[0:00] 30. >> That's a long meeting.

[0:04] » All right, let us call this meeting to order. Thank you for being here tonight,

[0:08] everyone. >> Um, let's start with the city council

[0:12] leazison report who's not going to be here. Do we have any updates from him?

[0:16] » We do not. >> Okay. Um, Tim, do you want to kick us

[0:19] off for the director's report? >> Sure. First thing we would like to do,

[0:22] ma'am, first thing I'd like to do is introduce those of you who have met her,

[0:25] our finance director, Lori Mata, who is here.

[0:28] She has been interested since she got here in kind of the logistics of how the

[0:33] grant program for the lodgers tax works. So, she's here this evening and may join

[0:36] us in August, too, if uh if uh if she had her schedule allow, but she's

[0:40] obviously obviously busy putting together the city budget. So, we

[0:43] appreciate you being here. And then I will issue my standard apology for the

[0:47] climate control or lack thereof here. [clears throat] We think we're about a

[0:52] month or so out from it being done. Unless I just jinxed us. probably just

[0:57] jinxed [laughter] it. >> But it's it is someone asked me how the

[1:01] summer is going. Well, it's an adventure because every day we don't aren't sure

[1:04] if it's going to be 65 or 85 in building and it kind of depends on what part of

[1:08] the building you're in. But we are staying close to the end of the project

[1:13] and that >> libraries also have been an exciting and

[1:19] um surprising turn kind of summer. We're not like if we're not sure if it's going

[1:24] to be 65 or 85 in the in the museum. Uh we're not sure if we're gonna have

[1:28] 65,000 or 85,000 people at the library. Um [laughter]

[1:31] no, to to uh to be serious, I want to sing the praises of my team in terms of

[1:36] their ability to pivot and adapt. Um we have had um some some unusually

[1:43] some unusual traffic patterns at the library, which I mean summer is

[1:46] typically our busy season over across the street. That's no surprise, but it

[1:50] seems like a lot of our programs are and a lot of our activities are seeing much

[1:54] more participation than usual in a year when we're having some vacancies in key

[1:57] positions. So, credit to the team um for pulling together and making things work.

[2:04] Um not always easy, but they're doing a great job of continuing to serve our

[2:08] community through through the summer, and I just want to give credit to them

[2:11] for that. >> Excellent. Uh our summer, our high

[2:14] activity season runs through the end of July for the under 18 crowd, 18 and

[2:18] under crowd. Um adults get an extra month into August and before we know it,

[2:22] we'll be in the school year. So >> busy times over there.

[2:26] » Busy times. [laughter] Gear's almost over.

[2:29] » Okay, moving into public comment. Um we do have a signin sheet. Each speaker

[2:35] will be limited to three minutes. The Arts and Culture Board is not authorized

[2:39] by Colorado Open Meetings Law to discuss comment or take action at the meeting on

[2:44] any issue raised by public comment that is not part of tonight's agenda. Um, we

[2:48] can refer the matter to the appropriate city staff for immediate comment after

[2:53] public comment or to obtain additional information and report back to the board

[2:56] as I do see we've got somebody here signing in. Hi Pam.

[3:11] Uh, hi Arts and Culture Board. My name is Pam Chaporn. I'm the downtown and um

[3:18] I was looking at the economic impact report with interest. I think it's

[3:25] great. Um, but something struck me right away, really glaringly obvious. And so

[3:31] um that's what I'm going to talk about. Um

[3:36] the f first thing it says is uh looking at visitation drivers, resource

[3:42] activation and datadriven strategies. You know arts and culture in the picture

[3:47] is downtown. Downtown is a historic preservation

[3:52] district and the sense of place and the buildings and the place where art is

[3:57] installed is in a historic preservation district. If you can't look at the

[4:02] buildings and the structures, I don't think you have the same arts and culture

[4:05] experience. And historic preservation needs the same things, visitation

[4:10] drivers, resource activation, and datadriven strategies. And the economic

[4:15] impacts are can be great or they can be harmed by mistakes made with historic

[4:22] preservation as much as it can with arts and culture. In fact, maybe more because

[4:27] Littleton's historic um you know for downtown the comment was made uh 20

[4:32] years ago there was nobody down there but then we created the district and

[4:36] slowly that changed. Um, and you could say it's a vital

[4:41] component of what downtown is. Uh, Hudson Gardens could be considered

[4:48] historic. I don't know where where we're going to go with that, but anyway, um,

[4:52] that sense of place and and, uh, the the economic asset that you have by historic

[4:58] preservation cannot be separated from arts and culture. I think um, that isn't

[5:04] your job. It's our sta our city management's job and it's not being

[5:09] performed. Um I don't want to sound uh like I'm trying to uh it's a problem

[5:18] that we have that small cities have. um oftentimes they don't integrate work

[5:25] well and we have a historic board and commission history where the division of

[5:32] labor doesn't reflect these realities of um the

[5:37] interdependency of the sense of place, the architecture, the buildings and the

[5:41] arts and culture that's there. So, um, so this report is interesting to me

[5:49] because just imagine what it would be if it relied on a sense of place with

[5:53] historic preservation and um, we could count on that and then we could look at

[5:58] other places and buildings that would be city assets as well. We need money for

[6:03] historic preservation and we're not getting it. We need attention and we

[6:08] need design standards that we used to have which we don't have anymore. and

[6:12] I'm really fearful that we're going to lose our historic assets.

[6:17] » So, um, that's what I wanted to bring to your attention. Thanks very much.

[6:23] » Thank you, Pam.

[6:27] » All right, not seeing anyone else that would like to speak.

