 This meeting is being recorded and will be uploaded to the town of Amherst YouTube channel by our wonderful IT department. At this time, I want to recognize here Shoshana King, but I'm going to turn over hosting responsibility to Terry Holt. Is that correct? Yep, that's fine. All right, have a great meeting everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Hi everyone. Hi, let me let me grab that thing. I got to read the thing. Robert Brayn and just joined the meeting. Sorry, I'm late. Hi, Robert. Hello. Just started. Chapter 20 of the act of 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting can do so by clicking on the live link to the zoom meeting that can be found at the public meetings calendar. On the town of Amherst website or by dialing in by phone. The public is able to comment during the public comment segment of this posted agenda by raising their hand. This meeting will be recorded and will be posted to the town of Amherst YouTube channel. Shoshana, do you have a copy of the agenda somewhere? I have it like just written down on paper in front of me. But it's on the town website. Like, if ever there's a time anybody's interested, they can go to the town website and then go to like, usually like scroll down and there's like this little calendar and you can click on the day that's our day. And if it's today, it's just going to be right there on the bottom and you click on our meeting and then it will bring you to our agenda and other stuff. So you're in the Himalayas. Sorry, so what are you in the Himalayas, Jim? Me. No. No, that's, that's actual. That's the grand canyon. I'm sorry, I couldn't see. I love that picture. The connectivity is amazing now in the world. I got up at two o'clock in the morning to take that thing. Because it was taken at daybreak. Beautiful. All right, so public comments, we have a public comment is the first thing on the agenda and it doesn't look like we have anyone from the public here. We'll see. Change our name to the private commission, I think, given public interest in us. We'll show them. A minute approval. I have the agenda in front of me if it would help. Yeah, minute approval. But I didn't get the minutes out to everybody. Oops. Yeah, sorry. We have January minutes that we need to approve. Last, last, last meetings and minutes were the ones. Is everybody have them. I don't have them. I don't have them. Do you know, do you remember who took the minutes in January? Yeah, me. I took the minutes. Yeah. Wait. I don't know. I don't know. I think there was a February meeting though. Right. February meeting. I took the minutes. Okay. But I sent them, I sent them to you, Jim. And I was hoping you'd know what to do with them. Well, Before, Before next meeting. Well, actually, I will be here. So. But before the next meeting. Jim, if you could send those out to everybody. Take a look at them and then we can. We could approve them. Right. And share report. I guess my report is that. Like today is my last meeting. I'm not going to be the chair anymore. We're so sad to see you going. I know there's part of this that like, I just love. But then there's, I've got like, my life is like a house on fire right now. And I just need to. Like really, really concentrate on my career. That makes sense. You'll be missed building a career. We hope that we can contact you with questions and such because we'll have questions. Yeah, definitely. Like I'm not falling off the face of the earth, but I'm definitely like circling my wagons. So. Thanks. I'm going to kick starting my new career. Yeah. Okay. So are you not going to be on the committee? Nope. I'm not going to be on the committee. There'll be a vacancy. Okay. So aren't they actually, so with, with you leaving first of all, thank you for everything you've done and best of luck. And then isn't there already a vacancy? No, I know. Not yet. No, no, there will be. No, because I thought, I thought someone joined and then immediately resigned. Yeah. Oh, you're right. You're right. You're right. I can't remember her name, but she was just. A very, very ephemeral member. Yeah, yeah. I forgot about that. I did too. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So there's a couple. You know, so. How do we go about filling these? Do we need to let the town know that they should be interviewing or what, what's the process for replacing. Members. In the past, there was like those interviews and such. But how they're going to do it now. I'm not sure like if they're going to pull from people that they already interviewed or. Should be as the town should be, should be contact. I've all, I've all, I've all, I've all in two to send an email to Angela Mills to ask with the processes. I will take care of it. Okay. Yep. I'm also going to be sending her an email saying, you know, like for real, I'm done. And. Tell her like. The offices that we nominate today. Which actually do we want to jump to nominations right now? Wait a minute. It feels like a good segue. Can you hang on just a second, please? I'm behind other minutes. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So are we all good with popping to nominations? And then we'll go back. And catch the other stuff. Sure. I feel like that's where our minds are at right now. All right. Well, I would like. To nominate Terry whole for chair. I believe that. She's a good candidate. In her own right. And also. I think that the fact that she is new. I think is actually a positive in this particular situation because there has been so much turnover in this particular position and the commission. That it would afford a great continuity for. Her entire years in office. So maybe I should go away while you guys talk about me. I can turn on. You can all say. Should I read my bio or does anybody want to read my, I can read my, I wrote up something to put on the website. If you want me to read it. Oh yeah. Could you send me a picture to go along with that too? Yeah. Yeah. So I could talk on the social media. Sure. Yeah. Okay. So this is what I sent to show to put on the website. You can read along with me if you want. I'm a photographer, graphic designer, web administrator. I work as a contractor in the arts and cultural sector. I was born in Massachusetts at marble head. And I spent years in Florida, North Carolina, Rhode Island. And I just moved here. You all know I'm brand new. I live here with my wife and my three children. I work in the background of communications and marketing. I worked in the travel and tourism industry and magazine publishing, writing and editing. I went to University of Florida school of journalism and I also worked on my MA in English and never finished my thesis. So I can't really say that I have an MA. Although I do. And. My passion is for making strategic partnerships. I want to, I want to brand our town. I want to brand our, the public art commission better. I want people to see what we're doing. I want to beautify our streets and our parks and activate more public spaces with music and art and dancing. And I really hope that we can work as a team on some of these goals. That's about it. And I can go away if you want to talk about me. You're fine. I think you're fine. We talk about you and say anything negative. We might get nominated ourselves. I'm happy to do that, Jim. Oh, no, no. Nice things to say. So are there any other nominations for any other candidates for chair? Nope. I'm moving close nominations. I guess we moved to vote. Okay. Okay. All in favor. Yes. Hi. Hi. All that's. No. All right. So by unanimous vote. Terry is now the chair of the art commission. Thank you. Have my back. All right. Congratulations. I hope you have like some kind of special drink for yourself tonight. All right. All right. And. Have we already officially. Put Robert as treasurer or should we do that now too? You should do that now too. Yeah, let's do that. Okay. I nominate. Robert. As treasurer because he's a finance guy. So do you know who you are? Do I have time for a bottle? No. Give us your reasons why you want to do this job, Robert. Well, as sure as I mentioned, my background and my career wise I am in finance. I'm the currently director of finance and administration for a. Community development cooperation in Cambridge. But previously I've worked in arts organizations. It's all in the nonprofit world. The reason I want to be on this commission in the first place was because I'm very interested in the intersection of the arts and community development, I think I should Terry's perspective and really wanting to innovate a lot of the areas downtown and really all over the city and kind of increase the presence of the public art commission so that people actually know that it exists and we have engagement from the community so looking forward to working on the strategic plan and moving forward. So, vote. All in favor. I, I, I, the nays. Oh, I actually Terry you should probably do this right. No. Well, I mean, I don't know. Should I know maybe maybe you can you continue doing great. I'll take over next time and all the nays to have any nays. Also unanimous it's decided. Thank you Robert. Thank you. Thank you. I won't even call for a recount. Right. And so moving back to poetic dialogue. Skip the cherry port. Well the cherry port was me leaving. All right. It was short and sweet. And we all cried. It's a real church worker. Bittersweet. Although one note on you guys talking about like visibility and stuff like that. It was an idea that we had. Before the pandemic hit that would be cool if we had like a logo so that we could put it on a pin so that when we go to like