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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-24-1999 CITY OF AUBURN COMMUNITY PROGRAM REVIEW June 24, 1999 MINUTES Applicant Organizations: Uniquely Auburn, Auburn Symphony Orchestra, Evergreen City Ballet, Puget Sound Musical Theatre, and It Plays in Peoria Productions/SPLAB! Present: Para Ferrell, Citizen at Large; Steve LePenske, Auburn Arts Commission Member; Lynn Norman, Chair of Auburn Arts Commission; Barbara Sharrard, Auburn Arts Commission Member; Pam Smith, Auburn Arts Commission Member and Director of Auburn Performing Arts Center; Michael Killoren, King County Arts Commission Staff; Susan Sagawa, Cultural Programs Manager; Lori Corso, Cultural Programs Specialist; and Melanie White, Arts Commission Assistant. The meeting began at 2:00 p.m. with all present. I. Review of Process Susan Sagawa outlined the format for the day: each applicant organization will be introduced first by a panel member, who will lead a ten minute discussion of the group and proposal. Then a representative from the organization will be brought in to discuss the proposal and answer questions from the panel for fifteen minutes. Susan specified that the grant money comes from King County in two year cycles - this year Auburn has $6,000 to award. Grants can only be awarded to organizations under the current guidelines, not to individuals. The number of grants and amount of each grant are decided at the discretion of the panel at the conclusion of the review. Introductions were made. Lynn Norman raised the question of conflicts of interest among panel members. Most of the panel members have a conflict of interest - Steve and Barbara are on the board of directors of Uniquely Auburn, Lynn is on the board for the Auburn Symphony, and Pam Smith is on the board of Puget Sound Musical Theatre. It was agreed that members who are inVolved with an applicant organization would participate in the questions and general discussion, but withhold their vote on actual allocation of funds. II. Organization Review Organization 1: Uniquely Auburn Pam Ferrell presented the proposal for Uniquely Auburn. They are a five year old organization requesting $2,200 for a photo project. They have requested an equal amount from the King County Heritage Commission. In 1924, a camera shop in Auburn produced 224 portraits of Auburn citizens as part of a contest. UA wants to create a project which would update and reorganize the old photos, commission a series of new ones, organize an exhibit, and tour it to local schoOls, museums, and community centers. The project would ultimately be accessioned into the collection of the White River Museum. UA's focus is on community development and inclusion. They received $1500 from the city last year. Food and many other supplies are donated. The event and a community dinner are held annually in December. Their community festival this year will be produced solely with community support, without additional funding The panel discussed UA very positively. Barbara Sharrard describes them as a true community festival, warm and unselfish. They use Americorps volunteers. Steve LePenske noted that UA is partnered by the Trillium Organization, which helps the disabled find employment, and that they are similarly service-oriented. Barbara mentioned that they tend to run on faith, generally with a great deal of success. Lee Valenta, a board member, represented UA. He has been involved with it from its inception. He discussed the original ideas behind the formation of the group. The original project presented the stories of 8 members of the community followed by a community supper. Until this year, UA's events were always performance and language oriented. This year, they want to shift toward a more visual emphasis. The stories will still be the center of the project, but they will be presented visually by a graphic recording artist, and will accompany the photo exhibit. UA is still looking for ways to shift the focus to visual arts in a way that maintains the intensity of the performance experience. The show will still conclude with a community supper. The selection of the subjects for the photos is still under discussion. There will probably be a special link to some of the original families in the pictures (five or six are still living in Auburn), as well as an effort to represent a diversity of cultures. The outlying parts of the city will probably also be included. People may be contacted by mail and asked whether they want to participate. Venues for the exhibit include City Hall, libraries, schools, possibly senior centers, Auburn Good Old Days. Organization 2: Evergreen City Ballet Barbara Sharrard presented the proposal for the Evergreen City Ballet. They are a four year old organization requesting $2,000 to fund a public school outreach program in conjunction with the Auburn School district. The panel watched a videotape of a performance of last year's production of Giselle, ECB's first fully developed production. / The goals of the outreach are to expose local youth to classical 'dance through outreach work and performances of the Nutcracker,, to