Cultural Commission - Regular Meeting

Well, okay. It's a little bit old school. It's very, yeah. All right. I now call to order the Cultural Commission regular meeting August 3rd, 2026 at 7.07 p.m. Thank you for your patience, everyone, as we work through some technical issues. First of all, I'd like to welcome our new Commissioner, Ana Vargas Smith, to her first meeting. Welcome, welcome. And I will take a roll call. Commissioner Das, Commissioner Diaz, Commissioner Garg, Commissioner Pontius, Commissioner Roy, and Commissioner Smith, and myself. Our first item on the agenda is our consent calendar. There is one item on consent calendar this evening, and it's the action to approve the regular minutes of the June 1st, 2026 Cultural Commission meeting. Mr. Pontius, were you able to watch the video of the June 1st meeting? Okay. Okay. Did you read them? The minutes? Okay. And then... Commissioner Vargas Smith, you probably didn't see them either. So Robin, I have a question. Should we have Commissioner Pontius and Commissioner Vargas Smith abstain from the vote?

Yeah.

Okay. Are there any public comments on the consent calendar? Yes. We're talking to a specific agenda item right now. Oh, I see. Yeah. So now I would like to entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the June 1st, 2026 meeting.

I move to approve the minutes of the June 1st, 2026 meeting.

And the second. Okay. We'll go for a vote. Commissioner Doss. Aye. Mr. Diaz. Aye. Mr. Garg. Aye. Commissioner Roy.

Aye.

And myself. So that passes unanimously. Okay, we will now move to the public presentation section of our meeting. This part of the meeting is reserved for the public to address the Cultural Commission on any matter not on the agenda that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Commission. The law does not permit action on or extended discussion of any item not on the agenda except under special circumstances. The Commission or staff may briefly respond to statements made or questions posed, and the Committee may request staff to report back at a subsequent meeting. As a reminder, comments can be emailed to clerk at SantaClaraCAA.gov. If any member of the public would like to make comments, Please fill out a speaker's card or raise your hand in Zoom. To accommodate all speakers, we request that you complete your comments within one minute. Staff, do we have any members of the public on Zoom that would like to speak? We do not. Okay, we have someone in the room that would like to speak. And you have a speaker card?

Yes. Um, and, uh, is it Guibo? Guibao. Guibao is here with the St. Clair, um, Church Spirituality Committee.

Hi, I'll stand and be in front of you guys. I don't know if I should be on this end. Um, just to give you a little background. I'm Anna Guibao. I'm with St. Clair Church. And we're celebrating the 250th celebration of the mission. And then next year is the 150th anniversary of the city of Santa Clara. And in doing so, we have our theme, Mission to Mission. And we are asking if the Culture Commission could help host and or sponsor or help with maybe an invocation event at the statue of St. Clair in front of City Hall. This event would, again, celebrate the city of Santa Clara's 150th anniversary, as well as 250th anniversary of the mission of St. Clair, honoring the city's 1777 founding, its patroness, St. Clair, and its current diversity in our community. Ideally, the commission would assist with hosting the ceremony on a weekend. And we're suggesting maybe during the feast day of St. Clair next year in August. I had several dates that I had listed. It's a Sunday afternoon or Saturday afternoon, August 7th, 8th, 14th, or 15th of 2027. And I don't know how large an event like this could be. But what we would do is we would for sure open it to our parishioners to come on an afternoon and it'd be in conjunction with the city. And it would be an invocation-like event, something that would give us a sense of community and prayer. And that's where it gets a little, because I don't know if that's something that you would consider. But in any event, it would be during, it would be something like the program they did for the statute invocation. And I have a copy of what they had done for the statute dedication and invocation where they did have a master ceremonies presentation of colors invocation The mayor welcomed the people there. There was a choir performance by the Wilcox High School Cappapella Choir. There were some guests that the city council introduced. And then there was some dedication and remarks and then a benediction from a pastor from a Baptist church. So I would be willing to work with something that you would see that would be beneficial for this kind of occasion. And, but we have no funds and we're unsure about the qualifications of receiving a grant from the city because we're a religious organization being St. Clair's church. And so therefore I don't know if that has any bearing on it. And this being an event that we're asking for a prayer to be said at the statue to be thankful that St. Clair is our patron saint of the city and of our community. We hope you can consider, have guidance on how we can allow this celebration to happen and what we need to do to move forward. Thank you. Okay. Do you have any questions?

I have one question. Is this something where you want the entire city council to attend?

Yeah. I mean, whoever, whomever Obviously it would be whomever is available. I don't know what the protocols are for people to, you know, to join such a thing. The reason I'm coming here is because it came up at our spirituality committee meeting. What could we do to get the theme mission to mission, the mission of the old, the mission of the future. And so I was going through a lot of things for the mission for the future. So I thought that would be a great way to bring the city involved with our anniversary of the 150th.

Okay. I have a question. So you said Mission St. Clair, but are you talking about Mission Santa Clara or St. Clair Church or St. Clair Parish? Like, what are you...

So we belong to St. Clair's Parish. It is St. Clair's Church, which once was... is part of the mission.

Well, the mission is part of St. Clair Parish.

Yes.

Yeah. So, but you said Mission St. Clair. So you're talking about the Mission Santa Clara?

Santa Clara Mission. The Mission Church is on the Santa Clara University. And we are the parish. Yes. So we are, I'm talking about St. Clair Parish in that sense.

But you're so, but I, sorry, I was just confused. So, You want to do an invocation celebrating St. Clair, the patron of Santa Clara. But then you mentioned mission St. Clair.

Well, the patroness of the mission is St. Clair. The patroness of the church or the parish is St. Clair. And the city is named as a patroness, St. Clair. So they're all related to one individual that we honor is Santa Clara, St. Clair.

Okay, so the invocation ceremony would be honoring St. Clair. Yes. Okay, on behalf of St. Clair Parish.

On behalf of the city and St. Clair Parish is what I'm thinking.

Nice. Okay, well, as I mentioned, we can't really go into a lot of discussion in this particular meeting or come to any kind of decision. We can ask for Citi to research it a little bit more and we'll bring it back and we'll have it on the agenda if that's appropriate in our next meeting.

Okay, and they'll just contact me or the... Yeah, and you have, did I give you my card? I have your email. Can I email you to email me what you presented?

And I can, yeah.

Thank you. We can do that.

What date? So we were just throwing out some dates. August the 11th is the Feast of St. Clair. So we thought of Saturday or Sunday before that, or the Saturday or Sunday after that, which would be the 7th, 8th, 14th, or 15th. You know, one of those afternoon, you know, just to, I mean, it could also be included with other things, you know, like with the hearts or... or other celebrations of the city.

But you have that specific location in mind also.

Yeah, because it's a statue that was, we spent a lot of money putting that statue there. We should honor it every now and then, I think, to represent who we are as a community, as a diversity of our community. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

Okay, so I think the question about whether or not the cultural commission can help fund a religious organization is definitely something we need an answer on. And then I don't know if if the intent is to have the mayor and council at the event, if we're the right people to be asking, I think it should go before the city council. Yeah. grant request from the city.

It had come across our desk prior and then Kim recommended that they go like try and apply for the grant city grant or yeah about it that way and then or they would have to do a permit like if they could have it but have to permit it separately but I think they're looking for funding too.

So those are the questions that we would need answered before we actually add it to our next agenda.

Can I ask a question? So it was in the 60s that the statue was placed there, the 20-foot Santa Clara statue. It's a great history on that, yes. And I was just wondering, is that a good tie-in for the Cultural Commission? Because that statue needs so much love. I mean, it's got like a bird poop on its head. And, you know, it would be lovely if we could just show it some attention for this huge anniversary, because the mission was fantastic. the city, the Fort Wayne City. There was nothing here but that mission. And so it makes sense that we're honoring our past and why we're called Santa Clara, maybe by including art in it, which would be that beautiful statue.