[6:32] Um, moving into old business um the arts and culture economic impact study and

[6:39] memo, we did have um economic development out recently to share with

[6:46] us and I believe there was an email sent from Tim with some updates um regarding

[6:51] impact study. There were a few things that um staff was able to catch and I

[6:56] also think a few board members caught as well. So, thank you for reviewing that

[6:59] and sending in all of those um updates and changes. This is really just to kind

[7:04] of close the loop with this. Um there's no formal action really needed tonight,

[7:08] but I wanted to make sure we had a few minutes to discuss if there were any

[7:12] questions or anything we wanted to um you know, talk about before we move into

[7:17] our new business. So, sure if there's anybody that has

[7:24] » when is this presented to city council? This will be on um the 28th, July 28th,

[7:29] the same night that we'll be doing our recap for the Arts and Culture Board,

[7:32] but I hope all of them um but I believe they are we're scheduled first.

[7:38] » They're after us. >> They're after us.

[7:39] » Right now, we're okay. Then they're going to be after us. Um it does fit in

[7:44] really well with our strategic plan, the arts and culture strategic plan. That's

[7:48] one thing that I jumped out at me when I looked through it, but I wanted to make

[7:51] sure we had a chance to talk. Did you something that jumped out at you that

[7:57] you wanted to >> I I sense my comments to Tim and

[8:01] um I'm shocked they're not here to present

[8:05] again tonight. Shocked. [laughter] Um, no, my my comments were mostly in

[8:12] that there was I think some research oversight or very glaring things that

[8:17] were left out that hopefully will be incorporated. Um,

[8:22] that I I trust with the incorporation of of those very glaring elements, the

[8:28] overall report will have more credibility to our city council.

[8:35] » That's it. Denise, we we did send all of those catches over to economic

[8:38] development. I talked to Rachel yesterday and those will all be passed

[8:41] on to BBC and incorporated into the into the final draft.

[8:45] » Great. Thank you.

[8:48] » Anything else? >> I'm recalling correctly, was this the

[8:52] one that felt like we attacked him? That's [laughter]

[8:58] » and and vice versa.

[9:02] » Um in the emails And if I about tonight's meeting, it was called out

[9:09] that the attendance is still incorrect, but we're just rolling with it. Is that

[9:13] correct or >> Well, I think um staff did dig into that

[9:17] a little bit deeper. The one that seemed to be kind of the outlier was the

[9:20] museum. So, the rest of them seem to be in line.

[9:23] » Okay. >> Um but that was after some research. I

[9:26] think Anna, you were the one that was putting that up, [laughter] digging into

[9:30] all of that for us.

[9:34] Yeah. Um, >> did I sum in?

[9:36] » I think so. Yeah. Um, yeah, I think the event in question was

[9:41] harvest festival, which we know because we handc count attendees. Um, which know

[9:45] we know that to be much greater than the 3,000 plus something that they have on

[9:50] there. Um, but the other organizations in town that were included in that um

[9:57] seem they corroborated. They said that that that that that number was like

[10:01] roughly what they would expect. >> Great. And and to be fair, the museum

[10:05] has kind of been an outlier since the city first started using Placer AI the

[10:09] very first year that or the when they were actually test driving it. Um our

[10:13] numbers just didn't match up at all. So we we so we didn't haven't done a lot

[10:16] with we haven't really anything with Placer. We rely on our on our accounts.

[10:20] So I do think it may just be something with with us and our location. It's and

[10:24] it's cell phone pings versus hand counts too. So there's there's some anomaly

[10:28] with us it seems like, but everyone else did did say that it was it was pretty

[10:33] accurate. Nobody was spot on with the exact number, but it was it was accurate

[10:36] enough that they were comfortable with it.

[10:38] » Great. That [snorts] was a good question. That was one thing that

[10:41] definitely came up. So thank you for asking that.

[10:46] » Any other thoughts on that? Um please do feel free to come on the

[10:52] it's a steady session on the 28th. Um, like I said, they'll be presenting this,

[10:56] but we will also be, um, Tim and I will be presenting um, just the recap for the

[11:00] Arts and Culture Board. And it's always good to have power and numbers. So,

[11:05] » time on the 28th. >> It's at 6:30 um, the 28th, Tuesday the

[11:10] 20th. >> All right, new business. The first thing

[11:15] we have is the depot art gallery. Um, they have requested a extension for

[11:21] their grant. Um, it's nice. I think everybody was most of us were here um

[11:26] for that grant um which is for the storage shed. They are requesting a

[11:30] one-year extension. They need public works to come out and install a pad and

[11:34] they just haven't been able to do that. So, this is something that's outside of

[11:37] their control. Um but I wanted to make sure that we had this in front of you.

[11:41] And because they're requesting an extension, we do need a yes no vote on

[11:46] this. Um, I don't know if anybody have questions about this or if you already

[11:50] had a chance to take a look at their requests that they sent over.

[11:58] » Motion. [laughter]

[12:00] » If there's no discussion, >> motion to extend for one year for the

[12:04] depot art gallery. >> I second that.

[12:07] » All in favor?

