Video Description:
Museum Advisory Board July 21, 2021
Note: The following is the output of transcribing from a video recording. Although the transcription, which was done with software, is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or [software] transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the meeting, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
Read along below or follow along here: https://otter.ai/u/66blbdwmDz92DnL-EolljrARF6c
Unknown Speaker 0:00
So we’re calling the meeting to order at 431. I’ve taken Roll Call of Dale Barnard, Kelly Cordova. Katie McDonald, Rhea Moriarty. And absent I have bryden cook and Tom Kurtz. And I think our council liaison Susie Hidalgo firing will be showing up soon. So I would then go on to election of officers.
Unknown Speaker 0:32
Madam Chair, I’m would like to nominate as a slate as that were bryden cook as chair of the board for the coming here. And Rian Moriarty as Vice Chair.
Unknown Speaker 0:50
We have a second to Dale’s nomination. All second. Like knowing. All in favor? Aye. Aye. raising your hands. I’ll abstain since I’m on this wait. You can’t you you can? Don’t we need her vote for a core? I think so. I think you can vote Ria even though you’re shooting, right, because you’re running for president, you’re voting for yourself. Okay, I vote in favor.
Unknown Speaker 1:36
Thank you the slate of Brighton for chair and Ria for Vice Chair passes. So then I’ll pass this to Maria.
Unknown Speaker 1:47
Thank you so much, Joanne. I’m so the next item on the agenda is public invited to be heard. We do not appear to have any public invited to be heard. So we can move on to the approval of the minutes. Did everyone get a chance to review the minutes that Joanne sent out? Do I have a motion to approve the minutes as written? Is there a second? Second? All in favor? And there are no other posts that was unanimously approved by those present. All right. Our next item of business is sessions. Eric, do you want to take it away?
Unknown Speaker 2:43
All right. I will share my screen. This will work. All right. So Can everyone see the July 2021 propose expressions to the local museum collection?
Unknown Speaker 3:04
Good Good. See if we can figure out how to get into advance. I’m using a different computer. My apologies for the technical delays. Try a different approach. You think after all this time we’d have this figured out
Unknown Speaker 4:29
this is your first time Eric there’s always got to be a new challenge. Made you co host but if you need to share the presentation with me I could share it on this and
Unknown Speaker 4:42
yeah, I did it just not allowing me to advance I can share it. So we will do the PDF version.
Unknown Speaker 5:06
Okay, this is weird. All right. Can you see the screen change? Yes. For 220 20 1024 Yes. All right, great. Thank you all for bearing with me. So, Katie, since you’re new on the board, one of the main functions of the board is to approve or reject exceptions to the museum’s collection. So he received those in your packet, but I will go through and just kind of talk through them. Feel free to ask questions either as I’m, as I’m presenting or once once we’re all done. The first expression up is two things there is a brochure from the Longmont sugar factory, probably from about 1960. And then a Kenmore tip toe Matic ironing machine, which has the original manual and other accompanying documentation. Both of these have strong local provenance. The ironing machine was used by a large family. And we have additional information on the family as well to kind of add background to it. Our next item is also something with with very long local connections. These are objects from the Allen family the Allen family was arrived in the st. Brain Valley in 1861. And then Mary Allen arrived two years later. So we have the oxen shoes that were carried her here in 1863. We have some spurs used by her son, Alonzo Harris, Allen, and these large mounted vise and arms, which were killed by several Allen brothers in Colorado in 1877. These were discussed in an earlier advisory board meeting when the donor actually lived in California. So they want to, you know, some some kind of assurance that the board was interested. It took a little longer for them to get here so it’s actually a new board that will be approving those but feel free to ask questions on those if you wish. And then I believe most everything else relates to we are collecting glasses logo glassware from all of the Longmont breweries. So we have the post Brewing Company we have grossen birch, we have dry also distilleries and cideries. So dry land distillery the pumphouse brewery, long Turkey, which is actually rebranding as Abbott and Wallace so this glass will no longer be produced and the same brain cidery So any questions on any of those?
Unknown Speaker 9:07
Are we able to get one from every brewery and distillery that you were hoping to?
Unknown Speaker 9:14
Wait I am still waiting Outworld brewery which is one of the newest ones in Longmont is still waiting for their logo glassware. So they have promised me that we will have it before the opening. So I’m hoping that is that is right. So that’s the only one we’re still missing.
Unknown Speaker 9:44
Great if there are no other questions, do we have a motion to approve the accessions we’ll stop sharing so everyone, emotion from Tom, is there a second? All in favor of accepting all exceptions as proposed. Great. That’s unanimous. Fantastic. Thank you, Eric. Thank you for all your hard work on getting the full collection of glassware. That’s a lot of legwork to contact all those breweries there. A lot of them
Unknown Speaker 10:21
did yesterday, didn’t even get to sample their wares when I was doing it. So
Unknown Speaker 10:27
that’s unfortunate. All right, so our next order of business is reports. So Kim, would you like to give the report for the museum director,
Unknown Speaker 10:40
her I was joking with Eric, that this falls into those one of those categories of one of the Stranger Things you get to do as a museum professional. There’s always something we do weird things every once in a while. I just want to say real quick, Katie, welcome to the board. We’re so glad to have you.
Unknown Speaker 10:57
That’s the piece I missed. I was supposed to invite Katie to introduce herself and have us all introduce ourselves to Katie, and I do want to do that real quick. We can do that real quick. Yeah. Would you like to introduce yourself and tell us a little about a little bit about you?
Unknown Speaker 11:14
Yes, of course. I’m Katie McDonald. I have lived in Longmont since 2003, so almost 18 years. I’m currently the marketing director at the wow Children’s Museum in Lafayette. However, I am leaving my position at wow after 19 years in August for a different opportunity. But I do bring to you 19 years of experience in the museum field, Children’s Museum field and nonprofit work. I absolutely love museums are my passion. And I’m just really excited to join this board and to
Unknown Speaker 11:45
work with you all. Welcome. We’re very happy to have you here. My name is Rhea, I’m the newly elected vice chair. I am the Director of Operations for the Longmont Humane Society.
