ARTS CULTURE TORRINGTON – The Arts and Culture Commission of Torrington
Minutes – March 26, 2014 – 10 a.m. – Council Chambers
Present (commissioners): ~Ed Cannata, Fiona de Merell, Kimberly Fazzino, Lynn Gelormino, William Haygood, Jessica Hodorski, Jacque Williams
Also attending: Erin Wilson
Apologies: Mike McAllister, Sharon Waagner
The meeting was called to order by Lynn Gelormino at 10 a.m.
Motion by Bill Haygood, seconded by Jess Hodorski.
- Acceptance of previous Meeting Minutes
Motion by Kim Fazzino, seconded by Jacque Williams.
- It’s Happening Here website
Lynn Gelormino told the group that the Torrington City Council had voted unanimously to sell its marketing and events website, “It’s Happening Here,” for $1 to the website’s designer, Evan Dobos, during their meeting on Monday, March 17th.
Lynn also gave an update on the status of Danielle Mailer's plan for a mural on the river side of the Staples building: letters of support were sent to Staples from community members and organizations, and Staples has agreed to allow the project to go ahead.
Lynn has received possible survey questions about Main Street Market Place from Jessica, Kim, and Sharon. She asked if ACT is ready to finalize the survey and have it put up on Itshappeninghere.com.
Erin Wilson: purpose of survey is to get constructive feedback from public, not for open-ended questions. We want to make MSMP better and we need to know how to do that. We need to look at the survey questions, and show to Mayor Carbone before it goes out. We also need feedback at the end of MSMP. What exactly do we want to get from this survey? Is this the right time to be doing a survey?
Ed Cannata: we need to target our questions to the answers we want to know. We need to be clear about the goals of our survey.
There was discussion about whether the survey should be anonymous. It was decided that this would be optional. We must also keep in mind that this is a survey for the community, shouldn't just focus on downtown merchants.
Lynn: all questions should be in from commissioners by the end of today.
It was suggested that we put a disclaimer on the survey to manage people's expectations. We can also create feedback / evaluation survey for the end of MSMP.
Erin: The public can call Erin's office to give their responses if they aren't able to complete the survey online.
We need to make a decision about MSMP entertainment.
Mayor Carbone has already written to various community groups to ask them for volunteers.
We will use the website to market MSMP activities.
Location: we are still waiting for confirmation on what location we can use. It may be the original location, the new proposed location, or the whole of Main St. If we decide we want the new location, we can use City Hall parking lot for entertainment.
Erin: we can't do much with sponsorships yet because we don't know where exactly everything will be located. We need to add a new element to MSMP: different, sponsored themes every week? Park & Rec is willing to and can help us with MSMP and with the themes.
For example, every week, each representative group pay $3000, and and bring some kind of entertainment / demonstrations, get advertising etc.
Possible themes:
- Manufacturers’ week
- Young Professionals’ week
- Warner/Nutmeg (dancers / actors demo) arts and culture week
- Back to School week (ToyJam, Kidsplay)
- Fashion show week (different vendors)
- Performer showcase
- Fitness week
- Vintage baseball week
Sponsors: we should also continue to talk to the sponsors we’ve had from the last four years.
It’s possible that there is enough available in the budget to find a manager (paid position) for MSMP. Until then, we all need to take responsibility for our roles in making MSMP happen and clarify today, what roles everyone is taking:
Commissioners’ responsibilities:
- Ed Cannata: sponsorships, entertainment, marketing/website (Ed will also contact JoAnn Ryan as the leader of the manufacturers’ coalition).
- Fiona de Merell: coordinating volunteers.
- Kim Fazzino: vendors, tents, set-up organization (coordinating vendor locations).
- Lynn Gelormino: coordinating where vendors go, working with Park & Rec.
- Bill Haygood: designing poster, arts marketing support.
- Jessica Hodorski: marketing / website.
- Mike McAllister: entertainment.
- Sharon Waagner: collaborating with downtown businesses.
- Jacque Williams: sponsorships, entertainment, power/ set-up.
- Erin Wilson: working with Park & Rec to define their role.
MSMP has had a significant positive economic impact on Torrington, and we need to keep it going.
Park & Rec suggested an August Performer showcase event in Coe Park. Performers would pay to play.
All monies relating to MSMP should still go through the Economic Development office.
Lynn: we need to also focus on other things, like UConn’s 50th celebrations and support for Danielle Mailer's mural. Next month’s agenda will have room to focus on starting other projects.
Motion to adjourn by Jacque Williams, seconded by Jessica Hodorski.
Minutes taken by Fiona de Merell
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