 Thanks, Angela. Hey, Rachel. Hello. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. And we have Cody. Hi, Cody. I have not really seen the emails that were happening today. Hello, Cody. How are you? I'm good. Great. Busy night tonight. I know Angela was at the sip and stroll, or at least I'm assuming she was, because she kept mentioning tonight wasn't a good night to meet because of that. Cody, are you still headed to the hockey game at eight? I have no way to get there. Plus, I'm broke, so I can't afford to get in. So I wish... Would it help if we could give you a ride? Yeah. Okay. I should put you in touch with Toby. Hey, Matt. Hello. We are at a quorum. Angela did not have a good connection. So she passed the hosting for me. I will make you co-host Matt. And then we just moved to do the script. And we'll roll call because we are at quorum. Do you have the script open or do you want me to mangle it for everybody? Yeah, I can get it. Okay. So this is just, this is just what we read to say that pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means only. Let's see members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so on Zoom, obviously. No, no in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure the public can adequately access the meeting. And the recording will be posted promptly to the towns with. YouTube channel. Surely after the meeting. You see the public comment at this time. That we have no members of the public today. Matt, you seem to be breaking up quite a bit. Or is it my connection folks? I don't know. I heard it too. Okay. We'll just have to meet this year. Yeah. I mean, is it because of what they're doing on our street? I asked him about that. It's not going to affect, it shouldn't affect the internet. It's, um, famous last words only according to them as an ever source pipe. I do have. That's me. Sorry. I just lost my phone. I have two little five 30 is just a really rough time for our family. So I've got the two little ones in the background. But, um, But that, so that only gets us breaking up. Should we do a roll call? Um, okay. Christy. Here. Rachel. Here. Cody. Eleanor. Here. And silty. Here. And I'm here and Matt, are you here? Excellent. Uh-huh. Yeah. So, um, as I said in the email, hopefully, well, we'll just see how things go, but, but we, this is our last scheduled meeting. And so this was the meeting, um, for silly's benefit as an, our only new member who hasn't been through the process yet, where we in theory would vote on the final slate of, um, grants. And, you know, however we want to give everything it's due diligence. So if we have to schedule another meeting, we could. Um, but I think, you know, many of us would prefer to sort of just run this one as long as we need to and try to make a vote if we can. But, you know, we're going to, we're going to do our due diligence regardless of the timing and we'll reschedule if we have to. And then like I mentioned in my email. Second Tuesday in January, that's sort of our tentative schedule is to meet every second Tuesday. So that, um, that's an important part of the process because anybody who's declined. Uh, has 14 days to request that we reconsider their grant. There's a whole process to that. It has to go through MCC first. Um, but that's, that's why that second Tuesday is an important date for us. If, if we, if the timing all works out. In other words, if we get the denial letters out two weeks ahead of January 9th, then we can do that. If not, we'll have to readjust. Yeah. I think we're in, we're going to be in pretty good shape, at least to do the denial, denial letters. And, um, That, that, that is the hard part. Shall we start where we left off? Cause I have good news on that front. I was confused and I was wrong. The, um, we were talking about, uh, sequence grant number 68 music on main concerts at first church. Um, the grantee who, um, the, the confusion was that it was at the same location, the first congregational church. Uh, but this is a different, um, person applying and the person who, um, wasn't even aware that they'd gotten the grant and everything else is not part of this. They have not applied again. So, um, this one I would, I would support fully funding if possible. This is, um, sorry. I just went to full screen mode here. Um, this is. Unsilenced hearing Afghanistan today, activist music of composer and pianist, uh, arson, for him, um, conversation and chamber music concert. Um, this is that one that you read us the whole email exchange that, that was the wrong person. That was the wrong person. Yeah. It, there's, there's overlap with, um, the location and, um, but yeah, it's, it's not that person. What number are we? 68. Yeah. So music on main concerts at first church. And they are asking for $750. Out of 2,900. I mean, this is right in Amherst. It's an original work. Um, it's culturally relevant, you know, across the globe. So, uh, it is, it is classical music, which we tend to have a lot of. So that might only be the only, uh, I don't know, does anyone else, um, either want to support fully funding it or want to suggest a different amount or I see no reason to deny it. Sure. So everyone supports fully funding this if possible. So somebody just say real quick. I, I see the Afghani connection. Um, but this one is, I mean, we're not going to have a lot of fully funded grants this year. So is this a, is this a hard line must fully fund or is this a, we want to play from my perspective at this point, I think it's, it's hard with as much classical music as we have necessarily to say that we're going to fully fund any of those. Unless they're a particularly small ask. Um, but, you know, High partial would be my vote. I mean, I don't think it has to be fully funded, but it's a good project. Everyone else. Roughly in the same. Okay. That. Five. Thank you. Then let's, let's keep moving. Um, that did you have a number listed for this one? I guess you do have a number listed for this one. Okay. I just want to make sure that we were within the ballpark or where you were. Can I, can I just ask for a second? I'm sharing the screen. I feel like for me anyway, this helps, but. Is it too small? Is it annoying to anybody? I'm going to try to. No. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, but bear in mind, those numbers only reflect an attempt to balance things that don't reflect any kind of judgment. So. Okay. I just want to make sure that we were within the ballpark or where you were. Can I, can I just ask for a second? I'm sharing the screen. I feel like for me anyway, this, this helps, but I just want to make sure that we were within the ballpark or where we were within the ballpark or where we were within the ballpark. No, okay. Is it okay? I think it's good. It's good to have. I'll be like looking back at the. What I have on my screen because I have more information for myself there, but yeah, I think it. Can you, can you scroll over? Let me see. You see how you have, um, no. Everybody just needs to keep in mind that when Matt is online 69, it's actually 68 in the sequence. