2016 MAC Annual report
MERIDIAN ARTS COMMISSION 2016 ANNUAL REPORT PAGE 1
2016 ANNUAL REPORT
It was another great year for the Meridian Arts Commission! The Commission is comprised of
nine volunteer commissioners: Stephanie Barnes, Michelle Glaze, Mary Jensen, Leslie Mauldin,
Taylor Farmer, Bonnie Zahn Griffith, Gretchen Caserotti, Ellen DeAngelis, Claudia Weathermon-
Tester, and an ex-officio City Council member, Genesis Milam. MAC’s mission is to develop,
advance and nurture all facets of the arts to enhance the quality of life for Meridian residents and
its visitors. MAC’s achievements in 2016 included:
Wonderful people coming and going on the Arts Commission! It was a hard year for
MAC to lose two long-standing commissioners, Brian Schreiner and Cheyenne Quilter. Both of
these commissioners have served MAC humbly and have always prioritized engaging young
artists in our community. Brian was a major advocate for professional artists and we were very
fortunate that his replacement on the Arts Commission, Bonnie Zahn Griffith, has been able to
continue that advocacy. Bonnie Zahn Griffith brings years of professional experience to MAC,
she has great ideas that we hope to dive into as she continues to serve on the commission.
Cheyenne Quilter served MAC longer than any other youth commissioner, and it was in-part
because of her astute recognition of other youth’s eagerness to serve on MAC that she
stepped down in 2016. Her replacement youth commissioner, Taylor Farmer attends North
Star Charter and wants her service on the Arts Commission to make art and music accessible
to people of all ages.
Another year of shows in Initial Point Gallery featuring the work of Treasure
Valley artists! Our volunteer gallery change out crew has outdone themselves this year!
Our six wonderful volunteers make this gallery work. We are so grateful for their expertise
and for the time that they devote to IPG. Our gallery volunteers have put in over 100 hours
towards maintaining Initial Point Gallery in 2016.
We lost our storage closet this year and have had to adapt our installations to be much
more conscientious of the Building staff that we need to help us transport items to and
from the basement.
Considering our loss of storage space, former gallery manager, Dwight Williams,
recommended that the Arts Commission purchase a credenza or buffet that would be able
to hold most of their frequently used items and artists’ belongings during receptions. The
Arts Commission chose to commission a custom credenza by a local woodworker. NTE
(split between two fiscal years): $2,300
The Arts Commission worked with a local sign company to fabricate and install vinyl
lettering for the gallery. Final Expense: $268
Other items purchased for the gallery in FY16 included a small frame to display the annual
IPG schedule on the visitor table in the gallery; black disposable tablecloth rolls for a
featured youth exhibition; back up plates, napkins, and cups for reception use. Final
Expenses: $42.28
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FY16 Revenue through IPG: $470; Net Expenditures: $1,515.32
Young Musicians’ and Young Artists’ awards! MAC partnered with the Meridian
Symphony Orchestra to award a combined $300 to young musicians to celebrate their
achievements and participation in MSO’s 30th anniversary of this competition – finals were held
at the Morrison Center. MAC also maintained their $150 partnership with the Meridian School
District to select three young artists whose work was awarded monetary prizes ($25 for the
elementary school winner, $50 for the middle school winner, and $75 for the high school
winner).
Net investment in FY16: $450
Children’s theater partnership with Treasure Valley Youth Theater! This year MAC
teamed up with Treasure Valley Youth Theater to support their production of two youth plays
– “Aladdin Jr.” and “How to Eat Like a Child.” “Aladdin Jr.” auditions started in December of
2015 and performances took place at Mountain View High School in March. This show
featured 45 young performers ranging from 10-18 years old. TVYT hosted summer
performances of “How to Eat Like a Child” at the Kleiner Park Bandshell with the help of
other community sponsors including Starlifter Wealth Management, The Human Bean, Idaho
Independent Bank, Idaho Children’s Photography, and more. Members of this cast also
performed at Kleiner Park Live and during the Dairy Days Art Show. Not only do these
performances bring together family members of the cast, but they attract hundreds of other
guests. Auditions for TVYT productions start about two months prior to the performances.
Both auditions and rehearsals bring kids and their family’s downtown six days a week. Arts
Commissioner Mary Jensen served as our liaison to TVYT for these productions. TVYT have
outgrown their space because their programs have continued to spark the interest of people
throughout the Treasure Valley. TVYT is considering a move to another downtown Meridian
location. They have been awarded funds from 100+ People Who Care Ada County recently for
their work as a non-profit and we hope that other organizations in our community will
support TVYT and see the value that TVYT brings to Meridian so that we can continue to
keep them as a neighbor in our downtown core.
MAC expenses for these two productions cost $5,000 ($2,500/play). Net investment in
FY15: $5,000
Dairy Days Art Show! The Meridian Dairy Board and Stock Show invited MAC to engage in
Dairy Days this year by hosting an activity in Storey Park. MAC created the Dairy Days Art
Show and hosted the event on the Saturday of Dairy Days. We had about thirty artists
participate in the event. The most negative feedback that we had was from people wanting
more, which is a good problem to have. We hope to see the continued growth of this event
for years to come.
All of MAC’s expenses for programming this year were reimbursed by the Dairy Board.
