FLORIDA ARTS COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
April 3, 2008
Tallahassee

In Attendance:

I. Call to Order
Chairman James Shaw called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m.

II. Introduction of Council, Staff and Guests
Mr. Shaw asked the Florida Arts Council, department staff, and audience members to introduce themselves.

III. Adoption of Agenda
Chairman Shaw announced that Stephen Hogge would not be able to attend the meeting and asked that item 10B, Public Art Inventory/Guide, be postponed to the next meeting. Mr. Shaw also asked that the agenda items requiring a motion be handled first. Jacqueline Bradley moved approval of the agenda as amended, with Jon Ward seconding. The motion carried.

Note: for consistency purposes, these minutes will follow the order of the original agenda.

IV. Chairman’s Comments
James Shaw thanked all the Council members for their hard work and support over the last several weeks. He reminded the members that they need to be year-round advocates and help educate the Florida Legislature and their staff on the importance of arts funding – be relentless.

Discussion ensued regarding the following:
• Inviting Legislators to become involved in local art projects;
• An idea of creating a video regarding the importance of arts funding in
     Florida and uploading it on the YouTube Web site; and
• An idea of creating a scratch-off lottery ticket for the arts.

Following discussion, the chairman asked for volunteers to serve on a task force to address these ideas.

Dedicated Funding Task Force
Tim Deratany, Chair
Don Browning
Xavier Cortada
Janeen Mason
Jim Shaw

V. Department of State Update
• Division Director Sandy Shaughnessy began her comments by also
   thanking the Council members, as well as the cultural constituency, for
   their support of the Division and its budget.
• She welcomed new Council members Xavier Cortada and Jon Ward.
• Ms. Shaughnessy met with the Florida Film Commissioner, Lucia
   Fishburne, to discuss future partnerships, including a possible digital
   media workshop for individual artists; and she has been appointed Vice
   Chairman of the board for the Southern Arts Federation, as well as
   Chairman of the Programs and Services Committee.
• The Division is not just about grants, the Division is Florida’s official
   state arts agency. All states and territories have a state arts agency.
   The Division administers many non-grant related programs such as the
   Capitol Complex Exhibition Program, Hispanic Heritage Month, Black
   History Month, etc.
• Florida plays a major role on the national level with its model programs
   such as cultural facilities and arts in medicine.
• To date, the Division has received over 500 grant applications. In
   response to House proviso language in their appropriation bill, the
   applications have been categorized by those having components that
   reach children, seniors, the underprivileged, the underserved, and
   those with disabilities.
• Ms. Shaughnessy announced two upcoming conferences
   1. The LEAD Conference, August 21-24, at the Broward Performing
        Arts Center
   2. Cultural Heritage Tourism Alliance, November 5-8, in Delray Beach

VI. Approval of Minutes
Xavier Cortada moved approval of the November 2007 meeting minutes, with Tim Deratany seconding. The motion was approved.

VII. Guest Speaker(s) on Agenda by Special Request
No requests for appearance before the Council were received.

VIII. Business Items
A. Review of Florida Arts Council Meeting Calendar
Chairman Shaw reviewed the upcoming Florida Arts Council meeting dates. Discussion ensued regarding the upcoming scheduled to take place via conference call. Following discussion, Don Browning moved to hold meeting in person rather than by teleconference, if the budget allows. Tim Deratany seconded the motion, which passed.

Xavier Cortada suggested the possibility of meeting in Miami during Art Basel, November 2009. Jacqueline Bradley suggested inviting key legislators to attend as well.

B. 2007-08 Grants Program Budget Update
Don Blancett presented an update on the 2007-08 grants program budget.

C. 2008-09 Proposed Grants Program Budget
Don Blancett presented an outline of the 2008-09 grants program budget. Once the Legislative Session concludes, the budget amounts will be filled in according to budget allocations and presented at the next meeting.

At a prior Council meeting, members requested an explanation of how dollars are distributed throughout the grants budget. Mr. Blancett announced that Division staff had prepared a presentation on fund allocations to be presented under Tab 10.

D. Florida Cultural Endowment Program
Don Blancett reported that the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Inc. and Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Inc., both in Palm Beach County, had applied for, and met the requirements to receive Cultural Sponsoring Organization (CSO) designation.

Jeff Tucker moved approval of the designation. Janeen Mason seconded the motion, which was approved.

E. Art in State Buildings Program Recommendations
Lee Modica reported that five selections of artwork were made for the following locations: Department of Transportation (1), Florida Atlantic University (6), Florida International University (7), Florida State University (1), and the University of Florida (11) for a total of $237,638. Ms. Modica assured the Council that all required procedural forms had been collected, reviewed and accepted, documenting that established procedures were followed for these selections.

Janeen Mason moved approval of the selection process. Katharine Dickenson seconded the motion. The motion was approved.

F. Governmental Affairs Report
Patty Warren reviewed the list of legislative bills filed to date during the current session that could potentially affect either the Division of Cultural Affairs and/or Florida’s cultural community.

Ms. Warren also reviewed the Division of Cultural Affairs’ Legislative Budget Request for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

XI. Grant Panel Reports
A. Quarterly Panel Reports (QA)
James Shaw, Panel Chairman, reviewed the report as follows:

Review of the Fourth Quarter Quarterly Assistance Grant Program applications took place on February 27, 2008, with committee members Lee Modica, Laura Stone and Sarah Stage.

Funding was considered for eight Quarterly Assistance applicant organizations with a total request of $31,000. Projects represented a wide range of topics that included music projects, a fish art exhibit, and theatre performances. The committee reviewed each application, with all achieving the threshold minimum of 75 for funding consideration.

Full funding was recommended for the top-scoring mini-grant application in the amount of $1,500. The committee then raised the minimum funding recommendation threshold for Special Project applications for a total amount of $18,000. The committee recommended a total funding amount of $19,500 for five of the applications.

The meeting adjourned at 9:41 a.m.

At the conclusion of his report, Mr. Shaw moved approval of the Quarterly Assistance Program funding recommendations. Jacqueline Bradley seconded the motion, which carried.

Quarterly Assistance Program Awards

XII. Other Business
A. Funding Formulas for Grants Programs
At the prior request of the Council, a PowerPoint presentation was developed to explain how the budget is determined for each grant program.

All Division program managers gave a brief presentation regarding their particular program(s) and how the program budgets are determined.

B. Public Art Inventory/Guide
This item was postponed until the June Council meeting.

Katharine Dickenson thanked Chairman Shaw for his leadership and for running an excellent meeting.

XIII. Public Comment
Donna McBride, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
Sherron Long, Florida Cultural Alliance
Terry Olson, Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs

XIV. Conclusion
With no further business, the meeting concluded at 12:00 p.m.