Well, to do kind of maintenance on the statue and the statue grounds, I think it would be probably parks and rec that would need to get involved. in terms of staffing or you know sending people to do it i know that we um i'm not sure who maintains yeah who maintains that statute and we couldn't like contract somebody to do it well we certainly don't have money to do that you don't have any money either so um so yeah um a good point and you know we'll we can find out more information about how to handle that

Yeah, it's a very vocal statue. I mean, I drive by it hundreds of times. Of course, yeah. And I always look at it and go, hmm, that could use either flowers at the base or some little cleaning up, if it's 250 years that we're celebrating.

Well, there's no water in there anymore either. I know.

Yeah. Fortunately, we've got two fountains working again. Yeah. That would be exciting.

Oh, yeah.

Yes, yes.

Okay.

Moving on then to general business, we have discussion and potential action on cultural commission work plan goals and activities for FY2026-27.

I might just share the screen just so that it's in the meeting, that anybody will be able to really see it. Thank you.

Okay, so looking at the work plan. First of all, we have Our defined goals for FY20-26-27, the annual budget allocated for commission activities is $58,693. These goals incorporate the combined theme of civic leadership, multicultural diversity, visible public art, and improved communication with the community as the fundamental platform upon which more cultural and arts activities can take place in Santa Clara. The goals are as follows. Goal number one, host and enhance multicultural events to encourage and equate Santa Clara residents with cultural diversity. Item number one, plan and implement summer concerts in FY2026-27. Right now, Commissioner Diaz, are you the only one on that ad hoc subcommittee? I'm not sure. You are. Is there anybody else? Well, one thing is we've only got two more concerts. Yes, I think. And then we're done. Yeah. So if anybody wants to join the subcommittee as discussions are made for next fiscal year, that's a possibility. But right now we just have these two more concerts. We have, well, actually under the summer concert series, we have the one concert on August 14th at Live Oak Park. And then this coming Friday, we have our street dance at 1000 Lafayette. So August 7th and August 14th, then the concerts are going to be basically done from these series. So we've already consumed $35,258 of our $58,000 for the summer concerts. And then the street dance will also be about $12,831. And, um, commissioners garg and diaz you are on the street dance subcommittees anything we need to know about that but the one this friday no no everything has been done all the time yeah okay and the long are the long signs along lafayette are they are they going up um well our communications um

Division said that we were trying to steer away from lawn signs. So I put the banner, the street dance banner is on the corner of Lafayette and El Camino on the Marsali fence. And it's also on Kiley Boulevard. So there's three banners out there in the world. Okay. Yeah.

So we allocated 250 for those? Yeah. Okay. And so that's mostly to make sure people know that the street dance is not on Franklin. It's on 1000 Lafayette.

Yeah.

Can we put a banner north side towards River Market? Because we don't get to know anything happening this side of the city.

Wait a sec. Put it on, put it where? I'm sorry. Piper Street.

What's not first?

Oh, out on the north side. I think there usually is where the banners go is right at Leibel Park behind the north side library. Yeah. And I believe that's where the third one is.

Oh, okay. Great. Okay, great. Yeah, you can look at it or look for it. And let Robin know if we don't see it. Yeah. Okay.

And I think the concert attendance has been really good. So I know like the word to getting out, um, and they're going to do a gov delivery, um, email, um, this week to push that out to everyone on the list.

Because once a while, you can even like get something files from you. I just post in the nearby groups and, um, Yeah. Yeah.

If you want, I can send you out like a little graphic that you could share on like your personal social media. So you want to do that?

Because I'm going to get like 2000 or 3000 people right over there.

Yeah, let's do that.

Okay. Next item is plan and host Friday night live events. And we have commissioners Doss and Garg on that subcommittee. We have the date. It is reserved. It's no longer tentative, right? For October 16th.

Yeah, I know that's official. May I go back and ask the question? Do you want to, while we're going down, work on the subcommittees, finalizing those?

Okay.

Yeah. Are we...

yeah but the concerts isn't it like yeah does anybody want to be on to talk about as the planning happens for next summer's concerts the planning will happen in this current fiscal year but the concerts will be in the next fiscal year so it would be beneficial to have people both learning how to do them and um know help to plan for for next year's concerts so right now we have only commissioner diaz for the summer concert series and only commissioners garg and diaz on the street dance subcommittee so does anybody else want to help plan on those for the next fiscal year you have a question okay so what kind of planning is involved to keeping concerts there's not much planning we just decide uh the grammar the states and the genre of music oh

Yeah. And then I'd like to, though, look more at the pants. Yeah. Yeah. Then I think we did this year for sure.

Yeah. What's been happening is that it's kind of been handed off to Jimmy, the producer. And he's choosing.

Yeah. Yeah.

And there could be more input for sure.

Some are really popular, but some are there every year. Yeah, we did have a conversation too about getting some like new fresh bands in there.

But yeah, you guys can. Okay.

Oh, there can only be three. Oh, okay. So just for the summer concert series, okay, it would be the three of you. Okay. And as far as the street dance, we would have room for one more.

Was it Pontius for concerts? Okay. Yes, throw me in there.

Okay, thank you. All right.

So Commissioner Roy, for the stadiums.

You know, we've had requests before, especially for the concert at Live Oaks to have a Bollywood DJ kind of event with lots of dancing. This hasn't happened. So it's up to the subcommittee to help make that happen. Okay, so then let's move on then to item number three, the Friday Night Live event. We are actually confirmed for October 16th, and I think this hasn't been updated, Robin.

I'm sorry, may I ask one more question? Should Commissioner Roy then want to bring Bollywood into this category? I could switch with you and be on the street dance.

I'm not decided, right?

I'll just submit things since I have no access, and that's a great idea. having more about what kind of... That's very cool.

Maybe we can give you guys some context. It'd be great, I guess.

Okay. Sorry. Okay. So, again, October 16th, we are booked at the Center for Performing Arts, the auditorium at Wilcox.

Mm-hmm.

And this is no longer being held with Ashley. It's actually in contract, right?

It's confirmed that they're holding the date for us. And yeah, we're going to get into an agreement. Okay. Yes. Okay. And that is, this is the pricing. So it's $3,000 for, it's actually a one hour show. Because I think last time was in 2018, I believe. So it was like $2,000 for an hour and a half show. She did say if we wanted an hour and a half show, it would probably be an extra thousand just to line up all of the musicians and stuff. But she said now that we have this date on Holden's, a lot of time in between, they'll get the best band members and dancers. And then that's up as eight musicians, 16 dancers.

Okay.

So I guess, yeah, are you guys okay moving forward with that amount?

Can I ask a question? You can answer. So the performers, are they Wilcox students?

No, no, no. It's anybody. Grupo, Folklorio. Yeah, it's a, yeah.

So this is actually around the time or within the month celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which is actually from September 15th to October 15th. So I guess it's the day after, but.

I have a question. How are we going to advertise this?

We would do our usual channels. We could do social media, email blasts. How we do it. Yeah. We could do banner if you guys want to send it towards the banner. Or just, you know, posting like at the libraries.

Yeah. Do we need to allocate any money for banners for that?

Yeah.

So should we allocate another $250?

So each banner is $155.

Okay.

Unless we research and find banners for less, we could do that, but...

yeah one two banners for 310. no we would need to vote on that right yes yeah well i don't oh we did we we just uh motioned or we voted on 3000 for that so we still need i think i okay yeah we have a We voted off and approved 3,000. Okay.

Yeah, the 3,000 we already voted on and approved.

Okay, so the 3,000 would go in full to them. Yeah. Okay, so we want to allot some more.

Yeah, some more for the banners. Probably at least two.

Well, do we want to see about doing an extra fountain? I mean, that was one of our most highly attended events where we had it last time. It was packed.

Do you remember? Did you go? No, not to that one, no. It was at Wilcox? At the Performing Arts. It was still there.

One of them was at the Community Center.

The one at the Community Center I went to, yeah.

Was it only at the Community Center? I only know.

Oh, that may be it was.

I'm new. One was at the Community Center, and I think there was one at the MCCPA prior.