[12:16] And onto the fence, loaders, tax grants. Um, tiers one,

[12:22] three, and four. I think everybody has their binders. Um, by now, tier one and

[12:27] tier three. Um, in past year, we talked about this, are typically considered

[12:33] passroughs for us, designated by council. Um, this is the first year, I

[12:37] have to say, that everybody that's sitting on the board has gone through a

[12:41] grant season. So, I think that's really exciting. I um I love that we've all had

[12:46] a little bit of experience because it's hard to catch up to that. So, I just

[12:50] wanted to recognize that tonight and say thank you to everybody because I think

[12:54] that that's really um a great thing for us that we've all been here. Um tier one

[12:58] and tier three. Um I don't know if there's any discussion

[13:04] or some questions about tier one. if we want to talk about that first

[13:10] » say that I'm

[13:17] » just a few reminders too um that tiers one and three are essentially passroughs

[13:24] to council um and tier four is probably the one where we have the most wiggle

[13:30] room I'd say. Um, and another really good piece of news actually that's very

[13:35] exciting is that our projected lodgers tax revenue is up.

[13:43] » Uh, last we heard from finance department is up by around 45,000 which

[13:47] is great um because as Tim said earlier today in a meeting since lodgers tax and

[13:53] the first year we were down 120,000 second year down an additional 100,000

[13:58] and the third year an additional 100,000 on top of that. So I think this is

[14:03] probably uh it's like the opposite of the canary

[14:07] in the coal mine. It's a good thing. [laughter]

[14:10] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[14:11] » So does that change the um the number of grants in two?

[14:18] » It didn't change the number. What we did was right now I think we're about 45,000

[14:23] ahead of where we were last year but because it's still fairly early in the

[14:26] year we haven't we haven't recommended using that at this point. But we'll be

[14:29] coming back in August to do tier 2. We'll have some more updated numbers for

[14:33] you. You can tell you whether that trend line um has has continued or whether

[14:36] there's been any change to it. So, we're trying to hold off as long as we can

[14:40] before we allocate just to see if there's there's a a slide back.

[14:44] » I wrote down those estimates for each those dollar estimates if anyone's

[14:48] interested in hearing them. I mean, it might change again by next month, but um

[14:53] you guys want you want me to tell I can read them out?

[14:55] » Yeah. >> Um Okay. So tier one is at 60%.

[15:00] Um and with that estimated revenue that comes to approximately 439,000.

[15:08] Um so it's around 98,000 per uh >> 109,000. Thank you. For each or of the

[15:16] four organizations. >> Um and then tier 2 is at 15%.

[15:22] As well as tier three. They're both at 15%. So they each come to 109,800.

[15:29] And then tier four is the smallest allocation at 10% and that's around

[15:33] 73,000.

[15:38] » Do you have a question? >> I don't have a question. I don't know if

[15:42] I'll see it or not. >> I have comment.

[15:48] So, and maybe this is later, but I feel like

[15:54] while we haven't adopted policy of the 60, 15, 15, 10, we've also

[16:00] rounded from time to time. And at some point, I would love to entertain the

[16:05] notion of holding tier one at $100,000 each, holding tier three at $100,000

[16:13] or whatever it is. It's 15% of our >> 100 because the same 109

[16:17] » 100 >> well that's what it would be with the

[16:19] new numbers but >> correct

[16:21] » holding it at the 100,000 and then trying to figure out what to do with

[16:26] $49,000 and I think it's an interesting

[16:29] discussion some of it goes to tier two some of it goes to tier four all of it

[16:33] goes to tier two and if if we want to hold tight to percentages or as we

[16:38] historically have do a little bit of creative rounding to benefit the tier

[16:44] twos and the or the tier twos and the tier fours.

[16:48] » I think maybe we can make a note of that for when we do the policy because um we

[16:52] will be having every year we do the policy discussion followup after the

[16:56] grants and I think that that is something that we should definitely have

[17:00] on that list to discuss. Um maybe we can make a note of that. I know you'll

[17:04] remember, but that way we can have it we can parking lot it if you will. And then

[17:09] um if there's other thoughts that you guys have too for policy um you know

[17:14] updates, changes, just thoughts or questions um or even um the

[17:20] organizations that are in tier one. That's a a conversation for when we go

[17:24] back and circle back to that. I think we've had that discussion before, but I

[17:27] do think that there's some um need to revisit that as well. So maybe we can

[17:31] put that in the parking lot and we can that when we have the policy um

[17:36] discussions, but thank you for bringing that up. I think that's definitely

[17:39] something that we need to discuss. >> Were there any other things that we can

[17:47] add to the parking lot list or thoughts that you want to add to

[17:51] » I'm going to dig in the policy and maybe parking lot that's a little closer to

[17:54] this year. >> Okay.

[17:58] go back and watch our minutes and our videos and see where we landed.

[18:02] » But just to just to confirm, any policy changes wouldn't affect this round. It'd

[18:07] be for next year. >> Correct. Um, so we and because we don't

[18:11] have it on our agenda to discuss tonight, that's typically what we

[18:14] discuss after we go through the grant process. But I want to make sure if we

[18:18] have some of those thoughts now that we get them down because it's I don't

[18:22] always remember, but it's easy to go back if we have a list of things that we

[18:26] could talk about. >> Does the policy require distribution of

[18:31] 100% of the funds? >> It does.

[18:33] » Yeah. Okay.

[18:41] discussion or >> are we are we discussing

[18:45] » Well, we we do tonight need a yes no vote for the logers tax tiers one three

[18:52] and four. Um, but I wanted to make sure we had an opportunity to have a little

[18:57] discussion first.

[19:02] » Going to be this person again, partially because this is my day job. Um, but for

[19:07] the city of Littleton communications and events application, like it was open

[19:12] application for tier three, I am like once again disappointed with it's like

[19:18] more robust than the first the first draft last year, but it feels as though

[19:26] there's like nothing new and we're just going to keep

[19:30] doing the same things. Um,

[19:35] and

[19:38] I don't I just feel a little weighed with

[19:43] what they're going for. >> I agree.