town. Things, you know, like maybe there's like a finance committee meeting and we want to go and show our presence there. We could all wear like a little pin on our. And so that's that show that like, you know, we're the art commission and we're here, you know, Yeah, that's a nice idea. So just a just an idea that we had. But then like, you know, the pandemic hit and it was completely irrelevant. To create a brand for us. And I think that's a good thing to put effort toward. Yeah, but okay, so poetic dialogue. I talked to Kamal Peters and he can get Robert Frost back in his spot for $550. Okay. And how much do we actually have at our disposal. Right. We have I don't know the specific amount, but it's like right around that amount. Oh, and I apologize to Sean. Did you, did you share with me a spreadsheet or some kind of documentation related to the accounts or account. Yeah. You did share that. Yeah, there's a spreadsheet in the Google group. So anytime you have a question. You can talk to Holly bow or Holly Drake is her name or Holly Drake. Okay. She's at the time. Yep. Yep. She's the town like she's, I think her official title is like assistant to the control or something like that. Okay. Yeah. So you look her up and might also say Holly Bowser, but that was her married name. She's divorced. Yeah. I don't know if I mentioned that. It's making me slightly nervous to commit to do something when we don't know we have the money to pay the bill. Right. Okay, well, I think that's the course of action. Yes. We really can't vote on this until we know we have the money in there. Why don't I send an email to Angela, I'll send an email to Holly and find out exactly what we have to our name here. I'd like to actually see if we can meet a little bit later in the month because we need to talk about the making it public, because we need to vote on it before April. So, um, later on in the meeting, I'd like to see if we can all decide on a date we can have a meeting. So at that time, we could also discuss this. That might give Robert enough time to find out how much we have in the bank. Okay. Great. It looks like a number 11 to me. Yeah. That's an 11. We'll call that a chapter 11. We're not at that point. I hope we are. I love you. We're there. I used to do them. Not for myself. I did them for clients. Town Hall Gallery. Yep. So I don't, I don't need to be voted in to that position, right? Good. No, we're just thrilled that you're doing this, Mikey. Well, thank you. Um, but the, right now for the town hall gallery, it's a four page form that's on the website. And I don't know if we can pull that up, but because since COVID, we haven't had a vetting of artists and we haven't asked participants to pay. And paid their 10% of anything they sell, which at this point, because I just got another person in for April, May and June. I didn't ask them to pay either, but I'd like to change the wording on the website. And so I wanted to make sure it was all right. Do you have the application pulled up on your computer? I can share a screen with you. I haven't printed out. I don't know. I think I send it to somebody. Did I send it to you, Jim? Oh, I don't think so. I haven't seen it for page application, but I haven't looked for it is it so it's on the public art website. So the public, the one that's there right now is on the public arts website. Okay. Hold on. Let me see if I can find my folder. So that one was changed on as of June 3 2021. It said due to COVID restrictions. Okay. I don't know if it was closed on March, June, July, but what it used to have as a whole workflow. Calling for artists during the applicants, coordinating the exhibits. But that also worked with the, yeah, all of that. I think I found it, right? Okay. But all of that information was. The arts night. We don't have arts night anymore. And that wasn't done through the public arts commission. That was with a whole nother group. They did the arts night. So. Just out of curiosity, who did that. Well, it was Amy Crawley, but who was also on the public arts commission. But she's now on the other committee that I'm on. And that's the Amherst historical society. So you basically got dissolved. Right. Yeah. You want edits this form. Is that right, Mikey? No, I rewrote it. So. I actually did it with Angela. And I'm great. Awesome. So let me see if I can. I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to do it. I'm just paging around on this. Okay. I'm just going to read to you what I wrote. Okay. We would like visual artists from around the pioneer valley to exhibit their work. At the Amherst town hall. We asked that you commit to at least a two months showing of your work. We have a hanging system of a movable hook on a painting rail. It's a metallic line cord, but not a fixed rod. The artist must provide a horizontal while or hook. On the back of their work for us to hook to the cord. And display there are, there are five display. Spaces in the front all. And then eight or nine hanging cords along the hallways. The town hall is open weekdays from eight to 430. We will put information about the display in the journal. The town of Amherst website. The quabin arts association. Amherst plain air society, lever arts and crafts. The local gallery North. Amherst as well as on Facebook. Please contact Mikey cutting. And my information. I've seen that. Yeah, I send it to you, Jim. And then the other thing I emailed to Jim and she said, I'm going to send it to you. Yeah, I send it to you, Jim. And then the other thing I emailed to Jim and Shoshana and asked some about is if we can't find. Artists. Which are pretty tough to do. Can we have. Museums like Emily Dickinson or. Amherst history museum or our Carl museum. Put information in about an exhibit that's coming up there. But I also understand that that might not work. Because I've talked to somebody that we're supposed to be on May 7th, the art show sort of thing by the bid that they're not doing. I'm sorry. They said that's not a good idea to invite museums. So why did they think it wasn't a good idea? Because we should really just focus on artists. I don't understand what we're, what are we trying to accomplish right now? So I'm trying to change the letter. So that they know that they don't have to go through a vetting process and they don't have to pay $100. And then 10% of everything that they sell. Because we don't have. We don't have a vetting process in place now. We're discussing changing the requirements for the town gallery. Right. Correct. Okay. Well, when you say we don't have a vetting process. What, what do you mean by that exactly? Well, according to the website, we had to they had. People had to apply by a certain date. And then I was never a part of this. I didn't hear what you said. Go ahead and show Shawna, you know more about this. That's right. Yeah. It used to be that like people would submit their applications and. We would have a jury and we'd pick like the six people that would be able to show and. Most of the time it was most of the people that would apply, but not always all of them. And so you did have to have. Like some choices being made. But since. It's like the attendance is very low in the. In the town hall now, and it didn't seem right to charge that money anymore. To show in there. It's like it used to be that there was like all these meetings and stuff, you know, and people were in and out. In, you know, seeing, there's a lot more eyeballs on the art than there is now. Sure. I think. How would an artist citizen find out that it was even possible. To be a part of showing in the town hall where, where is it advertised and it's available. It's on the website. So they would have to look. Right. The public arts commission website. So it's not ever advertised in local. Papers or local online stuff. It hasn't been to my knowledge, but I think it should be. If we change that, I'm assuming we'd get more. Artists. Also, I want to finish just one thing. I think it would be really nice to set up something that would invite. They. People of much younger, new, new artists like high school students. I agree. Like two or three times a year. Make it into a thing and then we can have a contact at the high schools all around. And make it into a really nice thing for some kids. Who are inspired to be artists. It'd be really nice. It's a great idea. And I suggest we back up and dispose of whether we're going to charge for it. And then I think this discussion right here. Is worthy of its own independent spot. Okay. So right now we, you, you want to ask that we, that we eliminate the whole pay us $20 for this. Okay. So that's something we should vote on. Right. Okay. And to accept this letter of. Just to put this in, in its place. In its place for right now until we decide on something else. I just don't want people to go to the site and say, oh my God, I have to do all of this and pay all this money. When that's not what we're doing right now. Okay. That seems, that makes a lot of sense. Right. Well, 20 bucks is so. No, it's a hundred. I don't think it's 20. I think it's. Oh, it says 20 on the site. It's a hundred said. Am I like, I'm like the right one, right? 