Yeah. I don't know. What's the capacity on that?

355.

Yeah.

And does the subcommittee want to mention anything about ideas for what's going to happen in the lobby?

Do you want to have non-profit organizations or just like how we usually have for the State of the city. Will it cost?

I mean, it's up to you guys. I don't think it would be additional money. I mean, if there's any organizations that, you know, fit with the theme, we could, yeah.

Yeah, we asked about that. There would be no fee for tables or staff support sound. So we could do tables. Yeah, we can do tables. but the challenge right now is identifying those non-profits that might want to sit in the lobby and share something about what they do or if you have some like the dancers or the organizations that would be interested much yeah I'm not sure if we do that

Is that going to be any organization?

The dancers themselves, they're already a single organized group.

Yeah. Yeah.

So unless they want to do something about their dance.

I mean, we can see if they want a table in the lobby. Yeah. I just, I think also we have State of the City and that's in September. So if we're asking, like, if you're wanting to ask all the same, like, our city department groups, that might be part with, you know, them coming out for September too.

So I think it should be fine without the lobby activity. Okay.

Or whatever everyone sees.

Okay. All right, then we would need to vote on, what is it, $310 for two banners?

Mm-hmm.

Or I would ask to do the extra $1,000. You said it was $1,000 for the half hour?

Mm-hmm.

Oh, okay. So add $1,310. Okay, so add $1,000. Okay, so for banners and extra half hour.

Mm-hmm.

We held the money, right? What was it last month that we said that we didn't use? There was something that we had that we didn't use.

Yeah, there was some sponsorship money, and they were able to... A couple of the sponsors into a fund to be able to still use in this fiscal year. So I can find out what that amount is. I used a little bit for those fans. Yeah.

I wish we could see that at every meeting. It's like the running total. Yes. What those balances are.

Yeah, I have. I have a lot of things haven't cleared yet, but they're broken into three different categories. So it's like the public art and then you have performing arts, which is concerts in the park and then street dance.

And then there's some that was allocated but not used. That's yeah, that's the kind of I don't know if you want to call it, you know, excess or extra that we could tap into possibly.

and what is already set to be for you yeah so I know we have money there I just don't know how much we have right yeah I don't remember from two months ago either when we last saw it um so I like have a better yeah that we add an additional 1,310 Was it 310? 1,310 allocated towards the Friday Night Live event on October 16th.

Do you have a second?

Just a quick question. That makes it a two-hour event?

Hour and a half. Hour and a half. Yeah, because it was only, Robin, you said a $3,000 for an hour.

And then she said, yeah, if we want to add another half hour, it would probably be an additional $1,000. So it might be less.

Okay.

Add additional $1,310 to the Friday Night Live event.

So we'll need to confirm that before it goes under contract. Okay. Okay, so I have a motion on the table to add $1,310 for the October 16th event. And I'll take a vote. Commissioner Doss? Yes. Diaz? Aye. Garg? Aye. Pontius? Aye. Roy? Aye. Vargas-Smith? Aye. And aye. So that passes unanimously. Who is the second? Sorry. Garg? Aye.

I have another question. So we have it to the, the location from what time to what time do you, I think you had said before, was it like six to nine or something that you said that that day that we could get there in early?

Yeah. I, yeah. I got to double check what that time is, but I think it was like four, I feel like, or four 30.

And that they would start this at seven. mm-hmm okay so we would see 7 to 8 8 30 would it be possible and if i were to ask linea to see if she could do like some city dancers to come like even the santa clara um the elite group or something to come and just do something quick before they start i mean like try and make it like longer yeah yeah you know

Yeah. And then also, I mean, they can, I think she had mentioned too, like sometimes they do like little presentations or they can speak on topics too, if we want that. But I would feel like, yeah, if we want to make it like a two hour event.

How the kids dance in the meetings.

So if you want to be involved in that, can we add you to the subcommittee and you can have those conversations?

I'm happy I'm there.

Great.

What's the person's name? She does dance for Santa Clara. She does classes and stuff, but like she runs the Santa Clara Dance Club and everything that they probably would be happy to come and dance. I don't feel like there's or something before.

Very talented kids.

And they would dance with no charge? Well, I'm sure they would. I think that fits right up their alley. OK. OK.

Anything else about this event? We haven't done a Friday Night Live event since before COVID. So this is kind of reestablishing the tradition. And we still have, I believe it's three dates we can use every year at the Triton Museum. Those events that we had before COVID, we had small acoustic music events, like in honor of National Jazz Month, we had a jazz Three-piece jazz group come in. We did Celtic music. And I forget what else.

African-American.

African-American. Yep. Yep.

Yeah.

So Friday Night Live's for obviously not this fiscal year, but again, the following fiscal year, it would be open for additional events.

I have an idea. Portuguese Father Night. It's sort of like our jazz festival. You know, but it's acoustic guitar. It's quite beautiful. We have quite a population here. There are a lot of professionals, a lot of singers in the country. So we could probably get one very inexpensively. I know about three of them. So it would be something different to have. It's quite pretty.

I'm sure.

I think they're just throwing an idea out there. What's that?

Or they perform at the state of... No, that's a stitching dance. Yeah, I mean, last time watching them. This is Fado. It's very acoustic.

I am the Leo of Goldman. Oh, I love that book. It was like I did the Fado music. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's something different. So would the Friday Night Live subcommittee like to investigate whether that would be something that could happen in this current fiscal year at the Triton for no charge? I have contact. Okay, but you're not on the subcommittee. So you can give those contacts to the subcommittee.

and uh did the woman find out the dates let me confirm what was what was your question how do we find out the dates that the triton would be available for friday night lives yes we just need to contact them yeah um yeah so you want me to call them

Okay. So I believe those are all the activities that we have under goal number one. but we also have as an item, secure sponsors for commercial commission special events in FY 26, 27. And that was, that's already completed, correct? What we have here?

Yeah, I think I printed that and I updated it when I got here this evening. So for street dance paid $11,500 and for the concerts, $10,800. And I believe there's one more sponsor that came in late for both of them. And when I looked at the sheet, it wasn't updated. So I'm not exactly sure how much. And once they're paid, we can add that to that.

Okay.

And I'll find out how much was reserved for cultural commission from those sponsors that were allocated in a fund abuse. Great.

Yeah, our next meeting is not until October, skipping September. So it would be really great, as I said, to have this like every month, just what you've got, you know, so far, even though it's never going to be perfect. Obviously, it's always going to be. Yeah. Yeah. Because we need to know that to make some decisions. OK, so we do a quick math. What does that mean that we have spent so far on goal number one? I think it would be good to also have these headings for each goal, what the budget is so far. So what the total would be, we've got 36, well, 48, 51, Let's see, this is where I go. That's why we don't have any menus. But if you want to score about 55,000 on goal number one so far. Less whatever is available from the sponsors.

Yeah, I want to confirm those numbers too.

Wait, I have 46. The 3,000 for the stage is for the, are you looking at the first one?

I'm looking at the 32 plus three.

So the three was covered Parks and Rec. Oh, it was? Yeah, that's what we talked about last month.

Oh, okay. So we'll take that off then. Both stages? No, not for street dance.

So I have a total of 46.7. Okay. Okay.

Oh, you're talking about the $3,000 stage?

The stage at Live Oak, I thought last month we got the report that that was being covered by Parks and Rec.

Okay. We were covering, or Parks and Rec was going to cover all the ones at Central Park because we weren't able to use the stage and the pavilion, so like the Juneteenth stage. the 10th and the 24th and the 31st. But I don't.

So this $3,000 may be just for Live Oak?

The $3,000 is $3,000.

And we have to, oh.

Every single one of those. So that's what is the $3,000 stage for Live Oak. And there's a $3,000 cost for the stage at Street Games.

So that's $49,710.

Does that include this 1310 that we just did?

And I'm going to confirm those numbers. The 32, 258, and then 9831.

Please do, because I thought that the 32 is what we paid Jimmy, basically.