Unknown Speaker 12:00
So Kelly, would you like to introduce yourself? You can scream. I’m Kelly Cordova.
Unknown Speaker 12:08
I teach English at Front Range Community College. And this is maybe a good moment to say it because I realized on zoom, I’ve never said it. And I’m due to have a baby in September. Oh, it’s coming up soon. I was like, I don’t think that’s ever come up. So
Unknown Speaker 12:26
congratulations, Dale.
Unknown Speaker 12:32
Yes, I’m Dale Barnard. And I’m just starting my second term on the museum advisory board. I’m retired, but I was for 25 years, the executive director of the St. frane Historical Society here in town. And I’ve been a museum volunteer on and off for
Unknown Speaker 12:52
1620 years, something like that. So welcome. We’re thrilled to have have you with us. And Tom, would you like to introduce yourself? Go Hi, we
Unknown Speaker 13:20
got it unmuted. Sorry. Yeah, I’m Tom Kurtz. Katie, I’ve been in Longmont, I think six years. I retired hospital CEO of about 45 years and belong to a number of community organizations where I volunteer some time and then on the board since last summer, at this time. Perfect. Thank you, everyone. we’ll kick it back over to Kim for her report.
Unknown Speaker 13:57
Thank you. And Katie, I’m the Director here at the Longmont museum. So this is kind of a pretty typical agenda that Eric talks about the accessions to the collection, and then I give a report. And this is actually a pretty long report. And so I probably won’t read every single entry, but certainly if you have questions or if anybody has questions, just let me know. And I’m happy to dive deeper into any anything. So one of the things that the board has been working on for several of our last meetings is working on a land acknowledgement statement. And so this is a statement that was approved at the last City Council. Let’s see. Now I’m going to lose track of time but there’s two Tuesday’s ago that they approved the land acknowledgement statement. And essentially this came as a result of the work that Eric was doing on the long run 150 exhibition and we wanted to be sure You while we were celebrating the 100 and 50th anniversary of the founding of Longmont, we wanted to make sure that we recognize what was happening prior to that moment in time as well. And so we’ve got, we’ve got several moments in the exhibition where we talk about the native history of the area as well. And so as part of that, we started investigating and talking with consultant about a land acknowledgement statement. And the consultant Montoya Whiteman suggested that this is something that probably is relevant to far more than just the museum. And so with the help of Susie Hill doggo, firing our city council liaison, we were able to take it to Hi, Susan, we were able to take it to the council for approval citywide. And so that was adopted with very, very minor changes. And so we’ll we’ll need to work through kind of how we use this going forward. But I think that it was a really meaningful thing that the council approved this as a sort of city wide recognition of the history of this lamp. So we’re feeling really very, very good about that accomplishment. So thank you very much, Susie, for helping us ferret that alone. We are also wrapping up the work that we’ve been doing with our interpretive plan. So we should be having that in hand very soon. And then we’ll be happy to share that with you all when we have the documents in place. And basically, I’ve talked a little bit about that before. But this is a plan that that really helps guide, some of the decisions that we make about exhibitions or programming, essentially, really helping us define the goals of the institution. And so we’ve been very, very pleased with the work that we’ve been doing with Beth Kaminski, who’s the consultant that we’ve been working with. So we should have that soon. The same thing is true with the master development plan that we’ve been working on, we think that we’ll have those final drawings, final conceptual drawings in hand by the end of the month. And so I include the results of the survey that we did as part of the public outreach, as well as one of the drawings. And so you see, our architect had three different plans, site plan and a floor plan for each iteration. And so we had folks vote on which one they wanted. And in both instances, the Plan C was the winner by a good margin. And you see the data there. So the Floor Plan C that we included in the packet is the one that the architect is working on. So you’ll see that the data that we were able to collect with our architect really didn’t make it smart, a smart choice to add the 500 seat facility to the building, that basically what we’re looking at and get final numbers soon. But just a quick brush at this, we were looking at about $11 million
Unknown Speaker 18:13
price tag for the museum expansion, about a $9 million price tag for the 500 seat facility. And then because of the 500 seat facility, it required us to do a parking garage as well. And the parking garage is probably 10 to 15 million. So given all of those numbers and the reality that it would be very difficult to have events taking place in both performing facilities at the same time. The city manager just he was he was like this, it doesn’t make sense financially to be able to do this, that we wouldn’t be able to be maximizing revenue. If one of them one performance space is shuttered anyway. So it just didn’t make a lot of sense financially to pursue that in our master plan. So that is no longer on the docket for what’s going to be happening in the final drawings that we’ll receive. So we will share those with you. Dale, did you have a question?
Unknown Speaker 19:10
I have a quick question. Because I spend a lot of time going back and forth online looking at these and I’m glad I got smart and printed amount so that I could you know without shifting screens. I’m wondering if the fact that the auditorium was there. I mean, I know it wasn’t one of the other ones too but I mean, whether it had an effect on the vote the vote I mean, you know, cuz I’m not sure that the plan I mean, I think the plan without the auditorium is fine, but I’m not sure that might have been my first vote for where the entrance was or that guy thing. I just wondered if you felt it affected it.
Unknown Speaker 20:00
You’re probably right. And we did get a lot of feedback that that clearly demonstrates that people are in support of a performing arts space, the thing we didn’t ask and the thing that I want us all to be clear minded about is we didn’t ask, are you? Are you? Are you supportive of a performing art space at the museum, or just in general? And I kind of wish that we had asked that question so that we understood the data collection better. But, but clearly, there is a lot of community support for a perform an additional performing art space, then those Stewart auditorium. So how that plays into the actual plans? You may be right that it would have been different if if we had, for instance, three plans that none of which had no, that’s what I meant, if none had an auditory? Yeah, yeah. But what I would say also is that they’re still at this point, these are conceptual plans. So I don’t want to get I want anybody to get too married to any of the details, because now that we’ve got the conceptual plan, and and we will have the costs associated with that. The next step is for us to actually hire an architect that will do the final plans. And so there’s going to be a lot of work between what we have now, and what ends up being the final plans that will get built. So I wouldn’t be too concerned because I think there’s still plenty of opportunity, even after we get the final plans for things to change. Okay, thank you. I just, yeah, yeah, go ahead with kitty.