20% commission. Or maybe I'll look at the wrong dollars. This is a $20 application fee. No, that's just the application fee. Then I think there's. For what I have. So would you want to keep the $20 application fee? No, not, I wouldn't think so right now. I think if we get back to something like this in the future, we should put something together. But. But my big feeling is, is not having an opening. For people's paintings and evening. Where people can come in and look at everything. I don't think we can be charging. So we asked you a question real quick. What does it cost us to put up all these paintings? Your work, but it's also. There's some hardware probably, right? It's already there. Every, all the hardware is there. They, the artist puts the work up themselves. Oh, okay. All we do is whoever are. So when a new artist comes in, we'll be having a new artist in April. And she's a photographer. So I will get her blurb and I'll send it to the person that. Does all the. Facebook and all that sort of thing. Okay. So they do the printing out for everything. Yeah. Pardon me. That's no cost for us than at all. I don't think so. No. It's amazing. Right. The only art we can have is paintings and things on the wall. It's a tiny space for three dimensional art. Right. Okay. This is a tiny space. It is. But it's tiny. But it's still nice. It's got a very pretty. It's great. Can I ask you another question? Why is the application on this. Version that I've seen on the screen. Sent care of the Jones library. I have no idea. It has nothing. I don't know. I don't know where it goes or anything or who would get it. I've seen that address being used for other forms. I think because. We have a mailbox at the Jones library. Like if someone wants to actually mail us something like. Like an actual like piece of paper or something like that. They can mail it to the Jones library. And we've got like a little box there that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You should probably read something we know about. We don't know about. We should. Terry, I want to. Terry, I want to have a meeting with you still about like all of like this little, these weird little things. That sounds great. And cause like there's a, there's other stuff too that. Like I just would like to have an actual like real meeting with you to like look at. And show you like the different things. And then we'll have a meeting. And then we'll have a meeting with you. And then we'll have a meeting separately from that. Okay. To figure out just a time. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Can we go back to the town hall exhibit space. Just so that we can get this letter to be put in. And then. Bill from there. If anybody wants to be on that committee with me, it'd be wonderful. We have. The fee yet. Pardon me. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know the spells of the fee, whether we're going to charge. Discuss that. And just a minute. I think Robert had a question. Yeah, thanks. Just in terms of understanding the process. So as an example, so the photographer you mentioned, who's going to be exhibiting. In April. You've. You've seen her work. Yes. Okay. I don't know. If I were to submit you review the work. I don't know what is the appropriate word to use. I guess to make sure that obviously we're not. Displaying anything that. I get it. I work in the school. Controversial material. Yep. Well, I mean art by its nature can be controversial, but I guess, you know, that would be. Universally offensive, I guess, if there is such a thing. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I guess. So there is some vetting in that regard. Right. I think there should be two people doing it. Does that make sense? That'd be great. I would love some help. That's too much of a burden for one person. Sounds like it. It is a bit nice to have two points of view anyway, different disciplines. Yep. I'm an artist of ceramics and. I think as we work to increase the size of our commission, we may try to attract more people who could do this kind of work. This as volunteers. I look forward to doing that. But for right now, Mikey, that's a big job. Right. Right. I know. So what, how do we feel about the whole vetting thing? I mean, if it's just you, which is a lot of work. Should we maybe as a commission vet this, that the entries, if there's more than one. We're hoping right now I'm searching for people. Okay. So I think. Probably we'll probably get more artists. Right. There's idea, which was a great one. Right. Well, yeah. But the problem with the local schools, I work at the high school. So that's a, and I'd love to get something out to the school. And get some of those students involved. But they also have an exhibit in the spring. At Amherst college. So what I'd love to do is. Like for next year, because we're going to have an exhibit in this year. Probably a month before put something up in like the front. All way of some of the students. About what's going to be. In June at Amherst college. Okay. To represent them. But yeah, I think it's a really good idea. And very important. Well, to get back to the vetting thing, it seems to me, it shouldn't be just one person just for any number of. Nothing to do with who the individual is. So if we can't do it with the volunteer, I mean, I'm a photographer. I don't know if I'm qualified to vet. Paintings. So if we can't do it. With one other person. So we have at least two. I think it should come before the commission. Even if it's a one entry. So I'm going to move that nothing gets hung unless it's embedded by at least two commission members. Or perhaps in that, the entire. Committee. Okay. Should I tell this. The person that's. Setting up in April that. Or no. I think that one is passed. That's. That's water over the bridge. Yeah. That's the next one though. The next time you have a call, I think part of her process. It's a really good idea, Jim. Right. This is what our, our, our juried process looks like. So we need to add that to this. I think we'll say in there that it'll be a gym. Can we say like your all entries will be reviewed. Invented by the commission or. Okay. So you have that. So please add that to it. Thank you. And I say that we decided that by acclimation. Right. And so maybe we should keep the $20 there too. Because we do need to make money. As Amy Crawley told me who used to do this. She said, this is how we made. Money. For the public arts commission. They might cover our costs a little bit. If we have to ever get DPW. It was 20%. When people are knocking when people are knocking on my door, I can charge, but when I'm knocking on their door, I don't know about the charging yet. Yeah. That's my issue too. Well, I would, I would suggest that. You know, when we get into the strategic planning process, we think about. In that context, how we're going to raise funds. I mean, there is grant money out there, et cetera. I. I feel like I don't know enough about this yet, but just superficially. It seems. Perhaps to undermine our attempt to encourage public art. If we're charging artists, you know, if we're trying to support artists, and then we're turning around and charging them $100. I don't think that's necessarily. And. Well, and anyway, I just think that's something that we need to explore. Oh, I agree. Whether it's in line with our values. I think it. I think it should be also. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. We should be charged until at least there's meetings at town hall. Cause like there's just not enough. Eyeballs coming through. That's true right now. Also, if, if they have to commit to two months. You're only talking about about a hundred. What? $120 or. You're not talking about a lot of money. Well, to an artist. It's a lot. No, it's. Mission. Right. Right. Raising money for the commission. We're charging artists $20. I don't think that's a. Great way for us to raise money. I agree with what Robert said. And I think it might be something that we vote on right now. And we, we, we talk about it again when we're doing more strategic planning. I think that's a great way to raise money. I agree with what Robert said. And I think it might be something that we vote on right now. But, but I think that's a great way to raise money. I think it might be something that we vote on right now. So, I think it might be something that we're doing. So, I think that's a great way to raise money for strategic planning. But I'm gonna move to eliminate any kind of fee for this, for this particular project for right now. Thank you. I set take off the $20 application for you all together. So anybody second me? Yeah. I second. Anybody against. Anybody everybody for. Yep. Okay. Okay. So much about the new letter. I'd love to see it. I like. I can't. I just send it to everybody on the commission. That'd be great. Right. Great. Don't, don't, don't discuss it. If you do that. Just send it. Yeah. Do you have my son to you and Shoshana a month ago, but I'll resend it. I know, but I didn't know that you wanted me to send it forward. From now on, if anybody sends me stuff, should I just have a policy of always sending it to everybody else? Yeah. That's great. Yes. Yeah. Whatever is right by the commission. I, I don't know that. Okay. I can deal with that. Yeah. If you send it to me, I'll be glad to be the conduit. Okay. All right. So if you send it to me, it's going to be sent out to everybody else unless you tell me to the contrary. Sounds good. All right. Thank you, Mikey. Sure. All right. Making it public is the next thing on the agenda. Hang on just a minute, please. Okay. While John is looking for that. I have put in the chat. I hope the chat is working here. A link to the making it public that we've come up with. And I want to read a thing. I don't see it in the chat. No, it's not in the chat. What I was trying to do is just make sure it was a little difficult to take minutes for, and I just want to make sure I didn't. Okay. Do we have anything about future? Did we just decide about that one exhibit