offer dance as a creative emotional outlet for young people; to enlarge ECB's students audience and dance school; maintain and expand its professional dance company; and teach local youth about dance. ECB is beginning to plan a dance tour of the Puget Sound area. Lynn Norman asked why ECB doesn't package themselves directly to presenting/producing organizations and expand their touring. She also expressed concern over a lack of board development. Pam Smith and Lynn talked about how professionally done and well received' Giselle was. Wade Walthall, the artistic director, represented ECB. He was very positive about what had been achieved in the previous year. They are working on enlarging the board, and adding paid positions to the ballets. All the primary dancers and many of the female corps de ballet in Giselle were paid. He also reported that he has 26 out of 100 students attending national ballet camps this summer- he thinks this may be the highest percentage for any school in the country, and it is a very prestigious honor. ECB is considering taking'Giselle to the Paramount in Seattle in April of 2000. They would self-produce the production. Wade discussed the educational outreach. He hopes to expand it this year, and add the orchestra to the school performances. They have worked with 3rd grade in the past, but woUld prefer to work with 4th grade. Last year, students attended a lecture and demonstration at their school, and in some cases, traveled to ECB for a class in ballet and jazz dance. ECB is also hoping to establish an Art Start scholarship program for 30 local kids - it would offer free ballet school tuition as well as classes in another art form, i.e. drawing. Seventeen percent of the students are currently on some scholarship at the school - although this is a high number, Wade feels strongly that nobody should be prevented from studying at ECB solely because of financial issues. Wade's long-term goal for ECB is to continue building a corps company with style and technique, and training and growing his company. Ultimately, he would like a company of 20, full-time, paid dancers. Nobody is leaving the company next year, and many dancers have been with him since ECB's inception. He is enjoying teaching and choreographing, and feels that the company is doing some excellent and exciting, possibly world class work. He feels that being in Auburn is the right choice for the company. Organization 3: Puget Sound Musical Theatre Lynn Norman presented the proposal for Puget Sound Musical Theatre. They are requesting $1,200 to support a student production of Robin Hood. The panel watched a videotape of last year's production of Rumpelstiltskin. Due to a technicality in the guidelines, PSMT was not funded by the city last year. The guidelines have been changed to be more accommodating to the performance schedules of organizations this year. PSMT runs a theatre summer school for kids which offers them classes in singing, dance, and scene study, as well as the chance to perform in a production. The performers are aged 8-18, and the school runs five hours a day for eight weeks. The panel noted that the group has a good history with the schOol district and is a sound organization. Susan Sagawa mentioned how unfortunate it had been not to be able to fund them last year, and said that the guidelines had been changed specifically because of that occurrenCe. Mary Jean McDonald, the artistic director, and Janel Gibb, the managing director, represented PSMT. They discussed the summer program, which is a continuation of a project with the Auburn School district. The school is divided into two sessions of two and a half hours each. The first session is a skills workshop - classes are offered in acting, singing, ensemble performance, and a new class this year will incorporate stage craft and business basics such as writing a biography. The more talented kids also participate in the production. PSMT has a team of production personnel it uses regularly - David Austin, who composed Rumpelstiltskin and has been commissioned for this year's upcoming A Christmas Carol, is also writing and composing Robin Hood. They also use a regular choreographer and director. Entry to the program is by audition; students are assigned to attend either the skills section, the production section, or both, depending on what is seen in the audition. This summer, PSMT hopes to have the Robin Hood design team visit rehearsals occasionally, to interact with the kids. There are more students registered already than last year, and there is still one audition to go. So far, PSMT is on budget for the production. There are two adult performers in Robin Hood - the Sheriff of Nottingham, played by an Equity actor who also teaches in the skills sessions, and a character called Lady M. PSMT discussed plans to have the parents sell concessions this summer, with money raised to be earmarked for a scholarship fund for next summer. They also mentioned that many students attend live theatre for the first time when they come to see their friends in a PSMT show. Finally, participation in PSMT helps many children to develop socially and emotionally. ' Organization 