Unknown Speaker 21:47
So just quick questions, just so I can kind of catch up in when are you anticipating work beginning on this, and how is it being funded?
Unknown Speaker 21:55
That’s a, those are two great. And so what we are looking at is that we’ve been working for several months now with an architect who has didn’t been doing essential this master planning process. And the goal behind that really is for us to be able to have something to share with donors, right, that we’ve got costs associated with it, we’ve got some pretty drawings associated with it. And we would be able to go talk to donors. So at this point, the answer is I don’t know. Because they’re there are some very interested parties who may be able to help us quickly. And, or we may have to go into a capital campaign. And so whichever route we take, whichever, whatever ends up being the result of our donor conversations, that’s really going to tell us what we need to know about what how long this is going to take, and when we might be able to look for construction, so that we’re hoping to have those drawings in hand, like I said, By the end of the month, and at that point, we’ll start talking to donors immediately. And then we’ll know a lot more after that. So I’ll be able to update you more than Yeah. Any other questions on the master development plan, where I’m looking forward to getting the final drawings? Because I think that’ll kind of help answer some of your questions to Dale, and I’m happy to share those with you when we get them. okeydoke Yeah, so you see on the on the plan that I did share, I wanted to make sure that there was no confusion about the 500 seats. So we we etch those off of those drawings. And we will continue to work through some of those things as well. And then going on to the development section of the report, we’ve we had a great closing reception for enduring impressions on July the 11th. And since we weren’t able, because of COVID, to have an opening reception for that we were able to have a closing reception, which was really lovely. We had the the lenders to the to the exhibit, the mowers were both there. And they were very excited to talk to folks about their their collection. So I think it was a very warm and fuzzy exhibition. And the guest curator was there to thank a lot of people as well. So it was really a nice exhibition closing. And we don’t usually do that. So it was a nice opportunity. Another really nice thing that we learned just recently is that we were in, we received the funds for the shuttered venue operators grant. So that’s part of the American rescue plan act, and we were in recipient of $160,000. And man, they turn that thing around like that we’ve already got them. So yay for
Unknown Speaker 24:44
so we’ll be using those for basically for auditorium expenses, but it will be a big help for us and there could be additional funds available through rescue x. So we’ll continue to explore those as well as you go No, Megan Peters is new to the staff. She’s our new fund development manager. And she’s been very, very busily writing grants and then writing reports for grants. So she’s not, we’ve not let her breathe that yet. So she’s also been working on an IMLS American rescue grant. And that’s going to be to help with the cost of the TP to tiny house exhibition that we’ve been working on. So that’s $46,000. We’ve we’ve also been working on grants for the project that we’re working on, with a collaboration with the boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. So that’ll be a National Endowment for the Arts grant. And then we’ve also got another grant in the work for American Recovery Act, NEA grant, and that’s to hopefully fund a term limited position. What we’re talking about for that grant proposal is that it would be a hub public programs, no, hub Blick now I forget the title of it. But essentially, it’s a public outreach curator, that we would be able to essentially have a dedicated curatorial position that would work with community members to have underrepresented inclusivity conversations, where we’re we’re basically going out to the community to bring stories into the museum. And we actually have a really, really great track record for that already, because what we typically do for almost every exhibition we do is that we pull together a community board advisory board that helps inform exhibits that we work on, it’s super ad hoc, the committees change every single time, depending on the topic. But this would basically go into the community and ask people essentially, what what would you like to see how would you like your community represented in the museum, so cross your fingers for that, because I think it could be a really amazing inclusivity equity kind of adventure that we get involved with. So I’m, I would be very excited to get that. We are deeply into on the end of summer camp season. And so we’ve been very successful with that we’ve, because we’ve been able to move to level clear, we basically had, we had some virtual we kid kids camped on the schedule, but nobody signed up for them. Everybody wants to be back in person. And so we had caps on everything at the beginning of the season. And because we’ve got into the clear level, we were able to expand the number of people that we were able to bring into camps. So camps have been really, really successful this year. So we’re very glad about that. We’ve got fall programs under way and they’ve been submitted for the newsletter, you guys should be receiving that newsletter relatively soon. I think it’s going to the printer tomorrow. So we’ve got discovery days, we return in person art and sips with four new local artists. Grey Havens is back with us for philosophy programs, ornament making is back in for the Christmas season. We’re also going back into school tours. And then we’ve got some docent training coming up data, the data, of course, is underway, the planning that is underway. And so we’re going to be back in person for that as well. So looking forward to that. And then we’ve got lots of kids and families that we’re working with again. And so we’ll be able to really get back into all of our fall programming. So
Unknown Speaker 28:43
we’re is it’s very exciting. I think, you know, I’ve seen a couple of your faces in Museum in the last few months. And I think seeing people and hearing kids voices have just, it’s like, it’s a game changer. We’re all feeling really good about it. As you guys know, the enduring exhibition, the enduring impressions exhibition closed on the 18th. So those paintings went back just yesterday to the donors. So that’s, that was a very successful exhibition for us. And so the exhibits team is now working really, really hard on the one on 150 exhibition. And so that’ll be opening on August the seventh. We’ve got the opening reception on the sixth from six to eight. So of course, you’re all invited to that that’s going to be a fun event with live music. And we’ve got it’s going to be you know, one one of our opening receptions that will be super fun for everybody. We’ll be out in the courtyard, so nobody will be it won’t be too close in if we have a little chance to breathe and so we’ll be out there. And then we’ve also got some interns that have already been interviewed and one has been hired already. So Jarrett’s got a couple of interns working with him for the fall, which he’s really going to need because there’s a lot of construction based That is part of this exhibition and the work that needs to be done. We also visited with artists, Patrick, Maryland, I don’t know if you all are aware of Patrick, he is the artist who did that really big log installation that goes into the, the hotel airport that the hotel that’s at the airport. So if you take the train in to the hood, into the airport, you see those logs that are on that sort of entryway. So that’s Patrick’s work. And we are have been talking to him about working with us for the project that we’re collaborating with collaborating with, with the MOCA. And he’s super excited about it. And so I think we’ve got him on board. And we’re really thrilled. Tom, did you have a question? I’m sorry, Did I interrupt you,
Unknown Speaker 30:49
it keeps flashing on it, like I maybe I’m breathing too heavy.