that we're talking about? I don't, I don't remember talking. We haven't made a decision about future. Yeah. I'm good then. Okay. Okay. I'm going to keep looking for more artists. Okay. Okay. I wrote up. So I'm going to talk a little bit about the making of public art. I can't tell you will where we all are because I know you are all behind. Sorry. So last meeting. We talked about if we wanted to go forward with this and we all wrote a letter and said, we can't do this. And the town manager got back to us and said, well, not didn't you back to us, but contacted Gabriel Gould of the BID and asked her to be the director of the BID. And she's going to be working with us to make this a reality. So to that end. We talked and Lori Shoshona and I acted on the behalf of the commission to gather lots of facts from that meeting. And we talked to the representatives from, from any FA regarding this grant. And they said that we can indeed get an extension, which was like, yay. So we are still going, we're still moving forward. And I read, I don't know if I read, read all this by. Okay. I'm going to say, I'm going to read now. So we could have given up this opportunity for the 10 grand, but Gabriel already says she has a bunch of people who are very interested in applying for this grant. And so she was very much wanting us to push forward. So we decided, well, we didn't decide, but we came up with a plan to get more facts and write this up and continue as if we were moving forward. So Lori Shoshona and I worked on this call and I have a copy of it to send you to look at. We will be voting on this by the end of the month so that we can move forward. We were given a new deadline by any FA. We've been working with them for a couple of weeks now. I did want to say, we had to refocus our call. Our call was too general. We needed to make a call that was more in line with our mission as a commission. And reminder, our mission is to remote cultural diversity and improve quality of life for Amherst residents. So in the call, we decided to come up with a public art project or call for public art project that centers the experience of BIPOC people. And we also thought it more appropriate to offer it for Kendrick Park as a location. This is, we did this with lots of thought and lots of reading. And we changed some of the verbiage in our call to attract a higher number of proposals, hopefully including artists who find themselves on the margins in terms of their experience. And to make a call that's equitable for all artists. And the reason we did that was the whole making it public. Project. Is supposed to be something that opens up doors for people, for BIPOC people. So the call that we had written before really didn't, didn't do that because we didn't have the experience of the people who went and had that training. We didn't have them working with us. So, so this is what we came up with. I can share it with you so you can all take a look. I thought I put it in the chat, but apparently not. Let's see if I can do this now. Yeah, I thought I saw it in the chat too. Yeah. Okay. I see it there, but. Maybe you just sent it to, did you send it to host sand panelists? I don't know. I put, I put it in the chat and I see it in the chat, but maybe you don't. So. Can you please send me that by email because since you're displaying it to the meeting, I got to put it in the minutes. Yes, I sure can. Thank you. So since I can't share it, I just want to like read some of it. I can't. Okay. This is crazy. This whole zoom thing. I swear. It's in the way. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. There you go. Okay. So this is what we came up with. I'm just going to read the first part. Okay. I have it on screen here too. Amherst public art commission together with the BID, invites artists from the BIPOC community to submit applications for a single commission to create a temporary or semi-permanent artwork that recognizes the experience and culture of the black indigenous and people of color and Amherst. For installation in Amherst Kendrick Park. This opportunity is funded in partnership with the New England Foundation for the arts, the Amherst BID and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. And then I talk about the mission and core values, which I just read. APEC recognizes the value and potential of public art as a meaningful activator to support the downtown and village centers. That's a cultural destination. That's a cultural destination. And to help in live in public spaces. To that end, we seek artwork that recognizes the experience and culture of BIPOC people in Amherst. And the interconnectedness of our lives and futures. So this was kind of our refocusing. I'll send this to you all. And you can take a look at it. And we will vote on it a little bit later. We've been working pretty closely with Napa on it. So any questions so far? Yeah. So when we send this out, can somebody make sure to get a hold of an eco Lopez with ancestral bridges. They have an exhibit right now and Amherst College. And last year they had one at the Amherst History Museum. That was a very successful. And they might know of people too. That's great. I think if you'll. Gather that information and we can send that to Gabrielle. Yeah. She's going to be basically the one who is driving. This call for art is going to go out around April 3rd, I think. And it's going to have to go out with a big push for promotion. And she's going to handle all that because we are not qualified. Right. Another one that's, that's happening is the Cambodian. We're doing a big push at the. We're doing a big push for promotion. We're doing a big push for promotion. We're doing a big push for promotion. We're doing a big push for promotion. We're doing a big push for promotion. We're doing a big push for promotion. We're doing a big push at the Cambodian. We're doing a big push at the Amherst History Museum for next year. About the Cambodian community within Amherst. So I'll make sure to get those people. That's exciting. About it too. Great. So this will go out. We hope in the April, I'll send you the copy. We can take a look and we'll talk about it later, but we do need to set a date for when we can talk about it in a couple of weeks before the end of the month. Okay. Let's do it now. Okay. Do it now it's done. If you do it later, it might get done. Who has a calendar open? Let's. I do. You've got a calendar. Okay. I could go to a calendar. You'll see all my fun family stuff on this thing. Okay. Okay. Here's March. This is too personal. Okay. Some bills. Give me a calendar. I don't want you seeing my. I'm sorry. I got my own up. I'm not my own, but. We have. Let's see. By the end of the month. So can maybe a two weeks from today would be which date. The 20th. 20th. Is anyone not available the 20th at 6pm. Everyone's available. I'll look at your. I don't know. I'm looking. I am. Okay. March 20th. That's okay. I'm going to stop sharing my screen for just a minute. Look at my own calendar. Let's see. I'm free. That will work for me. Does that work for anybody else? Yes. For me. Okay. Great. 6pm. 6pm. Okay. Awesome. So you'll send out. Oh no. All right. I'm going to try to get back to my zoom, but this is so hard to find. That was April 20. I mean. March 20. I mean March 20. Yeah. Yeah, March 20. All right. Okay. So I would suggest that we send out that document. In advance. I will send out this document after our meeting. Okay. Okay. That's good. Okay. So there's that. What was the next thing on our list? When we skip the treasure report. I have nothing to report at this moment. Hopefully by the next meeting, I'll at least know how much money we have in our account. Okay. So the next thing is North common public art then. Let me just double check. Can I ask a question about the meeting? Terry, I know in a previous communication, I think it's April 20. I think it's April 20. I think it's April 20. In person meetings at some point, but I don't know if you want to entertain that. I am totally entertaining that. And we'll talk about that too. I would love for, I think it's April is when we. As a state. Entity do not have to continue having remote meetings. I think that. Begins in April. And I got to check with. Like the legality, but I think that's when this ends. I think we're going to have a meeting. I think we're going to have a meeting. I think we're going to have, I think we're going to have a meeting. If we are okay with having like maybe every other month meeting in person. If that works. We'll totally, we can talk about that. But I would love to meet. Like maybe have our April meeting. Maybe we can have that in person. Yeah, we're having. I knew, I don't even know where we met in the past. So who knows that. The Jones. Is there a town place? We know it. The town hall. There's a spot. There's a town hall in the corner downstairs. Oh, exciting. I love it. I can show you all this stuff when we meet. Okay. That'd be great for people to see the town hall gallery. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Fantastic. I would love to meet in person and can we eat there? Can we have coffee and stuff? Yes. Awesome. Okay. So what I'd also like to do. This isn't, I'm really on the calendar. On the agenda, but. Yeah. So we need to figure out a more regular date for a meeting that is more like, we know every third Monday we meet, or every third Wednesday or. Of the month or, you know, like a more regular ones. We don't have to do a doodle poll because I need to put it on my calendar and have it be solid. So can we agree on a day of the month that works better for everybody and a week of the month so we can just kind of nail that down. Good idea. For me, the third. Okay. Wait, first Thursdays are off the schedule for me. I've got another meeting for that. That day. So. Yeah. I have a Tuesdays. I think it's the second. Tuesday of every month that I have. Amherst history museum. Meeting. Okay, so that's not going to work. Okay. Tuesday. Tuesdays don't work for me. I don't know if that works for an in-person meeting or not. We used to meet during the middle of the day. I can't do that. Can't do that. I'm sorry. I can't do that either. So Monday's seem to work for. Monday's do seem to work. I would propose continuing with Monday's. First, first Monday's. What, what time are we talking about? Six to seven 30 ish or. I don't know if that works for an in-person meeting or not. We used to meet during the middle of the day. I can't do that. I can't do that either. That's fine with me. I don't have a problem with it, but who, when we decide. When we talk about meeting at the town hall, we need to find out if they, if that's an issue or not an issue. Well, if it's ever an issue, and if we need a space. Let me talk to the president of the historical society. Maybe we can meet. And there it's freezing, but. I think I could go earlier. I think it's going to be a little easier than you could. You guys can all. I think Jim. I could easily talk to the president. I think if you're going to meet in person, it should be at the town hall. Right. And. I think it's fine after five, but I'm just footnote. Let's just make sure before we show up there in the doors. Well, I know the tree committee. I don't know. I think. Would meet from five 30 to. Like six 30 or so, you know, up to seven o'clock. But after seven, I don't know. I do remember us having one meeting. That. We had a run in with the janitor. Remember that. I don't know what to do. Well, I was, I was on the historical commission years ago and we met in the evenings at town hall. So I think it is possible. But anyway, it would be good to confirm that. Can we meet like until seven or until seven 30, what is the usual time we have to. Finish. So what I came from Arlington and when we had meetings in Arlington, we had to fill out a form. And so we would fill out a form and would say. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do until seven 30. And then they would schedule, you know, to have a custodian there. So is that what we have to be here in Amherst? Why don't we figure this out with meeting in two weeks? Why don't we have somebody find out what the requirements, possibilities are with the, with the town hall. And then we can set the date based on the information that we have. Okay. Excellent idea. Anybody be in charge of that. I don't mean to do that. I can do it. Okay. Just a minute. Let me join right down this in a minute. Great. So we agreed first Mondays of the month work and hopefully at town hall. We can do every other month or we can start doing being in person every month. It's all, all what we decide. This format still works for lots of folks. And it's opens it up to a lot of people and it's accessible. So if we want to continue kind of. You know, we might do, we would decide to do it, you know, every other month. So that'd be great. How accessible is town hall? Cause I see a lot of stairs. Is there an elevator? Just an elevator. It's an elevator. Okay. Great. And the elevator works. Yeah. Great. Great. Okay. I haven't seen that. Fantastic. All right. Let's see what we didn't do making it public. We did. They making it public. All right. Retreat meeting. So that would probably not be our April meeting or April meeting. It's going to be a regular meeting, but I would love to have. It would be a not a regular monthly meeting unless you wanted it to be where we can spend a little more time. Doing some more strategic planning. And I'd like to. I'd like to try to bring in some other representatives from other organizations. And if you have. Contacts with other organizations that you would like to bring on board, I'd love to reach out to those people. I'd like to grow our commission and have more volunteers. And I feel like we're a bit siloed. So I'd like to. I think I'm not the only one to say this. I think we need to bring in some other voices. So. Go ahead, Robert. I would agree with that. I'm just wondering about. Does it make sense for us to meet first as, as the commission to talk about it? Because we haven't really. Had much time among ourselves to, to, to dig into the strategic plan process. And I very much like the idea of task force and, and bringing in, you know, there's so many artists in the community. And the university, you know, the colleges, I mean, there, there are lots of opportunities to bring in a lot of interesting voices. So I think I have my preference would be for us to have a conversation first about that. Before. You know, the first time we talk about it is with a lot of other people too. If that makes sense. I figured we would talk about it in the equal meeting anyways, but I agree with you. Well, if we can just make sure that we carve out enough time in the agenda, because it often feels like, you know, there are all these. Other items that we have to address. And then we run out of time. So if we can. And maybe I mean, I don't know what else is, what else will be on the agenda. At the next March meeting, if we want to devote a good chunk of that to this idea, because I, I just feel like the sooner we start really. Getting our hands into the strategic plan process. You know, the rest of our planning. The year will. I think be easier in many ways because I still feel like right now we're chasing. After projects and I, it doesn't feel very well coordinated. I don't feel like we have a clear idea of our direction. So. Okay. I was, I was considering just bringing in a few, just like that, like perhaps the Amherst BID because they're partnering with us on this project. And also inviting the town manager and, you know, some other just kind of more town of Amherst folks, maybe not organizations yet. I agree with you on that part. I'm open. I mean, that's, that's just my opinion. I'm open to what other people think. I'd rather have a plan before we bring on a whole bunch of other voices. That's true. And. I think maybe we should have a special meeting just for the strategic plan. Cause I think it's. So that would be in addition to a monthly meeting or take a place of a monthly meeting. And we just, well, the question is, can we set the next monthly meeting. For that purpose with nothing else on the agenda. Can we get away with that? So we're meeting on three 20 or. Probably voting on the MIP and also voting on the language for the town meeting gallery. Call. I guess we're calling it. And then we're going to be meeting on. April. What is the first? I don't have my calendar up now. April 3rd. April 3rd. Okay. April 3rd is the day that the MIP will go public. I think. That's. So that's the meeting you want to have at the town hall. That would be cool. If we could. Yeah. But let's just focus on, is that the meeting? We're going to have the entirely devoted to the strategic plan. Plan. So that's up to you. So that's up to us. My only worry is the portal gallery that we've got to get in. So I'm just wondering if we should. Make sure that that's taken care of before we do the strategic plan or just so we don't miss out on that. Okay. What is the time. What's that information? The portal gallery. The money has to be spent by June. Whoa, we better do that next. Money has to be spent by June. That was my worry. So I think. We should have a special meeting. Has to be executed by June, but it does like. Have to be spent by June. Okay. So Jim, you're saying you want to have a special meeting or just this. Yeah, I think we better. Well, yeah, I definitely think for the strategic plan, we kept talking about it for several meetings and we can't do it because of all this other stuff. So we need a special meeting for it. Do we all feel like we have time for a special meeting to spend a few hours and try to think about. More strategic ways of doing this job. I know Laura, you've got a pretty full schedule. I mean, I think we all do, but. I mean, it depends on when we. If we can find a time that works for everyone, and then I can commit to that. Okay. Do we want to look at like making maybe like a mid April or. For the end of April. This is for the strategic. This is for strategic. Yes. Okay. Let's see. So the week of the 21st is. Spring break for the school. So I'll be at that. Amherst history museum all week. Putting up an exhibit. So if you need me, you can steal me for an hour in the evening, but. Or two, but. So in a perfect world, this would be a Saturday or Sunday thing that we could spend a few hours if. I can't. Okay. I know. It's a hard. Yeah. No, no, it's fine. We can look at another week. Because the, during the week, I can't. I can't commit too many hours because I got kids, but weekends, I can. What about the eight. Of April. Nope. That would be two meetings in one week. That's a lot of a pack. Yeah. I think I have an audit. I think I have a guest here from out of town. I think I have a guest here from out of town. That weekend. What about the 15th? That doesn't work for that weekend. I can't do. What about the 22nd? Oh my gosh, I'm in New York. I'm sorry. Don't be sorry. It's okay. You want to do it on a Sunday. I could do the weekend of the 29th. Of April, but we're getting, we're pushing. I don't mean, you know, I don't want to push you out. Yeah. So could I, could I just ask again? So