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In the Excel chart. So I think how you had it framed up was better for everyone before. To see more information. Okay. Great. Do you want to tee up the next one, Matt? What do you want me to do it? I'm having trouble. I'm muting myself. Um, Yeah. I can do it if you need to mute. That's fine. Yeah. Okay. This is, um, this is a strong grant. I think, um, It's a large ambitious project. It's got a background behind it. So I had it slated as a high partial for 800. Out of a thousand. I fully agree. Do we need discussion? Okay. Um, No, we can tour the, um, Another. You know, um, perennial, maybe not perennial, but it's still a very regular member and a great choir. See the mental health topic here now. I guess it looks like maybe the venue wasn't completely confirmed, but we felt confident in it for some reason. So. I think they came back with more information. I think they did. And, uh, I would support fully funding it. If we can again. Okay. So thank not. We, we looked at, um, 71, 72 and 73 already as, as ones that were, um, Probably not meeting eligibility criteria. So that brings us down to 74. And this is the plant guy, Jones. We did get a fully confirmed date and location for another contort. Great. So anybody got big feelings about the plant guy. I think we need to add because this is one that we, um, Had wondered as far as, um, date and location, they did come back, not only, um, confirming the date, but with a letter of support from the Jones, um, Saying that they thought this was an important program to be able to present. So, uh, my first thought was, oh. Is this what we do? And, but apparently the Jones thinks it may be. It feels pretty in line to me with like other things we funded in terms of, you know, science educational programming. Um, yeah, I'm, I, if they, if, especially if they emailed back to the date and letter of support, I feel pretty good about it. Yeah. Here's our There're people who, in science and thus help our or find that it's a new trend it's a new moment to educate people and that I was something different from what we fund, so I was strongly supported. Should we, should we lean towards a high partial, though? Or at least, at least half, right? It feels fun to me, if that, like, I don't know if everyone else feels that way, but... Yeah, I have to, I don't think I have partial. I'm kind of on the fence on this one, to be honest with you, just because it's like, there really is quite a ways outside of our typical cultural event item, so I don't know, I guess I'm not as positive about this one as others are. I have a question about it as well, because I don't know if the minimum age requirement, for example, does that kind of take away some more from the accessibility of the event? Obviously, it's there for reason, but yeah, I definitely not a high partial from me either, I don't think. Yeah, that's an interesting point. It does say that the presentation for people that are 21 and older, and yet I don't know that you can keep people out that are not 21 at the Jones Library. So that's, and yet the library's hosting it, and yet, you know, I guess it's not responsible to be presenting that material to people who are not of age to receive it. Not only the education material in the discussion even, they're passing it out. Me, I feel so cute to us that falls on the Jones, and the accessibility was enough. I see the point, but I will also recognize that people under 21 can legally attend or retain the projects talked about, I mean, when it's at two-fifth year, I was about to say that. So is there any one, thank you Cody, that's all good points, is there anyone that feels strongly about not funding this at all? So I also will say, I'm looking more closely, it says it's 500 bucks for a two-hour entertaining presentation, no other sources of funding. You know, if we don't get fully funded, we could ask the library if they are their friends or another community group may be able to fund the balance. I don't know, that also, it does actually feel like somebody who maybe is kind of blanketing it out to every cultural council in the state and trying to just sort of see where they can drum up their events. Let's see if they applied anywhere else. That's a self-report, so you don't always get, that's not the full truth, you know, but nowhere else for this specific project. I'm saying that they apply to each town for a project in their town. They did not list having applied to any others. For this specific project though. Exactly. So again, is there anyone who feels strongly about not funding it at all? I don't think we should fund it personally. Okay. Cody thinks that we definitely should fund it and I have some concerns, you know, certainly. We could either take a vote now or come back to it towards the end of the night. I think we should take a vote now on this one. Okay. So I'll move or Cody, you can move to fully fund it. I mean, I guess that's, we want people to, what are we voting on? We're gonna, I think what we need to vote on is whether we should deny it. Okay. Okay. So is it any discussion before we do that though? I hate to put you on the spot. I mean, see now, I'm having a word if they can't fund it fully, they're assuming or we could act around but it's like, well, you should have had a bad complaint and I know we had this conversation last time about I think it was an event in Horiok when it was a huge amount and they sounded, well, if we can't fund this, then that is in question. So, you know, to me, at first I said yes, but now, should we even fund this at all? So quickly on that and I appreciate, you know, that you're seeing a little differently because of the way that we would deny a grant. We've been through this several times that it really, we're not in a position to deny a grant just solely on the funding and that if we don't come through that we fully, to fully fund it, if they meet enough criteria otherwise, we would still need to consider fully funding or make the case that there's not enough public benefit as part of the whole here. So, I have to disagree a little bit with that. I don't want to, but we don't have to make the case. I mean, you know, really all the statement is very useful and because of how it's structured, it says your project did not provide enough public benefit to our community compared to other proposals we received and that is, that's 90% of the denial letters that we send out. So we really don't have to do any of the case making stuff. It's actually the technical items that open us up to reconsideration requests because those are the things that MCC has to approve. So for me, I think my rationale is that statement that this particular, I mean, because like Cody said, this would basically become like the cultural council has decided to bring these people in to do a grow your own presentation. It's not like we're chipping in on a local thing that's, you know, this is not like what's the fest that there's a big festival in Northampton, you know, like, yeah, I could see, I could see chipping in on that festival because that's a part of like local culture. This is us bringing somebody in to do it and us being the sole funders of it. So, yeah, I don't, I don't see it like comparable benefit. I misspoke as far as I didn't mean make the case to the grantee, but that the, you know, we need to consider in the criteria, you know, the grant as a whole for public benefit, that's all, not just that one aspect of it. So I do have concerns about, you know, it looking like, hey, you know, this, this, this grow your own presentation is, is brought to you by the Amherst cultural council. And I feel pretty strongly at this point, even with the library support about putting this one aside for other things of more benefit. Any more discussion before we take a vote on whether to deny or not? Okay. I think Cody's okay with that too. So we probably are. Okay. So I'm going to say I vote to deny Christy. Yeah, Rachel. Agreed. Eleanor. Yeah, I'm okay to deny it. Sylvie. Green. Cody. Yeah, I'm changing my stance on it. So yes. Thank you. And something, by the way, you know, Sylvie, when we had the session a little while back, I was, this is the kind of thing I was alluding to that, you know, we, we think we know what these things are going to be. And then them, you know, we get, get into it. It is an interesting conversation, I find. So thank you, everyone. Okay. Moving to the next number 75. And this is a regular applicant here for the Porter Phelps Huntington Museum and Foundation. This is for their June and July Wednesday folk traditions. They are presenting the 43rd season of the folk traditions concerts. They have seven folk music