5: Auburn Symphony Orchestra Pam Smith presented the proposal for the Auburn Symphony Orchestra. ASO is a three year old professional symphony. They are requesting $3,300 to further their 'educational outreach program. The educational program is linked to West Auburn Alternative High School. It will be held in October of 1999 and February of 2000, in conjunction with the humanities teachers there. It is composer-oriented. Its goals are to facilitate student attendance at concerts and expand ASO's visibility and strengthen its relationship with the community. The ASO's larger goals are to continue to build its board by three members a year, expand the number and variety of the concerts it gives to five a year within three years, and to develop a Guild, newsletter, and a volunteer corps. The panel noted that the ASO has a very strong board, and is running in the black for the first time this year. Linda Elliott, a new board member, represented the ASO. She co-authored the grant proposal and has attended every ASO concert. She is a local music teacher. She mentioned that the ASO is a wholly professional organization, and run a close second in quality to the'Seattle Symphony; the audience has increased by 10-12% each year. Linda said that West Auburn is very excited about the project; the school was selected because they have typically been left out of the loop on cultural programming. There have been some smaller educational efforts by the ASO, but this is their first major outreach. Three musicians would visit the school to talk about their instruments and the pieces of music they play. Then the students would attend a rehearsal of the concert, where they would talk with Stewart Kershaw about the music. Finally, the kids would attend the concert itself and the reception afterwards. Group 5: It Plays in Peoria Productions/SPLAB! Steve LePenske presented the proposal for IPP/SPLAB! SPLAB!, a four year old organization, is requesting $2,000 to help them bring poet Diane DiPrima to the Auburn area. They have already received $4,700 from the Washington Commission for the Humanities, as well as donations of housing and food frOm local hotels and restaurants. The panel listened to an audio tape of one of SPLAB!'s performances. SPLAB!'s mission is to promote awareness of the spoken word and holistic philosophy through multi-media work. They offer poetry to young people as an alternative to acting out. They host a visiting poet of some prominence as part of their spoken word series. They bring the poet into schools to expose students to the power of language and to work with aspiring young poets, and allow the local community to experience world class poetry at readings. They believe that helping a young person to claim an identity can help to avert violence. , Paul Nelson, the artistic director of SPLAB! and Brian Love, a volunteer, represented SPLAB! They talked about the conception of the group in 1995 to work with young people in the Auburn area, and stated that they host the only regular underage poetry slam in the state. Their visiting poets' series features readings, a workshop, school visits, and a round table discussion. This year's visiting poet is Diane DiPrima, a co- founder of the New York Poets' Theatre and a student of Jack Kerouac's. The school workshops this year will happen at Auburn High School. Paul mentioned that the money will also go to support SPLAB!'s Ginsburg Marathon and their Super Bowl of Poetry. SPLAB! is also exploring telepoetics, a means of transmitting live poetry performances through video and the Internet. SPLAB! is developing an international reputation through the Internet, and Auburn is becoming known as a place for literature. A radio affiliate in West Virginia also gives them exposure. This reputation allows SPLAB! to book very well known poets. Money is not available from the schools involved for the most part. III. Funding Recommendations The total amount requested by all five groups was $10,700. The panel agreed that it wished to give some funding to every applicant. Steve LePenske voiced a concern that if less money is awarded to an organization this year than last year, that group might see it as a lack of support from the city. The panel also agreed that it did not wish to favor organizations that needed the money more badly, which in effect penalized those groups that are fiscally sound and/or able to get money from other sources. Finally, the panel agreed that it wished to recognize the excellence of three organizations in particular: Uniquely Auburn, Evergreen City Ballet, and Puget Sound Musical Theatre. They decided to award all or nearly all of the requested amount to PSMT and ECB, with varying percentages of the requested amounts awarded to the other three organizations. The final breakdown of award money was agreed upon as follows: ORGANIZATION AMOUNT AMOUNT PERCENTAGE REQUESTED AWARDED AWARDED Uniquely Auburn: $2,200 $1,000 45% Auburn Symphony Orchestra: $3,300 $1,200 36% Evergreen City Ballet: $2,000 $1,900 95% Puget Sound Musical Theatre: $1,200 $1,200 100% It Plays in Peoria/SPLAB!: $2,000 $ 700 35% The meeting was adjourned at 5:18 p.m.