Possible Folk Fest Revival Discussed by Arts Commission
The Arts Commission filled a pair of seats, appointed members to a subcommittee that will explore bringing back Folk Fest and discussed the Cultural Arts Plan at its Thursday, March 21 meeting.
At the meeting, the commission welcomed Cara Ronk and Elinor Holbrook. Ronk is a new East Lansing resident who moved to the city in July. She has a background in art administration and sculpting. Holbrook is a long-time resident of East Lansing and served on the Arts Commission previously.
“I’ve had a profound interest in the arts to start with from childhood,” Holbrook said. “I was lucky to attend an elementary school with a full-time arts and music teacher.”
With the departure of previous Vice Chair Abigail Tykocki, who now serves on the Housing Commission, the Arts Commission had to elect a new vice chair among themselves. Commissioner Allie Siarto was unanimously voted to fill that role.
Subcommittee forming to explore Folk Fest revival.
The commission voted on assigning Arts Commissioners to an exploratory Folk Fest Subcommittee, joint with the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission.
Councilmember Mark Meadows has expressed interest in exploring the possibility of reinstating the Folk Fest or something similar at the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission meeting. Parks and Rec formed a subcommittee and appointed Chair Sarah Reckhow and Commissioner Joshua Ramirez-Roberts to serve on it. The Great Lakes Folk Festival was last held in East Lansing in 2017.
“This subject has come up in a lot of different ways,” Parks, Recreation and Arts Director Cathy DeShambo said. “A lot of people brought it up last year when we were working on the Valley Court Park [project], and people wanted the Folk Fest back…We wanted to explore the idea of creating something that embodies this amazing memory that people have towards that event.”
Karen Jennings, a former arts commissioner, came to the meeting to express her support for the Folk Fest revival during public comment.
“My husband Jerry and I had been heavily involved in the Folk Festival,” Jennings said. “I believe it was the best weekend of the summer in East Lansing.”
The Arts Commission agreed that they have interest in making something similar to the Folk Fest happen again, and Commissioners Chris Wardell and Oluwatobi Williams agreed to join the subcommittee.
The commission voted on multiple items, including moving forward with the annual report and updating public art.
The 2023 Arts Commission Annual Report summarizes activities, accomplishments and goals from the previous year.
DeShambo said the Arts Commission used to produce the annual reports each year, but had stopped. Now, new City Manager Robert Belleman is requesting the reports be done again.
“This provides the opportunity for chairs and vice chairs to share their annual reports with the leaders of the city,” DeShambo said.
The commission reviewed the report and expressed a desire to further emphasize the commission’s support for art space in the city.
“I would personally like to have something that specifically says that we support more movement on that [art space],” Williams said.
The commission approved the report unanimously with the additional support for art space.
Discussion surrounding maintenance for the Lemongrass sculpture in Valley Court Park was brought up at the February meeting, and the city’s Art Festival & Arts Initiative Coordinator Heather Majano found a quote for how much it would cost to repair the sculpture.
The sculpture was installed in 2019 and purchased with money from the Public Art Fund. Over the past five years, the neon color of the statue has faded to a pastel. Majano reached out to the artist, Dane Porter, for a proposal and quote for brightening the piece.
To repair the sculpture it was cost $5,200, according to Porter. He would utilize a “new lime green powder coat finish and or a urethane automotive finish. Whoever yields a better UV resistance will be applied.”
When discussing the repairs, the commission took into consideration an email they received from resident Molly Szupnar concerned about the high cost of the repair.
“I would like the Arts Commission to consider alternate approaches to maintenance,” Szupnar wrote. “$5,200 could purchase additional art or fund beautification efforts in other areas of the city. My personal suggestion would be for the $5,200 to go towards additional tree planting in the area surrounding the Lemongrass statue.”
“I think it’s a legitimate financial concern,” Commissioner Alan Conceicao said. “$5,200 is not an insignificant sum of money.”
Questions about whether the statue would have to be repainted every five years were also brought to the table.
“It would be nice to have an idea of what we would be looking at for the timeline for when we would have to paint it again,” Conceicao said. “What’s a realistic expectation?”
Conceicao moved to table approval of the request and get additional information from Porter about a timeframe for maintenance and repainting in the future.
The motion carried, with only Wardell voting against as he expressed concerns about “five grand sitting on the table for another month.”
The commission is moving forward with its Cultural Arts Plan, goals.
Chairperson Barbara Worgress has been hard at work gathering information and doing research to create a thorough Cultural Arts Plan for the city.
Worgress took into account the information from a Michigan State University workshop she attended to help the commission identify its goals, and turned them into “smart goals,” adding objectives, responsible parties, time frames and monitoring methods. Siarto took all that information and converted it into a chart, which the commission will review next month.
The plan also includes a summary of the survey the commission did which had 51 responses. Also included is the arts and economics prosperity report, which is a national survey that showed how the arts support the economics of a community. The public art tool kit was also considered.
The Cultural Arts Plan aims to fulfill the city’s vision for its “arts, cultural and creative future,” according to a draft shared at the February meeting.
The commission also discussed its proposed five-year goals, which include:
- Improve Commission Operations
- Improve the Scope of Ordinance 1339 (The ordinance requiring public art contributions from developers)
- Create Recognition of the City of Arts
- Ensure Diverse Art for a Diverse Population
- Create Access to Public Art by Residents and Visitors
- Use Art to Build a Strong Community
- Develop and Strengthen Collaborative Relationships Among Regional Stakeholders
- Support Performers and Audiences
- Standardize Next Steps
- The Commission Will Monitor Progress in the Current Plan
“There’s a lot of knowledge in the community about differing art and differing mediums,” Williams said. “I think our goal should be finding people to interact with things that are already here but they don’t know they’re already here.”
Worgress asked the commissioners to continue to review this information and return to the April meeting with changes, additions or deletions.