 So we're calling the meeting to order at 431. I've taken roll call of Dale Bernard, Callie Cordova, Katie McDonald, Rhea Moriarty, and absent, I have Brighton Cook and Tom Kurtz. And I think our council liaison, Susie Hidalgo-Farring will be showing up soon. So I would then go on to election of officers. Madam Chair, I would like to nominate as a slate, as it were, Brighton Cook as chair of the board for the coming year, and Rhea Moriarty as vice chair. We have a second to Dale's nomination. I'll second. Seconded by Callie. All in favor. Hi. Hi. I'll abstain since I'm on the slate. Thank you. You can't abstain. Don't we need her vote for a quorum? I think so. I think you can vote, Rhea, even though you're on the slate. I wish you can. If you were running for president, you'd vote for yourself. Okay, I vote in favor. Thank you, the slate of Brighton for chair and Rhea for vice chair passes. So then I'll pass this to Rhea. Thank you so much, Joanne. So the next item on the agenda is public invited to be heard. We do not appear to have any public invited to be heard. So we can move on to the approval of the minutes. Did everyone get a chance to review the minutes that Joanne sent out? Do I have a motion to approve the minutes as written? I so move. Is there a second? I second. All in favor. And there are no other opposed. So it was unanimously approved by those present. All right. Our next item of business is a sessions. Eric, do you want to take it away? All right. I will share my screen here. Hopefully this will work. All right. So can everyone see the July 2021 proposed accessions to the Longhorn Museum collection? Good, good. See if they can figure out how to get it to advance. I'm using a different computer. My apologies for the technical delays. Try a different approach. You'd think after all this time we'd have this figured out. Is this your first time, Eric? There's always got to be a new challenge. I made you co-host, but if you need to share the presentation with me, I could share it on this end. Yeah, it's just not allowing me to advance. I can share it. So we will do the PDF version. Okay, this is weird. All right. Can you all see the screen change? Yes. From the to 2020-2024. Yes. All right, great. Thank you all for bearing with me. So, Katie, since you're new on the board, one of the main functions of the board is to approve or reject accessions to the museum's collection. So you receive those in your packet, but I will go through and just kind of talk through them. Feel free to ask questions either as I'm presenting or once we're all done. The first accession up is two things. There is a brochure from the Longmont Sugar Factory, probably from about 1960, and then a Kinmore Tiptoe-Matic ironing machine, which has the original manual and other accompanying documentation. Both of these have strong local provenance. The ironing machine was used by a large family and we have additional information on the family as well to kind of add background to it. Our next item is also something with very long local connections. These are objects from the Allen family. The Allen family arrived in the St. Brain Valley in 1861, and then Mary Allen arrived two years later. And so we have the oxen shoes that were carried her here in 1863. We have some spurs used by her son Alonzo Harris Allen and these large mounted bison horns, which were killed by several Allen brothers in Colorado in 1877. These were discussed in an earlier advisory board meeting when the donor actually lived in California. So they wanted some kind of assurance that the board was interested. It took a little longer for them to get here. So it's actually a new board that would be approving those, but don't worry to ask questions on those. And then I believe most everything else relates to, we are collecting glasses, logo glassware from all of the Longmont breweries. So we have the post brewing company, we have Grossen-Bert, we have dry also distilleries and cideries, so dry land distillery, the pump house brewery, Longtucky, which is actually rebranding as Abbott and Wallace. So this glass will no longer be produced, and the St. Brain Cidery. So any questions on any of those? Were we able to get ones from every brewery and distilleries that you were hoping to? We, I am still waiting, Outworld Brewery, which is one of the newest ones in Longmont is still waiting for their logo glassware. So they've promised me that we'll have it before the opening. So I'm hoping that is right. So that's the only one we're still missing. Great, if there are no other questions, do we have a motion to approve the accessions? I will stop sharing. So I don't see everyone. A motion from Tom. Is there a second? All in favor of accepting all accessions as proposed? Great, that's unanimous. Fantastic. Thank you, Eric. Thank you for all your hard work on getting the full collection of glassware. That's a lot of legwork to contact all those breweries. There are a lot of them distilleries. Yes, indeed. I didn't even get to sample their wares when I was doing it. That's unfortunate. All right, so our next order of business is reports. So Kim, would you like to give the report for the museum director? Sure, I was joking with Eric that this falls under one of those categories of one of the stranger things you get to do as a museum professional. There's always something. We do weird things every once in a while. I just wanna say real quick, Katie, welcome to the board. We're so glad to have you. That's the piece I missed. I was supposed to invite Katie to introduce herself and have us all introduce ourselves to Katie. And I totally missed it. You wanna do that real quick? We can do that real quick. Yeah, Katie, would you like to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you? Yes, of course. I'm Katie McDonald. I have lived in Longmont since 2003, so almost 18 years. I'm currently the marketing director at the Wow Children's Museum in Lafayette. However, I am leaving my position at Wow after 19 years in August for a different opportunity. But I do bring to you 19 years of experience in the museum field, Children's Museum field and nonprofit work. I absolutely love museums or my passion and I'm just really excited to join this board and to work with you all. Welcome. We're very happy to have you here. My name's Rhea. I'm the newly elected vice chair. I am the director of operations for the Longmont Humane Society. So, Callie, would you like to introduce yourself? You're the next person on the screen. I'm Callie Cordova. I teach English at Front Range Community College. And this is maybe a good moment to say it because I realized on Zoom, I've never said it. And I'm due to have a baby in September. So, it's coming up soon. I was like, oh, I don't think that it's ever come up. So, congratulations. Congratulations. Dale? Yes, I'm Dale Bernard and I'm just starting my second term on the museum advisory board. I'm retired but I was for 25 years the executive director of the St. Frane Historical Society here in town. And I've been a museum volunteer on and off for 16, 20 years, something like that. So, welcome. We're thrilled to have you with us. And Tom, would