Dane County  
Minutes - Final Unless Amended by  
Committee  
Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission Executive Committee  
Friday, March 14, 2025  
8:30 AM  
Hybrid Meeting: Attend in person at the City County  
Building in Room 209; attend virtually via Zoom.  
A. Call To Order  
Present: Chair Ritcherson, Vice Chair Puleo Moyer, Commissioner Klehr, Supervisor  
Rose  
Excused: Commissioner Miquelon  
Quorum was established.  
Staff: Mark Fraire, Augusta Brulla  
Call to order at 8:31 a.m.  
4 -  
Present  
Excused  
Chair RODERICK RITCHERSON, MARY KLEHR, FRAN PULEO MOYER, and  
Supervisor RICK ROSE  
1 - MARCIA MIQUELON  
B. Consideration of Minutes  
[MINUTES FROM THE 02/14/2025 ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS  
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING]  
1. 2024  
MIN-511  
Attachments: 2024 MIN-511  
A motion was made by Commissioner Klehr to approve the 2/14/25 Executive  
Committee minutes, seconded by Vice Chair Puleo Moyer.  
The motion was approved unanimously by a voice vote.  
2. Approve February 19, 2025, commission minutes for recommendation to full commission  
Approval of the 2/19/25 commission meeting minutes is deferred until the March 19th  
commission meeting.  
C. Plans/Priorities for 2025  
1. Approve 2025 commission priorities  
2025 Dane Arts Priorities are as follows:  
1. Position Dane Arts as a depository of corporate, foundation and individual donor  
support to leverage tax-payer dollars with private dollars.  
2. Create, enhance awareness of Dane Arts among select targeted communities.  
3. Develop plan to guide strategic approach for Dane Arts going forward. Begin with  
impact study and 1:1 interviews with stakeholders and arts experts.  
4. Position Dane Arts for a successful county budget request.  
5. Continue to refine grant application and panel review process.  
6. Increase commissioner participation in Dane Arts sponsored and supported events.  
7. Continue development of process and administration to help organize the commission.  
A motion was made by Vice Chair Puleo Moyer to approve the seven 2025 Dane  
Arts priorities, seconded by Chair Ritcherson.  
The motion was carried unanimously by a voice vote.  
2. Areas of Focus alignments  
- Commissioners are asked to align their area of focus with at least one of the 2025 Dane  
Arts priorities.  
- Vice Chair Puleo Moyer will ask commissioners to deposit their areas of focus in a  
shared drive folder.  
D. 2025 Cycle 1 Grants Preparation  
1. Panel reviews sessions update  
- Six review panels are scheduled in March with each panel reviewing 13 – 14  
applications.  
- Chair Ritcherson chaired the first 2025 Cycle 1 grant review panel and was confident in  
the reviewer preparedness and performance.  
- Chair Ritcherson recommends not exceeding 15 applications per reviewer in future  
cycles.  
- Five reviewers are assigned per panel as a buffer in case of last-minute reviewer  
cancellations.  
2. Commissioner reading lists  
- Commissioners have each been assigned recommended applications to read for the  
current application cycle.  
- Grant review panel chairs are assigned grants corresponding with the panel they are  
chairing.  
3. Capital awards request(s) (number of applications/amount) Continue?  
Three eligible grant requests totaling $8,529.95 were received.  
4. Other (number of applications/amount) Continue?  
- Three eligible short order grant requests totaling $2,900 were received.  
- 80 eligible project grant requests totaling $359,509 were received. The breakdown of  
applications by discipline closely reflects past cycles: Music (36%), Multidisciplinary  
(21%), Visual Arts (14%), Arts in Education (12%), Dance (6%), Theater (5%)  
5. Total number of applications/dollar amount of grant requests  
The ratio of requests to available funds will be discussed after the 2025 cycle 1 grant  
budget is approved during the March 19th commission meeting.  
6. Discuss 2025 overall grants budget  
The 2025 grant budget will be confirmed during the March 19th commission meeting.  
7. Approve cycle 1 grants budget  
The 2025 Cycle 1 grant budget will be discussed during the March 19th commission  
meeting.  
E. Grant Decision Making Philosophy Discussion  
- Commissioner McKinney will continue to lead a discussion about the Dane Arts grant  
making philosophy during the March 19th commission meeting.  
- This grant discussion was initiated by a desire to ensure the grant award process is  
designed to strategically maximize impact.  
- Executive Committee members noted that the current Dane Arts grant program often  
contributes to organizations year after year, which is more reflective of supporting  
operational costs rather than unique projects.  
- While the county budget does not have much flexibility in operational expenses,  
Supervisor Rose noted that capital funds are available.  
- Director Fraire and Supervisor Rose will explore the potential for requesting Dane County  
capital funding to support the Dane Arts capital grant program in the future.  
-Consensus was that Dane Arts should continue to integrate the arts with other county  
services including, but not limited to, human services, health, land and water resources,  
juvenile court, and more.  
F. 2025 Dane Arts Supported Events  
- Commissioner Klehr updated the sign-up list of Dane Arts supported events.  
- Other supported programs outside of the grant budget will be added to the sign-up  
sheet for commissioners to attend.  
G. BOD insurance  
Chair Ritcherson inquired as to whether commissioners are covered under board of  
directors’ insurance provided by Dane County.  
H. Executive Director’s Report  
1. County budget request strategy  
See discussion in section E. bullet 4.  
2. Other  
- Over 150 attendees have registered for the Business of Art Conference and the agenda  
will be published by March 17th.  
- The Conference has been primarily funded by private Lussier funds and registration  
fees, with limited corporate sponsorship in 2025.  
- The potential for continuing to sustainably produce the conference in upcoming years  
will be discussed.  
- Dane Arts seeks to distribute 2025 posters to cities, municipalities, and vendors and  
welcomes commissioner ideas for distribution.  
I. Future Meeting Items and Dates  
1. Develop March 19, 2025, Commission Agenda  
-Roll call, establish quorum  
-Approve February 19, 2025, meeting minutes (action item)  
-Presentation group: 2025 Cycle 1 Grant Applications Overview  
-Approve 2025 commission priorities (action item)  
-Areas of Focus alignment reports  
-Discussion on Grant Decision Making Philosophy  
-2025 Dane Arts Calendar of Events  
-Executive Director’s Report  
2. Other  
None.  
J. Public Comment on Items not on the Agenda  
None.  
K. Such Other Business as Allowed by Law  
None.  
L. Adjourn  
A motion was made by Commissioner Klehr to adjourn.  
Meeting adjourned at 9:25 a.m.