[19:45] » Yeah.

[19:48] » Can you possibly ask them just for a little more detail to dig in? I mean, it

[19:52] is pretty straightforward in here, but there if

[19:56] they have additional detail. I don't know because the window for asking

[20:00] questions is already >> passed. Um so in theory we were supposed

[20:05] to review these come send any questions prior to I don't remember what the

[20:10] deadline was but like >> we did we didn't have any questions I

[20:13] think for >> I only got questions on tier two.

[20:16] » Okay >> which is what um I then compiled and

[20:18] sent out to the whole board. I didn't get any any question I and I don't know

[20:22] maybe Tim you feel differently but I I think it's always I I I don't know. I

[20:26] think it would be fair to forward on questions, but I don't think it would

[20:30] affect like tonight >> just to get some more color. I think not

[20:34] not to affect what's in here, but >> yeah, I mean I think we could reach out

[20:38] to to Jessica communications and see if they want can provide any additional

[20:43] detail. Last last year when we asked for that which got a much more I think

[20:48] robust response. Um, and I think they I think they did did it as an application

[20:53] and then, you know, layered in just facts and there probably is a whole lot

[20:57] of additional context there. So that's I think we can do that. I don't know that

[21:02] it >> I don't know that we can just because we

[21:05] kind of set the deadline for when the question should be in. I don't know we

[21:08] that that can necessarily affect the >> the process tonight, right?

[21:13] » But I do think we can find we'll get more information for you. That was an

[21:16] internal deadline and not official in any capacity.

[21:20] » It was

[21:24] » I would also like to see them respond to the there's there's quite a bit of meat

[21:29] in here that has to do with advertising and communications

[21:33] that council will hear between now and when we meet again.

[21:39] » Perhaps maybe it's more of a parking lot thing of

[21:42] figuring out how for ongoing years

[21:48] to encourage what is it Littleton to seek

[21:55] uh innovation in what they're doing and not just

[22:01] an expectation that they have $100,000 to do exactly the same things. So maybe

[22:07] that's a >> Yeah, I think like

[22:10] » conversation. >> Yeah, something that I would love to see

[22:12] too is like you know I appreciate and recognize all the growth they've had

[22:17] like with marketing comms and like their social media work. Um, but I think like

[22:22] for our purposes like the ultimate goal of Visit Littleton is to get more people

[22:27] here. And so I would love to see more data on like the actual attendance.

[22:32] Listen, I know we have that in this um economic development report, but I would

[22:39] love to see a little bit more like I guess grassroots information about that

[22:42] and like how these numbers on social translate to you know people in hotel

[22:50] beds. >> Yeah,

[22:51] » I Yeah, I would I would suggest that if people have specific feedback and

[22:55] questions or communications, they send it to me in writing

[22:58] » like within the next week, >> right? And then that's a more tangible

[23:02] thing that I can share with them rather than just, hey, can you provide some

[23:05] more context? Because I don't I I just need more information on what exactly

[23:09] you have questions on. And I'd be I'd be happy. I was also wondering if as as of

[23:14] like I think they came last year, maybe we have a one meeting a year, like a

[23:18] standing meeting where they come and do inerson updates to the board.

[23:22] » Yeah, we've got some slots available in the fall coming up in the fall. Yeah,

[23:29] » I think that would be helpful, too. >> Yeah, great idea.

[23:36] » Okay, >> but they're required to not use the word

[23:41] placer during that meeting [laughter]

[23:44] for you for everybody.

[23:51] » When the last time they were here, it it felt a little bit like we attacked them

[23:55] all. it was [laughter] actually

[24:01] » for the record I did I remember when they were here and I did say I don't

[24:04] think you should be spending money on paid SEO because

[24:07] » people aren't using Google much anymore so why would you

[24:10] » continue to spend >> paid SEO and it's in their

[24:15] » some firms do include AEO but I mean that would be super helpful

[24:21] to show that >> yeah I mean it It basically kind of

[24:26] devolved to we've got one person who has 10% of her time is able to put the

[24:33] energy to this so what do you expect was kind of the sorry

[24:37] » was kind of the attitude and then it even comes through in here where it's

[24:40] like it really cost us $130,000 to do this but we're only getting a hundred is

[24:45] what I read in the funding. So they're already kind of like setting

[24:50] the stage of well don't expect a lot out of us. Sorry. Anybody on the line can

[24:58] » So, I think we get them on the calendar for the fall and they can come out and

[25:01] talk to us. If you have some of those specific, it sounds like there's some

[25:04] really great specific things that you're looking for. Um, you can send them to

[25:08] Anna. >> Um, how about by like Yeah, like mid

[25:13] next week. >> Okay.

[25:14] So send those out to her and then that way when they come out they'll know kind

[25:18] of what we're looking for, what they um what questions we'd like to have um

[25:23] answered and we can go from there. But we'll get them on the calendar for sure

[25:27] like that. >> Yeah.

[25:31] » Um any other discussion thoughts those tears?

[25:40] We do need to approve that. Guess no vote on those. Um, if there's no further

[25:46] discussion, I guess we need a motion.

[25:51] » Are you shy? [laughter]

[25:54] » I'm not used to this. >> I'm new to

[25:58] my motion. Anybody want to go tier by tier?

[26:02] » Oh, yes. Thank you. Tear by tier. Let's start with tier one. Tim,

[26:06] I need help, too. Um, tier one. So tier one we have town hall

[26:12] at seven museum library and Hudson Gardens. Um as Anna said 60% goes to

[26:19] that tier. Right now it's looking like $439,200

[26:24] which would be $49,000 per.