you like to introduce yourself? You're muted, Tom. I only got it unmuted, sorry. So yeah, I'm Tom Kurtz, Katie. I've been in Longmont, I think six years. I retired hospital CEO of about 45 years and belong to a number of community organizations where I volunteer some time. And I've been on the board since last summer at this time. Perfect, thank you, everyone. We'll kick it back over to Kim for her report. Thank you. And Katie, I'm the director here at the Longmont Museum. So this is kind of a pretty typical agenda that Eric talks about the accessions to the collection. And then I give a report. And this is actually a pretty long report. And so I probably won't read every single entry but certainly if you have questions or if anybody has questions, just let me know. And I'm happy to dive deeper into anything. So one of the things that the board has been working on for several of our last meetings is working on a land acknowledgement statement. And so this is a statement that was approved at the last city council, well, let's see. Now I'm gonna lose track of time, but I think it's two days ago that they approved the land acknowledgement statement. And essentially this came up as a result of the work that Eric was doing on the Longmont 150 exhibition. And we wanted to be sure to, while we were celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of Longmont, we wanted to make sure that we recognized what was happening prior to that moment in time as well. And so we've got several moments in the exhibition where we talk about the native history of the area as well. And so as part of that, we started investigating and talking with a consultant about a land acknowledgement statement and the consultant Montoya Whiteman suggested that this is something that probably is relevant to far more than just the museum. And so with the help of Susie Hildargo faring our city council liaison, we were able to take it to, hi Susan, we were able to take it to the council for approval citywide. And so that was adopted with very, very minor changes. And so we'll need to work through kind of how we use this going forward, but I think that it was a really a meaningful thing that the council approved this as a sort of citywide recognition of the history of this land. So we're feeling really very, very good about that accomplishment. So thank you very much Susie for helping us bear that along. We are also wrapping up the work that we've been doing with our interpretive plan. So we should be having that in hand very soon. And then we'll be happy to share that with you all when we have the documents in place. And basically I've talked a little bit about that before, but this is a plan that really helps guide some of the decisions that we make about exhibitions or programming, essentially really helping us to find thematic goals of the institution. And so we've been very, very pleased with the work that we've been doing with Beth Kaminsky who's the consultant that we've been working with. So we should have that soon. The same thing is true with the master development plan that we've been working on. We think that we'll have those final drawings, final conceptual drawings in hand by the end of the month. And so I include the results of the survey that we did as part of the public outreach as well as one of the drawings. And so you see our architect had three different plans, site plan and a floor plan for each iteration. And so we had folks vote on which one they wanted. And in both instances, the plan C was the winner by a good margin and you see the data there. So the floor plan C that we included in the packet is the one that the architect is working on. So you'll see that the data that we were able to collect with our architect really didn't make it a smart choice to add the 500 seat facility to the building that basically what we're looking at, we'll get final numbers soon. But just a quick brush at this, we were looking at about $11 million price tag for the museum expansion, about a $9 million price tag for the 500 seat facility. And then because of the 500 seat facility, it required us to do a parking garage as well. And the parking garage is probably 10 to 15 million. So given all of those numbers and the reality that it would be very difficult to have events taking place in both performing facilities at the same time, the city manager just, he was like this, it doesn't make sense financially to be able to do this, that we wouldn't be able to be maximizing revenue if one of them, one performance space is shuttered anyway. So it just didn't make a lot of sense financially to pursue that in our master plan. So that is no longer on the docket for what's going to be happening in the final drawings that we'll receive. So we will share those with you. Gail, did you have a question? Yeah, I have a quick question because I spent a lot of time going back and forth online looking at these and probably I got smart and printed them out so that I could, you know, without shifting screen. I'm wondering if the fact that the auditorium was there, I mean, I know it wasn't one of the other ones too, but I mean, whether it had an effect on the vote, the vote. I mean, you know, because I'm not sure that the plan, I mean, I think the plan without the auditorium is fine, but I'm not sure that might have been my first vote for where the entrance was or that kind of thing. I just wondered if you felt it affected it. You're probably right. And we did get a lot of feedback that clearly demonstrates that people are in support of a performing art space. The thing we didn't ask and the thing that I want us all to be clear-minded about is we didn't ask, are you supportive of a performing art space at the museum or just in general? And I kind of wish that we had asked that question so that we understood the data collection better, but clearly there is a lot of community support for an additional performing art space than those do at auditorium. So how that plays into the actual plans, you may be right that it would have been different if we had, for instance, three plans that none of which had- None of them, that's what I meant. If none had an auditorium. Yeah, yeah. But what I would say also is that still at this point, these are conceptual plans. So I don't want anybody to get too married to any of the details because now that we've got the conceptual plan and we will have the costs associated with that, the next step is for us to actually hire an architect that will do the final plans. And so there's gonna be a lot of work between what we have now and what ends up being the final plans that will get built. So I wouldn't be too concerned because I think there's still plenty of opportunity even after we get the final plans for things to change. Okay, thank you. I just had that question. Yeah, yeah, go ahead, Katie. So just quick questions just so I can kind of catch up. When are you anticipating work beginning on this and how is it being funded? That's a good, those are two great. So what we are looking at is that we've been working for several months now with an architect who has been doing essential, this master planning process. And the