presentations and the performers are selected from the region's rich mix of world and folk music ensembles. And the concerts are designed to highlight the region's heritage and to introduce cultures of very ethnic groups to residents of the greater Pioneer Valley. And it is performed in the sunken garden, which was chosen because of its ADA accessibility. And they help provide to attract families and by providing reduced admission for young folks. They are asking us for $2,000 out of $38,900. And again, this is for seven performances. It's something that we've actively funded for years. And yet, I do think that $2,000 is, is quite a substantial amount to grant, even though it is here in an area. Sir, anyone who supports fully funding it? I do, actually. Yeah. I mean, I just think so many people go to this. I mean, if we can, if not, if not full, I would say very high. You know, it's a well-organized thing that hundreds of thousands of people go to every summer. So anyways, I think it's a great, you know, and it's, it's a lot of music that we're funding. It is double the amount that we granted last year. Is it? Okay. I mean, then, yeah. So how much did they, do they always ask for two? I mean, what are they? We did, but we did fund them at 1500 in 2022. And I think that that was just an interesting year, frankly, where because of the pandemic, we really made every effort to try to fully fund things that were right here in Amherst. But yeah, I think everyone agrees it's a great event, but I don't know that we can really go to the 2000. Does everyone agree with a fairly high partial? Are you raising your hand? Yeah, I mean, I was here 2000. In my opinion, with the amount of grants we all funded, that's not impossible, but I agree. So I would support $802,000. If we can do it, I'd like to see it at 1000, which puts it in line with where they were last year. They do have a sizable budget. They're offering reduced admission, but that does mean that there is admission costs. So there are multiple sources of funding that are happening clearly. But it is important, as Christy said, to the area. So has everyone agreed with being around 1000 there? Yeah, maximum, I think, yeah, to match last year. Yeah. Okay, excellent. And now the next one, number 76, real-life theater is presenting when the mines free. And that will be July 18th to August 4th at the Shea Theater, senior living and community centers around the area. So I think the official event is at the Shea Theater. This is for $37,000 and $37,040. And they are asking our Cultural Council for 2000 of that. They will be lifting language and story from Shakespeare's King Lear, place them into a contemporary context of a lesbian family dealing with early onset Alzheimer's and addiction. And the epic arc of King Lear is condensed into one day in the entire life of this family. And they have scenes with caregiving, some of which boss them into an imaginative play and others which devolve into frustration and tears. And they're interspersed with dances, taking the audience outside of that repetitive reality and into the inner lives of the characters. So to sum it up, it's an original work all around some challenging topics. And they'll be engaging with organizations that are working with folks with dementia and dealing with memory loss along with their caregivers. So it sounds like a really moving and immersive experience. I just want to chime in real quick. Shea Theater is way up in Turner's Falls, but it's not that far. It is truly a local legend. It's an amazing spot. I've never been disappointed by anything I've seen there. Yeah. That being said, it's way up in Turner's. So that's why I like that 400 number personally. I'm okay to keep it there. I really like this one and I would almost ask if we get any closer to half. Just because I don't know. I think it's really amazing and I really liked that they're doing anyone impacted by caregiving, memory loss or addiction. It's free for them. And I just think it's a very... It's because they do a lot of Shakespeare there, right? And I just think this is a really cool modern twist on it. I'm fine with 400. I just, if there's like any room, I think it would be great. I agree. I'd really support it more real quick, Cody. I do want to note that they've applied to Greenfield, Hadley, Holyoke, Montague, Northampton, South Hadley, Springfield, and Sunderland. So I do think we can do a partial, you know, certainly, but yeah. Okay, Cody. I mean, I would support maybe 600, but as soon as they will get support from others to meet their needs. It's everyone else okay with around 600? I think, yeah, knowing how many councils they've applied to, I think that they'll be additional funding. I'll also say once we get through the long list, you know, Eleanor, if you want to like tuck away one or two in mind that you want to advocate for up. And I love this one too. And it's a big budget. So, you know, maybe on a second pass, we can find some ways to boost it a little bit more. I do want to note that they've included in the budget $3,500 for sign language interpretation and caregiver reimbursement to the audience members, as Eleanor was saying, right? So I agree. I'd like to give it more if we can come back to it. Okay. Thank you all. The next one moving on 78 Restless Books is the Amherst immigrant writing workshop translating Emily Dickinson's poetry with children. They're asking for $3,000 of their $3,000 budget at the Jones Library. We did receive a letter of support for this. In the interest of time, I'm not going to read through the whole thing. It was an absolutely phenomenal and amazing project. And it is a large ask, but it is, you know, certainly really important work that they're doing. Zima has it down to $1,500. I think that's right. Is there anyone who supports fully funding it or has any discussion for this or disagrees with $1,500 roughly? In the ideal world, I would love to fully fund this myself. And if possible, can we give them $2,000? I don't know. Yeah, $2,000 is what I had written down. It is a colossal project. I would support a $2,000 grant. Is there anyone that's uncomfortable with that? Let's just hope we can do it once we get through all the numbers. Yeah, the number makes me nervous. And I also just looking closely at the budget, I mean, I guess, yeah, I get most $1,500 of the money of it goes directly to the people who are doing the teaching and the translating. And that's kind of why I like that $1,500 number. $700 of marketing, $300 for book, which I don't discount books, but I guess for me, I like that number just $350 for administrative expenses. Again, none of that. I don't dispute any of that. I just think in a tight year, making sure that we pay for at least fund the contractors, I guess is my thought. But why don't we run with $1,000 and see if we can make it work? I think we need to do the latter, which is I think we'd all like to fully fund this, but I think you're exactly right about that that's a huge investment that we could make towards the total project. And if there's somehow some way as more money, we could circle back and put more to this. But are you keeping a list of those, Matt? I guess I'm thinking that individuals should really earmark the ones that they want to advocate for as we go through. All right. Excellent. Okay, so moving to number 79, John Root welcoming pollinators. And we do have this confirmed by the library with a letter. And he's asking for $350 out of his $350 budget. He's been a regular grantee over the years. So this one, you know, I certainly support funding it. What number? Yeah, I think I misread that it out of a $550 budget. I do think we may need to go down a little bit on this one. Maybe down to around, you know, $250, $175 to $250. Does anyone have any strong feelings about this one? I wouldn't mind taking money I would have given to the previous project to this one. To which one? Because I was just batting for the previous project, the Restless Books one. But, you know, if I had to choose, I would probably want to give some of that to this project instead. If that makes sense. To up it to what you said, you know. Over $200 if possible. Yeah, it is nice to show some support to the Jones Library for this kind of programming for science and botany. Well, pollinators too. Shall we try to keep it in the $250? Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, John's a very well-known commodity around here. And I don't know what kind of turnout he actually gets for these presentations that he does. He does a lot of them though. And it's obviously it's, you know, very, very appropriate to the area and just incredibly important work. So why don't we put it at $250 and see if we can do it? Yeah, that's good. Okay, so the next is number 82. Because we skipped the other ones. We've already rejected those, right? Are we all cracking? So this is Smith's vocational high school, the Viking runestone project. And they're asking us for $550 out of their $550 budget. Sorry, Julian. Silverthorn turned in their final grant report. Good, good, good. All right. Can we finish up on the runestones and then go back to them? Yeah, okay. So we do have two letters of support for this. And Amherst students do attend Smith's vocational high school. So it does serve our community. It's a neat project. But I don't think that we have to fully fund the whole budget. So the number here makes sense to me for the $275. Is everyone in agreement with that? I am. I certainly want to give them something just to indicate support. And if we need to scrape for another $100, I think we could reduce this a little bit further even because it is, you know, I mean, it's school funded. So this is, I mean, it's a great, you know, extracurricular activity. But there are so many different towns that are sending kids to this school that I don't think we have a burden. We just want to indicate support kind of. That's my feeling. Okay, Matt, do you want to take Silverthorn? I was so glad when we got the email with their final report information. I do. It's been a minute since I read it carefully. All I would just speak to the quality of production that Silverthorn puts on. And, you know, they typically do it up in Greenfield. This is the first time I've seen them attached to an Amherst area institution. But I just think, you know, the theater arts and like community theater, local theater, that's such a huge when I think old cultural councils can do. So anything we can do to sort of, you know, build them as an Amherst partner, I think would be worth doing. And so that's really my whole thought that doesn't really speak to the lineup for the year or anything. Yeah, it's really, you know, quite a large event. Sorry, words. I don't have my words today. So, well, it is a big ask. It is here. So at the 2000 that you have there, you know, I'd love to see us be able to do that. Anybody feel like we should be closer to 150? I mean, 1500 other? Okay, well, let's stick with it. And then, you know, I'm totally open to reducing that. I just that was kind of a, again, it's all ballpark just very quick. Yeah. And just just for reference, we did fund them at 705 last year, which I don't really think is pertinent to this because again, that wasn't right here, you know, and as you said, I think we do want to show some strong support for bringing this the event right here to us if we can. And we're doing great in terms of discipline. I mean, we're, you know, 300 bucks over, so we're in good shape in terms of keeping an eye on the bottom line. Excellent. Okay, so the next one, let's see, if I look at your chart, we're skipping a few, correct. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, this one recused myself from this. I mean, I am the target audience. Yeah, I think so. This, this is just, just phenomenal as far as kids and being able to go in and like actually get near these big intimidating instruments and that the musicians are going to come and relate to the kids. And so is it at the Jones Library? Is that where this is happening? I'm just now trying to track that myself. Yeah. So I don't know about, you know, the $1,000 that's a bit much in a tight year, but I do think we should give it a very high partial. Does anyone have a number that they like for a high partial? You have it at half their amount. I kind of think we can potentially do. 750. Yeah, I think that's, that's right. Go with that. Yeah. Oh, going up to 750. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Then the next one is number 87, Paul Sticca at the Acoustica Live Music Concert. This is at the Amherst Strong House. And I, in the end, I'm not sure if we got a date in the letter here. I need to check. I'm checking. Okay. Okay. I mean, I feel like we must have, we were pretty, we were pretty good about zeroing out those that we didn't, but. Well, there were a few that I forgot a couple of times. It's been a problem with me, I gotta say. Nobody can be 100% perfect all the time. I'm nowhere near. I'm looking on. I'm so sorry to cut in, but I have to head out, actually. Understood. Thank you so much, Sylvie. Okay. Yeah, have a good night everyone. Bye. Yeah, we did not receive anything. So there is no, no firm date or location on this one. Well, the location is there. Nobody knows. Let me start over. No letter of support and no firm date. The other thing that I brought up with some other grantees last week was, you know, the Strong House, it is right here in town. But this is yet, you know, another event at the Strong House. And Paul has presented, you know, year in year out. So I don't think it's a matter of denying, but I do think for all of the music we have, we may have to adjust down. Well, I mean, coming back to the denial letter, you know, when we sent out that email that said, you will probably be denied if you don't give us a date. You know, that language is the language that we can cut and paste right back out to people. And Paul has been around enough. He reads this stuff carefully. He tends to be a good communicator, so. Yeah, I guess seeing this or alt venue, if necessary, is not really inspiring confidence there. Yeah, I don't doubt that he'll do it, but it just says summer of 24 at a venue TBD and that's yeah, it's not not sufficient. Yeah. So should we move on to the survival center tunes at noon? This is all right. What do we have this one to that right now? Um, I personally think we should fully fund it if we can and it's in line. These are really kind of long format events that go week in week out and provide something to this community that's this truly exceptional. So just looking back, we did 1200 and 2023. And I look to find it in 2022. I don't know. So my feeling is this that that I agree. I mean, it's one of the, you know, greatest things that we fund. You know, if we give them 1000 instead of 1200, it's still going to happen. You know, that won't be existentially that won't stop it. So I don't know. Yeah, I'm not I'm not I don't have a problem with 1000 instead of 1200. Let's try it for now. That can be certainly one to come back to and sweeten it back up. We're still hopeful. We're not identifying many to come back to and turn down. I noticed, but that's I mentioned one. I mentioned silver thorn. We could turn that one down. I'm sorry, silver thorn. What? We could reduce that amount a little bit. Not deny. Just reduce. Okay. All right. All right. So is what number 89 Josh Swift accessible improvisation at the barn? Anybody want to advocate for this one? I do want to advocate for it, but I don't think we can, you know, fully, fully fund it. I'd like to see it funded at around 600 and 650. Six weeks of creative dance class cost participation is $0 to $80 sliding scale. That's a pretty nice structure. It's in Belcher town. I