TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
ARTS COUNCIL
MAY 8, 2018
Members Present:
Dave Lasley, Chairman
Tamara Zollinger, Co-Chairman
Leisl Sorensen, Arts Councilmember
Jason Nessen, Arts Councilmember—excused
Lyle Holmgren, City Councilmember—excused
Bret Rohde, City Councilmember
Zach LeFevre, Parks and Recreation Coordinator
Cynthia Nelson, Deputy Recorder

Chairman Lasley called the Arts Council Meeting to order at 12:20 p.m. The meeting was held May 8, 2018 in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Those in attendance were Coordinator LeFevre, Chairman Lasley, Co-Chairman Zollinger, Arts Councilmember Sorensen, City Councilmember Rohde, and Deputy Recorder Nelson. City Councilmember Holmgren and Arts Councilmember Nessen were excused.

1. Approval of agenda:

Motion by Councilmember Zollinger to approve the May 8, 2018 agenda. Motion seconded by Councilmember Rohde. Vote: Chairman Lasley – aye, Councilmember Zollinger – aye, Arts Councilmember Sorensen – aye, City Councilmember Rohde – aye. Motion approved.

2. Approval of minutes: April 24, 2018

Motion by Chairman Lasley to approve the April 24, 2018 minutes. Motion seconded by Councilmember Zollinger. Vote: Chairman Lasley – aye, Councilmember Zollinger – aye, Arts Councilmember Sorensen – aye, City Councilmember Rohde – aye. Motion approved.

3. Business:

a. Future events Discussion – Chalk Art & Poster Contest

The Council introduced Merinda Brighton, who is a local author and illustrator. She would like to be on the Arts Council. Chairman Lasley said we could use the extra hands. Councilmember Rohde said he would take her name to the City Council for approval.

Councilmember Lasley said they need to make assignments to gather up the posters from the different schools. Councilmember Zollinger said she planned to go to the same schools that she dropped stuff off at. Chairman Lasley said do we want to look at them before hand on Friday and do a preliminary and come to a consensus as to who the winners are? We do not have to have a full meeting, but could meet on May 18 at 3 p.m. We could gather them up by noon that Friday. Councilmember Sorensen said she told those at the high school and middle to drop them off at the City office, but would pick up McKinley’s. Chairman Lasley mentioned that poster entries could be brought to Midland Square the day of the demonstration, but would need to be handed in by 9 a.m., so they could announce the winner that day.

Coordinator LeFevre said he has reached out to several people, but does not have an artist for the demonstration. He is in the process and will put the information out on Facebook to see if anyone would be willing. Chairman Lasley asked about the 10 sets of chalk. Coordinator LeFevre said I am waiting to hear back from the representatives of Koss. I have contacted them, but they are always in meetings. Councilmember Sorensen said is the chalk art for locals only or can we branch out? The Council agreed if was for everyone. Chairman Lasley said I have talked to a lot of kids who want to be involved, but do not want to pay an entry fee—they just want to do something. Coordinator LeFevre said that is something that has been brought up statewide. People come and spend two days at a chalk art contest, but have to pay to come and work while all the other states’ events are free. Chairman Lasley said those who want to compete could pay an entry fee and have a chance to earn a prize. Those who do not, can just have a place to draw. Councilmember Rohde said we could have a common area with chalk for people to use and bring back when they are done. Councilmember Zollinger said do you think we will have people wanting to compete? Chairman Lasley said I think so, that is the only way to get serious people involved. It would be good to have a section for those who are serious and want to compete, but also a place for families who just want to participate. Right now we need to try both avenues. Councilmember Rohde said if no one wants to compete then they will just draw. Chairman Lasley said they could do an entry fee similar to the rodeo, which would result in how much the prize would be for first through third. He said it depends how many people sign up or we could give them a chalk set. Coordinator LeFevre said we talked about a gift card.