March 20th. What the agenda items are just votes. We're going to be voting for the final, we hope. Call for artists for them making it public. After any FA gives us our approval for the go ahead. We have to approve it as a commission before we can get our first lump of money. So that's, well, I mean, how long. That's probably not going to be a very long meeting. I'm going to be sending you the documents beforehand that you can look over. And it's going to be a pretty, pretty quick. So at this point, we'll have the documents review ahead of time. There's been a lot of work done on it since the first draft. Right. Yeah. So. I mean, given that everyone has very full schedules and that meeting is already on the books, can we, can we devote, you know, an hour. That night to at least sort of flesh out a preliminary plan for how to move forward, because, you know, getting into late April, May. We're just, we're losing, we're losing a lot of time. Okay. What do we think about that March 20th? We're going to have a remote meeting, but we could meet in person. Yeah. I mean, we can still do remotely. I just, I just, I just think that. The sooner we start on it, you know, because it will take some time to. I think that's a good idea. Okay. So we're also voting on that one on the town hall. Right. No. Right. Yeah. Okay. But that takes two minutes. Yeah. Those two items should take very, very, not very long at all. Okay. Yeah. I think that's a good idea. Yeah. When you're thinking about the strategic planning meeting. Is somebody going to develop an agenda for that meeting? I think Robert and I are going to come up with some kind of a plan. Right. Okay. Robert, that was my assumption. Okay. That would be really great to have something. I will have an agenda in hand for us for, for talking at that meeting. So we'll have our points, you know. So why don't we have it on March 20 and just say, we can't put anything else on the agenda and nothing else, but what we just said. Great. And in that agenda, will that include the portal gallery? Probably voting on the draft, which I'll share with you in a few minutes. I have a draft made for that. So. I don't know. I don't know. That probably I'm. Gosh, now, now that meeting is getting too big. So maybe we should leave the portal gallery to the next. To, to April 3rd, April 3rd. Okay. I think that's a great idea. Oh boy. Approving a call for artists tonight might be a good idea. And so that can get pushed out. Okay. So that's a great conversation. So March 20th. We're meeting at six o'clock. Why don't we say we're meeting six to eight. Six to eight 30. Is that okay with everybody? I know that's a little late. I'm sorry, but I really want to respect your time. Yep. Okay. Be there for as long as you can be obviously if you've got other commitments, they understand. And then April 3rd. I can't take minutes because my computer is frozen. I'm about to lose everything. I just. No. I think. So Tara, you said the other time is April 3rd for something. April 3rd. Yep. And that's in person. That will be in person at town hall. Right. Jim is going to get back to us and tell us if that's going to work. So the thing is, is the, um, actually we could wait for the town hall, um, information till then too, because we'll be there in person. Okay. So we could have just two things on the 20th. Okay. That would be probably be easier not to overload us. Wow. Are you all right, Jim? No, I'm not. My computer is frozen. I cannot save my file. Well, while you're doing that, I'm going to just bring up the next, the next thing if that's okay. I can't be somebody else take notes for the mean in the meantime. Okay. I'll take poorly notes, but I can't really know. Let's see. I can't. Okay. On the screen here, we have. Um, a draft open call for artists. I took an old call. My dog is being crazy. Um, I took an old call that I found in a file from the file. So she shouldn't have gave me. So this is what I came up with. I will also send this to you. This is very drafty. And this is my not understanding where this even is. So. By the way, thank you, Robert, for sending me that video. That was really helpful. Sure. I came up with this is just based on what I, what I found. I just copied the exact same language. I don't know how this was promoted because I don't know anything. So I think when we promote this, we'll have to, we'll have to have a plan and we'll use our Facebook page. We'll ask the town to put on the website. We'll try to put it some other places. I think we should print it and bring it to a few places around town. And we should get some, uh, some, some nibbles on this one. Okay. I'm good. May I ask a question for those in the no, uh, in terms of the dimensions. It's tiny. Yeah. But. It's not 10 feet by three and a half. Ten inches. That's to be. Okay. So we need, we need to, okay. That's what I thought. Cause I was looking at that. I thought that space is not. No. No. Okay. Good call. Good call. So are we going to keep it that it's only for local or regional, regional being? How far away. Uh, I think Quaban and, um, Hampshire, like the Hampshire. What we call the Quaban. Area. And when you say regional, what do you usually mean? You guys lived and lived here longer than I. Regional would be the happy valley. I love that word, by the way. I love that. It used to be the pioneer valley. So I think we should probably use the words pioneer valley, but I really don't. I don't think they used it anymore. Bob and art. Uh, I don't know. Excuse me. Now we're on the portal gallery call for artists. Yes. I can take notes now. I didn't lose everything. I have a question, please. Um, since you were talking about the art dimensions. Well, is somebody going to interpret that to mean that each one has to be. That different. Dimension. Or just within that dimension. Do you know how it would be interpreted? I think that we'll have to make this clear that there are, I think there are five windows and these are the dimensions of the windows. And that's going to be the exterior. But the art doesn't have to make it be exactly the dimension that. It can be smaller, but I don't think it. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to see. You're going to see a lot of ugly background. I know it depends on the kind of artists. If it's a metal artist, they can build something. Like a diorama. But I'm just suggesting the minimum size. They should fill up the window because that place is ugly. Right. I have a. Sorry. Did I interrupt someone? I apologize. You're good. Okay. So. Unless I miss something on Sunday when I was there, isn't it just that one. Side of the structure. Yes. So then it seems like the site is not that description is not the same. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't figure it because it says that. The concrete sidewalls. It says walls, plural. It's really just one wall. One wall. Yeah. Straight from the old stuff that maybe it was wrong. I don't know. Well, unless I miss something, I didn't see the five large panels. I saw five small panels that look to be the same size. Rectangles. Yeah. Is that correct? Yeah. I think it has something changed. You're like little windows. Yeah. They're little, but it's only on one. It's only on one side, right? Correct. Okay. So. I just. I think the description needs a little. Okay. Great. So the site. I have the site wrong. And Tristan Amherst underground garage, is that correct? That first part. stairwell it's right by the stairwell it's not underground it's on the top side but it's right where the um it's on the outside of that stairwell yeah maybe maybe um i mean they look like five little windows to me i couldn't make sense of what i was looking at right i agree that's right they are like little shadow boxes like they are little shadow boxes that's why i found an artist in Boston as deep as they are wide okay so should i eliminate this sentence or is that is that what's causing the confusion i think the panels is causing they're not really panels are they they're not no no they're not no what do i use then shut boxes windows i would say portals they they are in fact portals i mean that's the portal box is why the portal window box yep and i think changing side walls side walls to go look at this space that's right it's one wall i've been there yeah okay the concrete sidewall of the car entrance is divided into is this sounding better um okay uh project and take out five salt panels on each side they're not on each side oh yeah right okay so how is that entrance sandwich undergone it's not of the car entrance okay it's um the it's the it's up on top it's the elevator entrance it's the elevator entrance but it's outside of it it's not inside there it's outside of the elevator entrance so um maybe would actual structure has a name but i don't know what the name of it is i'll look it up can you see the street the street level the street level of the entrance to the underground parking or is that too over here like the much of a mouthful here yeah there's two entrances well it's part of the problem of the whole space is that like no one can even describe it it's indescribable that's why it's unique uh huh i i don't even think you need to say that the walls divided because the walls not divided they're just these little portals stuck in the wall it's called the poem windows so are amorce art windows were offered views on tiny interactional worlds according to the Hampshire Gazette hold on yeah i think like just you know yeah the portal window boxes and then we can throw in the measurements i just okay um i think yeah i think um yeah maybe we