 Good evening everyone, my name is Angela Mills, I work for the Town Manager here in the Town of Amherst. I'd like to welcome everyone to a meeting of the Amherst Cultural Council. This meeting is being recorded and will be uploaded to the Town of Amherst YouTube channel and can also be found on the video link on the Amherst Cultural Council webpage which is part of our town website, AmherstMA.gov. At this time I would like to recognize one of the co-chairs, Julianne, and I will make you the host in which everyone a great evening. Angela, quick question before you hop off. Sure. Do I still need to read my script in addition to what you just read or is that redundant? No, I mean at this time I think we can acknowledge that since the pandemic the governor has extended the suspension of certain open meeting laws and that allows us to meet by Zoom and allows people to be in the comfort of their homes and we should mention that it's also we've found in the Town of Amherst it has increased the participation from the public. Great. Yeah, so now I think we're all set. Thank you. Thank you so much. So I will start with our audio roll call starting with Eleanor. Hi, I'm trying very desperately to get these headphones connected but it's not working but my audio might be a little weird doing this. Definitely keep us surprised if you're having any trouble. We'll do. Thank you. Sorry, I was doing the headphones because there's. I figured. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And Christy. Hello. Greetings. Greetings. Good to have you. Cody. Hello. Hello. Good to have you and Rachel. Hello. I'm here. Thank you for being here, Rachel. Okay. It's been a whirlwind. I honestly have not looked at what Matt sent out last night. So I, I did go back through. And notice that there were a few that we had. Deliberated earlier on that I'd like us to. To go through now that we, we missed that they still had not actually provided us with. The information that we were needing as far as dates and times. Can you just, I have so many tab open folks. That are not at all related. So let me see if I can find the one I'm looking for. Almost there. Oh, is everyone pretty good? Pretty all right. I'm getting there. One of those nonstop meeting. Days. Okay. So, um, Going, um, Back through. Starting with, um, Number 18, Which was the bear day. He, Field station project. Um, we timed out on this one. Um, And I, we did say we would come back to discuss it further. Uh, they, They did not provide any additional details other than it would be in Amherst, Massachusetts from 2024 through 2020. Hey, Matt. I'm going back through and starting with the ones that we had missed, um, From earlier deliberations who didn't provide. Any additional details on our. Our call out prior. Um, I guess I need to check your audio, Matt. Hi, Matt. Hey. Welcome. Yeah. Thank you. Uh, did you, did you want to, Start with anything before we get just continue rolling on with the, The ones that we missed from Tuesday. So these are the, these are folks who. Did what, did not provide enough information. They, they were, it was in question in our notes. Um, After we deliberated as to whether or not, um, We really did have a date in the location from them. And I missed them. On at the end of our session. On Tuesday. Okay. Who are we talking about? So we are on a sequence number 18. Which is the bear day he field station project. That's listed as being just in Amherst and from 2024 to 2027. Okay. Um, They didn't further refine anything concrete. Yeah. I think we may have. Slightly different. I mean, I think this one is not as typical as sort of a dance performance or something. So. I'm less comfortable just outright saying that they don't need our criteria. Um, You know, because it's an, like, They have this ongoing span, but as long as, as long as they're using the funds towards a cultural purpose within this fiscal year. I personally don't think that, you know, we need to see the end. Um, you need to see it and we just need to see public benefit this year. So there's probably other issues with this one. Correct. Yeah. They didn't really come back with anything that we've public benefit this year when you look at a project where we're required for folks to complete the final grant report. You know, by the end of the year, within two weeks of completing it, it's kind of, it's pretty disconnected as far as how they could structure that they would have had to have written it specifically for the work they were going to do in 2024. Right. Yeah. I don't know. I guess to me, like, you can write a final grant report that says how you spent the money this year. I don't see how you can do that when. You know, you've got a budget that goes for, for three years and I mean, I think it's something that we have to address. Well, while we have addressed in our guidelines for one, you know, that the projects all must be completed by December 31st 2024 is the requirement. So I don't see how to complete it or funds expended that because I think there's two. Do you want to pull the letter that we send? I believe it's both. It's the way it's written. I understand that, you know, maybe that we should look to, to have that evolve on some level if we want to. It wouldn't be the letter. It would be the guidelines on the MCC site. Yeah. I mean, I think also with, with direct granting it, it becomes a challenge to put that money out there out up front and to be in a position where folks aren't completing the project and then they could potentially be applying for funds again the following year or they precluded from applying for funds because this goes through 2027. Yeah. So nothing, there's nothing in our local guidelines that say that you're, you know, you can't have like, you can't have a multi-year thing. We do say that the project must be completed within the calendar year, the fiscal year. Not in our local guidelines. We don't. But in the contract letter. Well, the contract letter, it wouldn't be fair to penalize somebody for not knowing what the contract letter was going to say because that's not, you know, that's not a public document. Do we have a specific location other than the town of Amherst? And please, any, anyone else has any, has anyone, I'd just be happy to hear from, from others about, you know, the extended format location. So we're a time with this one. Also, I have in my notes from our prior discussion that this one does not meet our criteria, but I didn't write down details. And I think that had to do with the venue and dates. I don't know if anyone else has notes. I had no date, no letter. And the, yeah, and that it timed out. Yeah, I am very confused about why this is even in the debate because it has no date. It has no location, you know, it's, but it's then the issue this great cycle that I know we just, so I'm at a loss on how to address it even further. It feels like people say, oh, hey, let's apply for this and just see what happens in no interest in a fall up. Yeah, I agree that it's like, oh, I'll put it out there and we'll see. Is, can we take just a quick show of hands of who supports funding versus not? I mean, I, I, in my mind, I mean, I'll just, I can't see how to support funding and I wouldn't even know how to administer it. I feel it's a, so it's all kind of a, you know, uneven footing with the rest of the grantees. Should we put this through? Yeah, I'm fine declining it. I think I would rather decline it on the basis of, of not meeting Bogue benefit as opposed to criteria. It's just, there's too much. I mean, yeah, I just have questions about it, but. Okay. Great. And then the next one we need to look at is right after number 19. This was a