Art4Trails 2017

Art4Trails 2017 is coming soon to a trail near you! Please join us Saturday, June 3 as the new art is unveiled of the art and the awards ceremony.


At 12:00, there will be a bike tour to each sculpture for the unveilings. 

1) START at Mayo Park East to unveil Amarama Art's “Fantastical Fruit"
2) Ride north on the trail towards Silver Lake to the old Fire Station #2 and Sebastian Richer's “Perfect Canoe"
3) From there we will head south to Slatterly Park and Katya Roberts' “Unbroken”
4) Ride west on 9th Ave SE to Soldiers’ Field Park, Roy Sutherland Playground to Richard Brubaker's “Tractor Cat”
5) Then head north to the Government Center river landing for Craig Snyder's “Drinking Sunshine”
6) End in Mayo Park West behind the Mayo Civic Center for the awards ceremony

At 1:30, there will be an abbreviated walking tour to view three of the new sculptures and revisit two from 2016.

1) START at Mayo Park East to unveil Amarama Art's “Fantastical Fruit"
2) Walk across Mayo Park bridge to see Judd Nelson's “Blue Heron” from Art4Trails 2016
3) Return across bridge to see Richard Brubaker's “Sunrise Sunset” from Art4Trails 2016
4) Walk north north on the trail towards Silver Lake to the old Fire Station #2 and Sebastian Richer's “Perfect Canoe"
5) Walk south to the Government Center river landing for Craig Snyder's “Drinking Sunshine”
6) End in Mayo Park West behind the Mayo Civic Center for the awards ceremony
 
 At 3:00 pm, all will at Mayo Park behind the Civic Center as the artists are recognized and awarded the second half of their stipend. 

 Art4Trails was developed in 2016 by the Rochester Arts and Culture Collaborative, with plans to expand collaboration on the project in 2017. Expansion of partnerships now includes Rochester Art Center, Rochester Park & Recreation, Olmsted County Public Health, RNeighbors, Rochester Neighborhood Resource Center, We Bike Rochester, Minnesota Children's Museum Rochester, Nice Ride Rochester and Downtown Rochester, Minnesota.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund

News and updates!

Never fear - your friends and collaborators in the Rochester Arts and Culture Collaborative community have been busy this fall, even if quiet here.

Community Building

First, may we share some timely items via Rochester International Association (RIA) and Rochester Muslim Community Circle.

Brian Faloon, president of the RIA, made has a post-election statement on the RIA website that reads in part:

Our mission, as the Rochester International Association, is cultural exchange and education. It is about celebrating and protecting diversity, in all its forms, and embracing our differences, not vilifying them.

As a consequence of the fear-mongering, the racism, the sexism, we are already experiencing an upsurge of hateful acts; graffiti and chanting in schools; graffiti on walls and cars; individual, personal attacks and verbal abuse.

We condemn these outright!! We urge those with the power to do so, to stop these attacks! We urge those communities who feel threatened to come together, support each other in friendship and common humanity. The Rochester International Association will do what is in its power to foster community, diversity, humanity and equity in this City.

The entire post is here.

The Rochester Muslim Community Circle invites you to

Join in the Journey of Building Relationships Through mutual respect and understanding
Sunday, November 20th
Lunch at Kabab Restaurant
Hosted by the Muslim Community

Event details found on their Facebook page 

Art4Trails 2017

In other news, we hope you have seen information about Art4Trails 2017. The inaugural Art4Trails this past summer was so successful and we are thrilled that the Rochester Art Center has partnered with the original Art4Trails team to produce it again in 2017 along with several other new and returning partners, including Rochester Parks and Recreation Department, WeBike Rochester, RNeighbors, Rochester Downtown Alliance, Minnesota Children's Museum Rochester, and Olmsted County Public Health.

The call for artists opened October 20, 2016 and closes January 9, 2017. Full details can be found here

ACI/Armory update

From Debi Neville and the team working hard on the ACI proposal for the Armory (spoiler alert: It's not dead, far from it!)

The Arts and Cultural Initiative is pleased to say we are still working on the proposal to re-purpose the Armory. Latest developments:

·        Communicating with city personnel to resolve concerns that council had regarding the proposal.