Yeah, it's a whole year. It's like, this is him for all events and everything, so I want to make sure that that's the portion that is the amount that is given from

cultural yeah and then what's really critical is to understand how much of that 49 000 is offset by sponsors yeah because that is going to really uh influence the rest of our decisions yeah yeah i'll have a better running budget okay Okay, anything else about these multicultural events?

I actually have a proposal for International Yoga Day for fiscal year 2027. Are you going to do it now or at the end of the year?

Let's wait till we get through the rest of the work, but I know you have that to hand out, so I won't forget about it.

Okay.

Who works on securing the sponsors? All of us.

Yeah. There's not a single subcommittee for that. It's supposed to be all of our responsibility. So should we put all?

And the city puts out, the department puts out a master one and says, these are all of the events that you can sponsor. So it'll include 4th of July, Art and Wine, Junior Theater, Movies, Sunset Cinemas, concerts, and...

Doesn't sound organized. Is it organized?

It's organized.

So you have a list of people you contact?

Yes.

And then you have a packet.

Yes. It's on the website too.

Like how many people attend these events? Yes.

I can share the packet with you. Would you like me to send it to you?

I guess, or if we're dividing up people to contact them, that's what I meant is like, is there any work effort, directed work effort in terms of like, here's a list of sponsors, potential sponsors, and someone has to contact them, or does ENR just do that?

Yeah, Parks and Rec does it. It's not to, you know, it's not to say you guys cannot also share.

We're not supposed to directly solicit.

No, no, we can. Because they're sponsors, right? We can give them the packet. We can give them the packet, yes.

Or point them towards the packet, but we can't.

Robin, can I have a list of sponsors?

I was going to send you the sponsor packet to see what goes out. Yes. I can send that to everyone.

And Robin, the new sponsors that joined, they must be adding on to the list of parks and res.

Yes. So that total that I gave is up to date. That's paid.

Just to clarify, though, we couldn't directly go to our favorite restaurant and say, hey, do you want to give some money to the Cultural Commission? I believe you can.

I don't know otherwise, but I can confirm that.

Okay, yeah. It would be good to have it. No, you can.

Because I've gone and done that. That's how I got SuckQ. We've gone through and you go directly to the person and say, hey, here, and here's our sponsorship package.

I mean, that's what we do, like, for Junior Theatre. We post it and say, hey, or, you know, you can be a sponsor of our productions. Here's the different packages.

That's how I did, like, those two, three sponsors that I got. I sent them the package, email, website, and then I copied. So, so...

So when we generate the sponsorship money, that will go towards cultural commission event or car contract?

The two that cultural commission has sponsors for is the street dance and the summer concerts.

But the sponsorship package has everything. So it has Roberta Jones theater. It has like, so if they want to sponsor our event, then you tell them like, Hey, are you interested in sponsoring the street dance or just, you know, the concert series and there's a list and it's on its own page. And it will tell, like, you know, estimated attendance, like, for the movies is 250 people, and it gives them the packages. The concert in the park, 400, 600 people, and it gives them the dates and the packages. So forward them directly and say, hey, we're really looking for... So it's all on... It's all on one sponsorship package, and it's on our website.

It's on our website.

It's on the city's website.

Yeah. I think on the cultural website or under the fans, it'll announce who sponsors are for the events at the bottom of flyers.

Yeah. Well, you're in the picture there. That's on there. Oh, cool.

I don't think I did dive. I was just on the surface there. Start clicking on that. Okay. Okay.

Anything else with goal number one?

Is there a goal or target for fundraising or sponsorship?

That's unlimited. Unlimited. If you can raise a lot of money, that means that we can do more things.

Is there a write-off benefit?

No. So the library has a Friends of the Library. That's a non-profit. So that is tax deductible. But the... The Parks and Rec also doesn't have a Friends. No Foundation.

We have Friends of Parks and Recreation.

Oh, I didn't know when that happened. Yeah.

OK, so that's we've been that's what like something like the Art and Wine Festival. Some of that money used to go to Friends and Parks and Rec. That's how they would give grants. But I think now our grants are actually budgeted in a certain amount to give.

So we've been waiting for the Arts Master Plan to have a Friends of the Cultural Commission.

Yeah.

And then donations would be tax deductible. But that's a different topic. The arts master plans.

Yeah, but for this, it's marketing, though. So that's why it's not tax-deductible. They're getting it for them.

It's not donation, right? It's not donation. It's rather marketing. Yeah, makes sense.

Okay, so goal number two. Develop and encourage interactive art opportunities to provide temporary, performing, cultural, and public art in the city. Item number one, support the traffic box program. Currently, that ad hoc subcommittee is Dios and Pontius. We can have up to three.

Like that? Yeah.

Maybe until last month when we were talking about it.

We talked about you were going to look into the vinyl wrap. She said, oh.

I had a conversation already.

I just suggested, I'm big on ideas for other people.

It's set in stone, sorry. Since you worked at the last meeting, you got that. Yeah.

No, if you don't want to be on it. Well, I didn't say I didn't want to. I'm just saying I wasn't aware of it.

We wanted to hear your name.

The reason I'm asking is because I thought I was on the holiday fitting.

Well, we're going through these one by one so we can adjust.

Yeah, that's fine.

Also, we cleared it out. I wonder if you wouldn't have been on it. No, no, no.

He did say, I'm interested. And that's where we got. But if you don't want to be on it, it's fine.

That's okay.

I meant for like the holiday, because if I missed your name. Oh, no, you're on Make Music Day.

Okay, so with the traffic box, we have the two last ones. Have you heard back from them as to where they're at?

Um, she, uh, the one on the corner of Benton and Kylie is, um, almost done. I'm not thinking maybe she had an internship or something. She's one of the students tonight.

Yeah. It looks like, yeah.

And then the other one is on Scott and Homestead. Scott Monroe is done. Yeah, he's finished. And then met him out there. We got picks. So soon. Yes. And then we're going to have to choose because we're going to do it again for this. Yeah.

So that's my next question. So are we can we start that after our wine is done then?

Mm hmm. Yeah. So then before we just have to pick out boxes, I did get a list of all of the current list of all of the boxes and they have a little system of just highlighting ones that are already done. And conversation I had with Kim was like, do you want to still choose one from every district? Do you want to highlight a certain area and try and cover ground in one spot? However, I think we just keep with the one per district.

If you could send me the list and then I can take a look.

Okay. Yeah, and I did confirm with him, like most of them, he said 95% of them are the same size. And I was going to have Audrey help the intern that we have. do create like a new template because she said it's really hard because of the sizing um she wanted to she's thinking if the boxes are a little more accurate of dimensions then um and adding on that little piece that rectangle weird thing on the side okay yeah that would be nice so um i was gonna have her work on that and she's our seventh right yes six plus hers okay all right Yeah, she won't be part of it, though.

Yeah. Okay. And the subcommittee also acts as the jury for selection. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. And we have allocated $6,000 for that. $1,000 for each artist. Okay. Ana, did you want to be on that or no? I don't want to spray yourself too thin, but if you want to, then.

How do you select your artists? Are they just students, any age?

They do a call out, a call for artists.

Is anyone in the community that enjoys art? Anyone that responds.

But then we give, I can show you after the ranking and when we vote, because there's this preference for people who live in Santa Clara.

Good.

Um, but yeah, all that's done afterwards. So first, um, I've only, I've done this for my, by myself for eight years. Um, but I have, we have, um, mates now. Um, really it's looking, I select all of the locations and then I create the theme and then we do the call for artists and then they come back and then I, um, present it to the information to the group. We go in, um, and then vote. And then we just let them know and then see if they still are interested because it usually takes a while. And then do the agreement. And then they start the process. And then when they're done, I meet them for top coat and payment. And that's it.

Very cool.

But it's a long process.

It is a long process. It's a long process. They're colorful, most of them. I would like to buy them and, yeah, taking pictures of them.

And it was done every other year, and then this year they voted to do it again this year.

Including the AT&T boxes.