feature film. They've given a date of. November 1st 2023 in the application and that it would be an Amherst mass, but they didn't follow up and provide any, any other information or anything stating that it actually happened. So I don't believe this one meets our criteria. I feel like I recall us. Can you hear me okay with that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, great. I feel like I remember saying that to meet our criteria on that we weren't going to fund it, and we had decided on that, but maybe I'm wrong. Okay. Well, just, just revisiting is, is everyone okay that it doesn't meet our criteria then? Yep. Great. Thank you. And then the. Next one would be number. Number 29. Kimia digs holiday show. This one is listed as the Drake. And she has performed at the Drake. So we have a reason to believe that that should happen, but we still have no, no letter and no, no specific date, no, no further information on this one, which was a pretty good size ask that we really would like to fund. But I was hoping to hear back on this one. So the issue here is. No specific date. And in the Drake, we're questioning the Drake as a venue. Well, just, you know, we, we were rather clear in the email that we would, we would need confirmed date and location and that, you know, ideally a letter of support. And to hear nothing is, is concerning. Um, I know that we all don't have. Time to go. Look at this. So I just. I did. If it is. In a just. Yeah, no, no. I did look because I was hoping it would be there, but in all fairness, a day, a year in advance. Um, I don't, I don't think they're publishing the schedule a year in advance server at the Drake on the website, but I did check just in case I was like hoping I could just tie it up with a nice bow that it was there. Um, uh, okay. Well, that's, I mean, I guess the problem for me is, is similar, which is like. Yeah. So I just sent you the picture from the, there's a huge newspaper article that I saw today about this, you know, the holiday show that's coming up in a week or two. And so for us to penalize somebody for not having a specific day. In a, you know, a year from now. It's just, you know, because of the way that the year, the way of the year works. Well, I just would have liked to have heard. Directly that, Hey, where this show is happening and, you know, let me have the Drake email you that, you know, or that something we're going to get on the schedule for next year. I mean, if you, if you'd like to, to. Email, you know, directly and see if you can get a response. Um, because I really think it. This should be a go, but, um, in all fairness to everyone else there, you know, is, is no set date and no communication. And no letter from the Drake yet. And yet it looks like it should be solid, right? But. Yeah, I will. I'll do an extra follow up with this one because I think, you know, the timing of it, just because it's a holiday show for, for next year. And she's in the middle of preparing for this year's holiday show. I'm not comfortable certainly zeroing it out based on, you know. I'm not, I'm not either. I'm just trying to be fair to. To everyone else that we're holding to a standard of having a date in the location and at a minimum communicating when, when it's been vague in the application. Well, put it this way, I mean, the, the minutia, like the, the show that is happening this month, we could fund that with this current grant cycle, you know, I'm sorry, what's that? The show that they are currently doing this month. Could be funded by this, like we could be giving a grant for this coming show. We know that's got a date and advertising and everything in it. You know what I mean? Yeah. We have to do it as, as the grant is written. Yeah, of course. Yep. And then. Thank you for reaching out so that we can ideally keep this number 39. James Garrett, a simple circle, the democratization of photography and its impact on society. It's date range was 2023 to 2024 at the Amherst public library. We want to do a high partial, but we've heard nothing back on this one. So I don't, I don't think we can fund something that's got a date range of, you know, over a year and no communication. This is going to be the exhibit, right? Mm hmm. Does the lack of the date have anything to do with. The Jones rather than. At this point, my concern is the lack of communication that there is no date and there's no communication as to why there's no date. There's just, you know, nothing. And we, we have heard from several grantees as far as the Jones is concerned that, you know, there's some, some scheduling, you know, juggling going on. And, and in those cases where we've gotten a letter of support from the Jones, that certainly makes me feel better that they're at least in touch with them. They know that the reality of getting scheduled is a challenge and that the Jones has said, yes, we want them. We're going to work it out. I mean, that's good enough, but, but no communication at all is rather concerning. So a lot of what I worry about is the communication and, and we kind of covered our, let me be specific. So in these denial letters that we send, if we are going to, you know, do things beyond the MCC standard letter, we need, we need good, strong language for that. And by sending out the email that we did a couple of weeks ago, when we explained to folks that they're going to get denied if they don't, you know, confirm time and date. We have, unfortunately, you know, we now have established a pretty clear criteria, local criteria for denial. So I hate this because I, I, the work here is, is amazing. But I think given the uncertainty of the Jones and the changes an entire year, I, I don't, I think we just have to deny this one outright. I'm, I'm sad to say it as well. Okay. And there are, there are two, two more, sorry, to go back to number 13 and 14. George Baker had a Dixieland stop concert and an LBG band concert. We could have only funded one of them either way, but we've received no information about a date and the location was not determined on either of those. So we need to also not fund those since we've had no communication. These are the two George Baker ones. Yeah. We've heard nothing unless there's something I don't know. I'm just looking to see if there's anything that came through. I mean, the senior center is usually very good about sending a letter. Yeah. They'll be very eager to have content. Yeah, I don't see anything from them. Okay. Great. All right. So I believe that gets us caught up with, with those earlier ones. And now we are at grant number. 45. We have quite, quite a few to get through. Matt, you had made a suggestion that we all kind of come prepared to be able to discuss anything that, you know, we feel strongly about fully funding or not, not funding. So, I guess, guess we can, should we start going, going through with, with each one and just say, if there's anybody who wants to fully funded or if there's anybody who doesn't want to fund it at all and tackle those first, because I think we can go quickly through the ones that we agree are good enough to fully fund. Hopefully. Well, I just, I want to say also that I did send out a, you know, kind of a meaningless balance slate for folks just to, just to give people a feel for what kinds of, you know, choices we're going to have to make. So. Yeah. I haven't shared kind of the running. I mentioned last time that I have a running tally that I keep as we zero things out and that we need to get a little, little closer. Excuse me a minute. Yep. Does anyone have any questions while Matt's. Popping away for a minute. Yes. Go ahead, Christy. I need to know where we are. I'm like, yep. Yeah. That's an excellent question. I'm sorry. So we had 103 grant applications, which are quite a lot to get through. We've had a couple of meetings that ended quite early. And some that didn't happen at all because we didn't have a quorum. So we've been, we're pretty crunched for time. We took, took the approach to want to first and foremost understand which grants. So we've gotten through that. It looks like we will need to, to deny for either not enough public benefit. Or not, not meeting our criteria. So we've gotten through that list. Sequentially going through it puts us at. Grant sequence number. 