Councilmember Zollinger said the winner of the poster gets a set of the Koss chalk. Is there going to be a second place because we will have a few that we think are great? Chairman Lasley said we could give them their poster and a nice set of chalk. What do we want to do for second and third? We are only going to display 10 of the winning posters. He was hoping they could shoot for a 20×18 poster size. Councilmember Rohde said he could make an 18×24 size poster at his store. The Council thought it would be nice to put them in a few places downtown. They could also be laminated. Chairman Lasley asked how much it would cost for 10 posters that size. Councilmember Rohde said it would be $15 a poster for a total cost of $150, but he would do them for about half that price. Councilmember Zollinger said do we have a budget? Chairman Lasley said they will spend $75 to $100 for posters and another $100 for chalk. Coordinator LeFevre said if we are keeping it less than $500 that is really good.

Chairman Lasley said who is going to build this poster for us. Councilmember Rohde said I thought we were just going to take the winning picture, scan it in and blow it up? Chairman Lasley said yes, but we need a graphic artist to add the text. We will have our image we just need someone who does Photoshop to lay the text on there. Coordinator LeFevre said he does that type of work. Councilmember Sorensen also knows Photoshop and agreed to do that. Ms. Brighton said this is good because this is the stuff arts schools look for in a portfolio. Chairman Lasley said they would pick a poster on Saturday that will then be given to Councilmember Sorensen, who will have three to four days to give it to Councilmember Rohde, who will then print the posters that same day. Councilmember Rohde asked Councilmember Sorensen to send the files to him in a Photoshop format with the layers. Chairman Lasley said we would have to decide where we want to put them. He also suggested having people who would like a t-shirt to sign up for them in advance so they can order them. If the poster turns out to be nice enough then we could print it up on a t-shirt for cost. We need to think of anything we can do to make it more memorable, but that way the City is not on the hook for ordering a product we do not have use for. Councilmember Rohde said Cover Up does shirts for $7 to $10 apiece, up to three colors.

Councilmember Zollinger said are we having anything on May 19 as far as refreshments? Coordinator LeFevre said we are piggy backing on the Tremonton Fest so there will be vendors there for that. June 23 is the actual event and May 19 is the demonstration. Chairman Lasley said we would let those in attendance on May 19 do some chalk art that day. We could go down by the firehouse and police station so they are not in the way.

Ms. Brighton suggested using hashtags. People can draw something, take a picture of it and then add a hashtag so it is easy to find and tie into the chalk art event. We could throw that on the poster and display. Chairman Lasley said it really would help if we could have an artist do a demonstration. If not I have mine out and have done several. Ms. Brighton said I know a local artist, who lives in Cache County and may be into chalk art. She has a big following and is well known in the community. I will contact here. The Council suggested more than one, but Coordinator LeFevre said the problem with having multiple is the limited spacing. Ms. Brighton asked if we could give the artist a small space to make their art and for a table to sell some of the art they already have? Would that give them more incentive to come on June 23? I know that anytime I can find free vending I am more apt to go. Councilmember Rohde said I think we would be okay as long as the artist understood that other artists would be allowed to provide the same service. Coordinator LeFevre said as long as they do not bring a big tent of stuff, they could bring things to promote themselves.
Chairman Lasley said what information are we putting on the poster? Ms. Brighton said do you have a catchy name for this yet? The Council is calling it Into the West. She suggested saying a chalk walk with that theme. Councilmember Zollinger said, but a chalk walk seems like it is already there to be viewed—a chalk art contest tells you to come and participate. Chairman Lasley said you could have the chalk walk on the next day, but we are not going that far. Councilmember Zollinger said the top should say chalk art contest because that is what we are trying to promote. Under that it should say Into the West with the other information following. Coordinator LeFevre said Murray’s advertisement said Murray Fun Days Chalk Art Contest and then listed their website. Additional information would be the date, time, as well as cost and registration information. Coordinator LeFevre said it is on Facebook, but it is an event geared more for the poster contest. After May 18 it will be switched to promote the event.