No, it's only the ones that are owned by the city.

Traffic boxes. Okay. Anything else on those? Oh, let's see. Sorry, this question about the vinyl wrap. Do you have an answer?

So Kim and I had a discussion about that. And I think streets, there was something about streets that I have to remember that they weren't interested in doing that.

Okay. Yeah.

So we'll just keep it with our current process.

Okay. Okay. So we can scratch that from the notes.

Yeah.

About the vinyl wrap. Okay.

One more question. So is there an expiration on these boxes? Like 10 years, we're doing them all over again? Or are they just permanent art?

They're permanent art right now. We have so many, we're not going to run out. You could be doing this for a long time. Permanent. Yeah.

And they just had to replace one recently that got hit by a car. But there's a little sign of life on the sign of it. I could reach out to him again.

If he's willing to do it this round.

Yeah, I could reach out to him again. That would be great. Yeah, it was cute. I liked it.

OK, moving on to a public art exhibition. In the past, we have had an indoor sculpture exhibition every other year and an outdoor sculpture exhibition every other year. We've combined those, so it will be a single public art exhibition. We don't yet know we haven't discussed or proposed to the full Commission yet whether it will be indoor or outdoor And the last time let me roll back 2018 we did an indoor sculpture exhibition that had at least 40 artists even more and we had them in Central Park north side. And city hall both wings of city hall. And that was very successful. In 2020, we had gone through the whole process again, and the artists that were selected were not able to exhibit because of COVID. So the Triton kindly created a video of those artists for us. Then in 2024, We did a call for artists again and only got, I think it was 10 Robin, do you remember? Very, very small number of artists. So we decided not to do the indoor. And we reallocated the money that had been ID'd for that to outdoor and we got Nebula Rider. So then, you know, the... subcommittee is going to have to decide which thing to do and then start looking at how to do a call for artists. And we have templates for doing that kind of thing. So we haven't really met yet as a subcommittee, but that has just myself and Commissioner Garg right now.

Yeah, I can jump.

Okay, great. And I don't recall We didn't talk about budget for that. We were just saying whatever is left over that might influence what we're able to offer to artists. So we'll probably have to find out before we discuss further to see how much money there is. So yeah, let's do that in October and definitely want some solid numbers by then. Now we come to the fun committee. What do you mean fun? The home decorating contest for Halloween and December holiday. We have that money allocated already and the cash is going to the winners. We also have some allocated for the lawn signs that winners put in their yards. We have the dates set, but nothing has been done yet. Now, this is going to be tight because for Halloween, the deadline for submission is October 26th. The judging is due October 30th. And a lot of people don't decorate their homes for Halloween until right before or, you know, the week before. So it has to be that tight. And so the judging has to be like one day turnaround, basically. The holiday home decorating is longer. Some people start decorating their homes in December 1st.

Right after Halloween.

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, yeah. So right now we have commissioners Roy and Garg on that subcommittee. And were you on it?

Yeah, I was on it last year.

You were on it last year. You were on it last year. Okay.

I was just curious if I was on it this year.

No, but when we finished, we wrapped up the last one and we started the 26-27 with cleared all of the subcommittees to start over.

That's true. Legally, all the subcommittees were dissolved June 30th and we're starting over on July 1st this year.

The last meeting, people volunteered.

Yeah. But this is dynamic, so you can change it at any time. Any time.

Would you like me to add you? Because I did.

Did you have fun? We're right around the community again. It was a lot of fun. We should have hot cocoa.

And a box of cookies. Sounds like you have another subcommittee member. So Pontius is added to that? Official? Charles?

I don't have to try to win. Okay.

Next, we have an update and maintain city interactive web based public art map. That is wonderful now that it's in the new format. There's a QR code. It's being updated on an ongoing basis. We just have to make sure that the new traffic boxes get added and that any other public art gets added as that happens. Next, we have Make Music Day for June 21st, 2027. And we have commissioners Pontius right and DOS on that subcommittee. And I know that some of you were already in conversations with the National Music Day organization in 2026. Is there anything that we need to allocate. Is there anything you need to talk about in terms of planning or connections or things the city needs to do on your behalf.

Avinash, you said you were going to go and visit, right, on Father's Day? Did you end up going?

No, no, I didn't. I was out.

Yeah, they had several events, multiple events, I should say, in San Jose that day.

What is this event? Can someone explain? It's a

It's a worldwide event that was started in France and it's on the summer solstice every year. So it's not on the weekend always. It's always on the 21st. And it started with some people just going out and playing music in public and it's become something that people have embraced as a general feel-good day to promote music making. that seems to be organizing and will help cities create a portal that matches the performers with the venues. But where they were asking us for help was in trying to streamline the process of the venues because there was a lot of question about whether there needed to be insurance waivers or permits, et cetera, et cetera. And Kim was going to research that. And she said it was too much for this year. So they wanted to pump it for next year.

Well, the idea is that any coffee shop, business, parking lot, anything could say, yes, we will host bands or you know acoustic or whatever anything when some people have like you know like a tuba ensemble or you know yeah so so any business or actually any any private property owner also could say yeah i want people to come play in my driveway although i think we weren't going to do private in this first first attempt we're just going to do public but it's the idea of matching people who play music, whether it's in a group or individually, with places that they can play. And it all happens all over the city all on the same day. And the portal also publishes a list so people can go listen to them if they want to, you know, tour around the city and make a day of it.

Sounds like amazing. Usually with live music, you need a permit, though. So does the city just wait with that day and

yeah that's the idea yeah what's the research to be done yeah yeah you can google the um make music day okay and and find out more but yeah that's the the real stickler the initial stickler that's like the conversations have come up like what if we hosted one like in central park yeah everyone can gather something

There is a registration fee that we have to give to the organization, right?

Right. To be a non-profit organization still takes money.

That also has to pass through the... Yeah.

It's an administrative fee.

Yeah, yeah. And I think it was a scale of $350, $500, depending on... I forget. I forget. Anyway, based on how many sites, yeah, yeah. So the idea was, as always, start small, have a successful event so that it could grow bigger based on that success.

And probably more like work in the beginning stages to like get people familiar with it and approaching different businesses. Yeah.

So for the first time, would you put them on city property just to be safe? So you have more visibility and control, right?

Yeah. This website, that is what you pay for them to basically, it's like a matchmaking service to find businesses and find people, like musicians. And that was a conversation that we had was, what if we had it, you know, in Central Park, if we hosted one?

Mm-hmm.

We haven't covered this. We like actual venues. And then outdoor.

Yeah. But it's like informal. I mean, the idea is it's more or less informal. It's not like a rigid, like you get 20 minutes and then the next group comes on in 20 minutes. It's supposed to be more ad hoc kind of.

Organic.

Yeah.

Well, it's like a flash mob kind of.

Yeah. Yeah. Sounds interesting. Yeah. OK, so we do have three members on that subcommittee right now. And we'll want to talk about that more in future meetings. Goal number three, raise the visibility of commemorative months. So we do have a report from the subcommittee And this is a proposal. And we also have a separate proposal. So we have some handouts here. Sorry they were too late to be included in the agenda. But we wanted to identify spaces and facilitate the celebration of commemorative months and which cultural holidays to celebrate and via what meaning. So for many years, we had coloring pages that we shared on our social media. And we've been sharing them with the school district as well, coloring pages like for Women's History Month. Here's a coloring page that shows famous women from history, that kind of thing. So we're going to continue with those coloring pages. But we've also gone through month by month looked at some things that we thought were successful this last year or that we'd like to try to add. And this is the first time that the commemorative month's subcommittee is requesting a budget, which we can talk about. Some of it has already been voted on. So we know that July of next year, 2027, is the 175th birthday of the founding of Santa Clara. So we did talk about whether or not we could partner with the city and or parks and REC to help celebrate in in the month of July after July 5 is the date and the founding So right now, the city. I don't think has talked a lot about plans for what they're going to do. So we'd like to understand if we can partner. I don't think we'll be needing anything necessarily But we want to be a part of whatever that celebration is. In August, there's a Korean Community Day that opened last year in Central Park. And if you haven't heard from Daniel yet, I don't know yet. I'm cutting it close. I don't think we're going to be participating this year either. But it would be nice if we sponsored or somehow had a little PR exposure for Korean Community Day. And it's also Muslim Awareness Appreciation Month. We do have coloring pages for that, which we'll distribute on social media. September, as we talked about, we have Hispanic Heritage Month, and this group, the Friday Night Live, we already discussed earlier, that $3,000, which is included in the 6700, has already been approved. We also want to see how we can support whatever events are happening at the library. We have display cases at City Hall on both wings. This past March, we decorated them for Holi, and we'd like to do more of those. We want to request as early as we can which months we want so we can get on the list. I know we didn't get everything we asked for last year, 2025, because we asked late. but we'd like to September for one. There's also International Day of Peace on September 21st. Anitu, you met somebody at a peace festival. Did you follow up with them?