[26:28] So we need to approve tier one first. >> I move that we approve tier one. Second.

[26:35] » All in favor. And we have one recusal.

[26:48] » Um moving on to tier three which is communications state and communications

[26:55] in their proposal 15% of the res revenue which is

[27:00] about $109,000. Um so we need to have a yes no vote on

[27:06] tier three.

[27:10] motion to vote from Cameron or

[27:16] » whoever just waiting. [laughter] >> Okay. Um all in favor

[27:25] post.

[27:31] One thing I can do is send their both their end ofear report for the first

[27:35] year 2025 end of year 2026 midyear reports so we can see a little bit more

[27:41] of what kind of data they're gathering. >> Yeah.

[27:44] » Awesome. >> Okay.

[27:45] » I'm not trying to hold their money back. I'm just trying to

[27:50] » see where the money's going that it's being spent well effectively.

[27:54] » Then you have to vote. >> Yeah. If if I if [laughter] anything if

[27:57] anything I would hope that they're just taking the feedback and like I would

[28:00] want to ask them like what have you learned since last year in terms of

[28:04] » that actually is a question on their mini report. So like there is an answer

[28:07] to that question. >> Oh excellent.

[28:10] [laughter] >> And tier four which is the arts and

[28:15] culture programming outreach planning um that is 10% of the revenue which is

[28:22] around $73,000. We need to take a yes no vote on that

[28:26] one. >> I move to

[28:30] » Okay. >> Cheer four.

[28:32] » Second. >> Jinx. [laughter]

[28:35] » All in favor.

[28:47] » All right. Thank you. >> Um

[28:55] » [laughter]

[28:58] » I know. Um I do want to mention everybody has their binders. Next month

[29:04] is the big meeting of course. Um we are starting at five o'clock on what is that

[29:12] date? The 13th. August 13th. So it is a five o'clock start time. Is that right?

[29:18] No. August. Uh what is the date?

[29:24] is okay. It didn't It sounded like it was further out, but Okay. Um, so it is

[29:29] a 5:00 start time. We will be bringing in food um so look for that email. But I

[29:36] want to make sure there's a score sheet that Anna needs um by August 7th. So you

[29:42] guys all have this score. Make sure that if you have um that done, send it to her

[29:48] no later than August 7th. I'm sure she would love to have them earlier if

[29:51] possible. I will send it all again. >> Yeah, [laughter] I'll send it all again

[29:55] if you could. >> Yeah, I don't Yeah, I don't mind at all.

[29:58] And also, um, if you didn't already pick it up, I I do have hard copies on the

[30:02] table over there of the answer to questions.

[30:05] » And there are two new ones on that that rolled in after I emailed it. So, please

[30:11] be sure I'll send it on via email. So, you have a digital copy as well, but

[30:15] that does have some new information for your deliberation.

[30:23] Yes, you. So, by August 7th, you will be sending me for like dollar

[30:27] recommendations for all of those three money categories.

[30:32] » But this year, it's

[30:36] » like if they ask for $20,000, they have we have to say yes to them getting

[30:40] $20,000 like whatever. >> That's correct.

[30:44] » So, they're only eligible for that amount that they requested. Yeah. So if

[30:48] they ask for 20, we can't give them eight.

[30:50] » Yeah. Okay. >> So it's more of a yes, no last year.

[30:55] » So yeah, it's not really dollar. It's >> Yeah,

[30:58] » that was confusing, but yes. >> So you send your your recommendations

[31:01] for organ receiving organizations for each category.

[31:05] » Great.

[31:09] » Works. Yes. >> Big chunks.

[31:12] » We're not averaging anything out. >> Yeah. Jamie has a question.

[31:17] » Yeah. Yeah. >> So, I was hoping you could take us

[31:19] through how that night's going to work. And where I'm going with this is

[31:23] if we're just up and down voting and and majority whoever whatever three

[31:29] organizations get the most at 20,000 win. Um

[31:34] I would like to facilitate conversation now about some of these applications or

[31:39] if there will be time for that >> next month. I mean,

[31:43] » I just I don't I before I'm sorry. Before people

[31:46] » vote and say love this, I don't like this.

[31:50] » I think there's there's nuance and conversation. I'm curious if there will

[31:54] be an opportunity for that before decision. [clears throat]

[31:57] » Yeah, I don't think we'd fully landed on what that will look like next month to

[32:03] be honest. I think what generally what I had envisioned, what staff had talked

[32:06] about was tallying up the votes and doing a simple

[32:12] I don't know what is that. It's like a a bracket. You know, it's you advance

[32:16] whoever gets the most recommendations with room for discussion at the August

[32:22] meeting. >> Yeah, we had we had we had planned to

[32:26] build in discussion time in each in each of the the grant areas because we know

[32:31] that there will be some conversation about individual grants and also sort

[32:36] since this is the first time we've read this exact format. uh you know just

[32:40] exactly how the mechanics should work too but we definitely we're planning to

[32:43] build in and we've been bringing this to leadership for our next meeting. Um but

[32:48] plan was to have each one of those three grant categories um with the the

[32:54] spreadsheet as Ann was saying and then discussion about them. We assume that

[32:57] there will be some back and forth among board members to uh unless you unless

[33:01] you all pick the exact same um applicant recipients which we didn't think was

[33:06] super likely. [laughter] >> Yeah, I honestly think the mechanics of

[33:10] it will sort of depend on what the vote distribution looks like. You know, if

[33:14] there's a bunch of ones that get equal votes, then of course

[33:19] I don't I don't actually know what that's going to look like yet. But if

[33:23] people have recommendations or thoughts on that, maybe we should talk about that

[33:26] now. Okay,

[33:27] » we we definitely were building in discussion time.