Councilmember Zollinger said what is the entry fee? Chairman Lasley said $10. We talked about $20, but then decided to keep it low at first. Coordinator LeFevre confirmed that they would also have the 10 sets of chalk to sell at $10 a piece. They will also give a few away. They agreed to have the event start at 7:30 a.m. with the Council arriving at 7 a.m. The event will go until 2 p.m. and the winners will be picked out and announced by 3 p.m. Coordinator LeFevre said they could keep the poster super simple by saying 2018 Chalk Art Contest on June 23 and then direct them to the City webpage for more information. Chairman Lasley said I think $10 is fine, but we need to come up with prizes. How do we decide that—we have no guidelines? If they put down money to participate we need to tell them what they will win. Councilmember Rohde suggested having plaques for the winners. They could take picture of their artwork when they are done and add it as the background to the plaque. He also brought up sponsors. Chairman Lasley said we have not even considered that. We are brand new at this, where do we go and who would be willing to sponsor? Councilmember Rohde said I could sponsor some, but we want to give other people an opportunity to be involved. We need to get people in the art world who would benefit and be willing to sponsor these events. Chairman Lasley suggested Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. Ms. Brighton said the art world is so much online right now, so if you do the hashtags and thank the sponsors with pictures of the event and make a big deal, that makes the sponsorship worth it to them. Chairman Lasley said if we are going to do this every year we have to create a history. Ms. Brighton said if she is added to the Arts Council she would like to help with social media, especially an Instagram account, and take pictures at these types of events to help publicize them. People may not notice flyers in stores as much, but they do see them on Facebook and other social media.

Chairman Lasley said could we guarantee the winner a $100 gift card. Coordinator LeFevre said I would say $50. Ms. Brighton said it would be cool if we could have an art store donate a $50 gift card and then we could give $50 cash. Councilmember Rohde said he could donate something like that, but they would need to be able to put Studio R on there so it is worth his time. Chairman Lasley said if we want people to sign up we have to guarantee a prize beside the opportunity to kneel in the sun and work with chalk. Councilmember Zollinger suggested doing $75 for first, $50 for second and $25 for third. Councilmember Rohde said or we could give the plagues. Coordinator LeFevre said I think we could do a plaque along with first place and then cash for the others. It was suggested to say this much cash prize plus an award. Councilmember Rohde said we could put the picture of the winning poster as the background for the plaque. It would be nice to have that ready for the event rather than after.

Coordinator LeFevre said we talked about having food trucks. Chairman Lasley suggested having three vendors. Councilmember Zollinger said what if we do not have people participate? They discussed adding that there will be food vendors at the event on the poster. Coordinator LeFevre suggested Sonny Boys and Sugar Mama’s Sweet Treats. I have some contacts, but we do not want too many either. Chairman Lasley said we need at least two. Councilmember Zollinger said two food trucks and one with drinks. They want more snack stuff so people can walk and eat snacks.

Coordinator LeFevre said he would find out about the artist and a few vendors. The Council plans to pick up their discussion on May 18 at 3 p.m. Ms. Brighton will talk to her friend about being the chalk artist. Councilmember Sorensen will have the poster done the following week. They also suggested having their own Arts Council webpage with events and happenings. They continued to talk about hashtags. Some of the suggestions were #chalkwalkboxelder #intothewest2018. Ms. Brighton also explained how to tag a person in a hashtag and suggested calling it a festival instead of a contest—Chalk Fest into the West 2018. #intothewestchalkfest18. Chairman Lasley said we need to put that on the poster at the top. Ms. Brighton said I could do the prep work—take pictures of the prizes and chalk that will be available and start building a following before the date.

b. RFP – Murals

This item was not discussed during this meeting.

4. Reports & Comments

There were no reports or comments.

5. Adjournment

Motion by Councilmember Rohde to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by consensus of the Board. The meeting adjourned at 1:17 p.m.

The undersigned duly acting and appointed Recorder for Tremonton City Corporation hereby certifies that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Arts Council held on the above referenced date. Minutes were prepared by Jessica Tanner.

Dated this _____day of ___________, 2018.

______________________________
Linsey Nessen, CITY RECORDER

*Utah Code 52-4-202, (6) allows for a topic to be raised by the public and discussed by the public body even though it was not included in the agenda or advance public notice given; however, no final action will be taken.

Follow-up items for the Council

Councilmembers will pick up the posters from their assigned schools.

Councilmember Rohde will take Merinda Brighton’s name to the City Council for consideration and approval to be on the Arts Council.

Coordinator LeFevre will look into food vendors, as well as obtaining the Koss Chalk.

Ms. Brighton will talk to her friend about being the artist for the chalk art demonstration.