The Chairman, Mr. Sonny Vergara spoke about a report on an event planning summit that took place on July 7th. Mr. Vergara said that the meeting took two hours, and that he included a summary of what came out of the meeting. One of the things he explained is that there are several types of events coming about that are defined by their intent.
One intent includes raising money and promoting the city. These are the big events that are advertised outside of the county, such as the Blueberry Festival and upcoming events which will be oriented towards the Brooksville Vision Foundation and also the Main Street Program. (Specifically regarding the Blueberry Festival, they raise money for the Blueberry Growers Association.) Other purposes for events include civic events that aren’t intended to raise money (programs like having a movie in the park, the Saturday farmer’s market, etc.). Lastly, there are events that are somewhat in between the events that raise money and the free civic ones; these are events that have to raise money to pay for themselves (such as music and art festivals).
The Chair said that during the July 7th meeting, there were people who represented events of various goals and purposes, and that there was a great deal of confusion until these events were defined a bit more. “…now everyone understands that they’re not necessarily stepping on each other’s toes,” Mr. Vergara said. “And coordination and collaboration was the whole intent…”
Mr. Vergara wants the Council, and specific members such as Councilmen Yerrick, Freeman, and Shaskan, to reach out and talk to people. This is due to other events/organizations wanting to do things in conjunction with the Art Council on events like Art in the Park and music events. The Chair then asked who would like to be on that committee that will be representing the Council, and meet with Barbara Manuel (a long time Hernando County resident and owner of the radio station WWJB) and others regarding the Art Council’s events how and if the Art Council will collaborate. Several members of the Council joined, or said that they would try to be involved.
The Chair then moved to the next item on the agenda, which regarded the planning for Art in the Park 2017. Councilman Paul Shaskan passed out green folders with a wealth of information, and began to talk about Art in the Park.
Mr. Shaskan explained that the success the event depends on four major sources of income. One source is Exhibitor Acquisition, which made up 44% of the income in 2016. He then explained that using the survey answers from the exhibitors, 18% learned about the show from an advertisement in a publication called, “Where the Shows Are,” which has wide reader reach, and 51% were repeat exhibitors. They also discussed that 12% of the artists learned about the show from Exhibitor Applications, and went into detail of how to hand the applications out to artists.
Mr. Shaskan continued, by discussing the feedback scores on a scale of one to ten that the exhibitors rated the event’s various elements, such as application forms, fees, registration process, getting set-up, advertising, park location, show date, judging, and entertainment. Throughout all of the categories, there were 31 scores that were five or less, 269 scores that were between six and nine, and a total of 222 scores of ten. He further explained that when he exhibitors were asked what they disliked about the show and how can it be improved, the repeated negatives included a desire for more visitors (12 people voiced this concern), the Swamp Festival (4 people; this event was scheduled at the same dates as Art in the Park) the unfortunate weather (7 people disliked the rainy weather), exhibitors leaving early (3 people), and toilets (2 people).
He then went on to detail the numbers of various aspects of the events (the number of crafters, fine artists, food, parking etc.) from both the 2015 and the 2016 events, along with the income totals from the varying categories. After presenting these totals, he listed preliminary goals for these categories for the upcoming 2017 Art in the Park event, including the possible addition to the event of beer trucks. He also addressed the drop in income from parking during the 2016 event, as a result of having that area understaffed, and a problem with helping people find the event.
There was also a discussion regarding the grants and scholarships for the Hernando County Fine Arts Council and the subsequent deadlines and current status of these.
Mr. Shaskan closed his presentation by asking various council members to sign up to volunteer to reach out to artists at various art shows. Several council members did volunteer to do so. He also highlighted the importance of making sure that the community knows about the event, adding that they, “allocated a significant 30% of [their] budget for advertising,” and promotion in 2016. Lastly, they covered the sponsor packets which can be handed out to various entities explaining that they can place an advertisement in a small booklet for Art in the Park 2017. The sponsor packets detail the various sizes for ads and the prices for them.
The meeting then moved to the status of grants, which Councilwoman/ Project Coordinator Knowles covered. She explained which grants have already been applied for, which ones still need to be applied for or contacted, and so on. Some of these included the Hernando BOCC Outreach Grant, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, Florida Humanities Council, and Walmart.
Ms. Barbara Blavatt later spoke about her feelings regarding the two remaining openings on the Council. She brought up a concern that, “we seem to have a void of representation in the area of dance and the area of theatre…” She asked the Council if they, “..would entertain the thought of having somebody with those backgrounds…” The Chair said that, “there’s nothing to oppose that.” He went on to say that due to the small number of members that they have, the Council is eager to welcome those who express interest. “So that’s a good point, and if anybody knows of anybody along that line, and willing to bring them to us and if they’re interested, certainly we could put them on the agenda,” said the Chair.
It was then brought up that there will soon be separate meetings for the Council regarding Art in the Park. The Chair brought up the Hernando County Fine Arts Council Community outreach grants program and mentioned that the Council needs to work on creating the details for that. It was said that Councilwoman Putnam and Councilman Sherman would be working on that project together.
Projects Coordinator/Councilwoman Jan Knowles then mentioned that Spring Break will be on March 13th this year, and that the Council will be able to better prepare the schools ahead of time for getting students’ artwork submitted to the Council, as there was a, “hiccup,” last year. She also asked the Council about becoming members of the Florida Cultural Alliance (which she explained has given the Council a lot of money over the years). Becoming a basic donor is $100, and she thought it would be nice if the Council became a member as a basic donor. The motion was brought forth, seconded, and the vote passed. Ms. Knowles also discussed spending $65 to join a women’s club outreach. The motion was brought forth, seconded, and passed.
There was later discussion about membership, building an audience base (more specifically in regards to the orchestra), and the Friends of the Arts. Such as season tickets to the orchestra, an invitation only gala, etc. It was decided that there would be a continuing discussion of this topic at the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:00pm.
Their next meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 8th, from roughly 5:30pm to 7:00pm at Brooksville City Hall, City Council Chambers, at 201 Howell Avenue, Brooksville, FL 34601.
If you’re an artist, art related business, or have an interesting lead for an art-related story, be sure to contact Elizabeth Dentato at edentato1@gmail.com.