[33:29] » I I just would like an opportunity to change my mind if someone offers a

[33:33] compelling >> reason one should or shouldn't receive

[33:38] funding. >> Yeah, we we assume that there would

[33:41] the votes that are sent into Anna would be people's initial thoughts very well.

[33:46] So they're not set in stone to you is I think the assurance that

[33:51] we're seeking as a start. >> Cool. Perfect.

[33:55] » That definitely changed my mind. >> Yeah.

[33:58] Well, and I think too, as we've discovered in past years, a lot of times

[34:01] there are um things that people bring to the table that they either know from

[34:05] outside of just that, you know, binder and that um scoreeet or they've gone

[34:11] down the rabbit hole of doing some research on their own because I know we

[34:14] have a lot of very research driven folks here. Um so, it does um lend itself. I

[34:20] think the starting point is that that score and then of course you know

[34:25] comments discussion from there to kind of see where we end up.

[34:32] I >> mean I I agree because like basically

[34:34] have you know it being three four or five you know 20,000 8,000 2,000 you may

[34:40] have people that are just out. One of the questions I have is in past years I

[34:45] know stadium funding is not a thing anymore. Is there are there other like

[34:50] is there other funding vehicles that we've had in past years that we've kind

[34:54] of directed? Nothing. >> Not that I know of.

[34:57] » Yeah, we don't think so. We don't we think the two the two that we had in the

[35:01] past two years were the stadium funding and local partnership. Um most of them

[35:05] went into stadium funding because they were youth oriented type of type of

[35:09] programming. I doubt there will be a lot of opportunity. We will we'll double

[35:12] check with the CMO and see whether whether there is any opportunity for for

[35:16] referrals into the local partnership, but that does tend to be fairly

[35:20] competitive already. We're we're kind of anticipating we'll just be it will just

[35:24] be our our grant fun this year. if if we can just for my own greedy

[35:32] purpose. Um I will not be here in August and

[35:37] » um Becky and Anna have said I could send in my my vote. Um, the one thing that I

[35:44] have doubts about, if we can talk about it, is um, the

[35:49] South Suburban, South Plat Park, um, the museum. And, um, I really want to give

[35:57] that money. I really want them to work on that nature center.

[36:02] My question is um you know we're giving tier one to Hudson Gardens which is

[36:09] really South Suburban >> and South Suburban has a gigantic budget

[36:13] and also like when I read about it it seemed like because of the new

[36:17] development we should especially do an upgrade like why why is why are the

[36:24] developers not doing that or or South Suburban like does anyone have any

[36:29] insight into that one way or the other like

[36:33] into that grant.

[36:37] » I don't I don't have any insight on it, but I I think it's a valid question. I I

[36:42] unless I'm forgetting something, I don't believe in any of the first regrant

[36:46] cycles we've ever had a tier one double tip.

[36:51] » Yeah. >> Is that correct? Yeah.

[36:52] » No. And this I don't think this should be considered necessarily double. There

[36:56] was some conversations or even applications to whether they were

[36:59] eligible and we we decided they were because they're not directly receiving

[37:04] any of that one funding for garden. >> Certainly eligible to apply.

[37:09] » Oh, right. Yeah. But I Yeah, I wouldn't I wouldn't consider this double dip.

[37:18] » Okay. If anybody does their own research and comes up with anything, if you could

[37:22] email me or call me before I vote

[37:27] » because I've definitely wondered about the whole South Suburban.

[37:29] » Yeah. >> Their their pockets are so deep. They

[37:32] get so much money. Why are they coming to us?

[37:37] » Yeah. >> Why aren't they taking care of their own

[37:39] places?

[37:44] I think just play devil's advocate, the city's pockets are very deep and yet we

[37:49] fund the library and museum out of tier one also.

[37:51] » Yeah. >> So I don't think deep pockets

[37:55] necessarily should exclude you from receiving a grant.

[38:01] » But we also get to vote for our city council members and we also get to vote

[38:05] for what the city does. >> You get to vote for South Suburbs.

[38:07] » They do not send out ballots. You have to go find a ballot.

[38:11] » I can request them to mail you a ballot. >> Yeah, that's a different conversation.

[38:14] [laughter] >> But that's to vote on South

[38:19] my my >> my funding questions. They go with that.

[38:24] » Um >> okay. So let's um we don't have tier two

[38:29] on here our agenda. Let's if we have some of those questions

[38:33] um dig into that with I know we've already sent you questions but um

[38:39] Michelle you're not going to be here next month so if you have a statement or

[38:41] something that you want Anna to bring to the meeting for us I think that that

[38:44] would be >> good for us if you wanted to send it I

[38:48] think that we could do that. Um also because this is the first time we're

[38:52] doing this type of um grant process for tier 2. It's new to

[38:59] us. this might take some extra conversation. So, just be prepared for

[39:02] that. And I think that that's, you know, one of the great things about all of

[39:06] these great conversations that we've had over the years. We've um dug into these,

[39:10] we've all been collaborative, and we've all really just [snorts] wanted to come

[39:14] to the best consensus. So, I think if we come in with that mindset, ready to

[39:18] discuss, having those questions, Michelle, I know you can't be here, but

[39:21] if you have some of those, um, you know, we'd like to also be able to have those

[39:26] come up in that conversation. I think it's important to do that. Um, we can go

[39:31] through all of that when we get to tier two.