Unknown Speaker 30:58
Let’s see what else. Um, there are other artists, you see the list of names there that we’re working with for that exhibition. And just maybe as a reminder, or for Katie, to inform you. The projects that we’re working with, as a collaboration with the boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is, I call it the art artists farmer project. Basically, what the concept is, is that we are pairing artists with farmers. And they’ll be creating a work of art in collaboration with each other. And so there’ll be an installation here at the Longmont Museum, and then there’ll be an installation at the boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. And then we’ll have probably three installations at farms between our two locations. And so that is, we hired a guest curator to do that, you know, kind of oversee the whole project. And so we’re, we’re super, super excited about this project, I think it’s going to be very cool and really engaging from all kinds of different entry points that people will be able to really enjoy it. So we’re getting deep into that. And especially if we’re able to get grants for it, I think it’s really going to be a fantastic exhibit, we’re applying for one of the NEA grants, and then boulder is applying for the for a different NEA grant. And so we’re hoping that we’ll get both of them. And it’ll be just, you know, out of this world exhibition. So we’re looking forward to that. And then the other thing that Jared has been doing is that he’s taken advantage of the folks that are coming to the summer concerts, and he’s doing some outreach at those concerts to try to gauge some interest in different exhibition content. And so he’s been doing that kind of evaluation during the concert. So that’s super fun. And then we’ve got that section there for auditorium programming and special events. So there’s, you’ll see it too, in the newsletter that’s coming out. But there’s lots of films and discussions and concerts. I think that this is going to end up being kind of a ongoing thing, the voices of Change program that we basically are partnering with the Longmont
Unknown Speaker 33:15
multi action
Unknown Speaker 33:17
multicultural Action Committee. And so voices of change is a program we’ve done several times now that basically really digs into some difficult conversations. And so there’ll be more of those coming up in the future as well. We also have one of the super cool things that we’ve done a couple of times in the past, which is Montalto will be the musicians that accompany upright, silent film. So the silent film for this iteration is going to be Phantom at the opera. So it’ll be that old Phantom of the Opera, and we’ll have the orchestra accompanying it like just like the old times, you know. So that’s really cool. Jerry, I mean, I’m sorry, Justin has listed all of the different summer concerts that we’ve got going on. And then recent rentals and city events. So we are getting more and more inquiries into rentals. So clearly, I think people are, you know, after post COVID, or post sort of, sort of post COVID I think rental activity is really starting to ramp up for us. And so that’s going to, I think be even even bigger come the fall. So visitor services report there with that note, we normal hours resumed on June the first so we’re now open Monday through Saturday, nine to five and then on Sunday, one to five. So those were the hours that we had prior to the pandemic. And then we’ve also got, of course, the additional evening hours and Thursday nights. Then we saw 1700 94 people visit the museum in June, and that included 15 Museum for all 108 of the free Saturday and then 149 member visits. So for those who might not know The museums for all is a program that we’re part of that if you show an EBT card or some kind of designation that demonstrates that you’ve got other benefits, then you get into the museum for free. And so we’re part of that program. And we do get some some members showing up for that. So that’s always really nice to see. We had 100 membership were sold or renewed in the month of June, and that included eight giving club memberships. So that’s always very good. And our visitors really loved the Impressionism exhibit. And we did see an increase in attendance right at the end, as you might imagine, we had a lot of folks here that last weekend, we’ve got a lot of sales and the gift shop had been improving. So I think that that’s another marker of kind of where we are in the pandemic as well. And then the concerts really also showed some uptick in that to basically the concert sold out. So as of the writing of this report, you can see the numbers 230, at the June 17, concert 270 at the June 24 250. And are we basically are limited to the number of people that we can have in the courtyard. And so those those numbers essentially represent an a sold out show, if you will. So that’s fantastic. I think that what we’re all seeing is that people really want to get and then the last section now we’ve got art in public places. So Angela’s been working really hard on the art on the move program. So six, six artworks were D installed, and then six new artworks were installed. So for those who might not know, the art on the move program is a one year loan program. And so we have, there’s a call to artists involved and a selection. And so every, there’s a one year cycle that we do an installation in various places around town, and then those sculptures go back to the artists and new sculptures are placed in sometimes the same place, but sometimes in different locations. And so that’s that’s always a really fun sort of change around to see the different sculptures that get installed. And there are some 2d works as well. I think this year really showed the an elevated level of quality that we’ve we’ve not seen before. And I’m so we were really, really glad there’s a lot of nice artworks that are part of the the art on move this year. Shock art, we’ve got 35 models that were collected and on display at the old town marketplace. And so the voting for that was July the 10th, and ends on the 24th. So you can do either go to Old Town marketplace and, and vote or you can do it online, I think if you go to the website, you can find it through art in public places as well. So you can vote on your favorite. And then those are the artists that get commissioned to paint those boxes around Tom.