Another excellent year of Concerts on Broadway! This year’s free outdoor concert
series featured Soul Patch, Kings of Swing, High Street, and Precious Byrd. Opening acts
included members from the Treasure Valley Youth Theater, Tanya Landau, Credenda, and
Fernando Perez. We were able to have a food vendor at three out of the four concerts. As
people become more used to food trucks being available at the concerts we hope that the
vendors see an increase in sales and willingness to set up shop at Concerts on Broadway. This
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year the Parks Department added recycling bins for our patrons to use and they came out to
help us address electrical issues often. We hope to be able to make some improvements to
the electric service on the plaza that will better support both COB and other events hosted
on the plaza throughout the year. The biggest news from Concerts on Broadway this year was
our partnership with a local arts organization to provide Production Management services.
WineGlass Arts Development and their staff made this year’s series a success. At the end of
the season we asked WineGlass Arts Development if they would be willing to take on more
responsibilities for COB in 2017 and they agreed that they would take on more in order to
help the series grow more in the long run. This partnership is great news for MAC because the
concerts have outgrown the capabilities of the commission and demands a need to be run by
an organization that can meet more frequently and that has a specified knowledge of the
production and industry. MAC will continue as a partner and host, but most of the tasks that
compose a successful series production have been taken on by WineGlass Arts Development.
Expenses for Concerts on Broadway cost $21,758. Sponsors included Meridian
Development Corporation ($10,000), Investment Resources of America ($3,000), D.L.
Evans Bank ($1,500), and Idaho Power ($500). Total hard revenue from donors was
$15,000. Net investment: $6,758
Meridian Art Week! MAC partnered with West Ada School District, the Meridian Arts
Foundation, and the Meridian Downtown Business Association to host Meridian’s first annual
Art Week. The idea started when Shelly Houston approached MAC to share an idea that she
found called “World Art Drop Day.” Shortly afterwards, Lois Chattin, from Renaissance High
School approached MAC to see if they may be interested in hosting a chalk art competition.
These ideas combined with MAC’s desire to host another Art Walk led the commission to
land on hosting “Meridian Art Week.” This event was well received for its first year. MAC
dedicated more funds than usual to advertising in the Meridian Press and Boise Weekly, and
also printed handouts from Modern Printers. Even with these efforts, many people said that
there needed to be more advertisement, because they heard about the event(s) on short
notice. We have a great team of people interested in helping with this event next year as we
continue to make improvements and make art more accessible to everyone in our community.
Expenses for Meridian Art Week cost: $1,127.12 (~ 70% for advertising for the event).
The Meridian Arts Foundation supported the awards for student artists: $225
Public Art at City Hall Plaza! The Meridian Arts Commission approached City Council and
requested a budget amendment to spend Fund Balance monies on traffic box art and the
installation of “Out on the Town” by Daniel Borup. This piece was well loved during the public
input period for a public art installation at Fairview and Main, but the Meridian Arts
Commission didn’t think that the piece would be as accessible at that site as it would be
downtown. City Council approved the budget amendment and “Out on the Town” was
installed on City Hall’s plaza during Meridian Art Week. We have already seen a lot of
interaction with the statue, which is something to be celebrated!
Net Investment for “Out on the Town” and signage: $36,393.54
Public Art at Fairview & Main! Our original agreement with Danielle Foushee was
eventually terminated, for a number of reasons. This led MAC back to the Meridian
Development Corp. to seek their input to see how they would like the project to continue.
MAC provided options to MDC and they ended up supporting the option to commission
MERIDIAN ARTS COMMISSION 2016 ANNUAL REPORT PAGE 4
another piece that was a finalist for the RFP for this project. CJR Design was able to
accommodate our time frame and budget and installed “Native Grasses” at the corner of
Fairview and Main in late September.
“Native Grasses” expense, all supplied by MDC: $40,000
Park Identities Public Art Roster Established! We have worked with the Parks
Department and Parks and Recreation Commission to establish a list of two artists and one
arts organization that have been pre-qualified for public art installations in our Parks. The goal
is that we can use artistic elements to strengthen the identities of our local parks. Each of the
artists on our roster has knowledge of working on public art pieces. The first RFP issued under
this roster is focused on Heroes Park. We look forward to this project, sharing some of our
artists’ great ideas with you, and working with these artists on this project and more down the
road.
Installation of more Traffic Box Art! MAC decided to continue working from the same
digital repository that they established in 2015 instead of releasing another Call to Artists. This
was intended to honor those who were previously accepted in the repository and allow them
more time to be sponsored. The Meridian Development Corp. sponsored six wraps in the
URA, three wraps were sponsored by private companies, three wraps were sponsored by
Mayor Tammy and the State of the City Sponsors, and six paid for by the Meridian Arts
Commission. These wraps bring our total number of completed wraps up to 29 throughout
the City, though most of these are concentrated in the URA thanks to the support of the
Meridian Development Corporation.
Total spent: $15,542. Donations totaled $8,927.00. Net Investment: $6,615
Community Champions! 2016 was a great year for us to reflect on the passion for arts in
our community. Andrew Clifford, creator of “Happy Elephant” the traffic box art on Fairview
and Locust Grove, reached out to the Disney Corp. to obtain permission for his artwork to be
wrapped as a traffic box in our community. MAC and its staff support previously thought that
this would be impossible, but we were delighted to be proved wrong thanks to the effort and
commitment demonstrated by this young man! In the last year, we have also been asked to be
a part of more and more conversations with individuals in our community who are interested
in developing the arts in Meridian and argue the value of arts for our culture and our economy.
This is highlighted in the City of Meridian’s Strategic Plan, where arts are a focus in three
separate strategic goals.
Budget summary: $64,397.00 received in donations; $91,935 spent on public art; $31,385
spent on programming. Net City investment $58,923.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF THE MERIDIAN ARTS COMMISSION!