[39:35] » Denise, I think too that since there's been some conversation about some things

[39:38] that we we hadn't really anticipated, if there are questions, even though we're

[39:41] past that first deadline that Ann had, if there are some questions where you'd

[39:45] like staff to try to do again and do a little research on something that I

[39:47] think that's still fine. We'll we'll do our best. I don't know if we'll be able

[39:50] to find anything or not. >> Sooner rather than later.

[39:52] » Sooner rather than later would be helpful. Yeah.

[39:54] » Thanks. >> Okay.

[39:56] » And I'll On those same notes, I I would like

[40:01] since we're being asked to evaluate and adjudicate grants before we meet again

[40:06] and have a conversation. Um, these questions and answers are very

[40:10] helpful, but I do think it's important to note that some organizations were

[40:14] asked questions and did not respond. And that's why it's important to pick up the

[40:18] last two. But >> there is one organization

[40:20] » and to me that's >> worth all of you knowing because it

[40:24] indicates that they were not as engaged. They're not as invested. They're not as

[40:28] eager to get this money as those that did respond.

[40:32] » And >> and that's in the packet. It's included

[40:34] and it says they did not respond. >> Thank you.

[40:36] » Yeah. >> I didn't I haven't picked up any money

[40:39] yet. >> Art elements.

[40:41] » Oh, another quick update too, just so you

[40:45] all know. um all of the those 2025 end of year reports with that grant

[40:51] extension are all now compliant. So anything in that 2025 column that hadn't

[40:57] yet been checked for the end of year report has now submitted.

[41:02] » So love that >> if that factors into your decision-

[41:04] making process at all there's one's everyone's done their homework.

[41:10] [laughter] >> That's great.

[41:13] » Okay. So get ready again to that for next month. Um

[41:19] round table. Can we start with you? Sure. [laughter]

[41:24] » Um June was fun because it was pride month. Um Littleton Q hosted a little

[41:32] like pride picnic. Um and we had like 40 people come and join us and we had a

[41:37] lovely time. Um and we are launched the pride planning

[41:47] committee for um Big Fried Littleton in October and our

[41:54] gala is a week from Saturday. Um there are still tickets available if anybody

[42:00] is interested in coming and I can give you a discount code if you'd like.

[42:05] [laughter]

[42:07] Um, oh, and I we um

[42:11] I t Littleton Q tabled at the block party, so I actually didn't end up

[42:15] walking around, but it was a really fun night for I ran into a few of you there.

[42:20] Um, it was very busy. There were lots of people, and it was very fun.

[42:27] » Yeah. Uh, I I told Denise um it was awesome. My daughter was in um they did

[42:34] they opened up a third night or third day um of The Little Mermaid. So they

[42:40] had Friday, Saturday, Sunday show. It's amazing to watch that little nugget um

[42:45] take to something I would have never expected her to do. Um and but some of

[42:49] the kids are just absolutely phenomenal. Um it's impressive to watch. I'm so I'm

[42:54] so proud to have something like that so close to home. Um went to Littleton

[42:58] Block Party. That was absolutely amazing. I saw you a couple different

[43:02] times. Um I was curious if so ovations next month.

[43:09] Are we going to get tables at all for that or is that a thing?

[43:16] » Good question. No, no one no one has asked us about it. So,

[43:19] » okay. I'm gonna I mean I'm going to get tickets regardless, but I was just

[43:22] curious if anybody needs >> I recall a conversation maybe a couple

[43:27] years ago where the number of events and gallas and everything else was growing

[43:33] to the point where it was hard for the arts and culture board officially to

[43:38] pick and choose favorites. >> Got it.

[43:40] » We didn't fill our table last time last year.

[43:44] » And we didn't fill our table last year either. So yeah, thanks Jimmy. I forgot

[43:48] about that. But you're right. That was the conversation. It's busy keeping the

[43:52] check. >> That's all I had. Thank you.

[43:56] » I don't know. I know I've been to stuff, but I can't think of anything [laughter]

[43:59] right now. I I feel pressure, but no. [clears throat]

[44:04] » I do have a quick quick one. >> Um, our our Q3 culture and arts partners

[44:09] group meeting is August 12th, Wednesday. For all of us working folks, it's hard

[44:16] because it's breakfast 8 to 10. But if you can't make it, it's at the museum.

[44:19] Thank you for hosting us >> at the library.

[44:21] » I'm at the library. That's what I meant. [laughter]

[44:23] » I heard what she meant what she said. >> They're in walking distance. If you mess

[44:27] up the time, [laughter] >> you'll find your way. It's fine.

[44:31] » It's a quick. >> And if you haven't yet, um, make sure

[44:35] you sign the card for Kate. She's not here tonight.

[44:38] » I got stuck with [laughter] you at the end of the line.

[44:46] Um yeah, same. Uh I've been watching way too much um boys soccer and watching the

[44:52] art form of the flop. [laughter] >> So really there are dramatic classes for

[45:00] that [laughter] and um they're way too good at it. So,

[45:06] you know, [laughter] >> go retire

[45:09] go >> play with the um NBA also. [laughter]

[45:17] » Um my thing is in Denver, not Littleton, but I'm teaching it, so it feels

[45:23] applicable. But [laughter] um I'm doing a workshop at a craft cafe called Good

[45:27] Practice in Jefferson Park um in on August 22nd.

[45:33] Might be the 23rd. It's that Saturday. Um, but I am the editor of a newspaper

[45:39] full of good news and we're going to use the newspapers to make a blackout and

[45:43] collage poetry. So >> Oh, fun.

[45:45] » If you're interested. >> Very cool.

[45:46] » Yeah. >> Cool.