45. We still need to go through and discuss. We've got quite a, quite a lot of them still, even with several having fallen out between numbers 45 and 103. Does that help? So what. I'm sorry. Sorry. It was a simpler question. Like which one are we talking about next? So. To go sequentially down through the rest, we would be talking about number. 45 and on and 45 is. Hannah harvesters climate cafe series. Do you want me to time box? If so, for how many minutes? Um, yeah, we'd have to be a little tighter. My suggestion is that we. Kind of expedite this further. By going through each ones. And if they're taking on the ones first that people feel they. They would fully fund if possible versus any that. Folks believe they, they would question funding at all. And then circle back to. The ones that weren't quite, you know, one way or the other. Well, so Julian, a process note. That's why I sent the balance slate. Right? Cause we, I don't think we're going to be able to sort of do a. One by one, you know, time box. Debate through all of them in a meeting and a half to meetings. So I can share my screen with the balance slate on it. And, um, you, we can have more of like a holistic conversation about the items as they come along. And there might be a couple that I didn't catch. I mean, I've been making changes as you've been pointing out some of these, um, these, uh, these other non-qualifiers. So what do you think of it? If you can just permit, give that permission. Um, oh. Well, it's a, it's, it's a different approach. Um, sorry, I'm not zoom native. I should be by now. It'd be my preference that we not be quite so leading by putting the numbers out before we discuss them, but because what's the difference. Found it. Well, and I, you know, this is not. Yeah, nothing's final, right? Nothing's fine. Even if we deny someone, they still have the right to appeal. Like it is a very fluid process, but we do need to move through. And it's what we did last year. We did the same kind of exercise last year. And I, it was, it was pretty good. The difference being, of course, that we had more time. We, we got through the entire thing sequentially first. Um, so I, you know, they had requested. Um, climate cafe. Had requested 500 from us and. The balance Lee has, has them at 250 and this was a, um, I don't know if we do, do we want to do the summary of it? Or are folks pretty, I mean, folks have read through now, right? So this is another one though, where when you look through the materials, it looks. Good. You know, I mean, but there's. Um, no letters of supporter firm dates, but I think it's pretty well detailed when you actually get into the application. And yet if it started in October, 2023, I'm concerned that nothing was communicated when, when we asked for more information. That's correct, right? They didn't get back to us with anything. Yeah, I don't, right. Um, this was not one of my radar as being a concern for, for logistics. Yeah, there's. It wouldn't be a concern to me if they'd communicated something. Um, I'm going to stop sharing so I can pull up the documents. I didn't realize that this one was in question. Um, I mean, it's a really nice, it's a really nice proposal. Um, multiple venues in Western mass, Hitchcock, Kestrel, Sunderland public library. Um, and yeah, there's a list of, um, individuals who have made commitments to hosting them, uh, including the Hitchcock manager, management at Hitchcock, Hitchcock management at Kestrel. Um, today they've got use of, uh, use of the Hitchcock. They got permission to use the Hitchcock. So I don't know. I mean. See, it seemed good. I think it's good, but again, it's like you. Why didn't they reply that? Hey, we're, we're, we're doing this. We started it, you know. Um, Well, I think it's just volunteer organizations. I mean, you know, for me, I'm not going to, I'm not going to judge them based on correspondence necessarily. I mean, you know, responsiveness to emails and artists that's not always, those are not always two things that go hand in hand. Um, So I, I would propose that we fund about 250. You know, but yeah, I think it's worth trying to still reach out and make sure before we make it official that, you know, they do have some dates, but I think that's the right amount to anyone else. And that sounds good. Thank you. Okay. Um, okay. And there's hilltown families. I feel like we had a long debate about this last year. You know, some folks felt that they didn't meet our criteria. Others felt they, they did. I had them at, you know, $350. This is the newsletter for anybody who doesn't recall. I mean, I, I see the value of it. Um, I think they'll always be a question as to whether it truly meets our criteria, but from my perspective, it's, it's hard to, while it helps artists to have people, you know, uh, with getting the word out, it means that an entire other event just won't happen because of, of partially funding this. What event won't happen if we fund this something to the, what you have this at 350 bucks, right? Is that what did you have? Sorry. I can't look at all the places at once. How much do you have this one slated for? Well, that's why I proposed the draft slate. I don't, I wouldn't say that somebody is going to get zeroed out because we give 350 to this. I think it's just a, you know, it's a matter of, of sort of apportioning the money across, you know, a hundred or however many, you know, 80 grants. Sure. Yeah. And, and I would still say though that, you know, for another event, you know, that that's the, the full stipend and the whole event doesn't happen. If somebody doesn't get their stipend, you know. Okay. We can zero it out this year and say that it doesn't meet our criteria and that's, you know, that's fine with me. I don't, I. Is there anyone who feels strongly about supporting it? I mean, I haven't been on the fence for a while. So I don't think it's okay. Um, I would say that finances has been irregular debate. If we are sustained or improvement as an absolute but we still feel it'd be a debate which we don't have time. So, I would feel comfortable declining this. Thank you. Anyone else? What do we have next then? Uh, next we have Hilltown Youth Recovery Theater. Yeah. To the extent that we have the funds, I support fully funding this. The only knock against it is that it's. You know, not right in Amherst, but it does. I mean, if everyone's read through this one, it's, it's just a fantastic cultural event for, for a group of people who are really going through transformative and challenging time. And it's a reasonable ask for what they're doing. Yep. Anyone else? Now I think it's an awesome summer program I would say can't fully fund this. Right now, I think I'm comfortable with the way Matt has it. Um, for the, for the current, um, at the current point, that's my personal opinion. And bear in mind, I wasn't, these were not value judgment. So this is just me trying to get to a balanced slate. Um, Right. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Looking at all the numbers, I think right now that looks fine to me. Okay. Well, I, I, you know, I tend to agree that this is about as good of a. Of a applicant as we get. So. Um, if we put them in a thousand. You know, that we're still below. So base, you know, and I'm going to be just because of time. I am going to keep our eye on the bottom line here. Um, we're, you know, we're still within range by, because we zeroed out a couple more tonight. Um, so. Yeah. I think we would all want to, to fund this to the extent that we can't. All right. Coming back up to, um, electrify Amherst. Yeah. I also, I like this one. Um, how did this is the one where they wanted to paint. Yeah. The boxes. This is coming from. Isn't this coming from our public art commission? Yeah. I mean, I. I don't know if I would fully fund considering how much of an ask it is compared to the total amount that, that we have, but it is something that's just. Charming and that gives people a sense of place here and in history. Yeah, I like it too. I think it's like one of the most public forms of like non-performance art. I think that's really cool. And I, and I like where you've gotten that with the budget. Where, where is the budget? I'd like to see us give closer to. Certainly not the whole budget, but closer to half. So their, their budget breaks down 1500 for, um, artists to do the work and 200 for supplies. So, yeah, I mean, I also would love to see. Pretty close to full. Um, now I will say this, this is one of these downtown projects similar to the Emily Dickinson box. And they do point out without full funding from ACC, we can request funds from local business leaders and community orders. They'll get. You know, that's, that's a good downtown. And that's a good, that's a good, a good initiative. Chris, were you just agreeing or did you want to make a comment? Just agreeing? Yeah. So I think, I think certainly healthier than 340, but maybe if we say 1500 to cover the artists. Salary or, or maybe even 1200. Uh, And if, if we have all the funds and with you there as far as, I'd like to be at least half to a thousand. Um, Yeah, I would say 800 to a thousand. Okay. Let's do that. And then that'll be one that we can, if we can, if we have sweetening money later, we'll come back to it and sweeten it up a little. Okay. Excellent. Okay. Then we have the human agenda theater. Is this Silverthorn? No. No, it's not. Uh, and it will be at Hawks and Reed. Um, so, I mean, it's great for, for theater in the, in the area. Um, and yet I think it's going to have to take a, you know, we are going to have to consider a location here as far as the amount. Yeah. And I say this every time Hawks and Reed comes up. I mean, they are one of the few, you know, it's nice that, that we have folks going to Hampshire college and other colleges, but in terms of a true public venue, there aren't a lot of theater venues in, in the area. So. Yeah. But, you know, I agree that, that we don't find, we certainly don't fully fund them, you know, being as far away as they are. I think you're in the right ballpark there. Why don't we leave it for, it's not, it's not nothing, but it's also, you know, reflects the location. Unless anybody wants to advocate for higher or lower. I mean, I personally had it slated in around 500, but, um, you know, nothing's final here. I mean, I would like to do a little more considering, like you said, there's so little theater and so few venues. That's a real thing. Okay. I'll try. I was also thinking fives. Okay, let's do that. Okay. The next one, I'll, I'll just jump to that. I would, I would like to fully fund this if possible. It's around Amherst, Robert Frost and his birthday is 150th anniversary of his birth and just the, the legacy that we've, we've had here in the region. It's, it's music, it's performance. It's, um, just so many amazing things right, right here in, in Amherst and it doesn't happen every year. It's not like we can apply for this again next year. Um, it is, it is a sizable ask though, but it sounds pretty, pretty special. I think we should do something very meaningful here. Well, we do see Illuminati every year. Not, I mean, I'm not arguing against you, but you know, there, they are a, you know, annual grant, grantee. So, but I agree it's a nice, um, they actually have an either or for their venues. Um, it wasn't, it's not something that I'm going to worry about, you know, that's, I have full faith that this will happen. Yeah. And they've got their, their date there. It's coming soon. Uh, I haven't looked back to see what their award has been in, in past years because, you know, while we do have inflation and everything else, when somebody comes back and they like tripled their ask, you know, I kind of take that into account, but their grant, um, in 2023 was $565. Again, I think this is a larger thing that they're putting together with and for the community, this particular one. And they were at 450 in 2022. So this is a larger ask. So this is school kids and most of this money is for, um, Todd and his assistant director, or directors. It is a little funky. It says, you know, artistic director, this falls outside the usual range of her duties. Oh, so may as on Todd, but whoever the, um, you know, this wouldn't be something that they would do as a part of their music program. Am I crazy there? No, I think it's, it's different in that they're not just picking up like unknown vocal choral work and performing it, right? They're doing this entire event for the community. Um, and I, I. Okay. You will provide a bass choir and other ensembles will join or perform movement solo. So it's an exciting project. I think we certainly need to fund it, um, in part. I like the $500 number. I'm, you know, I'd want to look at the number, the budget a little bit more closely to understand the actual expenditure. Cause I, to me, this is, you know, students and choir teachers. Um, but why do we, I mean, I think we're agreed a strong partial. Yeah. I mean, I think they definitely need, you know, to be able to cover some of the extra stipends and the space rental and I think space to be free. No, it's not. Oh really? That's, that's, you got to, you got to pay anywhere that you go. Uh, and they, uh, and they wouldn't normally have to do all that. So yeah, I'd like to see us go a little higher, but I don't know the money. Sure. Um, all right. Going to class, class is a big, I mean, people loved class coming in this past year. It was a huge hit. Tons, tons of press coverage, tons, tons of participation. We got a lot of great, um, you know, people, people will send in you know, follow up, follow up through performances. We got a lot of that from them. Um, you know, it's way up in coming to, so that's the only, that's the only sort of quasi-negative, but when you look at the size of the production, $20,000 production, um. I can't knock, uh, a, a asked me or music festival coming to the region and not being right here in Amherst given how unique and just wonderful that is. Like it's in our region. it's amazing. Clearly, we will have any number of people from the community attending and enjoying and it draws people into the region at large. So I would think there'd be some overlap with our offerings as far as historic sites, restaurants, shops and all that too. So is anybody advocating to fully fund it or fund it at a different level? I would say fully fund if we can. I mean, it's what, it's only $600. Yep. Yeah, I would, I was actually gonna say the same thing. So I think it seems like such a cool event and we do have very cool, like Yiddish culture and history around here with the Yiddish Book Center. And yeah, I was glad to see it. So great. Yeah, that's true. Why are they performing at the Yiddish Book Center? I think we