remember last year, we kind of liked the barn as a emerging space for art. Wait, could we do like 550 for it? Would that be within reason or does it, why is it at 488 right now? I'm just curious. Like that specific. No, there's no reason. I was probably trying to get a round number. Got it. I mean, I'd like to fund, you know, a little more than we did last year. That's how I think I ended up at the 650 because it's such a unique offering and it is something for people to actively participate in as well. So last year we were at 600. So I would hope we wouldn't have to decrease since we want to encourage this. And it is dance. We don't have a whole lot of dance and it's dance for this particular community. Yeah, that's true for 650. That's compelling. Okay. Excellent. The next is downtown Amherst Foundation and we're going to talk about 90 and 91 at the same time because we have two grants requested from the downtown Amherst Foundation and we can do only one, unfortunately. So the first one is the second year, a very successful program that we they kicked off last year at the Drake with the Amherst High School Jazz Department and Performing Arts Department having, you know, a jazz cabaret for several sessions. And then the other one is the summer concert series on the Common that would occur in July and August. They're asking for 2500 for each one of them. And I would recommend that we fully fund one or the other of them. And for myself going kind of around and through this, I mean, I think the high school event is so special and so unique to our area and it has the community actually using the Drake in a very community-purpose way. And yet the summer concert series is pretty much what people are asking for in the survey. So it's a it's a very tough decision to make. And, you know, I think if I had to decide what the public would feel was the most public benefit, if they know which way to go, but I'm interested here. Difficult choice how other folks would want to choose. We did fund this very thing last year and it was a huge success. We funded both last year, but they came in differently as far as the applicants and the primary contact. All right. So, yeah, it's fine. But as in this year, we have the data to support our choice to fund the summer concert series. So I would just go that route. Yeah, it's sucks, but we need to not fulfill the wants of the community. That's where I ended up. Yeah, I'm with the two of you, I think. Who, I'm muted, sorry. Who was the lead grantee on the concert series last year? I'm just, I'm looking at the last one. I was just trying to pull that also the downhill. It wasn't the business improvement district, was it? No. Probably, Amherst. No, it wasn't. I'm looking at the spreadsheet. I see you in there. I'm not actually sure that we did fund that because there was some other MCC money that went into that. And no, we didn't. So, but I will say this, if anybody's worried about sort of the appearances of it, we can certainly talk to Gabrielle who is attached to both of these. And in fact, I already did. I told her we can't approve both. So it's really just a flip of a coin. And both of these are going into the DAF funds. Both of these things are going to happen. They're going to find a way to make them happen. So I don't think we have to torture our conscience about it. Which that being said, which one did you all just arrive to? Well, that the community is asking for the summer concert series. And I'm glad we've confirmed that we didn't fund it last year. Because then I think everybody being completely clear with each other as far as that it is going to happen, that maybe it is meaningful to continue to support bringing the community together with the high school musicians. I mean, this is really a special thing. Yeah, let's fund that. And then, you know, I happen to know also Cultural District, you know, got its award this year, and that continues to go up. So the Cultural District got 15,000 this year. So, you know, and the Downtown Foundation, they administer that as well. So there's there's MCC funding available for them to do the series. Oh, it's so great. Excellent. All right, so I'm going to put back on the ARA high school. All right. So then we already discussed the next two, 92 and 93 last week. And that again, we had two applications and we could not fund both, unfortunately. So are we all still in agreement to work to fully fund the event that would that's for 700 so that we can give them the most support possible? Yep. Excellent. Okay. And now we are on to number 94 at the Wizard Magic for Seniors. I believe we did get confirmation of date location on this. Hello. Sorry. Yes, we did. We did. Yep. Yep, we did. So yeah, I guess we had the same event this this last year. And it sounds super fun. It is at the Bang Center, but it is a pretty reasonable ask. So I'd like to see us if not fully fund it, you know, definitely around 300, 350. Matt, did you stop sharing your screen? Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you were watching what I was doing. I'm like, hey, she read my mind. Yeah. Sorry about that. I was, here you go. I support fully funding that. Yeah, I think, you know, we're going to give it money. We should, we should, you know, do it. Okay. All right. And let's keep going. And then we have Roger Ticknell, children's songs, singing games, family concert. And, you know, this, this is another one that we support and that we've heard from in the past, from our local high school students of just how very, very, very, very, very special events were for them. So this is one that, you know, I think we'd like to fully fund it is just one event, I believe, this time. Any discussion on this one? Is this, this is at the Head Start Center near the Wildwood School? So, I mean, I love Roger and I love the event very much. And I would like to fully fund it. I think it would probably still happen at 400, not to be a cheap skate, but, you know. We have funded him at 500 the last two years. Okay. All right. I take it back. You take what back? What I said. Well, I say fully funded. I mean, it's, you know, if you've ever seen children react to Roger Ticknell. Do you need to recuse yourself again, Matt? I almost did. That's why it was so good to have the high school students. So they can, wow. All right. Okay. Let's, let's try to do that. So moving high school students are still thinking about it. You mean? No, no, that they shared with us how special it was. So the next one we have is Valley Art Salon. This is for their presentation in Hillside. It's a Pechacucha style presentation from artists and they are asking us for 400 out of their $1,050 budget. And I think it was in Europe or traveling. I didn't get to go to the one that was actually here last year. Did anybody get to attend? No. I think it's a cool event, but where is Hillside? And this is their format. They do move it around the area. So Is this different than, that's a UMass spot, isn't it? That's a UMass spot. I'm pretty sure Hillside. Oh, is it? Yeah, I think so. But wait, this is um, this is Valley Arts Mentors. This is the Art Salon Valley Art Salon. Oh, I'm sorry. I was down. I was too far down. Yeah, okay. It's like, it's easy to do that. Um, oh, UMass will host this salon at Hillside. Yeah. I need to get out more because I wouldn't know how to find Hillside in my own town. Does anyone know where that is? It's a building? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. In, in light of that, then I would be open to fully funding it. Um, at the, at the, what, the 400 that they're asking for. It looks like it's a location. All I'm seeing is Hillside house at UMass. That's where it is. Oh, yeah. So that's, yeah. That's all I can find on Google. That's it. That's the one. Yeah. I mean, sounds like a neat idea. 400 is reasonable and, and certainly cultivates culture in the Valley. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. Okay. Um, the next one is the Valley Arts Mentoring with the mentorship program and webinar series. We started discussing this one a little bit last week, didn't we? This is one that we, we held up as a possible, does not mean criteria. I think we decided it wasn't going to quite fly there, but there's still a good discussion to be had about the sort of, you know, merits, comparable merits in the community. But, but I mean, and I would be, I like it. I think it really does have a lot of value to artists. Um, I think we'd be one of many funding streams. So for me, it's, I would like to have our name attached to it, even if it's not at, you know, so a $390, I think is a pretty reasonable, but we could even go lower if we wanted to. But I, I think that's, you know, probably about the, the right amount somewhere in there. Well, this one, I would be okay with trimming downwards in order to balance the numbers, like maybe closer to 300, which would be, yeah, almost half, right? Well, let me try that. We can come back to it if we need to, but unless anybody has any thoughts or any strong feelings about it. Put it at exactly half, I guess, which is 325, maybe. Okay. Now we are at the Valley Light Opera. Oh man, this is great. This is one, I have slated that, you know, we'd like to fully fund this. This is ambitious. This is the real deal. That being said, you know, it's a very major production at the Academy of Music, you know, which obviously Amherst residents can take advantage of, but, you know, it's very much a Northampton venue. And a lot of the people who participate, though, are very much, you know, Amherst local residents and active in the community, providing other arts benefit to various programs in the schools and everything else. So you can't, you can't knock an Amherst organization for not performing in Amherst. There are so few places to perform. No, absolutely. I need you to look at the description again. Yeah, and then if you get into, you know, if they have an orchestra actually playing, the places that can host that, and then, you know, if you happen to know what the cost is to run Falker, you know, or even the high school auditoriums, you know, as far as there's some pretty significant costs that are there. So they do have to perform in a place that's appropriate to perform an opera. So this one has already happened, correct? Because it's November 2023. Let me take a look here. That seems to be the case, Rachel. I actually don't know this opera either, so. I don't know that one either. But were they publicizing it? It does, in fact, appear to have happened. Looks like it was a great show. Guys, we've got to get out more. And of course, there's no reason that we can't. Yeah, there's no reason we cannot. By the way, everybody, I will say that since you made that comment. I am making a commitment here in public being recorded. I'm going to take the, I'm going to create a Google Calendar. Once we get our final slate approved and out, I am going to do it this year. I said I would do it last year and I didn't. This year I'm going to do it and then we can all, you know, you can subscribe to the calendar and you can track those things and we'll communicate to our grantees about like, hey, you know, if you have something else you want us to put on there, just let us know. I'm going to do it. We have to do it. It's just like, it's such small work and it makes such a big difference, you know? Yeah, that would be great. And I did look back. We funded them for 500 in 2022 and they did not, because they did not apply for a grant in 2023, it looks like, as far as I can see. Well, given that it's already happened, I certainly would am happy to help give them some money to reimburse, recoup their costs, but I am less inclined to give them a full funding because how do we get attribution for, you know, for sponsoring it, for example, you know? Oh gosh, then we'd have to change all our rules because we do go to July 1 on everything. So it's a good point though. But we don't have, especially in the rec granting, we have not done a lot of retroactives. Yeah, we've done some though, would a high partial around 800 be appropriate here? I don't think so. Really? Yeah, I think it's like Matt said, in recognition of what they've already done, it's almost like a token gesture at this point. That's how I feel. Because they've already pulled it off, right? So it's, but in good faith, we're offering this grant as a, I don't know, that's how I see it. I mean, I think this is the only opera organization that we have in the area I'd like to do a little better than a token from out. Let's see if we can make 750, Rachel. I mean, I can go lower personally because I do lean, I don't know, what do others think? I think we're pretty subjective at this point. Do you still have the picture on your screen that you just had? Well, why would we not fund it? I mean, I don't just because it happened. I disagree with that thinking myself too. We're talking about how much to fund it, Christy. Matt, can you put the picture that you're just showing us of the event? Because I... Oh, are you seeing everything that I thought I was only showing? No, no, you pulled it up a moment ago though, I thought. It's all the way... I was trying to only show my one window there. Let's see this. And then there was something with everyone in the costumes or something? This is what a call out, just... It's a drop in the bucket as far as the amount that goes into that costuming. They're buying, renting, cleaning, storing just the costuming alone. I don't think anyone's saying not to fund it, so... I think it needs to be... I would be uncomfortable with less than 750. Yeah, I agree too. I mean, because they're an ongoing concern, so what we give now goes into the next one and... Yeah. You know, it's not like it's a... This is a one-off thing and... Yeah, you've got 20 to 30 for the cast. You've got 10 people doing production. You've got 20 people in the orchestra, in front of the house people. It's huge. It's huge. Matt, just... You know, we're not on the sheet anymore. We're on a different... What are you on now? We're on your drive. What is it? Your drive. Your Google drive. Your drive. In the 2021-2023 fiction that you didn't apply for a grant for. Isn't there some way... Is there not some way to control... Like you only share a certain window on your Google drive? There is. Yes, you go into share screen. When you go into share... So get out and then when you go into share screen, you do... I think it's advanced sharing and then it'll give you a whole bunch of options. Like you can share just a particular program or you can share a part of your screen. But then you just have to adjust the frame so that you just see the part. Yeah, it's not on the Zoom side. It's on the... Oh, no, it's... I see what you mean, Kristi. I see. Okay. I was just going to tell you in the middle of an anxiety nightmare. Ah, that didn't work either. All right. Anyway, why don't I just stop multitasking and I will just share the damn darn screen. How's that? So, okay. Okay, so we're... For the last one. Sorry, everybody. I apologize. Okay. And... So I put 750. So now we're looking at Yiddish Book Center. Oh, this was neat. Yeah. Ideally, we'd fully fund this. But I think I took something from everyone. So yeah, it's at 891 and I think... Yeah, that's about right. I'm sorry. I actually don't remember the actual project. What was the... So this is a public staged reading at the Yiddish Book Center of the New English Translation Adoption of the 1907 Yiddish play. I don't want to say it wrong and it's Hanukkah. But it has actors. It has musicians. It's an immersive theater piece. So... And it's here. And then they're going to use their residence time to workshop the script and then incorporate music and movement, work out timing issues. And it's a cast and