[45:50] » And to you, Tim. >> Oh, well, I was going to say, as some

[45:53] some of you guys have noted, I was at the block party. Um, JD recommended me a

[45:57] few months ago to help the LDDS choose the live entertainment. So I helped

[46:01] choose the seven bands with a couple other people from there and then as we

[46:05] all know as board members loves free labor. So they promoted me to [laughter]

[46:13] » I was down there for eight hours two hours for chaos.

[46:18] » Very yeah I don't know why they they didn't start loading people in until two

[46:21] hours before the event and that was not enough time.

[46:24] » So and I had a volunteer shirt and a walkie-talkie. So the number of people

[46:28] running up to me saying what do I do? what do I do? And I'm like, he didn't

[46:32] train me. He gave me a walkie-talkie on the street. Yeah.

[46:36] » But it all worked out fine. We had one power outage with that 80s band right

[46:40] before they were going to end one of their sets, so it wasn't a big deal. And

[46:43] then everything else went on without a hitch, so it was it was great. It was a

[46:47] lot of fun. It was exhausting, but it was a lot of fun. You got a shirt and a

[46:51] walk. I WAS [laughter] like two shifts of

[46:55] volunteers, and the second one just never showed up. Three people were just

[47:00] not there. But by then everything was kind of flowing.

[47:03] » One of them kept texting me [laughter] first. They told us to do a group chat

[47:07] and then like I did to the second group and one of the three people who were

[47:12] signed up immediately texted stop. And I'm like [laughter] okay

[47:18] not spam text but okay. And then another one kept texting saying I'm here. I'm

[47:22] here. And I'm like I'm right behind town hall. I'm waiting for you in the alley.

[47:26] Never show up. >> Wow. So, but it was okay by then. It was

[47:29] a lot [laughter] of fun. And also, >> oh, thank you. And I think uh we're

[47:32] probably going to check out Illuminate Little Pin in a couple see what that's

[47:36] about because that's a brand new one, right?

[47:38] » Yeah. First year. >> Um but I'm not volunteering. I'm not

[47:41] working. [laughter] I'll be there 10 minutes and then I'm

[47:43] out. >> So, anybody that needs help [laughter]

[47:51] loves to volunteer. >> We'll have a drink. Well, [laughter]

[47:53] » perfect. This time I can't. Well, I don't have much, but I do want to say um

[47:58] the library has some cool adult programs to go to as well. So, there's some art

[48:03] focused on if you want to go get crafty um and go do some of those. And I also

[48:07] really appreciate that you allow the adults an extra month to read. Thank you

[48:11] very much. Because I haven't been able to read as much lately as I wanted to.

[48:15] » Parents are busy in the summer. >> They are busy. But if you It's a bingo

[48:18] card. So, if you are an adult reader, it is really cool because it's a bingo card

[48:22] and then you get entered into a drawing and if you get a blackout, you get five

[48:26] extra five extra, I think, um, entries into the drawing. But, it's cool because

[48:30] they actually put out books and videos that go along with all of the boxes on

[48:35] your bingo card. They make it super easy. So, if you need a book with a

[48:38] flower, they have a display with books [laughter] with flowers on them. I am so

[48:41] impressed. They do a great job. So, I just wanted to plug um that because I

[48:45] have been really enjoying that this summer. Um, and that's all I have.

[48:49] How about you? >> Um,

[48:52] recalling that we didn't meet in June, figuring out everything I've done for

[48:57] the last two months is a lot, but I stopped trying. Um, but it was end of

[49:01] the season for everybody. So, Avenue Q, Symphony Orchestra, Voices West. Um, and

[49:07] then July 4th season, Hudson Gardens did a great job. If I don't know if anyone

[49:11] else was there, but 3,500 people I think is what they figured. Was that red,

[49:16] white, red, white, and you? >> Red, white, and I forget. Red, white,

[49:20] and rock. >> White and rock, I think.

[49:21] » Yeah, white and rock. >> It's hard to It's a lot of

[49:25] [laughter]

[49:28] » um and then a lot of kids theater, my daughter's in shows, and I forget when

[49:32] the ballet was, if that was before or after our May meeting, but I went to

[49:36] that. >> That was after. Yeah. Um, and now just

[49:39] gearing up for the launch of September and the kickoff of the new seasons. I

[49:43] will say that uh Katie and I have been working uh with Alexandria and the

[49:48] Illuminate event to host a walking an art walk

[49:53] » where different artists will be featured in stores throughout downtown.

[49:58] » So

[50:02] » that's cool, too. >> Are they going to be creating or just

[50:04] presenting their work? >> Just presenting.

[50:05] » Cool, though. That's I neglected to mention the boards and commissions

[50:10] dinner was really great. It >> is [laughter]

[50:16] » and we definitely were the best.

[50:19] » We are the best. >> Please.

[50:21] » Yeah. [laughter] >> Showed up and demonstrated very well. We

[50:25] may not be invited back. >> [laughter]

[50:28] » Mike was nothing but enthusiastic about how the the arts and culture board set

[50:32] the tone for the entire evening [laughter] and set the bar too high for

[50:36] any other board to uh >> they were all so shy to stand up. I was

[50:40] like come on. [laughter] >> You guys definitely if there would have

[50:45] taken [clears throat]

[50:49] well you guys thank you. This is >> 7

[50:55] 21 officially. Um, we will go ahead and adjourn. I appreciate all of you. Get

[51:01] all of your stuff ready for next month and five o'clock next month. Don't

[51:05] forget it's an early start time. >> Thank you everyone.

[51:09] » Thank you.

Arts & Culture Board - 07/09/2026

Transcript