should, we should suggest that. That's a great spot. Okay. Okay. The Lafever, these also seem to be very well received from what I can gather. I've got to put the brakes on this one though, because once again, dates to be determined and the grounds of the strong house and no letter and no communication out to us. Now, they've got a great history of having performed at the strong house in the past. So again, I think there's every reason that this. No, there's a letter. Is there? Yep. For catching that. Yeah. Yeah, it's there. It's in the application itself. Yes. As part of the code. All right. Okay. So that's why they didn't communicate, I guess, because they thought that they were covered enough. Yeah. And you know, this is also a little bit at the mercy of how the historical society schedules their series as well. So I think we should just focus on the merits of the grant, the application for this one. I do have a note from the very beginning though, as far as, you know, I think we came up against this last year as well. The strong house has their own music series. And then they have additional artists coming in to perform there that they support and say, hey, we want them to come. But we do end up with two are to the community's benefit. A lot of programming there, but the total amount going to have performances at the strong. If you take that whole number, it's, it's, it gets to be a pretty big number. And I think we have to kind of consider that. Otherwise, I would say just fully fund it because it's here and for the community. And are you saying there's another strong house great strings on the strong? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I mean, this is a pretty different thing than that. But I, you know, I know what you mean, I guess, I don't know, on the merits of this one alone, you were kind of questioning the venue and we're just, the venue and the date are good. I was just literally looking at this chart here and seeing that we didn't have anything else come in, but it's in the application. So that that's fine with me. Now it's just, I think we just need to be aware that of how much money is going specifically for programming right there. Oh, it's right in the middle of downtown. I mean, great spot. I think it's, it's great, but the same time, I think we already looked at saying that, oh, no, we'd really like to fully fund the strings at the strong. Right. We did. So that is 2,800 that we'd like to do there. And then this is another 800. And then there's another one that will follow that is, I believe, another 750. That's being asked. I thought we were not going to give the full amount for the strings at the strong depending on what's available. I mean, that was something because it's 700 per concert or something like that, right? But that's, I mean, yeah, I think it was, oh, if we just have a ton of money, yes, but it's, it's, it's a lot. And it's a lot when you look at all the programming collectively. Yeah, which I don't think is really the way that we should do this. But even if it were, I mean, does 400 seem like too much for this? I believe it's 800 they're asking for, isn't it? Oh, on the screen, I had, I had them penciled in at four. I mean, I think as far as, you know, the musicians getting paid, it'll be low, but they would probably still still perform. Are we their only source? Let me take a look. Yeah, we're their only source. They don't mention that. They said that no other sources of income were needed. So we may be able to negotiate the amount we're asking for if needed. So what do I think we'll, why don't we propose four for now? And we can adjust it. We can. Okay. All right. We have connections, concert, Sophie Lippert, and she did send us a lot of additional information. And I personally liked this and, you know, but 1200 is a lot despite, I mean, regardless of what she's asking for, it's a large portion of our overall. Yeah. I don't know what number you have there, but I really couldn't see going more than like around 500 considering. So in the budget, they're talking about $400 per musician per show. So they got, they have three musicians playing three shows that gets to 3600. So if we were paying for one show, that would be 1200 to the musicians themselves. And then additional money has to do with graphic design for their, for their press. Their series, their series manager and their production costs. Oh geez. And then space rental for rehearsal. I guess they're actually renting, they're renting the spaces for the shows too. And I'm hoping that they did apply to other cultural councils. They wrote it kind of funny, but it looks like they applied, hopefully, to Northampton, Holyoke, Eastampton, and Amherst. Yeah, to those four. You know, they're asking us for the entire budget and yet they've applied to four other councils. So I would say that we could easily assume that since it's not right here in Amherst that we, you know, there should be other councils contributing to this budget, especially the ones that have the shows physically there. What's a little tricky with this for me is, is the feasibility question. You know, if they really think that they need 12,000 to, to pull this thing off. I don't know. What they say is if grant funds don't cover full funding, we will creatively resource and reorient so the project continues to be tenable. Which, but then their ideas are a little bit, you know, a series subscription tickets and things like that. So I, you know, I don't think we can give them much. I mean, a thousand, I think would be probably the absolute tops we could give them. And, and, you know, that it just makes me nervous for them that they won't be able to pull it off if they only get, you know, 4,000, a thousand from each of us. So are you proposing we don't fund it at all? I don't know what I'm proposing. Honestly, I mean, well, look, their budgets got things like videographer, event photographer, you know, I mean, there's, their budget is, is quite fat. And I just, it's how realistic is this budget? Go ahead, Cody. Sorry, I wasn't looking. Let me jump in. I wouldn't fund it. Matt has a good point, you know, what if, if it doesn't have, if we just wasted, let's say, $1,000, where we could have gave it to someone else. Oh, that's my only fear. I mean, the only thing is their look, their materials are great. Like they've got a lot of great supporting materials. They seem very, very talented, committed. And they make, they make several statements to the effect of if we don't get what we want, we're going to find a way to make this thing happen. Like, you know, cheaper venues, cut, cut, cut. So yeah, I was going to say, yeah, I don't think I feel comfortable not funding it because of like the possibility that they have too big of a budget or something. I don't know. I think like they've given us a lot of information and a lot of materials and seem very competent. And like, I don't think that we can kind of make a judgment based on like, well, we're not sure about how they balance their budget here. I don't know. Maybe that is our job. But they owe the money back if they can't do it. And then we go back to the, you know, we would have to do this as not enough public benefit. And frankly, I can't argue that there's not enough public benefit. There's certainly not enough public benefit for us to give them the full ask. And especially since there should be three or four other cultural councils contributing. But I'm kind of, I'm back to where I was to begin with, that I see $500 being appropriate for the amount of public benefit that I believe folks from Amherst will will enjoy versus the rest of our slate. And with the understanding that we