·        At the city’s request, we are working with Rochester Art Center on collaboration and partnering to further opportunities for the cultural and art community

·        NEED update  on usage for those of you (individuals and organizations) who have  expressed interest in long term rental  and anyone else that may now be interested. This is vital! Please send email with questions or reconfirmation of intent/interest to nevilledl@yahoo.com

·        We are hearing of more and more people who are interested in the building

·        We will be developing a Board soon and Advisory committee made up of short term and/or perpetual  usage

·        Defining the income side of financials; we will be able to quote cost for specific space and specific usage; monthly rate for studio and or offices also by the day and by the hour as well as community usage!!

·        Plan is to have these changes presented to city at the same time they receive appraisal.  WE appreciate your and support so stay tuned:

·        Suggested new name for the building: THE CASTLE Culture, Art and Community Center.  Exciting!

Another opportunity for local artists 

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

2017 RAC2 LOCAL ARTIST SERIES

AT ROCHESTER ART CENTER

Armory Re-use proposal timeline

It's been a year since the City Council announced its RFP for the Re-use of the Armory. Since then, the Spaces team of RACC, headed up by Debi Neville and Stephen Troutman, has been diligently working toward securing the building as a center for the Rochester community to engage with each other through artistic and cultural/ethnic outlets. The need for such a place was overwhelmingly evident, as indicated by the fact that the Spaces team was one of the original subgroups that came out of our first Rochester Arts and Culture Collaborative public meetings back in 2014. Needs assessments had been done, surveys, discussions, even a public meeting about possible re-use of the Chateau, before the city even set up its own task force on it.

So when the RFP opened the Spaces team was primed to get to work. And get to work they did. They contacted individuals and organizations for commitments of various degrees, gathered input about possible uses, started a business plan, incorporated the Arts and Cultural Initiative as a first step towards forming a non-profit entity to run and manage the facility. Dozens, if not 100+, individual artists, cultural organizations, and arts organizations signed on as possible tenants (long and short term), event users, or simply strong supporters.

March 31, Debi Neville delivered the proposal, which constituted hundreds of hours of work by the Spaces team, and a three-ring binder of letters of support, to City Hall.  Then the wait began. Communication lines were kept open with the city administration, committee members were ready to offer more information or answer questions as they arose, but they heard nothing. Then it was announced in June that the two proposals delivered by the deadline would be discussed at the Committee of the Whole meeting on July 11.  The team sprang into action again and prepared a thorough presentation, lined up speakers, and invited supporters to attend. The presentation was impressive, council members asked thoughtful questions, and Pres. Randy Staver concluded the meeting with the promise that something could be known in three weeks.

Sometime after the July 11 presentation, it became known that a third proposal had just been offered to the city, an Armory Arts Academy charter school.  For more information about that, check out Dave Beal's blog post about it as well as this PB article. It muddied the water - some council members read it, some didn't. But it seemed to  factor into all of their thought processes around the current proposals, as we learned at the August 22 Committee of the Whole meeting, when the RFP was next discussed.

It was at this meeting that the Council members voted to put a Request for Council Action on the September 7 City Council meeting. This RCA had multiple steps including rejecting the proposals, appraising the building, marketing the building for sale, possibly engaging a commercial real estate firm. In taking this action they cited concerns about financial feasibility of the two proposals, the question of whether it would better serve the city's interest to sell the building, the issue of new interest by other groups who missed the RFP window.  It is important to note here that between July 11 and August 22, no council member reached out to the ACI to ask questions or to gather more information.

It was also at this meeting that City Administrator Steven Kvenvold read a recommendation out of the report on the Chateau Theatre market study by Webb Management Services which strongly suggested support for keeping an arts and cultural presence downtown. The full report, which is quite interesting, can be found here.

Between August 22 and September 7, there was a tremendous outpouring of support for the ACI proposal. Elected officials got involved, a petition (ultimately with 600 signatures) was started by our friends at CIDI, people contacted their representatives on the council, meetings were held. It was very exciting and encouraging.

At the September 7 meeting, the RCA was amended to include provisions to offer the building (if they decided to sell it) first to the ACI (and the Veteran's Museum, although they had just graciously withdrawn their proposal in support of the Arts and Cultural center), and to preserve its historic nature.  During the open comment period, Rochester citizens speaking to their city council, spoke eloquently in defense of a "front door" to Rochester, a welcoming, inviting, creative, diverse place where people meet and learn and grow. We encourage you to watch this opening part of the meeting - you can see it rebroadcast on charter channel 180. It's quite inspiring!