should work on this like yeah it said both would approach fragments of locally come oh no that's that would arrange probably it says here to create an artwork for unique in the first sentence unique installation inside amorce centers yeah i got the garage it's really small south facing windows where i think i would say at the amorce center both would garage because it's not inside oh yeah it says it says what they are is five small south facing windows at boltwood yeah i would say we should in there we should also write that there is access to electricity in there yeah okay yeah because that you know for illumination and there was some motion there once i think i remember right yeah god it seems like this sounds so ugly i feel like i need some wording here well but i i mean the reality is someone's going to have to go take a look at it anyway i am not sure we should labor over the language quite this much i mean i think this is more accurate than it was before and yeah maybe we even put in the description okay i got it our artist encouraged to visit the site right right i got what is on the boltwood plaza say it again mikey sorry okay it says the portal gallery consists of five small south facing windows on the head house above boltwood garage small slower i am not that fast portal gallery consists of five keep going small south facing windows on the head house head head house head house with the house people are going to think it's a one word above boltwood garage okay i went on the head house at the entrance nope above boltwood garage wow okay so shona wasn't there something about winter time or some issue about did i hear you say that yeah they fog yeah like originally there was it was like these ipads that were put in there or something it was actually a like a predecessor to an ipad i think even and there was like this poetry and like the first time there was a hard freeze they all died and they just sat there as like these dead ipads were like 10 years and then um you know just a couple years ago we revamped it and put in this new stuff and started it again the guys that they had in there after they the one the first one it says was called the poem windows and those are the ones she's shoshana's talking about and the one after that was um benjamin coden cowded it c o w d en was the first one to display work so are there any images i mean i'm so glad the robber gave us this this um this um video but is are there any photos that of old like projects i don't i don't have it would be great if we could have like some kind of a picture to show people where this is i'm assuming like we have like um when we talk about our assets for the town of amherst for public art i'm assuming we have pictures oh there's a picture you've got a picture mickey all right cool send that to me send it yeah i need that i need that picture and i need that call for the minutes please send the picture boy okay now that's nice all right i'm gonna share this with all of you so that you can give me more information i think unfortunately there's some infrastructural challenges in the uh in the gallery that's an understatement robert oh my god well i couldn't i couldn't get close enough to the windows to pure in because every moving from window to window to window i was consistent consistently dripped upon by the the melting snow from the rooftop wow and i thought this is a problem they should say require use incorporate umbrellas into your yeah we should make sure there's an umbrella stand nearby is the award amount accurate i don't think so i don't know well in the um in in this thing it said 2000 but shoshana said three right well the grant amount was for 2000 oh 2000 okay that's what the article said so we're putting it for the entire 2000 or is there some like uh other last time we we kept some of the money for entertainment for well also if we have to buy paint i mean it says that we we we give them the paint and we also have oh okay this is this is pretty old that i i did find this like from 2009 i think i think that's when it was the um poem portals okay that's when it was called that i don't know what the paint is for but there is a sign so the sign would probably be redone right but somebody has to create a there was a there was a sign there you know that described what the uh the work carry what's your address i mean your email t l h o l t at gmail.com okay thanks i'll send it to you first just thank you get it okay okay so we don't give them special concrete provided by the commission then now we could get get rid of that entire media thing like that under specifications that whole media thing could just be gone okay um uh i picked a theme you all can we can decide on something else i just came up with this we can decide on this um celebrating the people and businesses of downtown amherst that's i thought that was an idea but we can certainly come up with a different one um and uh i put no religious political or commercial proposals will be accepted that seemed appropriate and uh as far as the judging i'm assuming we would be the people judging so just our commission um and then winning proposals will be presented to the select board because that's kind of a thing it's a public place so they probably have to approve um i don't know the cost of the signage that so i don't i'm not sure what the award should be if it's a two thousand dollar grant what is the cost to put up a sign i'm really not sure yeah i don't know about the select board thing i don't think they've got enough time in their schedule to be looking at this kind of stuff really yeah okay yeah i think i would take that out too okay all right uh i'm assuming just for consistency uh for consistency should it be the Amherst public art commission since we referred to as public art at the beginning yeah yeah so in this one article that i have about the gentleman who had the poems on the windows um there was an information thing on the wall wow when he did it so okay like that so that all that information went to you okay so yeah there's still there's still a sign up there now or yeah but i couldn't tell if there's actually any art in that huh i couldn't see here okay should we talk to DPW about taking that down does DPW do that well i think once we get the new artist okay we would put it in that space it's a little it tells who the artist is who did the stuff for the portals so i think it's a little space for that all right so right now the submission requirements specifies paintings right it shouldn't be paintings okay it should just be anything because you can do all kinds of really cool things at that portal okay so the design it could be a video it could be right i catching colorful works of art but i took um i did take painting okay yeah because the guy who did install the Ben Cowden he did like this kinetic art sort of thing with like kind of integrating the viewer in with the projects with these different things and it was like like toys too it was it was very fun i have a i have a question about uh in terms of the statement about the design celebrating the people and businesses of downtown timers we can totally change this as a commission i just came up with something yeah i well that would be commercial yeah yeah and i don't even know i understand what political means but i don't know what religious means religious religious i think if we had people submitting art with crosses etc that might be considered religious and inappropriate or does it say religious it says no religious political i see it i don't know that you can say that like that because it it's it's censoring content in a very like vague way it's a good way to get into a political furor whether you can or not okay i think okay so i think what we should do is not say it but then do it okay okay so i changed the first part celebrates the people of downtown amherst that could be changed or just that's plenty okay um yeah i think that's efficient without the businesses of downtown amherst right okay and then art dimensions that's what i found i don't know if this is correct we'll have to kind of go with a measuring tape i think and then we have i catching colorful works of art uh take this out i mean oh this one we don't need does it even necessarily have to celebrate the people of downtown amherst i mean no i don't know it could be celebrate amherst it could be do we want to come up this is part of that just i just i catching colorful works of art so exactly and our first sentence i would call correctly to put that stuff in about the people and business for for them of accrued relation purposes i i i guess i don't understand the public i think you can i think you can just take it out actually and just end the sentence that you know a unique installation right at the amherst center boltwood garage and so the unique installation is what we're looking for something interesting okay yeah i agree okay that's good and or somebody asked for it to be consistent so the in the specifications the first unbolded part would be the public amherst art public art commission public amherst public art committee yeah thank you but then that same that same sentence it would just be colorful works of art right right yeah yeah i don't even know why colorful has to be i mean that's true if someone wants to do black and white photography i think eye catching is fine we're engaging if eye catching or engaging i think it engaging yeah is that better we good right now we have and then under submission requirements sketch a proposed get your proposed artwork to scale with dimensions and a four yeah okay award is uh we