HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-08-13 CAC PUBLIC COMMENTSAugust 12, 2020, City Arts Commission Agenda Comments
The following comments on items on the Newport Beach City Arts Commission agenda are submitted by:
Jim Mosher ( jimmosher@yahoo.com ), 2210 Private Road, Newport Beach 92660 (949-548-6229)
Item 1. Goals and Objectives for Fiscal Year 2020-21
The proposed list of objectives is admirable.
A few others I can think of:
1. Expand the geographic scope of city-sponsored arts events, so that activities are not too
strongly concentrated at the Civic Center and at the two Peninsula venues that have been
used in recent years (for those who don’t remember, the summer concerts used to rotate
among the city’s parks and the cultural vacuum left by converting to Concerts on the Green
has not been filled).
2. Prepare for how the Sculpture Exhibition will function after the state funding ends with
Phase VI.
3. Since the Commission’s role is supposed to be policy recommendation rather than
volunteer administration, consider justifications for proposing reinstatement of the arts
coordinator position in city staff.
Item 2. Draft of 07/16/2020 Minutes
Commissioner Flanagan is referred to throughout the draft minutes as “Commissioner Flanagan.”
Starting on the second page, it should be “Secretary Flanagan.”
Item 6. Ad Hoc Subcommittee Appointments
In the past, some of the subcommittees seemed to act like standing mini-Arts Commissions that
privately took actions in their subject area and reported what they had done back to the full
Commission after it had happened.
In recent years, their conduct has adhered more closely to the Brown Act, by not taking action until
their recommendation has been approved. However, once their recommendation has been
approved, some seem to continue to exist as administrative bodies, advising staff on the
implementation of their recommendation. That is not really supposed to happen. As the staff report
indicates, unless a subcommittee’s meetings are all noticed and open to the public, its existence is
supposed to end with its submission of its recommendation to the full commission.
Item 8. Public Art Survey
I like the idea of the short and long surveys.
In the rack card survey (Attachment A), I would revise Question 2 (which does not appear in the
staff report version) to read something like: “What is do you see as the role of public art?”
That makes it align better with the others, all of which contain “you.” It also makes it clear that
respondents are being asked for their opinion, and not being quizzed as to whether they know the
accepted answer(s).
I don’t think I will have time to thoughtfully consider the long survey (Attachment B) by the 4:00
p.m. deadline for submitting comments, but I notice the introductory paragraph mentions only an
“Amazon Gift Card,” and not the Starbucks alternative promised in Attachment A.