think that the budget's a bit, you know, a bit full, lots of detail, you know, they provided information, you know, will they, will they actually still pay for the videographer if they don't get all of the money? Will somebody volunteer to do that? Like, there's a lot that can happen. But I think just the amount that we give to the amount of public benefit compared to everything else we're doing, I feel really comfortable with 500 and hope that they'll feel that that's, you know, meaningful to them and helpful. You know, if there was a performance here, you know, that would be a different story. If, you know, it would still be quite a large budget and quite a large ask. I mean, literally it's, you know, like one, one fifth of what we have. So I wish people would look at what they're asking and, you know, keep things a little bit more tied to like what's happened for other grantees year to year. I think I'm going to advocate pretty strongly for it to get to a thousand if we can. Just, I just, I just looking at the quality of the performers. And I just, I worry that it's not going to happen at 500. At that point, if all four of us only gave five, it would only get to 2,000. I don't think they could pull that off. I think we all gave a thousand, maybe, you know, I don't know. And I agree with Cody. I mean, it's a little bit of a gamble. But at the end of the day, if they don't, as you said, Julian, if they don't, if they give the money back, we will distribute the money next year. And obviously we'd rather distribute it this year than next year. But it's not like it's, I feel like it's a gamble that's worth taking based on the quality of the artists and to Eleanor's point, I mean, we don't want to penalize them for bad budgeting. Like that's not, I mean, it shouldn't help them, but it also shouldn't be a, I don't know. That's kind of my... Yeah. Well, let's, let's, let's see what we can do. Because I, I think we're all seeing that there is value. Yeah. Okay. We also don't know what the other councils are going to be giving them just because we give 500, it doesn't mean people are going to match that, right? Or they could be giving them more. So it's just what we think is fair based on our budget and our grantees. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. That's right. And okay. So we'll shoot for it. But I understand it. We have to, we have to turn that one down. I certainly understand that. Well, the next... Okay. So this is now the, on the board. Oh, let me show you. Yeah, I was just gonna say all on... The board's 24. I'll advocate to fully fund it as far as a $200 ask for, for local theater that... Okay. Is there anyone who does not support fully funding it at $200? Yeah. Thank you. It was a good application. Are you willing to share your screen again, Matt, or was that... Yes, I will. I was talking over to something else and I didn't want to... Okay. No, don't worry. No, no. Let me put it up. But I liked... Let's see. Let's see. Where are we at? If we put... I plugged in that thousand. So we're a little over right now. We're about 700 over just for the, just for the discussion. I'm not... We don't have to... Perseverate on it, but... Okay. So then... Now, if anybody follows the social media channels from ACC, I mean, Salsa Contacos Latin Dance is... They are probably the most enthusiastic, sort of self-promoters in a good way. I mean, and if you drive through downtown on... I'm not sure what nights they're doing it right now, but in the summertime, I think it was Tuesday nights, if you drive through... I mean, they're out on Kendrick Park with 20, 30 people doing salsa dancing. I mean, I have a pretty soft spot for these folks at this point. They work hard, they're passionate, and they bring something of cultural value to us. I think they're fantastic and would generally support fully funding it. I mean, I think the value is there. It is a much larger ask than last year, but I think they've grown, and I think the merit is there to support that. What did we give them last year? Oh, Christie, sorry. This is a non-grant related question. I am supposed to be upstairs at a Hanukkah lighting event. If I leave for the last half hour, are you okay without me here? Yes. Yes, please. Because I have to go light the candle. Happy Hanukkah. Yes, light the candles. Happy Hanukkah. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. No, no, no, no, no. Okay. Okay, goodbye. I'll be here at the next one, and I'm very free and I'm not teaching on Tuesday if you need to schedule something else too. So, I'm here. Wonderful. Happy Hanukkah, Christie. Happy Hanukkah. Thank you. I will talk to you in on. Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. It is. Yeah. I'm sorry. Y'all, we need to... Okay. Anyway, on to the budget. Yeah. If we were trying to not... Oh, last year? Yeah. Last year, the grant award was 1200. I'm not... Where do I have to go to see what the ask was? So, again, I mean, I think the merit is there based on what they've done in the last year to fund them, you know, further to increase. I just don't know that we have, you know, fully to go quite that much. And I guess you have it. I agree that if we can do half of what they're asking, it is at least an increase from last year. Yeah. Yeah, I feel good. I feel good going up, but, you know, and that's a merit-based increase. Cody, sorry. Um, yeah, I was going to say it's 1000 or 900. Just keep in mind we have 700 over, but yeah, very high. I don't know. I'd have to push back, Cody. I wouldn't feel comfortable giving them less than we gave them last year, considering just how much, you know, community, cohesion, gathering, fun, culture, like everything that they brought to the community, something totally new and different. So, I couldn't fund them less myself. And so, I'll always say like 1200, I guess. I think Matt has them listed for half of it at 1500, which I certainly don't support if we have it. Let me zoom in a little bit. So, this is... Yeah. I mean, it goes for several weeks. It's like three months or four months worth of events. It's year-round. I mean, they're going basically year-round. Now, the specifics of our grant might be only a few months, but I mean, these people dance. This is an active group and it brings people in. Yeah, it's fantastic. Is that too big? Starting to work is just whether we can tell what it is. Yeah, that's good. This next one, we don't have dates. I've been wrong about this before. Yeah. The dates and location. Why were they not on our list of previous... I think it's something that because it was filmed and it was in pre-production, so they're already doing it. And it says the production will start in 2023 in November. And I guess I think the way you were reading it, Matt, where will the project take place, that the filming was in Pelham and then with Bob McClung on the Bob McClung trail in Amherst and out in Cape Cod at Orleans and the editing was going to happen at Melissa's house in Hadley. So, to that extent, work is happening here. This is awesome. This project, I mean, this is finishing funds for this project which, you know, supposedly if the schedule is accurate, you know, this is finishing projects for funds for a project that should be shot by now. I guess the tricky part is we will have a free community screening of the film when it is complete and that's really kind of like the delivery and we don't have a place or a date for that. So, I'd like to have that. I'd like to fund it, you know. I'm just looking through the thing, the application. I mean, they have high credibility. Northampton Open Media to organize a screening at a local venue. Yeah, I mean, you know, I don't know. I