yeah.

Who were the two that didn't respond that are here? You didn't respond? Francisco. No longer our chair. No, I'm kidding. And who else didn't respond?

Well, I'm not going to call names because they know who they are. But like I said, we haven't had quorum for the last two meetings. And like I said, some respond that they will be here. And I can tell you at the last meeting, the only one here was Maria Napoles.

Right, and I'm asking that not to call anybody out. I'm asking it more so that we're cognizant what you just relayed to us, that you only communicate via email, and so that everybody does pay attention to their email. especially on days of a scheduled meeting. So I share the exact same concern that you just voiced. We're all driving from different locations and making time out of our schedules to come here, and then if we don't have a quorum and we don't find out until we get here, it's really unfortunate. I'm pleased to see that we had six members here today. So thanks, everyone, for coming.

Five people.

I think the matter is the sunshine low, right? The sunshine low. that doesn't allow to test or to call each other into the matters that are related to the board.

Right, but we can respond to her. She keeps us updated. As she did, she did a great job today. Very impressed.

So to Juan's point, if by a certain time there's not quorum, what happens? I mean, the staff still has to show up, but do the members show up?

We can't call the meeting until we appear and we start the meeting and we see who's here. If we don't have quorum, then that's the end of the meeting. We can't call it via email. We have to come here and see. Some may not respond, and they still may show up here to the meeting. Doesn't mean we can't have the meeting, unfortunately.

Well, I hope the staff is getting paid for being here, but we're not. So I'm going to follow the emails. And if there isn't a quorum, I'm not going to come. So hopefully people reply to the emails. Thanks for your work on this, though.

I mean, I did that in September. I had said yes, I was coming, and then as the day went on, I saw that there wasn't going to be quorum, and I wrote back to say I'm not coming. Right. So I think that's...

Honestly, the thing about me and myself is I lived 15 minutes from here, so it's not difficult for me, even though if it's raining or pouring, not difficult.

Oh. You're a better person than me, Maria. Thank you.

That's all the updates on our behalf.

Can we move to adjourn?

All right, I make a motion to adjourn. Second by Ms. Jacqueline.

Is your lesson?

No, no, you did it perfectly.

Sorry.

No, no, it's perfectly. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Thank you very much.