crew that's from young folks from Western mass as well as professional performers from around the country that they're bringing in. All right. Well, let's just pause and shoot for a thousand here for them. That's great. But let's pause because we're now at the bottom and we're about $1,700 over. And we have... I mean, mind you, we have not done the first 40 in this fashion. I just... We just picked up sort of midstream. So I would suggest that we just go up to the top and sort of work our way back down. We've already discussed them all. None of these are going to get zeroed out or... But let's just take a look at some of these because these were not done with any real discernment. They're just kind of just off-armed. And that's before we... I agree, we should go line by line like that. But before we do that, who were the ones that you were reaching out to again for more information? Did you have time to do that or no? The only thing that I accomplished was Silverthorn. And that's a huge accomplishment. All right. Let's start at the top. So I'll just kind of toggle down and we can pause and talk. So this is that amazing Quaban Valley Pro Music Up program. Very small ask. And they only want to getting half-funded. So something bear in mind. I added a little higher, but I'm not necessarily uncomfortable with where you are there. You have it at half. Yeah. I mean, my thinking was they're offering... They're asking us for basically a token amount of their overall budget to indicate regional support. And so with that in mind, you know... Okay. If everyone else is in agreement, we should keep moving. So why don't we look at the big awards for a second here? So, well, actually, let's just keep moving. So A3, on the one hand, it's low given their overall budget. On the other hand, it's high given our overall budget. Yeah. I was frustrated because I felt like they should know that, compared to all of everything that we have to grant, that that would be much more than we would be able to do. Or just the infraction that it is of our total... Yeah. I would have to make it a little lower, I think. Even by $100, like something like that, I just... I think that if that makes a big difference elsewhere, that's... Is it at the $2,000? Yeah. Yeah. Even like $1,900. You're still seeing my spreadsheet, right? You're not seeing the scroll through the panel look? No, just seeing the spreadsheet. Okay, good. I'm wondering why nobody was looking nauseous as I did this. They know you have notes in there, Matt. Oh, yes, Kobia's notes. Right. Just for comparison, by the way, we funded them at $2,353 last year. And the prior year, they received $2,500. So I do think it's important to try to stay in the ballpark. It is art. It is... They deliver a lot of value throughout the year. And I wouldn't want to decrease the amount that we're supporting them, which we would be by going down to $2,000. We kind of talked early about how 8th Gallery A3, Amherst Cinema, and I don't know, potentially... Those are institutions that we kind of... And we always appreciate it when they designate a specific program for our funds. But we also know that we are just... We're a chunk of their operating budget. So I think my only feeling is we should fund A3 and Amherst Cinema similarly. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. So why don't we come back... Well, just bear that in mind that if we adjust this, we'll also adjust Amherst Cinema. What was Amherst Cinema at? You're giving up half of what they asked. You're giving up half of what they asked. But I mean, you mean make the two dollar amounts closer to each other? Yeah. I don't want to go up to $2,000 for cinema. No, dropping A3, right? Okay. All right, let's keep moving because we can pick that one back up when we look at that. So which we'll do... All right, then we've got... Oh, now I have been very good this cycle about not advocating for fully funding anybody, but this is my one that I am going to put my... I don't think anybody's going to argue with me, but I think this is maybe the most special application of the bunch this year. Just... And Amherst Media, they're stretched pretty thin, staff-wise and everything else. So I am a little bit nervous about them actually pulling it off, but I know they've got a huge community support around this. The main applicant or the main sort of creative director... I don't remember her name, but I know that she's... I mean, the research has just emanated out. There's multiple generations of Cambodians living in Amherst right now. Yeah, I fully agree. I think we need to fully, fully support this one. We all in agreement? Yes. Okay. Okay. Why don't we skip cinema for now? Well, actually, I don't know why I said that. Does anybody want to discuss the cinema? I think I'm good with where we have it, yeah. I think if we needed to trim it, I'd be okay to go back to where you had it before, Matt. Yeah, so what I did is I split the difference between 2023 and 2015 for them, but, you know... I think I feel a little bad going lower on Amherst Cinema, but if it's necessary, we can do it. We're going to have a hard time making our numbers, so I'm okay with it at the... I don't want to go down from what we did last year, but because the one that's following this is one that I really don't want to go down on at all, frankly. Yeah. Yeah. Gujian, speak to that a little bit. Yeah. Well, for one, we did fund this at 1,000 last year, and basically, you know, this is to just give free access to not just children, but children and their families so they can experience a wonderful theater production together that's on a professional level here in the community and have that for the whole family. So, and it's a means-based thing. I am. It's for reduced lunch. Kids can apply to do this. If I'm remembering correctly. It's a tough one to reduce, especially if we gave them 1,000 last year. Thank you for checking that. Yeah. You're no longer sharing that, but thanks for not... I just want to set it up so that we can track the total. So that's what I just did. Yeah, I'll be tracking the total, too. Well, I mean, for the discussion for us. So now you see it up here in this top. That's that's our running total as we adjust it. Ah, good. So Bowker, so going up to 1,000, which I agree. I don't think in good conscience, we really cannot. Yeah. So strings are the strong. I'm afraid it's probably going to be a victim going down in my mind anyway. I don't think it can get down by half, though. But for me, we also have to look at the other one that they want to have later on the life fire. No, what's the name of it? Are you advocating for more or less than 1,400? I'm advocating for more. But I said earlier that I think we need to balance out everything that's going on there. I'm starting looking for the other one that we have later in the season. It's Lefebvre. Is it Lefebvre or? I think it's Lefebvre. Yeah. Febvre. Yeah, I think so. So they're requesting 800 for another event that will be a strong house. So they're all great programming. But I guess I would support trying to, if not fully fund the strong house, make this lead one here. Maybe a minimum of 2,000 and then taking the other one down by half to do 2,400 total for everything there. Well, it's very different artists. I mean, they're not, it's not the same fiscal entity. So I don't think that's a good sort of, I don't think tying those two together, just because they have the same venue is appropriate or appropriate is the wrong word. But you know what I mean, I just don't think that's a clear. And then as far as we did 2,000 for this last year and we did 1,800 the year before. So I'm not comfortable going all the way down to 1,400. I think the way that works out in this case is that it's like 700 per concert, right? So what we're giving them pays for two of the concerts. I think it's four concerts that there are. Right, yeah, four