say 1500 yeah 1500 and we'll have to do it um there will be need to be a description put on the wall and then put the deadline of may 14 so we can get them paid before june uh so i'm putting the comma between the one and the five i as a finance option i just have to insist on i think you got it um she's showing uh um do we have to have it paid out by june first or by the end of the financial year which should be the end of june um because the new fiscal year starts july one yeah they just said like by the end of spring which i interpreted as the um you know summer solstice being the deadline um i will contact them for a little harder of a of a date okay okay and you can tell me that when we have our meeting so is our email amherst arts commission at gmail.com yes okay not amherst public arts commission for now okay i made a new one but i i haven't quite decided to put it out there just yet because i'm gonna have stuff in the old one so okay application form name address telephone email address and then in the bottom part here um they can also this is i guess the mailbox that we'll have to check um this hole if you wish to have your materials returned i don't know if we need that we need do we need that yeah if they want it returned they have to have a self-adjusted envelope yeah that's in good if they want it back so here's that thing where we're trying to make things equitable we need to have an online form and also a wait for people to send in their applications in person if they don't have you know computer access so this is what i'm this is trying to accomplish uh i wouldn't mind making an online form for this like we're doing for the making it public but i don't know if that's something that we should do or or if we just go with this this is very simple it might be too simple because people really want to do an online form a lot of folks but then also having this as well for people who don't have computers so i'm not sure what you you all think i would do both yeah have one online and have one that we can go to the jones library and pick up so to make it online is that something i would put i would ask our person on the who does the the website i don't even know yet um to create one or would i make one on google forms i just put in a url here it says go here to fill out the form what are other organizations doing in amherst for their calls and information are is everyone else doing forms we do in arlington we we do a lot of google forms is that something that's still appropriate here in amherst google forms or i feel like it's different for every project that i've done okay you know so i can't i can't really say if there's some sort of like you know standard thing i kind of wonder why you know has any of the ways we've done it seem better i gather we can't get anything on the channel website we can't get town email or anything like that so um i'm used to doing google forms for calls that's something or or you could say uh contact us at amherst our commission for an application and we send them are you really sure what to do pick up somewhere in here we need to say where they get this application right right yeah you can pick it up and pick it up at the at the library and we'll make copies and bring it to the library is that what we can do yeah if they'll agree can we not could we not post to this a pdf on i mean so that people can download it i can we can we do that to the onto the our our commission website can we ask them to do that all right that's what i would recommend okay i i do not know the people yet at the who do the town of amherst website i don't even know who to talk to to show now i'm sure you do my first line of defense is always talk to and talk to who if she can't do it she knows who can angela okay all right i'll ask angela that i asked why we're changing the name of the amherst public arts commission and our various things did i mess it up again somewhere no we we're calling ourselves that i thought i saw somewhere amherst art commission we fixed it we did it was staying yeah it was just a pretty good email it's that's the only place it's not fake yeah right okay well this is the email we have right now but i'm i'd like we're changing it but yeah we haven't done it yet okay so otherwise this looks okay all right all right thank you for working with that with me that's great i'm gonna i now have shared this with all of you and your emails so that you have a copy of it and we will go forward with this when we talk on march 20th and so we'll have that notes our april third we will we will vote on this okay yep yes robert um i don't want to extend the meeting any longer than it needs to be and maybe this can be a conversation for when we talk more about the project but um you know having visited the site um if one doesn't know it's there you're not gonna know it's there um and i i think if we're really going to promote this project um you know i i think it's it's worth talking about how to um how to figure out how to get people to actually see it you know because um it's it's just not well um the last time we had a party and it was a pretty well attended party like an opening ceremony kind of thing it was the middle of a pandemic right right but after after the party um i mean how long will the installation be what's what's the what's the time frame i can't remember is it a year or how long is this usually up shashana uh well we only did it the one time and it was up for i think four months maybe that's it right yeah it was a very very um okay but again and maybe this is more in the context of the strategic plan too but it's just yeah you know that that walkway that i i sent the photo of it it is a walkway first i thought it was just an alley but i think it is was intended as a walkway because there's a big lamp there and the sight line is directly to the portal gallery if you're standing on main street looking toward the parking lot you're staring right there and it just seems like you know those walls have the potential to be murals or something that's going to engage engage someone who's walking down main street to want to make a left turn there and walk down that walkway and end up at the portal gallery so i just think that you know figuring out with the restaurants what what are they going to do with their dumpsters or can someone create a structure to cover the dumpsters that can be painted on you know it just seems like there's an opportunity there and maybe this is something to talk with um Gabrielle Gould about vid um yeah that just that's that seems like a waste of space so i mean yeah it's just a really narrow call gal i mean it's a really narrow walkway really really narrow and no it's not that narrow no it's actually yeah i'm going to say it's kind of near no the planning department when we were doing this project it was actually hand in hand with the planning department they were like revitalizing that area but they wound up like cutting it way short then um then they had planned because like they were supposed to be putting in like all these new um like shades and um picnic tables and stuff like that and like there's this whole plan and i'm not sure whatever happens to like that whole thing but like it would be worth it if anyone was interested in like you know really taking on the revitalizing to see if like you could shake that tree again and find out from the planning department like what happened like what because like it was supposed to be part of that you know they put in that new ramp back there and um it was supposed to be part of that project but it turned into just the ramp and not not the space in front of the portal gallery and that alleyway okay interesting yeah okay it would be a great space to to have some signage even if you had to say go this way for their boatwood gallery um and it would be a fantastic place for murals and that's something i really want to kick start is getting some more murals in this town they're really they're huge all over the place yeah i'm with you on that one yeah we need we need we need some murals i love murals go in the school go in the high school oh yeah we've got a mural uh going in right now that's awesome i think we should probably do some kind of a um a survey to our town and ask if people are interested in a mural project so that we can get interest and that way we can go in front of the fincom and say hey we need money because people want murals and you know write some grand murals um on the back side of working more with the bid is going to be good for that too because the bid's got a mural project that they've been um cooking for a while too that's very exciting okay um anybody else on anything else on this project we're good all right so looking at our agenda shoshona we're are we are we good yeah we're good love to let people go i'm thank you so much for all your time guys i know this was a longer one i'm i'm respectful of your time i don't want to get back to your your lives shoshona i i let's talk about scheduling and in the meantime we're just really grateful for all the work you've done for the commission and we're so sorry to see leaving kind of leaving and please please come back anytime you want to hang out with us pick your brain thank you yeah i'll send you an email bye everybody all right thank you everyone bye bye have a good few weeks see you soon bye bye we're adjourning yeah i guess we are we're adjourning yep oh i guess we should have done the whole voting to adjourn it will be in the minutes i seconded in 43 we adjourned all in favor yes all in previous all good okay thank you guys bye bye