goal behind that really is for us to be able to have something to share with donors, right? That we've got costs associated with it. We've got some pretty drawings associated with it and we would be able to go talk to donors. So at this point, the answer is I don't know because there are some very interested parties who may be able to help us quickly or we may have to go into a capital campaign. And so whichever route we take, whichever, whatever ends up being the result of our donor conversations, that's really gonna tell us what we need to know about how long this is all gonna take and when we might be able to look for construction. So that we're hoping to have those drawings in hand, like I said, by the end of the month. And at that point, we'll start talking to donors immediately and then we'll know a lot more after that. So I'll be able to update you more then, right? Yeah. Any other questions on the master development plan? I'm looking forward to getting the final drawings because I think that'll kind of help answer some of your questions too, Dale. And I'm happy to share those with you when we get them. Okay. Yeah, so you see on the plan that I did share, I wanted to make sure that there was no confusion about the 500 seats. So we X those off of those drawings and we will continue to work through some of those things as well. And then going on to the development section of the report, we had a great closing reception for enduring impressions on July the 11th. And since we weren't able because of COVID to have an opening reception for that, we were able to have a closing reception, which was really lovely. We had the lenders to the exhibition, the mowers were both there and they were very excited to talk to folks about their collection. So I think it was a very warm and fuzzy exhibition and that the guest curator was there to thank a lot of people as well. So it was really a nice exhibition closing and we don't usually do that. So it was a nice opportunity. Another really nice thing that we learned just recently is that we received the funds for the shuttered venue operators grant. So that's part of the American Rescue Plan Act and we were in recipient of $160,000 and man, they turned that thing around like that. We've already got them in. So yay for us. So we'll be using those for basically for auditorium expenses, but it will be a big help for us. And there could be additional funds available through Rescue Act. So we'll continue to explore those as well. As you guys know, Megan Peters is new to the staff. She's our new fund development manager and she's been very, very basically writing grants and writing reports for grants. So we've not let her breathe yet. So she's also been working on an IMLS American Rescue Grant and that's gonna be to help with the cost of the TP to Tiny House exhibition that we've been working on. So that's $46,000. We've also been working on grants for the project that we're working on with the collaboration with the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Arts. So that'll be a national endowment for the arts grant. And then we've also got another grant in the work for American Recovery Act, an EA grant. And that's to hopefully fund a term limited position. What we're talking about for that grant proposal is that it would be a public programs, no, public, now I forget the title of it, but essentially as a public outreach curator that we would be able to essentially have a dedicated curatorial position that would work with community members to have underrepresented inclusivity conversations where we are basically going out to the community to bring stories into the museum. And we actually have a really, really great track record for that already because what we typically do for almost every exhibition we do is that we pull together a community board, advisory board that helps inform exhibits that we work on. It's super ad hoc, the committees change every single time depending on the topic, but this would basically go into the community and ask people essentially what would you like to see? How would you like your community represented in the museum? So cross your fingers for that because I think it could be a really amazing inclusivity, equity kind of adventure that we get involved with. So I would be very excited to get that. We are deeply into on the end of summer camp season and so we've been very successful with that because we've been able to move to level clear. We basically had, we had some virtual kids camps on the schedule, but nobody signed up for them. Everybody wants to be back in person. And so we had caps on everything at the beginning of the season. And because we've gotten to the clear level, we were able to expand the number of people that we were able to bring into camps. So camps have been really, really successful this year. So we're very glad about that. We've got fall programs underway and they've been submitted for the newsletter. You guys should be receiving that newsletter relatively soon. I think it's going to the printer tomorrow. So we've got discovery days, return in person, art and sips with four new local artists. Gray Havens is back with us for philosophy programs. Ornament making is back for the Christmas season. We're also going back into school tours and then we've got some docent training coming up. Day of the Dead, of course, is underway, the planning vet is underway. And so we're going to be back in person for that as well. So we're looking forward to that. And then we've got lots of kids and families that we're working with again. And so we'll be able to really get back into all of our fall programming. So it's very exciting. I think I've seen a couple of your faces in the museum in the last few months. And I think seeing people and hearing kids' voices have just, it's a game changer. We're all feeling really good about it. As you guys know, the Enduring Impressions exhibition closed on the 18th. So those paintings went back just yesterday to the donors. So that was a very successful exhibition for us. So the exhibits team is now working really, really hard on the Longmont 150 exhibition. And so that'll be opening on August the 7th. We've got the opening reception on the 6th from six to eight. So of course you're all invited to that. That's gonna be a fun event with live music. And it's gonna be one of our opening receptions. It'll be super fun for everybody. We'll be out in the courtyard. So nobody will be, it won't be too closed in if we have a little chance to breathe. And so we'll be out there. And then we've also got some interns that have already been interviewed and one has been hired already. So Jared's got a couple of interns working with him for the fall, which he's really gonna need cause there's a lot of construction basically that is part of this exhibition and the work that needs to be done. We also visited with artist Patrick Merold. I don't know if you all are aware of Patrick. He is the artist who did that really big log installation that goes into the hotel airport, the hotel that's at the airport. So if you take the train into the airport, you see those logs that are on that sort of entryway. So