total they applied for. But I think what is there right now would pay for two concerts. And I'm fine with that as a maximum personally. So what's the number? I do have a concern though, as far as once again, this is right here in Amherst and decreasing or something that communities relate and rely on is difficult. Well, 14, are we the only fun? Like I feel like I think we are an existential thing for them. Are we the only source of funds for this? I believe we are. And it's free and open to the public. I'm not saying that we have to do the phone out, but I just would like to try to stay closer to what we've done. Yeah. What was last year? Last year was well, two years ago it was 1,800. And last year we went up to 1,985. That was part of kind of rounding things down. So roughly 2,000, so. Okay, well, why don't we shoot for 1,800 right now and come back to it? I think that's good. How about 90? That's fine. Let's keep moving. We're now about 3,000 over just so everybody knows. Our number is 5482. This next one, we're going to have to have a hard conversation because I don't think we got any additional information from this group. Are they missing something? Give me just a second. I'm always stepping in it here. So it's from January of 2024 to June of 2024. Oh, no, this one's good. This one is at the high school. Okay. My only point is, again, these folks are doing extracurricular activities with kids, which is fabulous. They were the complete stars of the block party. But I just don't think we have 2,500 to put into it. Yeah, and they did confirm two dates and with a letter. I'm confusing them with someone else. But yeah, this has been in really good shape. So I don't think we significantly have that much, but I would feel if we could. I would say a partial of 1,500 if we can. I like that, Cody. I'm good with that as well. Okay. The multidisciplinary linguistic group. This number, again, this is a school-oriented project, which is great. Don't get me wrong. And they're doing it on the common, which is even better. But again, I think we could probably fund them at 1,000 and not, you know. They have been growing the event. We did fund them at 1,320 last year. I believe that was the first year. So take off 2 or 300. They're asking for 16, go down to 13, 14, something like that. They were we were, 1,300, yeah. That makes sense. All right, ancestral bridges was tough. This is one of Amherst's true international things to be proud of. And unfortunately, they followed our directions, which means, you know, put everything in one grant application and they really put a lot of stuff into one grant application to the point where it was hard for me to see what our dollars were accomplishing for them. So I want to be cautious here because I think it's a very special organization, but I want to look closely at this budget for a minute because it's 4,300 is a lot of money. Yeah, I'm struggling with the total ask and that it's the whole budget. I mean, I think we should be in neighborhood of 1,500 or 2,000. Which grants would this have related to in prior years since we've been going back and looking at? They've never gotten a grant from us. But what kind of events? Let's look at the application and the budget. Cindy Jones is the lead primary contact. I'm so sorry. I have to head out. I just booked myself right at seven. But are you guys okay? Do you have quorum without me? So yes, yeah. Thanks, Eleanor. Bye. Thank you so much. So do we think we're going to get through this? It's 701. We're not going this pace. We're not going to get through it. There's nothing. I mean, you know, I'm not saying not to do it this pace, but if this is the pace we need to do it, I mean, we've got hours left. So I would really say do either we let you do the wiggling on the budget by yourself or we have another meeting. I mean, I can, I mean, I certainly I'm just starting to lose focus. So can we all go until 730? Yep, I can. 730 is I can't tonight as it turns out. Apologize. Let's just find another. Yeah, we can find another day, y'all. It's fine. And we just, you know, we need five for a quorum. We're very close. Look, I mean, if we take ancestral bridges and bring it down to 2,300, we're balanced, you know? So I mean, we're not that far off yet. And there are still some decisions. Do you really need us to? I mean, I'm just, is this something that everyone's time? I mean, from, from the point, you know, if we're so close and like, you know, can't we give you power of attorney to like wiggle the numbers? You know, it's like we're right there. Yeah, we did this. That's how you did it last year as well. So I mean, I'm like, I trust you that you're not going to take all the money and give it to one person. I mean, so have you guys seen the Freddie Holloway school for our working little kids line yet? That's in here. But the end or I'm happy to come back again. But it just seems like like we're like what without not even like we're $600 off or something. I mean, I mean, if, if, if you'd like to call a motion to, to vote to delegate to Matt and I to, you know, then I call a motion to delegate the final budget adjustments to Julianne and Matt. I'll second that. Okay. I think we would still need to vote on the final slate, which I don't know how we. Yeah, I think, well, no, Julianne, what they're saying and what we did last year in fact was they said we approve this slate minus any rounding work that you have to do. That was kind of how we did it last year. This is a little bit different, you know, because we, there's still some really big numbers on here that we haven't discussed in great depth. So as much as I, it pains me to say it, I think we really ought to meet again and, and take a vote. Okay. Me. But when you do the jiggling of the numbers, right, like you did last year, because I think we, last year we came and voted on the numbers that after you and Julianne had tweaked the, we would have it all cleaned up. Yeah. Exactly. Just, if I like, I'm already booked next Tuesday. So, so it would have to be Sunday or a other day next week. I know we're, we're getting so close to the, to the Christmas week also. I mean, and, and, you know, and by the way, I realize that this is the second meeting during Hanukkah, which is not, not proud of that either, by the way, but. But the next week will be super quick. Yeah, it would be fast. I can, I can meet any night. But yeah, we can do a quick meeting to just take, to take the final vote on it. I think that would be in our best interest. Yeah, I agree. All right. Why don't, why don't I look at January 9th is, is what we're going to shoot for, for our reconsideration meeting, tentatively, I think. So I'll backtrack, you know, 15 days from, well, it does take us a couple of days to get those denial letters out. Then Matt, you and I need to meet before we send those out. And well, we need to do that together. So, so, okay, why don't, why don't we, we'll send out some dates over email and we'll get a voting meeting set. I, I just would feel more comfortable because we've got, you know, we haven't even really talked about what the actual number is going to be for some of these very big grants. And it's just not, I don't think it's, I don't think it's wise. Cody, changing the subject. Can I get, can you get your numbers so that I can call you so I can give you a ride tonight? Yeah, four, three, five, four, seven, nine, three, eight, three. Nine, three, eight. Yeah, eight, three. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and adjourn the meeting. Thank you for stopping the recording. I think they might have got the last, all the last digits. Thank you all for all, all your hard work. This has been really just a wow kind of a year with this as far as the volume of it. So really appreciate it. Thank you both. Later, thank you. For all of your hard work. All right. Night. You have a great night. Bye.