The final vote was to accept the amended RCA. This does not mean the city council will definitely sell the building, but it does mean the proposals are currently off the table while the sale possibility is investigated. Council member Wojcik also instructed city staff to present options to the council for a more thorough analysis of the ACI proposal. This implies that at some future date, the council can, and we deeply hope will, re-open the discussion of re-use of the Armory by the ACI.

The waiting game continues, but the dream is not dead!

RACC News June 2016

Art4Trails unveiling June 4

It was a grand way to kick off the Rochester Art Center's afternoon and evening of celebration in honor of their 70th anniversary. Along with a contingent of 25-30 riders with We Bike Rochester, local neighborhood residents, and sculptors' families and friends, Mary Ellen Landwehr and Dave Beal of the Rochester Arts and Culture Collaborative introduced and unveiled the five public art pieces installed along the Zumbro and Bear Creek, from Silver Lake to Slatterly Park.  We even had a special guest, Mayor Brede, who accepted the donation of Richard Brubaker's sculpture, Sunrise, Sunset, on behalf of the city.  The birthday party in Mayo Park began immediately after the sculpture tour with music, cake and a variety of activities for the whole family.

This project couldn't have happened without some major partners including the Mike Nigbur and the Rochester Parks Department, We Bike Rochester, RNeighbors, and many private donors,  not to mention the hours of work and energy given by Mary Ellen Landwehr and her whole Art4Trails committee. Sincere thanks to one and all!

Treecycle by Joshua Schroeder

Flathead by Andrew Arend

Thanks to Slatterly Park neighbors for their support via RNeighbors

Bags of leaves by Chris Delisle and Christ Dahl

Sunrise, Sunset by Richard Brubaker, welcomed by Mayor Brede

Heron with Pumpkin Seed (fish) by Judd Nelson

Plus - if you haven't caught up with the new RTown talk show produced in Rochester by the folks at KSMQ Public television, their next run of shows will begin shortly and we hear it will include a segment on Art4Trails. We'll let you know when that is scheduled to air!

Senior Center/Armory proposal for an arts and cultural center

The city council has approached the Spaces team in their new incarnation as Arts and Cultural Initiative (ACI) to prepare a presentation to the Committee of the Whole on an upcoming Monday in July. We don't have the date yet, but we will be sure to post it when we do because 1) we would love all our backers and committed parties to be there to show their support for the proposal and 2) it's another opportunity for you to hear and learn about the project in case you've not yet had the chance. So look for a date/time announcement when it has been set.

It's summer so here are a few things going on next month:

Bookbike at the Honkers game
Sunday, July 10 at 12:00pm to 1:30pm,
Mayo Field
Walk or bike to the Honkers game to receive free admission from We Bike Rochester. Visit the award-winning BookBike to check out books, get a library card, or share stories and ideas!


PrideFest
July 14 - 17
Rochester annual LGBT celebration culminates with a festival on Sunday at the Peace Plaza from 11am - 4:30pm. Stop by the Diversity Council's booth and say hello! More details
​

World Music: Krar Collective
Thursday, July 21, 7pm
Peace Plaza Stage
Thursdays on First presents this Ethiopian band playing traditional instruments with an energetic modern groove.
​
But there is so much much more out there for everyone.  Bookmark one of the many event calendars, including at the Diversity Council website, and try something new!

Some impressions from MCC public comment meeting

There was a public comment meeting about the proposed Non-profit/Charitable Facility Use Discount Policy, hosted by the Mayo Civic Center Commission task force which developed the policy.  Donna Drews was also on the panel. The goals in developing the policy were threefold: keep the "civic" in Mayo Civic Center; provide a uniform, transparent, efficient process for all potential users; assist the Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau in their work of marketing the facility.