Unknown Speaker 38:13
And then Angeles also been working on a workshop that she held in order to move their strategic planning forward. And so that happened a couple of weeks ago, and was facilitated by a pretty well known sort of change maker, if you will, his name is Brian Corrigan. And so he facilitated this really great conversation that basically talked about instead of just art in public places, talking more of it in terms of creative placemaking. And so that’s really where things are going to be kind of moving in terms of art and public places is, is that it’s more than just, you know, kind of plunking an artwork somewhere but in to think about it much more holistically and thinking about that in terms of creative placemaking and all that it sort of implies because there’s also economic benefits to that and so on and so forth. So I’m very pleased to see the planning that’s happening in art and public places and she include a couple of installation shots. So you see that on the last page of the report there so that’s kind of fun
Unknown Speaker 39:22
as well. That was super fast. Anybody have any questions for me? Okay, nope. Thank you guys. Hey,
Unknown Speaker 39:35
thank you, Kim. It’s exciting to see everything going back to normal or back to the new normal or whatever that looks like. Um, so the next item on the agenda is the report of the chair since the chair is not here and I don’t have a report. There is nothing there. So up next, we have a staff presentation from an I don’t know, Kim, would you like to introduce Anne? And?
Unknown Speaker 40:03
Sure. So I and Mecca is our curator of exhibition.
Unknown Speaker 40:08
I mean, I’m sorry, education. And, again, for those who might not know, what we try to do is have a staff member do a report as often as we can monthly ish. And to give you more of a sense of what’s going on in the museum and give you an opportunity to meet folks and ask questions. So Ann’s gonna talk to us about what’s been going on education as if she has anything else to do. No camp or anything like that.
Unknown Speaker 40:38
Well, hello, everybody. My name is Anne maca, like Kim said, I’m the curator of education. And since I don’t know any of you, I thought I would start by just filling you in on my background, who I am, where I came from, how I ended up here, and then tell you a little bit about what we do in the education department and who my team members are and all the great work we’re doing right now. And in the near future. So I am a local I was born in Boulder on July 22, which is tomorrow. Um, and I was kind of born and raised in the mountains right outside of town. So sort of a free range, wild childhood, not a lot of rules. No TV, lots of hand tools and power tools and trees and wild places. So it was pretty fun. When I was in high school, I decided that I didn’t want to go to college. So I studied cosmetology hairdressing as a as a high school student, and then I was able to graduate a year early. So I worked as a hairdresser in a fancy fancy salon in Boulder for about a year and I really hated it. I had kind of went down that path because I loved making art and sculpture. And do you guys if you’ve seen the movie Edward Scissorhands, please raise your hand? Yes. Okay. I want it to be Edward Scissorhands. You know how he Trump trims the hedges and like, does the crazy hair like that’s what I wanted to do? Not what you do at a fancy salon in Boulder. So I quit pretty quickly, and saved up some money working at a coffee shop and traveled around Europe with a boyfriend and did this and that until I decided I should probably go to college. So I moved to the east coast and went to the Lyme Academy College of Fine Art. It’s a very, very small French academic, art school where you study portrait and figure work, lots of anatomy, all of that. So I really enjoyed it. But you know, there’s not a lot of work out there for portrait and figures filters. So when I finished that up, I was really interested in comparative anatomy, and animals and skeletons and I did a lot of collecting of roadkill in those days as well. But I didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I spent a few years kind of in my mid 20s doing every art job I could possibly find. So in those years, I managed a contemporary art gallery. I worked in elastography shop. So we did primarily lithography but a little bit of screen printing and a little bit of intaglio as well. I managed fair with autography collection and exhibitions, framing all of that stuff record keeping I worked for this is all on the east coast. I work for the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. And within that office was the art and public places program in Connecticut. So I have a lot of compassion and and love for the work that Angela does here in Longmont. Public Art i think is super important. And in Connecticut, they started their program, I think in 1971. And it’s like right outside of New York City. So they have all these really amazing kind of late 20th century artists in their public collection. It’s very, it’s juicy. It’s everywhere. So in that office, I helped manage their collection as well just the 2d works for exhibitions, spraining, hanging all that good stuff. And what else did I do? I was still pursuing my own art at that time. So I had a few, you know, lots of different gallery exhibitions and a few museum exhibitions. And I went to lots of artists residency so I’d kind of go back and forth across the country to different places that would pay me to be there for a while and that was fun.
Unknown Speaker 44:50
I also I was so lucky. So those were the days when I had like eight jobs all the time. I don’t have that kind of energy anymore. I’m really grateful that I have one job now. So, when when I was in Connecticut, I started teaching art in a public school and middle school. So my students were sixth through eighth grade. And it was probably the worst job of my life, I’ve got to tell you, I had a horrible time when I was a student in middle school, it was just really traumatic. And so going back to the classroom, I don’t know what made me think that was a good idea. It was a terrible idea. But I feel like I was super fortunate because at the same time, I was teaching art visual art in a community Art Center. So both populations were very low income, very high needs. Super at risk youth. But the experience was so dramatically different between the regular public school classroom and the community Art Center, where all the kids who were there chose to be there. And we’re really motivated to be there. And I worked there, I think, for four or five years. So I got to see some teenagers grow up and go to college and kind of help them get their start in life. And that was really inspiring. I don’t know, it just made me feel good. So I found out, I love teaching, but I hate Middle School. And I don’t ever want to teach in a public school probably ever again if I don’t have to. But again, I’m so grateful for that, because it lets me know that I do love education, and I love arts and I love working with people just the setting needs to be right. So eventually got tired of having 1000 different jobs and hustling this way. And that. So I decided to go to grad school. I studied sculpture at Alfred University, which is like Western New York State, maybe two hours from Buffalo and two hours from Rochester. It’s kind of the middle of nowhere, it is cold and dark. And two years was enough for me. At that time, I thought maybe I’d want to be a university professor, but that that whole grad school experience sort of soured my feelings about that. So while I was there, I got really interested in dialogical artwork. So if you’re is anybody familiar with dialogical? artwork? Yeah, probably not. So the the purpose of that kind of artwork is not that you make an object, and then that object sits on a pedestal somewhere. Anything that’s sort of produced is about dialogue. It’s about inspiring conversation and communication and experience. So that was the kind of work I did in grad school, it was sort of the beginning of the tiny house movement. So my husband and I built a tiny house together as part of my grad school. Project, my my, sort of my final project there, and they also built a tiny, tiny house. So it was just, you know, it’s kind of about exploring how we live and why we live, the ways we live and the choices we make. What’s attainable, what’s accessible, what can you do for yourself. And I think through that experience, I also started to recognize that what I like best, is actually working with people, not necessarily just working with art, I love building things. I love making things. But I really like to work with people most I like to talk to people and hear their stories and their experiences. I like to try and find ways to connect with people that seem super different from me that maybe like we have some commonalities. That’s kind of what moves me forward in the work I do. And and what makes me feel good as a person. So I got out of grad school, and again, I was like, What am I doing? I don’t know. So my husband and I drove our tiny house back to Colorado. As we passed through Kansas, we were broadsided by a tornado. But our tiny house survived. It was like, didn’t blow over, no windows broken. Just a lot of hail did. But we got back here, I think that I grew up in Boulder in the mountains while I was away, my parents actually moved to long months. So we pulled our tiny house into their backyard. And they’re like a mile from the museum. They like right over here. And just started looking for work. And I was lucky enough to get a job at the cu Art Museum after had been after they got their new building. And there I worked in visitor services and education. And while I worked there, I also pursued a certificate in museum studies, and also my art education certification for the state of Colorado. So, you know, I get bored easily I like to do lots of different things.