that's Patrick's work. And we have been talking to him about working with us for the project that we're collaborating with, with BMOCA and he's super excited about it. And so I think we've got him on board and we're really thrilled. Tom, did you have a question? I'm sorry, did I interrupt you? No, I see it keeps flashing on it. Like maybe I'm breathing too heavy. I'm doing that. Let's see, what else? And there are other artists, you see a list of names there that we're working with for that exhibition and just maybe as a reminder or for Katie to inform you. The project that we're working with as a collaboration with the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is, I call it the artist farmer project. Basically what the concept is, is that we are pairing artists with farmers and they'll be creating a work of art in collaboration with each other. And so there'll be an installation here at the Longmont Museum and then there'll be an installation at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and then we'll have probably three installations at farms between our two locations. And so that is, we hired a guest curator to do that kind of oversee the whole project. And so we're super, super excited about this project. I think it's gonna be very cool and really engaging from all kinds of different entry points that people will be able to really enjoy it. So we're getting deep into that. And especially if we're able to get grants for it, I think it's really gonna be a fantastic exhibit. We're applying for one of the NEA grants and then Boulder is applying for a different NEA grant. And so we're hoping that we'll get both of them and it'll be just out of this world exhibition. So we're looking forward to that. And then the other thing that Jared's been doing is that he's taken advantage of the folks that are coming to the summer concerts and he's doing some outreach at those concerts to try to gauge some interest in different exhibition content. And so he's been doing that kind of evaluation during the concert. So that's super fun. And then we've got that section there for Auditorium Programming and Special Events. So you'll see it too in the newsletter that's coming out but there's lots of films and discussions and concerts. I think that this is gonna end up being kind of an ongoing thing, the Voices of Change program that we basically are partnering with the Multicultural Action Committee. And so Voices of Change is a program we've done several times now that basically really digs into some difficult conversations. And so there'll be more of those coming up in the future as well. We also have one of the super cool things that we've done a couple of times in the past which is Mondalto will be the musicians that accompany a silent film. So the silent film for this iteration is gonna be Phantom of the Opera. So it'll be that old Phantom of the Opera and we'll have the orchestra accompanying it like just like the old times, you know? So that's really cool. Jared, I mean, I'm sorry, Justin has listed all of the different summer concerts that we've got going on and then recent rentals and city events. So we are getting more and more increase into rentals. So clearly I think people are, you know, after post COVID or post sort of post COVID, I think rental activity is really starting to ramp up for us. And so that's gonna I think be even bigger come the fall. So visitor services report there. We've got normal hours resumed on June the 1st. So we're now open Monday through Saturday, nine to five and then on Sunday, one to five. So those were the hours that we had prior to the pandemic. And then we've also got, of course, the additional evening hours and Thursday nights. We saw 1794 people visit the museum in June and that included 15 museum for all 108 of the free Saturday and then 149 member visits. So for those who might not know, the Museums for All is a program that we're part of that if you show an EBT card or some kind of designation that demonstrates that you've got other benefits, then you get into the museum for free. And so we're part of that program and we do get some members showing up for that. So that's always really nice to see. We had a hundred membership. We're sold or renewed in the month of June's and that included eight giving club memberships. So that's always very good. Our visitors really loved the Impressionism exhibit and we did see an increase in attendance right at the end, as you might imagine. We had a lot of folks here that last weekend. We've got a lot of sales and the gift shop have been improving. So I think that that's another marker of kind of where we are in the pandemic as well. And then the concerts really also showed some uptick in that too. Basically the concert sold out. So as of the writing of this report, you can see the numbers, 230 at the June 17th concert, 270 at the June 24th, 250. And we basically are limited to the number of people that we could have in the courtyard. And so those numbers essentially represent and sold out show, if you will. So that's fantastic. I think that what we're all seeing is that people really want to get out. And then the last section now, we've got art in public places. So Angela's been working really hard on the Art on the Move program. So six artworks were de-installed and then six new artworks were installed. So for those who might not know, the Art on the Move program is a one year loan program. And so we have, there's a call to artist involved and a selection. And so every, there's a one year cycle that we do an installation in various places around town. And then those sculptures go back to the artists and new sculptures are placed in sometimes the same place, but sometimes in different locations. And so that's always a really fun sort of change around to see the different sculptures that get installed. And there are some 2D works as well. I think this year really showed an elevated level of quality that we've not seen before. And so we were really, really glad. There's a lot of nice artworks that are part of the Art on the Move this year. Shock Art, we've got 35 models that were collected and on display at the Old Town Marketplace. And so the voting for that was July the 10th and ends on the 24th. So you can do either go to Old Town Marketplace and vote or you can do it online. I think if you go to the website, you can find it through Art in Public Places as well. So you can vote on your favorite. And then those are the artists that get commissioned to paint those boxes around town. And then Angela's also been working on a workshop that she held in order to move their strategic planning forward. And so that happened a couple of weeks ago and was facilitated by a pretty well-known sort of change maker, if you will, his name is Brian Corrigan. And so he facilitated this really great conversation that basically talked about instead of just art in public places, talking more of it in terms of creative place-making. And so that's really where things are gonna be kind of moving in terms of art in public places is that it's more than just kind of plunking an artwork somewhere, but to think about it much more