While lightly attended, several people did make comments or ask questions. Following is a brief, informal summary for general information:

• The importance of making the MCC available to local, not only touring, groups was stressed, as well as the importance of supporting the growth of local arts and cultural organizations, and honoring local reservations, even when a bigger option comes along, was highly encouraged. 
• A clarification was sought about whether the discount applied to current rates or whether rates would be increased so that even with the discount, the cost remained prohibitive. Task force members did not have specifics about rates, but it seemed a general consensus from the panel that rates on rooms in the policy (which excludes the new construction) would not change substantially.  It was later remarked from the audience that even with the discounts on performing spaces such as Presentation Hall, other options, such as schools or churches are still much more affordable.
• The fact that many small organizations, arts or cultural, don't have any budget or even official 501c3 status was brought up, and attendees were directed to Section 6 of the policy which indicates the option of applying for greater discounts.  The task force members also referenced their own research into other meeting place options, such as is available in the public library, at the new senior center (125 Live), and other locations in Rochester. These are often offered at an hourly rate that most non-profits can afford.
• City entities, such as the Rochester Public Library and the Civic Music Board, are in an unusual position in that they are not 501c3 organizations and have certain restrictions because of their status as part of the city. The task force is aware of this conundrum, and this will be something that will be kept under consideration.
• The assembly was reminded that the Rochester Area Foundation can work with new or emerging non-profits, whether through RAF acting as fiscal agent, providing affordable meeting rooms, or by making available their new incubator spaces.
• Previous MCC users sought clarification on how "legacy" activities may be affected by the new policy as far as the discount, lead time for reservations and holiday use. It was pointed out to the panel as well that catering rules, as in Section 5, are a challenge for non-profits and their budgets.
• While not necessarily a part of this policy, the idea of a city-wide, aggregated calendar of non-profit fundraisers, events, performances, was brought up and met with enthusiasm by the panel, although the MCC commission would not be in the position to be able to coordinate such a project.

The comments and questions will be brought by the task force to the next regular meeting of the Mayo Civic Center Commission, which will be Wednesday, June 8, 3:00-5:00 pm in the Riverside Suites of the MCC. This is a public, open meeting and there will be, as usual, a public comment period at the top of the agenda at 3:00 pm. 

RACC news for May part 2

More May updates!

We hope you've been hearing about the Rochester Art Center's big 70th birthday bash on June 4, including the Art4Trails portion. There will be a bike ride at 12:00 from Silver Lake to Slattery and back to Mayo Park for the unveiling of all 5 Art4Trails installations. Following that, stay and join the art activities happening inside and outside the Art Center.   Here is more information about the day's events. They could use some more hands so you can go to this page to check out some fun volunteer opportunities. 

**This just in: RNeighbors has granted the Art4Trails project $1,000 to help defray the costs of the installations and unveilings. THANKS neighborhoods!**

The Chateau Theatre Reuse Taskforce is having a community meeting on May 26 from 4:30-6:00. The event is free, but does require registration.

Have you completed the Public Art Master Plan survey yet? They would appreciate as much input as possible so please check that out before June 1 if possible.

There has also been information going around about the Downtown Rochester (RDA) and DMA EDA request for proposals for the inaugural prototyping festival. The deadline is June 17 so check out their information.

Here's a Did You Know for this month - there's a new Skills School at Eagle Bluff Learning Center in Lanesboro.  Check it out! For example, Singing for Everyone on July 9.

There is so much more than can be reasonably listed in a quick monthly email, so as always, you can find Rochester Arts and Culture Collaborative on Facebook, Twitter (@raccmn), this blog and you can find documents on our website.  Contact us via raccnews@gmail.com and Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

RACC May 2016 newsletter featuring PAMP survey

The Public Art Master Plan survey is still ongoing and they are collecting responses through May 31. Here's a link to the description of the PAMP process. There are some wonderful examples of public art in the city already, and a comprehensive plan will streamline the steps for new projects (such as Art4Trails) and also broaden the scope of possibilities, whether permanent or temporary, visual or performing arts.  Please do add your voice; now is the time, not after the plan has been finalized.

Speaking of public art, the Minnesota State Arts Board has a call out to Minnesota artists for permanent, site-specific public artwork at the Oliver Kelley Farm in Elk River, Minnesota.

Here are a few other things sent on over to the RACC Facebook page (although we know there are exciting, interesting, challenging happenings in the area ALL THE TIME!):

Coming up THIS Sunday: Rockchester Music Festival. 12:30-9:00 pm at the Wicked Moose.

Also, consider the event on May 19 put on by the In the City for Good group:
In the City for Good Community Forum

Did you know about this? La Mese delle Donne Quatre (A Month of Women IV)

Rochester Art Center 70th Birthday Bash June 4. This includes the Art4Trails kickoff event in Mayo Park! 


As always, you can find Rochester Arts and Culture Collaborative on Facebook, Twitter (@raccmn), this blog and you can find documents on our website.  Contact us via raccnews@gmail.com


See you at the show!