Minutes of NWSSA BOD Meeting 8-24-2016

Minutes of NWSSA Board Meeting on Wednesday August 24, 2016 at the Suttle Lake Symposium

Present:
Carl Nelson – President
Ken Barnes – Vice President
Ben Mefford – Secretary
Pat Barton
Doug Wiltshire
Steve Sandry

Also in attendance:

Renee Roberts, Cyra Jane Hobson, Bob Leverich, Kirsten [?]

The meeting was called to order at 3:00pm.

Previous BoD meeting minutes still need to be posted and approved.

Agenda:
1.       Minutes and Attendance
2.       Washington Symposium 2017 venue change
3.       New Storage on member property
4.       Camp B 2016 review from Symposium Director
5.       Suttle Lake 2016 update from Symposium Director and Registrar
6.       Old Business
   a.   King County Parks
   b.  Washington State Arts Commission
   c.  Flower and Garden Show & Occidental Park Event
   d.  Fort Worden
7.  Educational exchange program with Japan
8.  Grants

2.  Washington Symposium 2017 venue change

Carl Nelson summarized the updated conversation with the new owners of the Treacy Levine Center and the board reviewed its recent decision to move the symposium to a new venue.  Due to the many unknowns of the transition of the TLC facility for their internal needs, the new owners cannot offer us assurance that the facility would still be available to meet the needs of NWSSA in time for our 2017 symposium.  The BoD had previously identified several viable alternative sites, the two front runners being Pilgrim Firs and Indianola.  Indianola had become booked for our ideal event dates by 8/15/16 when the venue change decision was made via email.  Pilgrim Firs also offered additional incentive and was selected as the event location for the 2017 Washington Symposium.  Costs are expected to be approximately the same as those of the 2016 event.  The board carried a motion to move the symposium to Pilgrim Firs for the 2017 Symposium via email, and affirmed this decision in person at this meeting.

3.  New Storage at Wayne M.’s property.

Member Wayne M. generously offered to allow the NWSSA to place a storage container on his family property in Seattle to house association equipment indefinitely.  Everything has been moved from the Treacy Levine Center property and is now in storage here.  Board president Carl Nelson has a spare key to the property and board member Pat Barton has a spare key to the storage container.  A donation of approximately 8 tons of stone (mostly sandstone) from the James Washington Foundation is also being stored at the property.  The association has committed to immediately organizing a volunteer work party to paint the container green to camouflage it.

4.  Camp B 2016 review from Symposium Director

Symposium Director Cyra Jane Hobson reported that the event was a success and early financial numbers looked very positive for both tuition and for the educational fund.  She reported that both of the Resource Tent teachers have requested a total of about $1000 of new tools to add to the association tool library, and a detailed list should be forthcoming.

5.  Suttle Lake 2016 update from Symposium Director and Registrar

Symposium Director Doug Wiltshire had positive reports about the relationship with the camp staff, and informed the board that it has potential to continue as a long term home for the Oregon Symposium.  He requested that the board approve the purchase of two storage containers to be housed on the property.  In return for the camp building a pad, painting the containers, securing and maintaining them, they will borrow storage space in one of the containers in perpetuity while NWSSA uses the other for on-site storage.

A motion was made to approve $4500 expenditure for the purchase of two storage containers, and the vote was carried.

Symposium Registrar Renee reported that member turnout for the Suttle Lake Symposium has been excellent and that marketing efforts for the public art show have been positive.  A color ad had been placed in the local newspaper, and two people had passed out flyers to many locations in nearby Sisters, OR.  This year there were also new sponsorships by way of product donations by Atlas Cider and Big Sky Brewing, among others.

6.  Old Business

A. King County Parks
Board Secretary Ben Mefford summarized the progress that we have been making building a relationship with King County Parks over the last year.  Cyra has excellent ideas for small teaching classes in the parks and will take the lead to identify opportunities this upcoming Fall and Spring.  Ben is pursuing projects for passive display of permanent/temporary sculptures at one or more King County Parks.

B. Washington State Arts Commission
Karen Hanan and Dr. Bassem Bejjani from the WA Arts Commission visited the 2016 Washington Symposium at the invitation of board member Rick Johnson to tour the event and get to know our association better.  It was a very positive visit and Karen encouraged NWSSA members to seriously consider applying for the Public Art Roster.  Board member Pat Barton suggested that the Arts Commission create a secondary tier of the art roster for artists who can contribute excellent work on intermediary scale projects but may struggle to compete for commissions against more well known artists.

C. Flower and Garden Show & Occidental Park Event
Discussed importance of having promotional material for the symposiums available in time for the Flower and Garden Show.  Member Kerin Monica has volunteered to run the NWSSA booth at the Flower and Garden Show.  Reminder that the Occidental Park 1^st Thursday art walk will be occurring the first week of September in Seattle.

D. Fort Worden
Board president Carl Nelson has been in early talks with Fort Worden about using space and possibly hosting an NWSSA winter symposium.  Board member Rick Johnson has volunteered to take the lead on this project. NWSSA would be collaborating with Centrum (a non-profit that manages some of the property) and with the Port Authority.

7.  Educational exchange program with Japan

An initial effort by member Kentaro K. and Symposium Director Doug Wiltshire to provide scholarship opportunities to guest sculptors from Japan have been richly successful toward enhancing the idea exchange of the Oregon Symposium.  The next step will be to establish a process to allow members from the U.S. to be able to travel to Japan and participate in a complimentary exchange.  Evergreen University, Lane Community College, and the University of Oregon have potential for collaborative participation in this exchange.

8.  Grants

Board Secretary Ben Mefford continues to pursue several grant opportunities for NWSSA, and both Cyra Jane Hobson and board member Ken Barnes volunteered to contribute writing or proofing towards grant applications. Current needs include a new presentation projector, the forthcoming list of new tools for approximately $1000, support for mentorship, or artist-in-residence opportunities.

A motion to adjourn was carried at 5:00pm