holistically and thinking about that in terms of creative place-making and all that it sort of implies because there's also economic benefits to that and so on and so forth. So I'm very pleased to see the planning that's happening in Art in Public Places. And she included a couple of installation shots. So you see that on the last page of the report there. So that's kind of fun as well. That was super fast. Anybody have any questions for me? Okay, dope. Thank you guys. Great, thank you, Kim. It's exciting to see everything going back to normal or back to the new normal or whatever that looks like. So the next item on the agenda is the report of the chair since the chair is not here and I don't have a report. There is nothing there. So up next, we have a staff presentation from Ann. I don't know, Kim, would you like to introduce Ann and? Sure. So hi, Ann. Ann Macca is our curator of exhibition. I mean, I'm sorry, education. And again, for those who might not know, what we try to do is have a staff member do a report as often as we can, monthly-ish, to give you more of a sense of what's going on in the museum and give you an opportunity to meet folks and ask questions. So Ann's gonna talk to us about what's been going on in education as if she has anything else to do. No camp or anything like that. Well, hello, everybody. My name is Ann Macca. Like Kim said, I'm the curator of education. And since I don't know any of you, I thought I would start by just filling you in on my background, who I am, where I came from, how I ended up here, and then tell you a little bit about what we do in the education department and who my team members are and all the great work we're doing right now and in the near future. So I am a local. I was born in Boulder on July 22nd, which is tomorrow. And I was kind of born and raised in the mountains right outside of town. So sort of a free-range, wild childhood, not a lot of rules, no TV, lots of hand tools and power tools and trees and wild places. So it was pretty fun. When I was in high school, I decided that I didn't wanna go to college. So I studied cosmetology, hairdressing as a high school student. And then I was able to graduate a year early. So I worked as a hairdresser in a fancy, fancy salon in Boulder for about a year and I really hated it. I had kind of went down that path because I loved making art and sculpture. And do you guys, if you've seen the movie, Edward Scissorhands, please raise your hand. Yes? Okay. I wanted to be Edward Scissorhands. You know how he trims the hedges and like does the crazy hair? Like that's what I wanted to do. It's not what you do at a fancy salon in Boulder. So I quit pretty quickly. And saved up some money working at a coffee shop and traveled around Europe with a boyfriend and did this and that until I decided I should probably go to college. So I moved to the East Coast and went to the Lyme Academy College of Fine Art. It's a very, very small French academic art school where you study portrait and figure work, lots of anatomy, all of that. So I really enjoyed it. But you know, there's not a lot of work out there for portrait and figure sculptors. So when I finished that up, I was really interested in comparative anatomy and animals and skeletons. And I did a lot of collecting of roadkill in those days as well. But I didn't know what I wanted to do. So I spent a few years kind of in my mid-20s doing every art job I could possibly find. So in those years, I managed a contemporary art gallery. I worked in a lithography shop. So we did primarily lithography, but a little bit of screen printing and a little bit of intaglio as well. I managed fair lithography collection and exhibitions, framing, all of that stuff, record keeping. I worked for, this is all in the East Coast. I worked for the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. And within that office was the Art and Public Places Program in Connecticut. So I have a lot of compassion and love for the work that Angela does here in Longmont. Public art I think is super important. And in Connecticut, they started their program I think in 1971. And it's like right outside of New York City. So they have all these really amazing kind of late 20th century artists in their public collection. It's very, it's juicy, it's everywhere. So in that office, I helped manage their collection as well. Just the 2D works for exhibitions, framing, hanging, all of that good stuff. And what else did I do? I was still pursuing my own art at that time. So I had a few, lots of different gallery exhibitions and a few museum exhibitions. And I went to lots of artist residencies. So I'd kind of go back and forth across the country to different places that would pay me to be there for a while and that was fun. I also, I was so lucky. So those were the days when I had like eight jobs all the time. I don't have that kind of energy anymore. I'm really grateful that I have one job now. So when I was in Connecticut, I started teaching art in a public school, middle school. So my students were sixth through eighth grade and it was probably the worst job of my life. I've got to tell you. I had a horrible time when I was a student in middle school. It was just really traumatic. And so going back to the classroom, I don't know what made me think that was a good idea. It was a terrible idea. But I feel like I was super fortunate because at the same time, I was teaching art, visual art in a community art center. So both populations were very low income, very high needs, super at risk youth. But the experience was so dramatically different between the regular public school classroom and the community art center where all the kids who were there chose to be there and were really motivated to be there. And I worked there, I think for four or five years. So I got to see some teenagers grow up and go to college and kind of help them get their start in life. And that was really inspiring. I don't know, it just made me feel good. So I found out, I love teaching, but I hate middle school and I don't ever want to teach in a public school, probably ever again, if I don't have to. But again, I'm so grateful for that because it let me know that I do love education and I love art and I love working with people. Just the setting needs to be right. So eventually got tired of having 1,000 different jobs and hustling this way and that. So I decided to go to grad school. I studied sculpture at Alfred University, which is like Western New York State. Maybe two hours from Buffalo and two hours from Rochester. It's kind of the middle of nowhere. It is cold and dark and two years was enough for me. At that time, I thought maybe I'd want to be a university art professor, but that whole grad school experience sort of soured my feelings about that. So while I was there, I got really interested in dialogical artwork. So if you're, is anybody familiar with dialogical artwork? No, probably not. So the purpose of that kind of artwork is not that you make an object and then that object sits on a pedestal somewhere. Anything that's sort of produced is about dialogue. It's about inspiring conversation and communication and experience. So