Hallowell Arts and Cultural Committee Meeting Wednesday, September 22, 2021, 6:00-7:20 PM via Zoom

Minutes

Present: Deb Fahy (Chair), Jonathan French (Secretary), Annemarie Kromhout, Bob McIntire, Kate

Tremblay, Judy Skehan, Richard Bostwick, Nancy McGinnis, Karen Simpson, John Bastey, Rosemary

Presnar, Gary Lamb, Diane Polky, Cary Colwell, Michael Frett, Chris Buck

A. Hallowell Granite Symposium Sculptures and Feedback

The Committee, along with members of the Hallowell Conservation Committee, City Manager, Gary

Lamb, City Clerk, Diane Polky, Chris Buck from Public Works, and Ward Two Councilor Michael Frett

discussed the various sculptures to purchase and potential locations for display:

Isabel Kelley’s sculpture “Bloom” was the winner of the popular vote at the Symposium followed

by Mark Herrington’s “Flowing Through”

The majority of the Committee agreed that both of those sculptures would be the two that

should be purchased by the City.

The Committee only has $5000 budgeted for sculpture purchases and would need to fundraise

$3000 more for Mark Herrington’s and another $9000 for Isabel Kelley’s.

Rosemary Presnar from the Conservation Committee stated that Committee’s preference for

site locations and strongly discouraged placement at “The Res.”

Granite City Park was mentioned by several members as the ideal location for sculptures,

however there was concern over the fact that there was no plan for the Park itself, and there

was a risk of the park becoming too cluttered.

Bob McIntire made a motion, seconded by Nancy McGinnis, to recommend locating any sculpture(s)

purchased from the Symposium at Granite City Park. The motion passed unanimously.

Bob McIntire made a motion, seconded by Kate Tremblay, to recommend that the Property Committee

develop a plan for Granite City Park that included placement of any sculpture(s) from the Symposium

chosen for purchase by the City. The motion passed unanimously.

Bob McIntire made a motion, seconded by Judy Skehan, to select Mark Herrington’s sculpture “Flowing

Through” as the first choice to purchase. The motion passed with 5 members in favor, 3 opposed and 1

abstaining.

Bob McIntire made a motion, seconded by Richard Bostwick, to select Isabel Kelley’s sculpture “Bloom”

as the second choice to purchase. The motion passed with 7 members in favor, 1 opposed and 1

abstaining.

Item 15b

Feedback from the event from Committee members was as follows:

It would be helpful if the sculptures had the names of the artists directly in front of them for

easier identification.

A better and more photogenic barrier should be provided to keep the public out of the artists

space.

The education and activity areas could be expanded because they were extremely popular with

both children and adult attendees.

It may be a good idea to provide a guest book to better record attendance of the event.

The next symposium could be held at the University of Maine at Augusta as there is a large

granite stockpile available.

B. Organizational Updates

The only update was from the Hubbard Free Library. Annemarie Kromhout mentioned Sam Webber’s

book will be published in October and copies will be available the week before his talk on October 22nd.

C. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Committee will be on October 27th at 6:00 PM via Zoom.

Submitted by Jonathan French, Secretary

Hallowell Arts and Cultural Committee Meeting Wednesday, October 27, 2021, 6:00-7:34 PM via Zoom

Minutes

Present: Deb Fahy (Chair), Jonathan French (Secretary), Judy Skehan, Bob McIntire, Annemarie

Kromhout, Julie Horn, Chris Cart, Nancy McGinnis, Richard Bostwick

A. Organizational Reports

Hubbard Free Library: 23 people attended Sam Webber’s book talk “Black Cat and Other

Stories” via Zoom on October 22nd. The book is available at the Library for $20 and the

presentation was recorded. The Library is looking to hire a part-time position for 25-27

hours per week to start and then 13.5 hours a week regularly. The basement will be

repaired in December and January.

Historic Hallowell Committee/Hallowell Age Friendly Committee: The most recent edition of

the newsletter was published and distributed. The Historic Hallowell Committee will be

meeting on October 28th and will be discussing the future of the old fire station on Second

Street.

Maine Arts Commission: As part of the American Rescue Plan funds, the Commission is

offering a maximum $15,000 matching “Arts Jobs Grant”- one for artists and one for

organizations – to support public projects that give opportunity to Maine artists and

encourage worker retention. There is a November 18th deadline to apply.

B. Treasurer’s Report

Deb Fahy reported that the Committee has $1,128.63 in its account with Vision Hallowell,

$6,277.04 left over from the Granite Symposium, $2278.96 from the Luthier’s Festival and

$1285.00 in donations for the Granite Symposium sculptures. Additional sculpture donation

amounts via PayPal were not available.

C. Granite Symposium Sculptures/TIF/Hallowell History Mural Discussion

The Committee first discussed the current fundraising efforts for the two sculptures that

would be purchased.

Deb Fahy mentioned that the total cost for purchase and installation of both sculptures

would be $24,000 and that she had talked to each artist about a down payment to

reserve the purchase rights to each sculpture. $3000 was the amount that was agreed

upon by the Committee.

Since the Committee had already voted to have a first choice for funds, Jonathan French

stated it would be necessary for another motion to be made to give down payments to

both artists, as there were enough funds to purchase the first sculpture.

The Committee was also to advise the City Council how to spend $5000 of TIF funds

dedicated to the arts and culture in Hallowell.

Chris Cart gave an update on his mural project and was asking for $1400 for supplies

and would need additional funds for installation labor.

After discussion (with Chris Cart abstaining from the discussion), the Committee decided

to recommend to the Council to disperse the TIF funds as follows:

o $3000 to Chris Cart for his Hallowell History Mural project installation

o $1000 to Mark Herrington for a down payment on “Flowing Through”

o $1000 to Isabel Kelley for a down payment on “Bloom”

A motion was made by Bob McIntire and seconded by Richard Bostwick to spend $4000 of

remain Symposium funds, with $2000 for each artist, to reserve the purchase of the two

selected sculptures from the Granite Symposium. The motion passed 7-0.

A motion was made by Julie Horn and seconded by Nancy McGinnis to recommend to the City

Council to spend $3000 in TIF funds for the Hallowell History Mural project by Chris Cart, and

to divide the remaining $2000 equally to each artist to reserve the purchase of the two

selected sculptures from the Granite Symposium. The motion passed 6-0 with Chris Cart

abstaining.

D. Granite City Park Workplan

Deb mentioned Rosemary Presnar was leading a core working group to come up with a

Workplan for Granite City Park that will be presented in April 2022 to the City Council. A link to

the draft workplan can be found below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_x5z20E_BdICTXQ1FkiAUR-nkB7kiBDe/edit

E. Maine Arts Commmision Cultural Plan Workshop

The Maine Arts Commission is meeting with 19 communities throughout Maine to gather input

on its next Five-Year Cultural Plan and Hallowell was selected as one of the communities. A

workshop will be held on November 17th at 6:00 PM with the Committee and the Maine Arts

Commission instead of the normal business meeting.

F. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Committee will be on December 22nd at 6:00 PM via Zoom.

Submitted by Jonathan French, Secretary.