Present:  Chairman Elisabeth Walton Potter, Vice-Chair Christine D’Arcy, Ann Altman, Frances Alvarado, Frankie Bell, Kathleen Fish, Antonia Jenkins, Sue McCracken, Jim Schwab, and Karen Townsend.

Guest:  Alan Costic, Arbuckle Costic Architects, Gordon House Conservancy, Inc.

Minutes: The minutes for the regular meeting on August 6 were approved.

Legislative update: Christine said that the governor signed SB 931 last Friday.  The Oregon Cultural Trust (OCT) will be within the Oregon Arts Commission but will retain its separate governing board.  Although there may be a reduction of up to 20% in the tax credit for corporate donations, the full credit for individual contributions, the license plate and the state land sales revenue remain in place.  This is a considerable victory given the state budget situation which led to defunding of the Oregon Historical Society. The governor will be doing a press release on SB 931, noting why the arts are important to tourism and education.  He, former-Senator Bev Clarno and Rep. Betsy Johnson deserve credit, and notes thanking them are in order.

Fairs and festivals: 

            Aurora Colony Days:  Karen, her husband Larry, and Elisabeth were thanked for their coverage of the event on August 10, which netted 15 surveys completed on the spot.   Karen turned in 15 more surveys from the community and expects others to arrive by mail.  Although many attending were from neighboring counties and Washington state, the Fine Art show in the Legion Hall was a good setting in which to tell art-conscious Oregonians about the Cultural Trust. 

            Silverton Fine Arts Festival:  Antonia thanked Chris and Jim for staffing the booth at the festival August 16 and 17. 
        Elisabeth commended the group on completing a successful and worthwhile phase of our public outreach work in providing a presence and talking to a lot of people at the various summer events.

Progress reports - Public involvement strategy 

     Hispanic community outreach:   Frances delivered a bundle of completed Spanish-language surveys and reported that several people said it was appreciated that the community was being asked to give their opinions.  Elisabeth thanked Frances for her considerable effort in translating, distributing and collecting the surveys.  The committee joined in the expressing thanks to Frances.

       Media update: Discussion about how to address getting information into the Statesman Journal focused on timing and format.  A draft opinion piece by Elisabeth was withdrawn when it might have been counterproductive because legislative action was moving quickly toward the end of session.  Christine said Barbara Curtain, editorial page writer, offered an editorial board meeting and that we should now pursue that to publicize the meeting or meetings for public review of a draft plan.  We might use as a “news hook” the  press release on the importance of the arts which the governor’s office is reported to be doing.  Christine believes at least three members of the board should go to the meeting and talk about the some of the things that are coming out in the interviews they have been doing with leading figures.  With an editorial, we might or might not need a citizen’s opinion piece.  Other editorial board meetings might be scheduled with the weekly newspapers.  Frances is willing to go to the Woodburn Independent.

     Interviews with leaders, advocates:  Elisabeth noted that the interviews coming in were very good, that the interviewees very articulate, and that we are building up a good folio of written words to use in the plan. 

     Frankie has done interviews with Hazel Patton and Gerry Frank.  She reported that heritage groups are concerned that the definition of “culture” go beyond the usual concept of the “arts.”  Frankie found that both interviewees would emphasize excellence in awarding grants so that more funds go to fewer recipients, creating a greater impact for each project than spreading small grants over many recipients. 

     Frances reported that Bob Miley, her contact for Hispanic performing groups, had to cancel his interview but she will reschedule.  He will give us a list of the groups to which he has given inventory registration forms.  Elisabeth suggested that if Frances is unable to make contact with Margarita Garcia, she might consider interviewing Xavier Perfecto, City of Woodburn liaison who is organizing family Spanish film nights, in lieu.  Frances also is seeking an interview with Roberto Franco, whose housing development corporation sponsors literacy programs in the Cipriano Ferrel Education Center.

     Kathleen reported that Mako Hayashi-Mayfield is sending in a written response, that Maria Chu will not be available until the end of September, and that Johnny Lake has not been reachable.

      Hanteng Dai has sent in an excellent interview with Jim Scheppke.  An interview with Lee Pelton, president, Willamette University, is forthcoming.

