Arts and Culture Advisory Committee

Tuesday, October 22, 2024 at 4:00 P.m. - 6:00 P.m.

Schmalz Room - Second Floor City Hall

City of Kitchener

200 King Street W, Kitchener, ON N2G 4G7

Present:

• M. Lam, Chair
• A. Girard, Vice Chair
• I. Stefanescu, Member
• Councillor D. Schnider, Member
• O. Ajibade, Member
• J. Hall, Member

Staff:

• K. Varin, Committee Administrator
• Jeremy Dueck, Director, Culture and Entertainment
• Andrea Hallam, Manager, Arts & Creative Industries

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1.

Commencement

The Arts and Culture Advisory Committee held a meeting this date commencing at 4:00 p.m.

1.1

Acceptance of agenda

Accepted on motion by I. Stefanescu, seconded by M. Lam.

1.2

Acceptance of September minutes

Deferred to November meeting.

2.

Disclosure of Pecuniary Interest and the General Nature Thereof

3.

Delegations

3.1

Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts report summary: Jeremy Dueck, Director, Culture & Entertainment, Economic Development

In 2021 the Conrad Family donated the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts (CCPA) to the city and in 2023 the city assumed operational responsibilities with Green Light Arts as the approved operating partner. The intent of the donation was to bring more activity to the venue, to increase cultural programming in our community and provide affordable access to performing space for the local arts community. Once the Centralized Services Provider, Culture and Entertainment Division was created at the city of Kitchener, it was tasked with developing a new operating model for the CCPA. Staff will be taking the report with the recommended operating model on October 28. J. Dueck gave an overview of the report: community engagement and mandate, operating model comparison and financial model review. Members responded favorably including agreement with a mentorship model, a need for FTEs, continued transparency/clarity and feedback, and sensitivity to equitable voices. Members also expressed a strong desire to continue to have advisory input into the initiative as it evolves. 

Action: J. Hall will delegate on behalf of ACAC at the October 28 meeting to present a statement in favour of the report recommendations. 

3.2

Artist Directory: Sharl Smith

Ms. Smith is a local artist and was one of the contributors to the Uncovering Barriers: Identifying Gaps in Opportunities and Resources Causing Barriers for Visual Artists in Waterloo Region with Recommendations to Reduce these Barriers, commissioned by the city of Kitchener. One of the barriers identified, was access to information and lack of a centralized location for posting arts related events and information. Existing calendars do not include all events, are hard to navigate and are not up to date. To solve this challenges, Ms. Smith is proposing a curated website that would list events, grants, job postings, deadlines etc. for all creatives. She presented the committee with a website prototype that she created. She demonstrated how information is accessed and organized, outlined the growth potential and budget to sustain such a centralized website. She is looking for funding to support continued hosting and regular updating of the website. Members suggested to approach the (Region of) Waterloo Economic Development Corporation, or the Region.

4.

Discussion Items

4.1

ACAC Terms of Reference revisions: Maggie Lam, ACAC chair

Clerks reviewed the most current draft. They suggested a few additional definitions. Members questioned why the paragraph about delegations was removed and recommended to add another section around jury processes to reflect plans to bring PAWG directly under ACAC as a non-permanent sub-committee. M. Lam will tackle these further revisions, and present at the November meeting. Members would like to give ACAC members in the new term an opportunity to review the new Terms of Reference before them being formally finalized.

4.2

ACAC End of term report draft: Maggie Lam, chair

Staff determined with Clerks that there is no need for an official presentation of the end of term report to Council. The report will be presented to and kept as reference for next term members.

5.

Information Items

5.1

Standing items city updates: staff

Bob Egan has retired from the city. The position will be posted in early 2025.

5.2

Downtown Advisory Committee: Annabelle Girard

Councillor D. Chapman invited input towards a letter of support for the continued existence of the safe consumption site at its current location. A. Hertzog, Manager of Downtown Development and Innovation, Economic Development, presented the team's vision of revitalizing the downtown. M. de Groot also came to talk about the work table proposition shared at the September ACAC meeting.

5.3

Economic Advisory Committee: Margaret Lam

EDAC discussed commercial real estate. 

5.4

Public Art Working Group: Karoline Varin

Staff explained the nature of PAWG as a permanent sub-committee of ACAC and proposed folding PAWG's activities back into ACAC. Over the years PAWG has moved away from serving as a permanent sub-committee and began functioning as a separate committee putting an additional administrative strain on staff. ACAC would still be able to create specialized ad-hoc/sub committees on a per need basis that would continue the responsibilities currently under PAWG. A jury roster of potential jurors and individuals with specialized interests could be created to support on-going recruitment needs for ACAC sub-committees.   

The committee juried submissions for the 2025 Rotunda Gallery exhibition program.

5.5

Council report: Councillor Dave Schnider

No updates. Councillor Schnider left the meeting at 5pm.

5.6

Member updates

A. Girard gave updates.

6.

Adjournment

On motion by J. Hall, seconded by A. Girard, this meeting adjourned at 6:03 p.m.

Karoline Varin
Committee Administrator