that was the kind of work I did in grad school. It was sort of the beginning of the tiny house movement. So my husband and I built a tiny house together as part of my grad school project, my sort of my final project there. And we also built a tinier tiny house. So it was just, you know, it's kind of about exploring how we live and why we live the ways we live and the choices we make and what's attainable, what's accessible, what can you do for yourself? And I think through that experience, I also started to recognize that what I like best is actually working with people, not necessarily just working with art. I love building things, I love making things, but I really like to work with people most. I like to talk to people and hear their stories and their experiences. I like to try and find ways to connect with people that seem super different from me that maybe like we have some commonalities. That's kind of what moves me forward in the work I do and what makes me feel good as a person. So I got out of grad school and again, I was like, what am I doing? I don't know. So my husband and I drove our tiny house back to Colorado as we passed through Kansas, we were broadsided by a tornado, but our tiny house survived. It was like, didn't blow over, no windows broken, just a lot of hail didn't. But we got back here. I think I said I grew up in Boulder in the mountains. While I was away, my parents actually moved to Longmont. So we pulled our tiny house into their backyard and they're like a mile from the museum. They're like right over here. And just started looking for work and I was lucky enough to get a job at the CU Art Museum after they got their new building. And there I worked in visitors services and education. And while I worked there, I also pursued a certificate in museum studies and also my art education certification for the state of Colorado. So I get bored easily. I like to do lots of different things. While I was doing all of that, the job for the curator of education opened up here. And eight years ago, I took this job. This is definitely the longest time I've had one single job. I feel super lucky the people I work with are all creative and fun. Almost everybody has a degree, either in art history or history. So all the like the most interesting people that you could possibly know, it's really fun. Everybody here is such a good collaborator. And I think one of the things that's great about my job is that I get to collaborate with my coworkers here, but also with all kinds of partners in the community. One of my newest collaborations, well, maybe not newest. I really love working with the St. Brain Valley School District's Innovation Center. I have a super partner over there and she and I worked together on field trips. We had a really good program going before COVID hit us and then everything of course fell apart. So we will be redrafting our school field trip program and recruiting new docents and training this year. I don't know what our timeline looks like yet. They've been waiting on a grant to find out if they have what their funds look like and their resources for field trips. So every couple of weeks they tell me, oh, we still don't know yet. And that started in April. So I'm really I'm crossing my fingers that they're gonna know soon, but we'll see. What else do I wanna tell you? Hmm, I feel like I fit most. Oh, you know what I really wanna do next is actually get a PhD in play. Did you guys know that exists? It's so cool. And there are PhD programs that are low residency. So I don't even have to leave my job. So that might be something I do soon. I'm super excited about our expansion plans and master development plan. I think the thing I find the most exciting is actually the children's gallery. I feel really strongly that if you don't introduce kids to museums when they're young and then keep going to museums throughout their lives that they're not going to go. I love the wow. So Katie, I'm like super excited that you're here. I love wow. I think it's such a good museum. I love the Denver Children's Museum. But what is so exciting about what we're planning here is that it will be dedicated children's gallery like family gallery in the midst of other galleries that are not focused kids, that are visual art, that are history, that are culture, science. And I think it's like such a special opportunity to be able to attract that audience, the family audience and then make them go by all the other galleries and see that, oh, there's other fun and amazing things to do here. And no, I don't have to wait till my kid is old enough to understand. Like, you're just here. You're welcome. You belong. I think that's super exciting. I love exhibition developments. I'm excited to participate in how that will evolve and transpire what will go into it. What else? I think that's probably enough. Did I tell you too much? And can I prompt a question for you? Would you describe the Equitable Access Program? Great. Yeah, that was a thing I forgot. That's another thing that I'm probably the most proud of since I've worked here is our Equitable Access Program. That is our scholarship program that funds full scholarships for kids to participate in summer camps or fall break camps or other kinds of programs. Also for Discovery Days, which is our early childhood program, and I think we really probably started working on it like four or five years ago, trying to find funds for this because of course the city won't give you money to just do things, you have to find it somewhere. So it's been really interesting to work with Joan and now Megan on fund development for that project. But then also as we have started to gather funding support for our Equitable Access Program, it's been interesting to see how it actually works. So we use the MIT Living Wage Calculator for Boulder County to determine eligibility. That gives you kind of, it's free and reduced price lunch, eligibility you guys is so, the income level for that is so, so low. It's intense poverty. And there's a huge gap between eligibility for free and reduced price lunch and a living wage. Huge. So our scholarships, you're eligible if you are below that threshold for living wage. And it's just trust. We don't ask for proof of anything. We just trust people that they are honest about what they need and we want to support them and make them feel welcome and comfortable and not like they have to prove that they are lesser than or, you know. But what's been interesting is to see who is able to take advantage of our scholarships. So our summer camp program, most of our camps are part day. So it might start at nine and end at noon or one or two or might start at one and end at four, which works for families who have health. So have a grandma or grandpa who can pick up a kid in the middle of the day. But it doesn't work for people who are working all day long can't negotiate some kind of opportunity to pick up their kid and then, you know, it's just, it's hard for working adults. I'm a working mom, I know this. So I think as we move forward, we're looking for options that we can expand our program in ways that make it more accessible to people who