mean, I guess there's a world where we can just say we don't know exactly what day and what theater you're going to play it at and that wouldn't be wrong. But I think there's also a world where we can say that this is a film project and so it's slightly different than, you know, again, a concert. I'm okay, certainly with where you have the partial grant at. I just think we kind of owe it to ourselves, as we said, with a couple of these others to say, hey, you know, send us something, you know, communicate something to us. Yeah. All right. Why don't we leave it here and I can follow up with them. I'm starting a little list. I'm going to add the eggs and the clung that I will reach out to. Thank you. Yeah, I really would like to do this. I think you're just fine. And by the way, I did get a call back from Silverthorne late last night. Oh, good. They said we're, you know, we're all volunteer organization. We missed the emails. We'll get you the final report ASAP. So we'll see. I told them ASAP better be ASAP because we're, you know, we're done soon. Okay. So this is, what is this? Every day more fathomless. I did check this one and I believe it was scheduled at the library if I'm remembering right. I think I did. Photography that I shot at Emily Dickinson's home and pottery that finished, features her words. This one is lovely. I thought it was lovely. It is lovely. As far as the funding of it, we fully fund this one. No, we can't. So they noted to us, they have an $892 budget and they noted to us that they received $500 already. Oh, I see. Okay. From what? From us? From Mass Mocha. So I would be in favor of funding the balance of it, you know, no, no, no, no, pause. No. I use that money to fund the photography and the ceramic portion of this project. So then she has a budget for the additional work to be done on the project. And then, so Burnett Gallery Committee has got a letter with a contract and a date. The show is supposed to be playing now. Yeah. And then there's also supposed to be a community screening of the film in addition. Is it playing at the Jones? I looked at this like two weeks ago and I think it wasn't on my list because I thought I saw that it was scheduled to be there. Right. Jones Library, what's it called? Medeiros. Oh, here it is. It's on there. You know what, part of the reason we're so confused is, which one are we looking at? Are we looking at, not the MacLung, we're looking at the Everyday More Fathomless, right? Yep. Welcome to the meeting. It's advertised on the Jones website. So I'm confused because it says the amount that they're requesting is $500. And then in the chart that we have, does your chart say $892 is the ask? No, that's their total budget. This is total budget, ask, and then award. I should know that by now. All right. I'm with Rachel. I want to fully fund this. I think it's a strong application with supporting materials. Okay. Yeah. I see Cody nodding. Eleanor's thinking. What are you thinking? Good. I'm good with it. As long as it wasn't the thing where I thought it was going to be over the budget, then I'm good. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it was only like a difference of eight bucks anyway. Tiny glass tavern. This all seems wonderful, but I did note having to reduce it for location. What do they have to reduce? Just that it's like in Conway in Northampton. Oh, of course. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's actually a pretty small... No, it's in Northampton. It says Conway in Northampton. But I mean, I was just saying as far as compared to fully funding that, I'm not saying to... I think you already had adjusted, right? Yeah, but I adjusted everybody. I mean, don't take that. I mean, it's such a small ask on the one hand I'd like to. To fully fund it. Yeah. I would support fully funding something like this versus one that's further down the list where we gave them what amounts of 10%, but it's still a high number just because what they requested was so high, relatively speaking. So I would support fully funding this one. That's one of the tricky things, Rachel, is if you try to use a percentage formula, people who ask the exorbitant amounts get this report, you know. Exactly. That's why I was thinking that, yeah, compared to that one I'm thinking of later, further down the list, this one feels fair to fully fund because of the amount. Yeah, I agree. And they were awarded around, I think, with $95 last year. So I mean, it's been reasonable asks. Yeah. Okay, Mohawk Trail, chamber music in Charlemont at the church. I have a note to reduce somewhat for location and music. Let me just confirm. Last year, their award was 190. 190? 190, yeah. Oh, well, then that 250 seems right. Yeah, and then the prior year we were at 200. So yeah, that would be an increase at least. All right. I want to fund this Shakespeare festival. Tell me why I can't. I want to do it too. Yes, it's in Montague, but again, it's a regional thing. We should have that in the region. If you haven't been to the Shea Theater, go to the Shea Theater for something. It's like, you know, in downtown Turner's Falls, I mean, it's a little town, but they really, really care about their culture. They have a city planner who is a part-time culture director, part-time planner. She's fabulous and Shea Theater is just one of the coolest theaters in the area. And they use it for all kinds of wild stuff all the time. It's great. Yeah, sounds great to me. Yeah, you've convinced me totally. There's also so many of those great little shops in Turner's Falls. It really ends a beautiful drive up from Amherst. So I can't say enough about it. Yeah. I mean, if we have it, let's do it. Okay. Next up, we have Mother's Institute for Change. I think this is one that we already discussed that we couldn't do. Okay. How come? Uh, there were issues with date and location, right? They didn't communicate. It just says May 24th, somewhere in Northampton. Month-long city-wide event in May. And then they list off a bunch of locations in Northampton. Pretty impressive. You know, folks involved, director of most of the money goes, well, all kinds of different things, space, rental, artists. So if folks don't have it in front of them, you should pull this one up on the panel book because it's a pretty complex proposal, to say the least. It's on page, if you're in the PDF, page 433. There's a lot of print material already out there from, oh, and they did it last year. And they did it, they might not have done it in 23. They did, but they did it in 22. They say many exhibition events will be free to the public. Tickets range from zero to $50. So it's kind of awesome. The only thing is I couldn't figure out why, on their proposal, they don't mention having applied to other LCCs. Not even Northampton? It doesn't. It's not listed, if it says, you know, if they did, because if you look at, it's on my PDF, it's page 439 and page seven of seven. And it doesn't mention anything. That was my main question, is why wouldn't they be applying to other LCCs? Or they just sort of gave a non, maybe they missed or had the question or something. I think it was more of a clever thing of, well, if we just put this, we can just write the same thing for all of them. Right. Or, I don't know, I mean, my guess is that they probably did apply to other. How much time are they saving themselves? You know, silly, but some people might think that applying to multiple councils will be penalized, you know? Oh gosh. But you're right, Rachel, that's not great. They should have said that. So I don't know. I mean, just going from the amount of sheer energy that's in this application in terms of like flyers and lists of names and lists of venues, I think this is a feasible thing. And these are some serious mothers who want to pull this thing off. I still would like them to communicate something to us that's a little more concrete than. Well, it's going to be the whole month and it's going to be all across the city of Northampton. Well, if they have been non-responsive in that respect, then I would not support half of the amount that's listed there right now, personally. Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah. I mean. What's the, what's the number? They're asking for $2,500 and that's a lot of money to ask for and not to be responsive to when, when we say we need more information about your dates and location or you most certainly will not be funded. Well, but again, they gave it the date range and the location. So I'm not sure that they fall into that category. So what's the number that folks would feel comfortable with? 1,000? 750? 750 from me. Let's just see where that puts us on our, on our bottom line. Yeah, look, we're still, we're still right within the range we need to be. So we're not, you know, we're doing good. And by the way, I mean, none of the numbers I put in here represent my opinion at all. It's just me balancing this thing out so that we have something to, to react to. Okay, 750. So let's move on. We can come back to that one if we want to. Oh my God. Autistic, fantastic, hip-hop, chair dance for seniors, February and April at the Arbor's and the Center for Extended Care. Okay. This is, this is all fantastic. And I guess on the one hand, we should be grateful that this applicant is putting all, all events into one application, not missing anything, but it is double, essentially double, double what, what's happened in prior years. So we have given Ronde drafts money in the prior years. Okay, good. How much did we give her last year? I'm looking right now, close and close and close. It was 600 last year and it was 600 the year before. So I think it'd be nice to, to increase, but I don't, I don't think we're in a position to, to double it. Yeah. Let's stick with, and, and we have good final reports from her and everything. Yeah. Sure. All right. Well, let's, let's give it a nudge up and I would say 800. I could support that. Okay. Afghanistan today. Sorry, I'm sorry. Did anybody have any other, like we can, we can tweak Ronde drafts, but does that number seem comfortable for now? Yeah, I think that's good. Didn't mean to close by there. Okay. We're doing great. We have eight minutes left. Let's keep going. We're going to keep going and I'm going to get ahead of this one because I've been at the forefront of doing a ton of, you know, communication out, which I'm happy to do as part of my service here. But in this case, in, in a prior year, last year, we gave a partial grant and it was very difficult to, to make the grant, you know, to begin with and then to get the documentation. It was, you know, basically in the, in the final grant report documentation, they kind of came back and said it's, you know, just too much work. And then in the very end, someone, the actual applicant came back and said, we didn't even accept the money. You didn't even give it to us. I don't know why you're asking, although they did take the check and kind of sent me a, sent us a scathing, kind of questioning of partial granting. So I would have to say that unless anyone's in favor of fully funding it, I don't think we can partially fund it. It is here in Amherst. It's an interesting work, but it sounded to me like this grantee really is not particularly receptive to partial funding. And considered it somewhat responsible. So did they, did they, did they complete a grant final report? In the, in the end, yes. And they did, they did the performance that they were paid for. And they did the performance, but I found it concerning that I was told that they hadn't taken the money when they had. And, and then when they, you know, and that they said the reason they didn't take the money was it, it wasn't what they asked for, but then they did. So I mean, these are, these are volunteer organizations with a lot of people, but this, in the end, this was the person who was actually on, on, on the grant corresponding, not knowing they'd taken the funds and questioning that we didn't, you know, provide more funds. Well, that's, that's tricky for me. Yeah, I actually had a really high score for this proposal until hearing what I just heard. So it's, it feels like it's, it's hard to, based on what you're saying, what you're relaying, Julianne, it feels like I think, I think in principle, all applicants would not like partial funding. They would ideally like to get fully funded, right? Of course, of course. Yeah. How much do we fund them? Last year, we funded them $850 dollars. You know what? I mean, let me look at this email and make sure that I'm not, there's been a lot of correspondence. Let me make sure I've got the right one. Maybe we should come back to this one after I put my hands on the exact one. Sure. I'm happy to come back to it. Maybe we can do one more. But I mean, you know, barring anything, disqualifying it, you know, the, the overall merit seems good. Okay. So then we have a youth performance center. I'm sorry, youth performance festival. What was this one? I'm sorry. Oh, this looks great. So this youth performance festival has got a very impressive group of people attached to it. I know, I actually know a bunch of those folks. In passing. And the festival itself takes place now in theory at Northampton Center for the Arts and make it Springfield over seven weekends at two different locations. Young artists work in cohorts to make art to live performances for the greater community on February 10th and 11th. Yeah. It's a fantastic event and a reasonable ask. I'm going to try to nudge it above that 50% and nudge it up to 800 or something. Yeah, we can do it. That would be great. I personally would never mind. Go ahead, Rachel. I was going to say, leave it where it is, unless we think we can give them more. But that's, what do we have? You know, our next, basically, this is what we'll do for our next meeting. We will, you know, the entire hour and a half, we're going to spend kind of going through this and trying to get, you know, get our bottom line to balance. And if we're successful, then we can have a vote then. And if we're not, we'll have to schedule another meeting. Yeah, yeah. I was just going to say with that one, I would personally leave it at 500. But I'd like to see it go up to 750, given the total number of folks. What is helpful for me to send? Should I send this in a spreadsheet form for people to play with on their own? I'm a little nervous about doing that. I think it's better that we keep going as we're, we have been unless. Yeah, I think so too, because you can wind up every goes different directions then and then it's hard to come back together. Okay, well, I will just, what I'll do is I'll do what I did again though. I'll send out a PDF. Just so folks can see what the slate is looking like. And if you have something. I still feel like I'm not real. I guess you already sent it out. I, that was my hesitation. And we did it all year last year too. It worked, it worked great. Because it's really, all it is, is just a, it just, it's an artifact of today's meeting, you know. Okay. We've made great progress and. Thank you so much for your hard work co-chairs. Yeah, thank you. Thanks to all of you too. Thank you all. I'm rolling with it. All right. Well, go enjoy your evenings and we'll see you on Tuesday. Okay. Good night everybody. Good night. Good night there. Ending the recording. Thanks. Bye.