Unknown Speaker 49:49
Wow, I was doing all of that the job for the curator of education opened up here. And eight years ago I took this job this is definitely the longest time My pad one single job, I feel super lucky. The people I work with are all creative and fun. Almost everybody has a degree either in art, art history, or history. So all the like the most interesting people that you could possibly know, it’s really fun. Everybody here is such a good collaborator. And I think one of the things that’s great about my job is that I get to collaborate with my co workers here, but also, with all kinds of partners in the community. One of my newest collaborations, well, maybe not newest. I really love working with the st. Green Valley School Districts Innovation Center. I have a super partner over there. And she and I worked together on field trips. We had a really good program going before COVID hit us. And then everything Of course, fell apart. So we will be Bri drafting our school field trip program, and recruiting new docents and training this year. I don’t know what our timeline looks like yet. They’ve been waiting on a grants to find out if they have what their funds look like in their resources for field trips. So we, every every couple of weeks, they tell me Oh, we still don’t know yet. And that started in April. So I’m really I’m crossing my fingers that they’re going to know soon. But we’ll see. What else do I want to tell you? Like I hit most out, you know, what I really want to do next is actually get a PhD in play. Did you guys know that exists? It’s so cool. And there are PhD programs that are low residency, so I don’t even have to leave my job. So that might be something I do soon. I’m super excited about our expansion plans and that development plan. I think the thing I find the most exciting is actually the children’s gallery. I feel really strongly that if you don’t introduce kids to museums when they’re young, and then keep going to museums throughout their lives, that they’re not going to go. I love the Wow. So Katie, I’m like super excited that you’re here. I love Wow, I think it’s such a good museum. I love the Denver Children’s Museum. But what is so exciting about what we’re planning here is that it will be dedicated children’s gallery like family gallery, in the midst of other galleries that are not focused at kids that are visual art that are history that our culture science. And I think it’s like with such a special opportunity to be able to attract that audience, the family audience, and then make them go by all the other galleries and see that Oh, there’s other fun and amazing things to do here. And no, I don’t have to wait till my kid is old enough to understand. Like, you’re just here. You’re welcome. You belong. I think that’s super exciting. I love exhibition developments. I’m excited to participate and how that will evolve and transpire what will go into it. What else? I think that’s probably enough. Can I tell you too much.
Unknown Speaker 53:17
Can Can I can I prompt a question for you? Would you describe the equitable access program? Great.
Unknown Speaker 53:25
Yeah, that was a thing I forgot. That’s another thing that I’m probably the most proud of since I’ve worked here is our equitable access program. That is our scholarship program that funds full scholarships for kids to participate in summer camps or fall break camps or other kinds of programs, also for discovery days, which is our early childhood program. And we really probably started working on it like four or five years ago trying to find funds for this. Because of course, the city will give you money to just do things have to find it somewhere. So it’s been really interesting to work with Joan and now Megan on fund development for that project. But then also, as we have started to gather funding support for equitable access program, it’s been interesting to see how it actually works. So we use the MIT living wage calculator for Boulder County to determine eligibility. That gives you kind of, you know, it’s free and reduced price lunch eligibility does is so the income level for that is so so low, it’s intense poverty. And there’s a huge gap between eligibility for free and reduced price lunch and a living wage, huge. So our scholarships, you’re eligible if you are below that threshold for living wage, and it’s just trust. We don’t ask for proof of any thing. And we just trust people that they are honest about what they need. And we want to support them, and make them feel welcome and comfortable and not like they have to prove that they are lesser than or you know. But what’s been interesting is to see who is able to take advantage of our scholarships. So our summer camp program, most of our camps are part day. So it might start at nine and end at noon, or one or two, or might start at one end at four, which works for families who have help. So have a grandma or grandpa who can pick up a kid in the middle of the day. But it doesn’t work for people who are working all day long, can’t negotiate some kind of opportunity to pick up their kid. And then, you know, it’s just it’s hard for working adults. I’m a working mom, I know this. So I think as we move forward, we’re looking for options that we can expand our program in ways that make it more accessible to people who, like me work all day, or just don’t have transportation, or how do we meet those challenges that we’re now seeing as we move forward? It’s been super successful, we’ve given away a lot of scholarship money. And that feels really good. And I think we’re seeing a more diverse audience as well. And that also feels good, so Well, no, I would like to see, in the future, the equitable access project expand towards maybe scholarships for family memberships, which might be a good move when we get closer to having a full time kids gallery. I don’t know how that funding will work. But I think it would be really valuable, just again, like an opportunity to say like, we value you, regardless of your income level. And we think you belong here. And we want you to think you belong here. And we’re going to make that possible, whether or not you can afford it financially. So we don’t know, those are the things I care a lot about. Any other questions? quite busy. Okay,
Unknown Speaker 57:11
thanks. So, you know, going back to that equitable access program, are you finding that the people or families that participate in this live closer to the museum? Or is it a good mix of people throughout the city of Longmont?