like me work all day or just don't have transportation or how do we meet those challenges that we're now seeing as we move forward? It's been super successful. We've given away a lot of scholarship money and that feels really good. And I think we're seeing a more diverse audience as well and that also feels good. So I don't know. I would like to see in the future, the equitable access projects expand towards maybe scholarships for family memberships which might be a good move when we get closer to having a full-time kids gallery. I don't know how that funding will work, but I think it would be really valuable. Just again, like an opportunity to say like, we value you regardless of your income level and we think you belong here and we want you to think you belong here and we're gonna make that possible whether or not you can afford it financially. So I don't know. Those are the things I care a lot about. Any other questions? Go for it, Susie. Okay, thanks. So, you know, going back to that equitable access program are you finding that the people or families that participate in this live closer to the museum or is it a good mix of people throughout the city of Longmont? That is an awesome question. And I would say it's a pretty good mix. But I would also say, and this is just based on speculation, it seems like the folks who are the most economically disadvantaged who are also participating in this program tend to live closer to the museum. We have a great partnership with Casa Esperanza and Vanessa and Michael Adano have helped us give away scholarships to folks who live there and they can walk here. So it makes it much more accessible in terms of being able to get your kid here. Other, so we also, in the past I've had good contacts at Boulder County, what you may call it, the social services office for Boulder County where they have been able to connect me with families and say, you know, this family would like a scholarship, this one, this one, this one. But without those kinds of contacts, it can actually be really hard to hand out scholarships. And the first summer we had the funding from the Dodge Family Foundation, we didn't know until like a week before camp started. So now we start promoting scholarships as soon as we start promoting summer camp. But that year, that first year we had the funds, we didn't know. So it was like, we had this like crazy crunch to try and give away all this money. We had no idea how hard that was gonna be. So definitely that summer, I carried scholarships in my backpack in English and Spanish. And no matter where I went, like if I was at the park and I saw a big gathering of families, I would just go over and be like, hey, scholarships, scholarships. Give them to your friends, give them to your families. Spread the word. Yeah. And that, what's interesting is like just having the money is not enough. You have to have partnerships to hand it out. And then really, I think for us to grow, we also have to be able to serve people with wraparound or full day programs. Or maybe even like collaborate with RAC or with the YMCA organizations who have more low income families that could maybe bring them to us for part day. Not sure. Yeah. I love your idea. Yeah. The reason why I ask is I'm a third grade teacher at Indian Peaks. So yeah. And this is my 17th year in the district. And I've only taught in Safe Rain in Title I schools. So I teach third grade bilingual. And what I notice is a lot of our families, you know, again, they are only going to where they could walk to or, you know, vicinity wise, it's pretty close and to have those wraparound services. So I've done a lot of work with Casa Espananza and just kind of doing some outreach at countryside village because a lot of our kids live in that mobile home park. You know, and then so what I see as far as inequity in the classroom or in the district or statewide, you know, we are an open enrollment state. The only people who have, so you can basically open enroll your child at any school choice. That's great for people who have their own transportation. They have the means. They're not working that they can pick up their kids back and forth because there is no bus transportation. So our students who are free reduced lunch typically are not able to open enroll at the school of their choice. They have to go to their neighborhood school or their designated school. So, you know, so as I'm kind of thinking about that, is there opportunity to have funding for maybe transportation like some of those buses, those little buses that can, you know, like you think about the, they have it for the elderly that, you know, kind of take, scoot them around town. Is there something that we could kind of do to bring people from other areas? You know, I'm thinking about Mayan North Longmont and get them, maybe they could take their kids to the school and that'd be the pickup and then have them come, you know, so just, I mean, I've tried to explore those options for when we have STEM activities and that are on the weekends. And, you know, cause gone are the days that I could just take my SUV and go round up kids and hang out, I can't do that anymore. Yeah, Susie, you are speaking to my heart. I just have to say that like everything you just said, not enough people know this. Yeah. So for everybody here on this committee, if you don't know that our schools are super segregated, you should know this. Oh, yeah. Big deal. And nobody talks about it. And it is hard to talk about, especially if you're not the one experiencing the negative effects, it can be very hard. But I think that it's something that we have to acknowledge. Yeah, I've had some very bad conversations with my superintendent when I called it out girl, I believe it. It's hard. Somebody has to say it. I'm lucky to be employed. I feel like sometimes I have to be careful too. Yeah. Well, if I could chime in, we are trying to work on the transportation piece. So that's something that we may be able to pull off. So thank you for the suggestion. I also just want to say, I'd love to like have coffee with you sometime and talk about ideas because I come up with a thousand different ideas, but they're not always the right idea. And I don't always see the pitfalls and other people's ideas are always good. So I would love to get together some time if you've got some free time and talk about what we've thought about trying and what other things maybe we haven't thought of that you have thought of. That'd be great. Yeah, no, I'd love to. And thank you for teaching third grade. Of course. I love those little guys. They're cute. They're still cute in third grade. They're not mean yet. I taught fifth grade. I taught fifth grade. And, you know, people who teach middle school, they're a whole different breed of human being. And thank God for them. Yeah. I couldn't even handle my own kids when they were in middle school. I was like ready to ship them off for three years. And I was like, come back when you resemble a human. So. That school that I taught out, there were two teachers that were like my role models. And one was horrible and one was amazing. And I was really afraid that I was going to