No, not at a peace festival, but I met them somewhere and they were interested to come and present something.

And either doing a presentation to the commission or the city council just to commemorate international peace. International Day of Peace October is global diversity awareness month and we thought about partnering with the library on gork board game night. To emphasize the cultural history history of games that doesn't log on back on and go for choosing others. Some of these are just being visible and being part of whatever commemorations already happy.

I mentioned something. You know, I'm a history geek, but the flower of the city of Santa Clara is the Peace Rose. So it might be cool to tie in the flower with Peace Day, since it is the Peace Rose. It's a very famous flower. It was cultivated post-World War II, post-World War II, and it became an international sensation. And the United Nations did a big presentation about the Peace Rose to commemorate the end of World War II. So we adopted it as our flower.

Oh, cool.

It's a really great story.

Yeah. So if anyone else had to notice for international issues, they would like to participate, please suggest so that it's not only one organization. Right. They sent me their details and I couldn't follow up with them. Okay.

Okay. November, we wanted to also put something in the display cases representing Diwali. And then Neetu's aware of Darshana that happened in other libraries, and you're going to find out if Santa Clara Library wants to do something similar.

It happened pre-COVID in both the libraries, and I think in City Hall cafeterias. So they do display boards in which they talk about Indian culture and

So nothing solid on that yet?

No, on this one, they are saying it, so please just let us know the date. So I have to partner with them. Talk to the library.

But you don't expect there to be a budget for that? No, it doesn't cost. Okay. And also coloring pages for American Indian Heritage Month. December is Universal Human Rights Month. Last December, we... showed a five-minute video at a city council meeting to discuss the creation of Human Rights Day, which is December 10th. And we're thinking that rather than showing that same video, which everyone loved, we might develop a slideshow that we could talk a little bit more succinctly about why the UN declared Human Rights Day and Universal Human Rights Month And then we also have coloring pages. And we have the tree lighting ceremony. This past year, the subcommittee members created photo frames from their own pockets. And we're requesting about $200 to create those for this year. And just simple decorated picture frames that were sold up for photo ops. Then January. Several of us were at the community reading for Martin Luther King Day at the library. We want to do that again. We also, for Lunar New Year, would like to partner with the Asian American Stories group. We did not have our own booth this year. We did share with the library, the bookmobile, and gave out some red envelopes and had a make your own red envelope, which the kids really enjoyed. But that was only as long as one of us could be there. And we didn't have, you know, full staff for the two days. So we need to, Robin, we'd like to ask if we can find out whether there can be city employees there and or a booth. We don't have a dollar amount on that yet. And the city, I'm sorry, the Cultural Commission and Parks and Rec did not have booths there last year. So it would be good to find out if there is an intent. Usually the Asian American Stories group charges for a booth, but they were willing to waive that for the Cultural Commission. We just couldn't come up with a booth. Okay, then February, this is what your second handout is. This Namaste India, Indian Cultural Fest. There's a separate proposal which goes into more detail about the idea here of having a way to celebrate the rich tapestry of festivals, music, dance, food, and art in the many states of India. So get the single picture. Is that this? Yeah. Looking at any time in January or February at the CRC, um which we understand we could use at no charge this is seriously um the community rec center in central park so this would be targeted at all families students and individuals um let's see We have some questions. About it to understand what the cost would be we would request funding of $1,500 for this and that would include everything that might be expected and including any city staff. What else did we ask about And we won't need a stage if it's at the CRC There's already a sound system there. We might want some tables in the lobby. if these different organizations would like to have something specific about their culture or could be their nonprofit or their state. And so this is more detail about what's showing up on February here.

Is there any particular reason why February?

Well, we did talk to Parks and Rec about when the CRC might be available. And because of when it's going to be used for the Roberta Jones Theater for productions already. And, you know, definitely nothing in the fall because there's art and wine. There's all of the other things that the Cultural Commission is already doing. There's tree lighting ceremony, et cetera, et cetera.

It's always about like bandwidth too.

Yeah. Like staff.

And April Mayer, is he? Who, I'm sorry? April and May are busy.

I think, did we say April and May? March is out.

So only January and February were the two months. But then January, Lunar New Year is happening. So February is the only month left.

I guess the shortest month was the worst weather.

Well, this would be in the world. That's outside, but still.

Not always every February. Lunar New Year was in But end of January, it was a beautiful day. Yeah. That's true. It was. Both days. Birthday, yeah.

Yeah. I was just saying that they look at the calendar, April is nothing. Jazz and poetry month. Yes. Yeah, that's true.

But city and the states is not a new place.

Yeah. So anyway, that is included. in this total $6,700 for the commemorative months. But as I mentioned, 3,000 has already been voted on and approved. We've also got Black History Month happening. We did talk to somebody who was honored by the city council in Black History Month in this current year and missed an email from him. Unfortunately, it went to the Cultural Commission inbox. But finally, it got passed on. So we're going to reach out to him again. And then same with the Japanese American Day of Remembrance. She sent something to the Cultural Commission inbox. So we've got her email now. And we want to talk to both of them about the proclamation that will be offered by the city council for both of these remembrances and make sure that the Cultural Commission is present to participate in them.

What is the, sorry to ask, but what is Japanese American Day of Remembrance?

It's the, yeah. And the Japanese American Citizens League reached out to us to ask us specifically to honor the Day of Remembrance. I think that was when they were liberated? Or was it when it started? I'm unfortunately not sure. But it's the Day of Remembrance. Okay. March is Women's History Month. We have those coloring pages. It's also holy, so we'd like to display cases again. There's always going to be organizations interested in doing civic events. And the thing about Holi is that it can be so messy. I mean, I love it. I love it. But is it something that we would want to do in some place like the pavilion where there would be colored dust everywhere? Maybe not.

Some parking lot. That can be easy.

Yeah, so we need to do. I know you're laughing at me. So, anything can happen there. Could be, you know, something proposed on that later on. April is Jazz and Poetry Month. We have coloring pages. We're going to find out if the library is doing a photo jam. That's also one of the months that we formally did something on Friday Night Live at the Triton was for jazz. So that's a possibility. May is AAPI month. Asian American Stories hold their annual video contest, and they also do presentation at the Performing Arts Center. So we would like to partner with them as the library did in 2026. We also have coloring pages. Juneteenth, we co-sponsored with the library a concert to celebrate Juneteenth. And we, this past year, allocated $1,000 to co-sponsor that with the library. And so we asked for that $1,000 again. And then there's the pride flag raising. And we just like to ask that cultural commissioners attend the pride flag raising at City Hall Plaza. So that's everything that we handed out specifically from the commemorative months So this is our proposal for the coming fiscal year, and we would ask for $3,700 additional budget.

May I ask a question? So in Sister Cities, speaking of Sister Cities, I'm also on that auto, Sister Cities. I represent Queen Rock, Portugal. In fact, we're wrapping up that program again. It's been dead since 2019. So in 2027, we're bringing it back again. And so students will be visiting back and forth between the two countries. That was our very first Sister Cities that Santa Clara founded back in 1972. And so it's a well-established program that's returning. Is it possible to have a Dia de Pucigal in June to kind of commemorate? That would be June 10th, the one that we're on. Just a thought.