     Antonia said James Shull wrote and response and they talked as well.  He suggested that we get census data to for percentages of population by ethnicity and other demographics to include in the plan.  He also suggested we include arguments as to why arts, culture and heritage are important.  Another interviewee, the writer and poet John Burke, noted the importance of keeping basic institutions such as libraries alive during tough times.  Author Patricia Love has been out of state.

     Jim Schwab said he has been playing phone tag with both of his interviewees.  Elisabeth said that interviewers should finish up by the end of the month and drop names from the list when efforts to connect were unsuccessful.

     Karen said that Joan Jenkins will e-mail her responses to Sue who can forward them to Elisabeth.

    Leslie has completed five of her six interviews with Salem-area arts advocates, it was reported. 

Elisabeth has interviewed Ed Austin, Interpretive Exhibits, Inc.; Ron Cowan of the Statesman Journal; Rosalyn McGarva, Librarian, City of Jefferson, and Priscilla Carrasco.  Priscilla has documented the Old Believer community for 20 years, and she said that the committee should not spotlight them in the plan since they are a vulnerable community and would not want to participate in the tourism economy at this time.  We can acknowledge in the plan that we are not including them in consideration of their wishes. Brother Ambrose at the Mt. Angel Abbey represents a different segment of the Old Believer community.  Demographic information  from  census data can be used to distinguish between the Russian Old Believers who immigrated to the Woodburn area in the 1960s and the Russians more recently arrived from the Ukraine.  Frances observed that the Russian Old Believers have made the transition from farm workers to farm owners.  Russian is the second most used foreign language in the county after Spanish. 

     Kathleen noted that 29 languages are spoken by students in the Salem-Keizer school district and that we could contact Kay Baker, superintendent, to get a list of those which would show the diversity in the area.  Sue remarked that the county’s Hispanic population currently is at 17 percent.

Refocusing the committee

      Elisabeth said that the committee had come to a new phase in its work and must concentrate on preparing the action plan.  The three working groups will be suspended while the committee shifts gears for a workshop-style goal-setting and issue-framing process.  She distributed a draft list of policy issues to consider and areas of priority in which goals may be identified.  She said she would like this to be used as the basis for discussions during which the plan skeleton would emerge.

     The committee scheduled two work sessions from 3 to 6:30 p.m. on September 17 and September 24 at Courthouse Square.

      Maureen Thomas has offered to host a public plan review meeting at the Mission Mill Museum.  The committee discussed dates and chose October 28 or October 30, in part depending on CCTV’s availability to videotape the meeting for later broadcast.  [After the September 3 meeting, the date of Tuesday, October 28 was selected.]  The meeting will be in the Dye House at Mission Mill during the hours of 7 to 9 p.m.

      Since we do not have a writer, Elisabeth will pull together goals and various needed elements to draft a concise plan with some narrative but many bullet points as well.   In advance of the first work session, September 17, she will compile all the interviews and get them circulated to the committee along with a fuller discussion outline.  The results of the committee’s first work session will be developed into a rough plan draft to be circulated in advance of the September 24 work session.  The committee members will review the draft and be ready to suggest changes and refinements during the final work session.  Sue suggested that the language should not be detailed at this time since once language is down it would be more difficult to incorporate suggestions and information from the public review session.

      Elisabeth said that ultimately the plan needs to define the role of the permanent committee very clearly and carefully.  The plan will need to resolve issues of who is eligible to apply for grants and how grant applications will be judged.  When these issues are resolved and the on-line provider inventory is operational, a statement will be needed to make clear that inclusion in the inventory does not mean an individual or group is automatically eligible for grants, nor will all entries in the inventory be recognized by the  IRS as tax-exempt organizations whose contributors qualify for tax deductions.       There are many points the plan should address, including the economic impacts of tourism related to arts, culture and heritage.  Christine believes she can get some information in that area, for example economic value of Salem’s First Wednesdays and the Elsinore payroll.  Antonia noted the impact of urban renewal efforts focused on historic preservation and Karen cited Aurora as a good example.

     Elisabeth said she thought the work sessions could chip away at both tasks at once, namely, those  of developing the planning goals and resolving grant eligibility issues. 

     Christine will bring a lap-top computer to capture results and Sue will collect survey results from Eric and provide flip-charts.  Elisabeth will send out a packet of interviews and other materials prior to the first work session. 

Next Steps:   

     Work sessions are set for Wednesday, September 17, and Wednesday, September 24, from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in Courthouse Square.

     The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 p.m.