Unknown Speaker 57:29
That is an awesome question. And I would say it’s a pretty good mix. But I would also say and this is just based on speculation, it seems like the the folks who are the most economically disadvantaged, who are also participating in this program tend to live closer to the museum. We have a great partnership with Casa Esperanza, and Vanessa and Mike Elizondo has helped us give away scholarships to folks who live there, and they can walk here so it makes it much more accessible. In terms of being able to get your kid here. Um, other so we also I’ve, in the past, I’ve had good contacts at Boulder County, what Yuma call it the Social Services Office for Boulder County where they have been able to connect me with families say, you know, this family would like a scholarship, this one, this one, this one. But without those kinds of contacts, it can actually be really hard to hand out scholarships. And the first summer we had the funding from the Dodge Family Foundation, we didn’t know until like a week before camp started. So now we start promoting scholarships. And as soon as we start promoting summer, but that year, that first year, we had the funds we didn’t know. So it was like we had this like crazy crunch to try and give away all this money. We had no idea how hard that was gonna be. Yeah, so definitely that summer, I carried scholarships in my backpack in English and Spanish. And no matter where I went, like I was at the park and I saw a big gathering of families, I would just go over and be like, hey, scholarship scholarships, give them to your friends, give them to your families spread the word. Yeah. And that what’s interesting is like, just having the money is not enough. You have to have partnerships to hand it out. And then really, I think for us to grow, we also have to be able to serve people with wraparound or full day programs. Yes. Or maybe even like, collaborate with with rec or with the YMCA. organizations who have more low income families that could maybe bring them to us report day. Not sure. Yeah. So love your idea.
Unknown Speaker 59:41
Yeah, I The reason why I ask is I’m a third grade teacher at Indian peaks. So yeah, and this is my 17th year in the district and I’ve only taught you know in say brain in Title One schools. So I teach third grade bilingual and what I notice is a lot of Families, you know, again, it’s they’re only going to where they could they could walk to, or, you know, vicinity wise, it’s pretty close, and to have those wraparound services. So I’ve done a lot of work with Gus Esperanza, and just kind of doing some outreach at countryside village, because a lot of our kids live in that mobile home park. Um, you know, and then so what I see as far as inequity in the, in the classroom or in the district, or statewide, you know, we are an open enrollment state, the only people who have so you can basically open enroll your child at any school choice. That’s great for people who have their own transportation, they have the means. They’re not working, that they can pick up their kids back and forth, because there is no bus transportation. So our students who are free reduced lunch, typically are not able to open enroll at the school of their choice, they have to go to their neighborhood school or their, their designated school. So, you know, so as I’m kind of thinking about that, is there an opportunity to have funding for maybe transportation, like some of those buses, those little buses that can, you know, like you think about the they have it for the elderly? That, you know, kind of take scooters around town? Is there something that we could kind of do to bring people from other area? You know, I’m thinking about my end North Longmont and get them. Maybe they could take their kids to the school, and then that’d be the pickup and then have them come? You know, so just, I mean, I’ve tried to explore those options for us when we have stem this to activities and that are on the weekends. And, you know, because Gone are the days that I could just take my SUV and go round up kids. Yeah. and hang out. I can’t do that anymore.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:59
Yeah, Susie, you are speaking to my heart. I just have to say, but like everything you just said, not enough people know this. Yeah. So for everybody here on this committee, if you don’t know that our schools are super segregated, you should know that. So yeah, a big deal. And nobody talks about it. And it is hard to talk about, especially if you’re not the one experiencing the negative effects. It can be very hard. But I think that it’s something that we have to acknowledge,
Unknown Speaker 1:02:30
yeah, I’ve had some very bad conversations with my superintendent, when I’ve called it out. And girl, I believe it, it’s hard to be employed. Sometimes I have to be careful to Hey, well,
Unknown Speaker 1:02:46
if I could chime in, when we are trying to work on the transportation piece, so that that’s something that that we may be able to pull off. So thank you for the suggestion.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:58
I also just want to say I’d love to, like have coffee with you sometime and talk about ideas, because I can come up with 1000 different ideas, but they’re not always the right idea. And they don’t always see the pitfalls and other people’s ideas are always good. So I would love to get together some time to talk about what we’ve thought about trying and and what other things maybe we haven’t thought of that you thought of. That’d be great. Yeah, no, I’d love to and thank you for teaching third grade.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:26
course. I love those little guys. Thank you. They’re still cute in third grade. They’re not mean Yeah, I
Unknown Speaker 1:03:34
taught fifth grade. I taught fifth grade. And you know, people who teach Middle School, they’re, they’re a whole different breed of human being. Thank God for them. Yeah, I couldn’t even have my own kids. When they were in middle school. I was like ready to ship them off for three years and come back when you resemble a human. So
Unknown Speaker 1:03:53
that’s the school that I found out there were two teachers that were like my role models, and one was horrible. And one was amazing. And I was really afraid I was going to turn into the terrible lady. That’s why I had to leave. I was like, No, I don’t want to be her. But that’s where I’m going. That’s okay. Well, thank you for your work. Yeah. Hey, anybody else have any questions or just want to tell me something exciting about yourself? Katie, I’d love to meet with you sometime to and hear hear a little bit more about Have you been in other children’s museums?