turn into the terrible lady. That's why I had to leave. I was like, nope, I don't want to be here, but that's where I'm going. That's awesome. Okay. Well, thank you for your work. Yeah. Hey, anybody else have any questions or just want to tell me something exciting about yourself? Katie, I'd love to meet with you sometime too. And just hear a little bit more about, have you been in other children's museums? No, just wow for 19 years. Wow, 19 years at? Wow. Yeah. Well, I am leaving my position there, but I, you know, we struggle with equity and accessibility as well. So we could certainly talk more about that. Yeah, I would love that. Did you work with Heather who came from here to there? Yes. Sure did. She's awesome. Oh, what are we doing now? Summer campus finishing. We have one week left. We're going to, I've been squatting downstairs as an office for the past year because it's quiet. But now I have to move back upstairs. So at the end of camp, I'll be moving my office and Lee and Courtney, my teammates, will also be moving our offices back up to the office office. Discovery days will be back in person. So if any of you have young ones in your life, like two to six year old's dish, Discovery days is a super learning together, school readiness, art making program. It's just so much, so much fun. So if you can come and you want to, or if you know someone who would like to have Discovery days in their life that can't afford it, we have scholarships for Discovery days. Again, it's a weekday daytime program. So here's a limitation I had of us right now. But if you know somebody who could benefit from a scholarship, a scholarship will cover the whole season for each child. And that's one visit a week to come and do crafts together and learn and play and have a good time and talk to other caregivers and parents and make friends and all that good stuff. So we're coming back in person for that. Day of the Dead is one of my big projects every year. So Day of the Dead is swiftly approaching and I feel like a deer in the headlights, but I'll be ready. School tours are ahead of us again and we'll be developing some new stuff and looking for docents, especially bilingual docents. Those ones are especially hard to find. So spread the word. But I'll, I feel like that's everything-ish. Thanks, Ann, that was fun. Thank you, Ann, that was amazing. You do a lot and have done a lot. So we appreciate all your work, especially with the children. It is very important to get them engaged early and often. So it's very important work. Thank you. It was a pleasure to meet you. All right. So moving on, old business. I am not aware of any old business. Does anyone have anything? I think with the land use acknowledgement being accepted, I think that was the last of the old business that we had sort of floating out there in the world. So as far as I'm aware, there's nothing else. And I am not aware of any new business. I thought Joanne has new business. So this is, this is your first meeting of your, the term cycles. And so I think again, we do need to, I'm sorry I didn't put it on the agenda. We do need to just restate where our agendas are posted and restate our meeting dates and times. So if someone wants to float emotion, just for an example, that we will still post agendas online at the Civic Center and at the museum. And if at your pleasure, if you'd like to continue to meet on the third Wednesday of each month at 430, we should maybe make that part of the record. Dale, it looks like you're muted, Dale. Dale, you're muted. I move what Joanne said. Okay. Do I have a second for Dale's motion? Tom. Okay. Is everyone in favor of posting the agendas in those locations and continuing to meet on the third Wednesday at 430. All in favor. Great. That is unanimous. There are no opposed. All right. And since Joanne has turned off her camera, I assume that is the only bit of new business. Correct. Thanks. All right. Should we, should we discuss our next meeting and whether we want to do, do that in person is, is everyone at a point that they would be willing to meet in person for our next advisory board meeting? We typically, before COVID, we met right here in the museum Wednesdays at 430. And I think we're at the point in terms of all clear from city council that we could do that if you are interested. I don't know if that needs to be a motion Joanne, does that need a vote or is that just an agreement? Gosh, I'm not sure. I don't know either. Motion won't hurt. Yeah, agreements or a consensus, something like that. We, if, if anybody has any reservations. We, the AIPP and I think other people are doing this too. That they came up with a system where at the door to the meeting, there is a pile of red, green and my brain is a little bit fuzzy right now, red, green and yellow dots. And if you wanted to put one of those dots on yourself indicating that you're, if you're green, handshakes, hugs, everything is cool with you. Yellow, you're still trying to keep your distance. And red is that you're continuing to mask and be cautious. That seems to be kind of a, did I say all that correctly? Angela, go ahead. Yeah, but I was just going to say that for clarification, I do think that you need to make a motion for the very least, like your next meeting, because if we as commissions and boards go back to being virtual all the time, there's something that has to happen within the city attorney's office. I lost, right? I don't know. I think it's related to open meetings and access. I'm not sure. So. So AIPP did just for August. And then we're going to continue to reassess. So. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay. Does anyone have any comments about that? Do you feel like we should have a discussion about it? Or does someone want to make a motion? I, I think we should have a discussion about that. I think we should have a virtual meeting in person. Especially with the, the precautions that, that Kim mentioned with people being able to very easily and visually state a preference. For interaction. Anyone have any comments or thoughts? Would anyone like to make a motion either for an in-person meeting or for a virtual meeting for August? I move that we resume in-person meetings at the museum. Based on the precautions that Kim has mentioned. Okay. Fabulous. Do I have a second? Dale. Great. All in favor. Okay. That's unanimous. So our August meeting will be held in person at the museum on the third Wednesday of August at 430. And it'll be so nice to see everyone. Yay. Fabulous. All right. Will that be upstairs in the conference room or in a classroom? I think we'll probably do it in the classroom. So we have a little more space. Okay. Yeah. That's perfect. Thank you, Kim. Just give us an opportunity to spread out. Okay. Terrific. It'll be good to see you all. Yes. Thank you. All right. Any other board comments? Do I have a motion to adjourn? I just want to say you did a wonderful job of running the meeting. So thank you so much for stepping in. I'd appreciate it. Thank you. I'll motion to adjourn. Great. Thank you. And is there a second? Thank you, Katie. All in favor. Perfect. We are adjourned. Good night. Thank you. Thank you.