It's June 10th. What's the commemoration?

It's just Portuguese Heritage Month. That's what it is. But we celebrate it all around the world on one single day.

Okay.

We usually do something with the city of Santa Clara, like the mayor will do a proclamation and everything, and then we'll gather all the business leaders, community leaders, even the consulate comes down from San Francisco to have that moment. to commemorate the heritage fund.

So was it specifically at a cultural, I mean, sorry, a city council meeting?

Yeah, we usually go to the city council. It would be kind of cool to involve, yeah.

Like we're doing for Japanese. Yeah.

Also, Zimbabwe, Japan is another sister city of ours. And the other one being Windmark Island is another one. And a friendship city is Korea. Yeah. It would be nice to kind of tie in some of these relationships that we have.

So would you like to do a display case? Anyone? Do you know someone who would like to do a display case on Portuguese?

And a display case? Now, historically, sister cities fell under the cultural commission. And they spun off in, I don't recall, 2017 or something like that. Yeah. So now there are two separate budgets and commissions and everything. But certainly, if there's going to be an event like that, I mean, I'm sure everybody from Sister Cities Commission is going to attend, right? But yeah, if we can add our appreciation to them, yeah. We could request commissioners to attend.

The 40th anniversary of the Izumo Japan Sister Cities is going to be in October. For this year. For this year.

40 years, yeah.

Izumo Japan. I was unexpectedly there in June. I got to go in place of the person who should have gone, and I said, sure, I'll go. So I sat around about eight students, and it was an incredible experience. It was, yes, just near Korea, South Korea, on that point of, you could see it. And what year is it? It's in October. I'll get you the date. Yeah, it's very good.

So in the, you don't have any budget requests for a final part of the jazz, unfortunately, but for,

It would. It would be for the performers, basically, because we know that the venue would be at no time.

Do you think that there may be trying to get some other jazz in addition to the Triton? Could be.

You mean doing it in April?

Yeah.

Because all of our Friday Night Lives are in fall.

No, they don't. Well, I mean, they were.

I thought I heard you say that you could possibly do a Friday Night Live event at Jazz at the Triton. That was suggesting if you were to have some musical event, maybe you would want to try to ask for some money for it to be determined, whatever. That's all I'm suggesting.

And technically, if it was going to be a Friday Night Live, that would belong to that subcommittee rather than the commemorative month's subcommittee. So yeah, if you are interested in pursuing that, we want to at least do a poetry jam. But if you'd be interested in doing a Friday Night Live to celebrate jazz, then we can turn that over to that subcommittee for investigation and finding out who and how to book musicians.

Or where. I'm just suggesting that. that maybe you should look at it in addition to the Friday Night Live. If that didn't happen, you would still have some other independent kind of musical.

But it was just a commemorative, to commemorate Jazz Month.

Yeah, Jazz Month, but there'll be music. It doesn't make sense.

Not a Friday Night Live, but it could still be. Well, it would ideally be at the Triton because it's free. Yeah.

You'd love to try.

Yeah.

One other point, tying back to Izumo, Japan, because it's AAPI month, because I notice other cities like Mountain View, Sansei, Japan Town, they're all doing an Oban festival. An Oban festival.

We don't seem to have one, but if we could tie it in with the Asian American stories. Because we have that long-standing sister city relationship with 40 years with Izumo Japan.

It would be cool to represent some kind of Japanese culture that way.

I don't know if it would be possible to do it this October.

Well, May. Oh, May. Asian-American. Oh, yeah, okay.

Yeah, I think partnering with Asian-American stories, that would definitely be partnering with Diane.

See what's possible.

Thank you.

Yes.

Well, actually, Nitu and I attended the Asian American Stories video presentation ceremony. that was at the Performing Arts Center this past May. And there were lots of performances, lots of speeches. The mayor was there. It was really quite culturally diverse, lots and lots of dance and music. So I think that would be the best opportunities to partner with them. Yeah. OK. Any other questions or comments, things you'd like to see changed?

Do you know any Hispanic group that would like to do a display in the city hall? I don't.

I don't mean to go research online because I don't know anyone personally.

Does it have to be from Santa Clara?

Yes.

Because I know there's so many groups. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll think about it. Maybe they would also want to send it. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, so I will entertain a motion to accept.

Yes, the question really quick. The $3,000. So you're asking for an additional $3,700 because of the $3,000 that's allotted for. Yes. But if we're going to up that $1,000.

It's just separate.

You're just going to just say an additional $3,700. Yeah.

That we line item lease and do separate motions. Okay. just so that we keep them for each month or each event because you have them like and that the holy one you don't have a number so yeah so i mean like that won't be in you know that won't be in any budget or request no like just the 200 and do the 200 because we know exactly what that is right for the sign the photo i mean we call those the frames the 1500 for the indian cultural fest wait on the whole eight because you don't have a budget. And then also, I mean, the Juneteenth one, you already know that as a co-sponsor of the thousand, right? Can we go ahead and do those separately?

So there would be, I think we need to vote as a whole to accept the proposal. And then we could vote individually on each budget item. Does that sound good? The right way to do it? Because we have to accept the proposal. But we can exclude approval of the budget because we're going to do those separately. So that would be the first motion.

Okay, so I move that we proceed with the recommendations of the commemorative months subcommittee on their plan for events for the 2026-27 fiscal year.

A second. So we'll vote on that. Just the events. I mean, just the proposal. Yeah. Okay. Commissioner Doss? Aye. Diaz? Aye. Gard? Aye. Pontius? Aye. Roy?

Aye.

Vargas-Smith? Aye. And myself. So that passes. Did you get all that?

Well, the motion probably has to go back to the recording. Oh, okay.

So I'd like to move to allocate $200 for the photo frames for the tree lighting ceremony.

Okay. So we'll take a second on that.

I second that motion.

Okay. Commissioner Doss? Aye. Yes. Conscious. Roy. Vargas Smith. And myself. That passes unanimously.

I'd like to move that we allocate $1,500 for the Indian Cultural Fest at the CRC in February.

Okay.

Let's make a second. Okay. That was Commissioner Roy.

And a point of clarification. This 1500 includes the two city staff and the set up a breakdown.

Yes, it does. Yes. Okay. Commissioner dots. Yes, I heard. Right. Right. Right.

And myself passes unanimously. I'd like to move that we allocate $1,000 to co-sponsor the Juneteenth concert with the Santa Clara City Library.

Do you want me to change seconds? Okay. Commissioner Doss? Aye. Diaz? Aye. Garg? Aye. Botches? Aye. Lourdes? Aye. Vargas-Smith? Aye. And that also passes unanimously.

I have a quick question about Namaste India Press. So there is something that says, may request sponsors. to help with printing files, et cetera. So that we can still look for sponsors, right? Yes.

Yeah. In case there's marketing expenses or banners or any other kind of expenses that are not included in this $1,500.

So it can help, I guess. Yeah. How about if we get someone with Beacon Partners? So will we be moving this funds? Are we keeping them on the side? or you want to approve now and if you do not find anyone, but when those people went back into the commissions.

I was just saying not to include that because you don't have like a true cost.

So the intent is approved, but the details and the dollar amount because they're EBD, we can't vote on them right now.

So once it is done, then we will bring it back.

Yeah, yeah.

So then I think These, event-wise, we should add them to the work plan as separate line items. Do you think?

Wow. Yeah, because they have separate budgets.

So I'll do that. Okay. That makes sense. Makes sense. So there'll be individual activities under goal number three, commemorative months? Okay.

Yeah. I feel like that'll keep it more organized.

Yeah. Okay. Okay, moving on. We're almost done. Sorry, it's been a long meeting. This first one for the new fiscal year always is. Enhanced communication and media strategy to increase the awareness of the financial commission. Present accomplishments to city council annually. We do not get to do that this year. And we don't have a date for next year.