Unknown Speaker 1:04:25
No, just wow. for 19 years? Wow. 19 years? Wow. I am leaving my position there. But I you know, we struggle with equity and accessibility as well. So
Unknown Speaker 1:04:40
we can certainly talk more about that. Yeah, I would love that. Um, did you work with Heather who came from here to there? Yes. Yes. Sure to choose awesome. Oh, what are we doing now summer camp is finishing. We have one week left. We’re going to I’ve been squatting downstairs as an office for the past year because it’s quiet. But now I have to move back upstairs. So at the end of camp, I’ll be moving my office and Lee and Courtney, my teammates will also be moving our offices back up to the office office. And discovery days, we’ll be back in person. So if any of you have young ones in your life, like two to six year old dish, discovery days is a super learning together school readiness art making program, it’s just so much so much fun. So if you can come and you want to, or if you know someone who would like to have discovery days in their life that can’t afford it, we have scholarships for discovery days. Again, it’s a weekday daytime program. So there’s a limitation ahead of us right now. But if you know somebody who could benefit from a scholarship, a scholarship will cover the whole season for each child. And that’s one visit a week to come and do crafts together and learn and play and have a good time and talk to other caregivers and parents, make friends and all that good stuff. So we’re coming coming back in person for that day of the dead is one of my big projects every year. So Dave, the debt is is swiftly approaching and I feel like a deer in the headlights, but I’ll be ready. School tours are ahead of us again, and we’ll be developing some new stuff and looking for docents, especially bilingual docents, those ones are especially hard to find. So spread the word. What else do you like? That’s everything? Yes. Thanks, man, that was fun.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:43
Thank you. And that was that was amazing. You You do a lot and have done a lot. So we appreciate all your work, especially with the children. It is it is very important to get them engaged early and often. So it’s very important work. Thank you. It was a pleasure to meet you. All right. Um, so moving on old business. I’m not aware of any old business. Does anyone have anything? I think, with the land use acknowledgement being accepted. I think that was the last of the old business that we had sort of floating out there in the world. So, um, as far as I’m aware, there’s nothing else. Okay. And I am not aware of any new business. I’ve Oh, Joanne has new business.
Unknown Speaker 1:07:43
So this is your this is your first meeting of your the term cycles. And so I think again, we do need to I’m sorry, I didn’t put it on the agenda. We do need to just restate where our agendas are posted and restate our meeting dates and times. So if someone wants to float a motion, just for an example, that we will still post agendas online at the Civic Center and at the museum. And if at your pleasure if you’d like to continue to meet on the third Wednesday of each month at 430. We should maybe make that part of the record.
Unknown Speaker 1:08:24
Dale It looks like you’re you’re muted Dale. Dale, you’re muted. I move what Joanne said. Okay. Do I have a second for Dale’s motion. Tom? Is everyone in favor of posting the agendas in those locations and continuing to meet on the third Wednesday at 430. All in favor? Great. That is unanimous. There are no opposed. All right. And since Joanne has turned off her camera, I assume that is the only bit of new business. Correct. Thanks. Fabulous. All right.
Unknown Speaker 1:09:15
Should we should we discuss our next meeting and whether we want to do do that in person?
Unknown Speaker 1:09:26
Is Is everyone at a point that they would be willing to meet in person for our next advisory board meeting? We
Unknown Speaker 1:09:33
typically before COVID we met right here in the museum, Wednesdays at 430. And I think we’re at the point in terms of all clear from city council that we could do that if you are interested. I don’t know if that needs to be a motion. Joanne does that need a vote or is that? Just an agreement? Gosh, I’m
Unknown Speaker 1:09:58
not sure No, no, either. I won’t hurt. Yeah, grievance or consensus, something like that.
Unknown Speaker 1:10:07
We, if anybody has any reservations with the aipp. And I think other people are doing this too, and that they came up with a system where at the door to the meeting, there is a pile of red green, and my brain is a little bit fuzzy right now. Red, green and yellow dots. And if you wanted to put one of those dots on yourself, indicating that you’re, if you’re green, handshakes, hugs, everything is cool with you. Yellow, you’re still trying to keep your distance and red is that you’re continuing to mask and be cautious. That seems to be kind of a Did I say all that correctly? Angela. Go ahead.
Unknown Speaker 1:11:02
Evan, I was just going to say that. for clarification, I do think that you need to make a motion for at the very least like your next meeting. Because if we as commissions and boards go back to being virtual all the time, there’s something that has to happen within the city attorney’s office. I laws right there. There’s,
Unknown Speaker 1:11:24
I think it’s related to open meetings and access. I’m not sure so. So aipp did just for August, and then we’re going to continue to reassess so. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 1:11:46
Does anyone have any comments about that? Shoot, do you feel like we should have a discussion about it? Where does someone want to make the motion I, I am comfortable meeting in person. Especially with the precautions that that Kim mentioned, with people being able to very easily and visually state preference or interaction. Anyone have any comments or thoughts? Would anyone like to make a motion either for an in person meeting or for a virtual meeting for August?
Unknown Speaker 1:12:40
Okay, that’s the move, they can just get a go. I’d move that we resume in person meetings at the museum based on the percussions that Kim has mentioned.
Unknown Speaker 1:12:55
Okay, fabulous. Do I have a second? Dale? Great. All in favor? Okay, that’s unanimous. So our August meeting will be held in person at the museum on the third Wednesday of August at 430.
Unknown Speaker 1:13:15
And there’ll be so nice to see everyone. Fabulous, right, the upstairs in the conference room or in a classroom? I think we’ll probably do it in the classroom. So we have a little more space. Okay. Yeah. That’s perfect. Thank you, Kim, is give us an opportunity to spread out. Okay. Terrific. It’ll be good to see you all. Yes. All right. Any other board comments? Okay. Do I have a motion to adjourn?
Unknown Speaker 1:13:55
Rio, I just want to say you did a wonderful job of running the meeting. So thank you so much for that.
Unknown Speaker 1:14:01
I appreciate it. Thank you. I’ll motion to adjourn. Great. Thank you. And is there a second? Thank you, Katie. All in favor. Perfect. We are adjourned at nine every ball. Have a good night. You