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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Arts And Cultural Commission - 07/14/2020 - Special1 ARTS & CULTURAL COMMISSION Special Called Meeting, July 14, 2020, 4:00 p.m. Webex Member Staff - Youth Education v Shelly Rios P Nick Gignac - Architect P Trish Gunnells P Dr. Abu Waheeduzzaman - Economic Dev/Tourism P Carolyn Mauck - Higher Education P Jim Moore - Performing Arts P Dr. Laura Petican- Visual Arts P Jody Hughes- Public Art P Wade Echols- Marketing P Sharon Sedwick- Business Dev/Corporate P TOTAL CALL TO ORDER - The regular meeting of the Arts and Cultural Commission was called to order at 4:02 p.m. by Laura Petican. ROLL CALL - The recording secretary called roll and announced quorum. PUBLIC COMMENT – Sammy Alcorta, an Arts Grant 2020 recipient spoke about the possibility of the ACC relieving grant spending restrictions. The staff liaison will add that to the next meetings agenda. Staff liaison Shelly Rios reported that public dissent had come from calls and emails about the Queen of the Sea art piece located downtown on the bluff. Recent civil unrest about public art associated with Confederate War subjects is a hot topic, with the public tearing down public art pieces that were confederate monuments all over the county. Queen of the Sea, by artist Pomeo Coppini was Corpus Christi’s first public art sculpture (bas relief) commissioned by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1914. Commissioners were emailed an information sheet about the work prior to today’s meeting. Shelly reported that the number of dissent calls was equal to the number of support calls. She explained that the group needed to discuss what the response would be to the call for removal. Shelly suggested the group round-robin to express their thoughts on the matter so that a consensus could be reached on how to move forward with a cohesive response. The group came to the agreement that the sculpture’s composition had no direct relationship to the Confederacy. The issue was that the commissioning party was a Confederate supporter. The artist, Coppini, was a pacifist and did not support the Civil War, so no part of the artwork reflects the war. That story separates this art piece from others around the country that are more representational in subject matter. The Commission agreed that removing the artwork would be costly, but recontextualizing the piece by placing a marker near the fountain, illustrating the story behind the artwork, is the best solution. The group proposed Dr. Petican author a public response to submit to the City Mangers office for approval. The group will meet in two weeks to approve the response. Sharon Sedwick moved to adjourn the meeting. Wade Echols seconded. Meeting adjourned 4:55 pm _______________________ Shelly Rios, Recording Secretary