It'll be after the new year.

Okay. So unfortunately, we don't know if the city council knows everything that we're doing. Develop, maintain, and grow partnerships in collaboration with external organizations. We co-sponsored the first mission college contest by allocating $1,000 for them. And I think we would need to vote on that, or we already did?

I think we did that, right? That's already been done and paid, right? We paid that for this year.

Do you want to allot it again for next year?

It would be in June, so it would be in this current fiscal year.

We still need to talk to them and see if they want to partner with us and what the cost will be and the event, when it's going to be.

We don't have anybody on that subcommittee yet. I think it was just Rob and you and Kim that did that.

Yeah, we met with her and then she gave us the list of days and said, do you want to do the first concert?

Okay.

And so that's what we did. But if you want to be more selective about which concert you do.

We won't know until April or something of next year. We can hold off on that. Okay. And then Commissioner Gard, you're still attending the station area task force meetings?

Okay.

Number five, prepare for citywide arts master plan process. Robin, can you give us an update on that? Sorry, the subcommittee is myself, Pontius, and Garb. And I think we haven't had any actions because there's nothing going on right now.

Yeah, the last I heard is that the agreement was in legal, waiting for approval on that.

So that is the contractor. The contractor. who is going to be hired by the city to do community outreach and to write the Arts Master Plan.

Go through the whole process. Lead everything.

And will our subcommittee be looking at any drafts or having... In that proposal for the Arts Master Plan, there was something about...

special stakeholder committee or something that's what um cultural commission would do is help develop the list of key stakeholders whenever that whenever that's formed never we can get started but we can't really get started until the ink is dry yeah yeah so yeah okay um with that may i ask

Yes. So we hired a consultant or going to hire one. We found somebody, right? Yeah, but it's been chosen. Somebody's chosen.

Okay. Yeah, they went through the whole big process. But it's still not sounding like it's something that's going to happen in this fiscal year.

Oh, no. It's going to happen in this fiscal year. Well, the contract, yeah. I mean, I think we'll get... Oh, you mean like that sign still... I don't think it'll be finished in this fiscal year. Yeah. They did request it, but there was a timeline.

That's in the back somewhere, I think.

Yeah, that's where I was going, but don't wait for me.

Okay, the next agenda item is city staff report. My staff like to present a verbal report.

I don't have a lot except for that we have the street dance this Friday. It's been busy. A lot of logistics to figure out and it's consumed much of my time.

But I'm excited.

First time doing it in this location, which is good because it's the city's goal to help in the revitalization and activate that space. We have nine food trucks. We have all of our sponsors, except for one that we'll be attending. SVP is a big sponsor for the street dance. They'll be there. We have PDU Fire. We have a bigger footprint than the previous location. And so we were able to just kind of Get it a little bigger. And what else, Ashley?

So we should all show up in our shirts? Yes.

The event starts at 6. 6.45, you guys would go up to...

It opens at 6.

The event starts...

The music starts at 7.

Which of our concerts? 6 or 8? 6 to 9.30. Yes, the music starts at 7.00. 6.45, Cultural Commission goes up on stage.

So it should be there absolutely no later than 6.30 or 6.50?

Absolutely 6.30.

6.30, okay. Yeah. Okay.

How about Bucky?

Um, parking would be in that the big, um, lot, the 1000 Lafayette street. Yeah. We're just using a tiny piece of that property for food trucks and it'll be sealed off. So there's lots of public parking. Yeah.

What is the entry point? Is it on Homestead?

You'll enter from the Benton. Yeah. For parking, you would enter from the Benton or the Lafayette entrance.

Yeah.

We had to reserve some spots for the tenants in those businesses for their customers. And yeah.

Okay. Thank you. Awesome. Can we do this?

Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, I said I wasn't going to forget it. And then I did. Yes. There is something to be discussed, whether or not it goes on tonight's agenda or the next agenda is something we need to understand, but the proposal is to do an additional event that's being brought, not by any subcommittee, but by two of our commissioners. So that was the third handout that everybody should have gotten.

Yes. We will click to alliance with board one. Board one. hosting enhanced multi-cultural events, and in front of Senate-led residents to appreciate experience. So we are thinking of International Day of Yoga, June 2027. It's on 21st, but 20th being the Sanzu, we can do it one day ahead. International Day of Yoga is June 21st. But yeah, being Sunday, we'll do it on June 20th. The time will be 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m., one and a half hour. That will include yoga and meditation, a meditation session. And we are looking for either Central Park Pavilion as it has a stage on it or the lawn adjacent to it. So these two locations. The lawn like where we're having the concert. Yes. But first preference would be the Central Park Pavilion because the a yoga person, everyone can see them. And the purpose is in recognition of International Day of Yoga, the City of Santa Clara Cultural Commission proposes hosting a free community yoga event that promotes health, wellness, mindfulness, and community engagement. The event is intended to celebrate the cultural heritage of yoga while encouraging family living, inclusivity, and cross-cultural understanding among Santa Clara residents. So the program schedule is for 90 minutes, 60 minutes guided yoga and meditation. Session is 30 minutes, welcome remarks, community gathering and participation and interaction. So the participants will bring their own yoga mats, bring a reusable water bottle and wear comfortable clothing suitable for outdoor use. And the yoga partner organization is TDD and it will be free of cost. So a qualified non-profit yoga organization will be invited to lead the yoga and meditation session. So the cost to participants will be free. No registration fee is required. And the partner non-profit organization will volunteer its services. are we looking from the city is that reservation of the Central Park Pavilion or the adjacent lawn and if any event permits are required for it

Yeah, it would just be through the Parks and Rec Department permit.

And it will be an amplified sound system, but, you know, I don't know, what do you call that mic that the person wears on their shirt? So I don't know whether, what category does it come in work with?

Yeah, we have a sound system that has a little wireless, you know, Britney Spears, a little wireless headset, microphone.

So that will be required. And the promotion can be done through city communication channels. Even Kodish supports from parks and rec staff. So then there's an estimated budget. Why we are asking for the budget? Because we did not know, like, we didn't know whether the permits will need any money or something. And if you want to give away any swag, like stickers that the cultural convention had or anything, so just reserve $500. If not, if, like, if it is not used, it will be...

So my question is, because this was not agendized, is this something that we can vote on to accept tonight? Or do we have to put it on the agenda for our next meeting?

I think it's just part of the work plan. So it's just like you were adding these to the work plan. You would just add that as a line item. Okay. Yeah.

So conceptually, it sounds like you want the thing to be organized by a sort of nonprofit yoga group. Do you envision any tie in with nonprofit yoga instructors? as sponsors or participants? I mean, because of, you know, Santa Clara, there's a hot yoga, there's the jar and yoga right over here. It seems like there are a lot of yoga studios that might want to sponsor. Yeah. Or have the event.

It's a good idea. You know, they can advertise their name and the commission can get somebody.

So like, if you really like yoga and then, you know, okay, I'm all excited. I like yoga. Now, what am I going to do? Wait till next year. Oh, you can talk to all these people. They have a booth. You can sign up. I don't know. Seems like that might be a good idea. It might be a lot of sponsors, possibly.

And it's good visibility for all those yoga places. There's small businesses.

The Senior Center also has yoga. That's true. That's true. They have yoga. They have yoga.

So do we have to have some budget to put the tables in the law? It will be from parks and recs for free if some sponsor sponsored.

I mean, I don't know that I can answer that tonight.

Yeah.

So I can get more information and get back to you.

And then we have to decide what will be the sponsorship amount that we decide or the parks and recs decide.

I don't know that you could do that right now. Not according to our regular sponsorship tiered. Like that's been decided. It's true. the city and all that kind of stuff. So I don't know how that would work.

Well, yeah, I guess maybe we'd have to see if we could do it as like them coming to the event and like paying for like a booth fee in a sense, which is similar to like the sponsors coming to like concerts because they've put money towards it. So yeah, I'm just not sure how, if it's doable.

So that information we'll get later.