Dane County  
Minutes - Final Unless Amended by  
Committee  
Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission Executive Committee  
Consider:  
Who benefits? Who is burdened?  
Who does not have a voice at the table?  
How can policymakers mitigate unintended consequences?  
Friday, May 5, 2023  
8:00 AM  
Hybrid Meeting: Attend in person at the City County  
Building in Room 421; attend virtually via Zoom.  
A. Call To Order  
Present in person: Chair Ritcherson  
Present virtually: Vice Chair Klehr, Commissioner Puleo Moyer  
Absent: Supervisor Xistris-Songpanya, Commissioner Miquelon  
Staff: Mark Fraire, Augusta Brulla  
Call to order at 8:00 a.m.  
3 - Chair RODERICK RITCHERSON, MARY KLEHR, and FRAN PULEO MOYER  
Present  
Absent  
2 - MARCIA MIQUELON, and OLIVIA XISTRIS-SONGPANYA  
B. Consideration of Minutes  
1. 2023  
MIN-020  
[MINUTES FROM THE 03/03/2023 ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS  
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING]  
Attachments: 2023 MIN-020  
A motion was made by Commissioner Puelo Moyer to approve the March 3, 2023,  
Executive Committee minutes, seconded by Vice Chair Klehr.  
The motion was carried unanimously by a voice vote.  
2. Approve April 19, 2023, commission minutes for recommendation to full commission  
A motion was made by Vice Chair Klehr to recommend the April 19, 2023,  
commission minutes for approval by the full commission.  
The motion was carried unanimously by a voice vote  
C. Grant Cycle 1 Recap  
1. Overall process (staff review, review panels, formula review, exec com., commission  
- The process of orienting new review panelists will be reviewed by Director Fraire and  
updated for future grant cycles.  
- Commissioner Puleo Moyer noted that one of the experienced panelists may be able to  
lead an educational orientation session for new panelists.  
- In the future, language pertaining to the panelists’ honoraria will clearly indicate that all  
panelists receive their honoraria by default, rather than “optional.”  
- Commissioner Puleo Moyer recommended that commissioners should be assigned to  
review grant applications included on the panels they are chairing.  
2. Specific areas to focus on for review -seek input from commissioners-(November meeting, prioritize)  
Commissioner Curet is conducting an audit of the grant application and panel review  
process through interviews with past panelists and arts organizations. Results of  
Commissioner Curet’s research will be discussed during the November commission  
meeting.  
3. Review final allocations, including short order and capital (traditional half)  
- Typical allocations for short order and capital grants have historically been 50%.  
- Chair Ritcherson proposed not defaulting to an allocation of 50% for future requests.  
4. Number of assigned grants to read  
- Consensus was that 10-12 grants per review panel is an ideal number.  
- Commissioners are typically asked to review 5 grant applications per cycle.  
5. Revisit commissioner chairing of panel review sessions (over 3-year term) mandatory  
- Chair Ritcherson recommended requiring each commissioner to chair one grant review  
panel during their 3-year term. In response, Vice Chair Klehr proposed the following  
sequence for first term commissioners: 1) Attend, 2) Co-Chair, 3) Chair. Then in the  
second term, chair one panel/year.  
- A discussion revolved around balancing leveraging commissioner expertise while  
ensuring each commissioner is accountable and educated about and fully participating in  
the grant review process.  
- Vice Chair Klehr suggested meeting with new commissioners to walk through reviewing  
grant applications. It was determined that a grant review walk-through will be conducted  
during the August commission meeting.  
D. May Discussion Topics  
- Commissioner Parks Snider will not be able to attend the May commission meeting and  
requested moving the youth involvement discussion to the June meeting.  
- Those who have not had an opportunity to select a topic will be asked to do so on  
Wednesday, May 10th.  
E. Clarify Areas of Focus-(All)  
- Current Areas of Focus: Executive Committee (Ritcherson, Klehr, Miquelon, Puleo  
Moyer, Xistris-Songpanya), Community Engagement/Publicity focus area (Garrett, Puleo  
Moyer), Marketing/Arts and Economic Prosperity (Gallagher, Miquelon), Building Artist  
Pool (Parks Snider), Friends of Dane Arts/Fund Advisory focus (Ritcherson), Grants  
Review (Curet), Policy and Handbook (Klehr).  
- Commissioner Handy has begun working on external resource development and will be  
added to the Friends of Dane Arts/Fund Advisory focus area.  
- Commissioner Puelo Moyer offered to review press release drafts and follow up with  
media outlets. Going forward, Dane Arts staff will ensure all press releases are sent  
directly to the full commission.  
- Press Release process: Dane Arts drafts the press release, then Ariana Vruwink edits  
and disseminates the final PR through county channels.  
1. Resource development vs Friends of Dane Arts  
- Chair Ritcherson recommends initially separating Fund Development from the formation  
of a Friends of Dane Arts Group. Fund development efforts internally within the county  
may be pursued before a friends group is officially established.  
- The Friends of Dane Arts group could serve as a pipeline for recruiting new  
commissioners. Commissioners emeriti could also rotate into the Friends group.  
- The express purpose of the Dane Arts Friends group and the logistics of stewarding  
funds must be clearly defined before next steps to form the group are taken.  
F. Hybrid Meetings at other Locations  
It is likely that hybrid meetings will be the mode of meeting for the foreseeable future.  
G. ED Report  
- The 2023 Cycle 1 Grants are in the process of being awarded.  
- Production for the 2024 calendar and poster will begin soon.  
- The 2023 DABL Art Market will take place at the Farley Center in Verona on Saturday,  
September 9th. This corresponds with a sculpture exhibition on the Farley Center  
property as well as Iron Man activities on September 10th.  
- 8 applications are currently being reviewed for the Cultural Affairs Specialist position  
which officially starts June 8th, 2023.  
- Discussions are taking place about a Business of Art conference in 2024.  
- Marketing opportunities for the Behind Creative video series are being explored.  
- There are many Dane Arts supported events in May and June which will be added to the  
commissioner event sign-up form.  
H. Future Meeting Items and Dates  
1. Develop May 10, 2023, Commission Meeting Agenda:  
-roll call, establish quorum,  
-approve April 19, 2023, meeting minutes (action item)  
-presentation group  
-May discussion topic(s) - Jay Handy and fund development  
-Chair/executive committee report; Areas of Focus reports (those who have not reported)  
-Executive Director’s report  
I. Public Comment on Items not on the Agenda  
None.  
J. Such Other Business as Allowed by Law  
None.  
K. Adjourn  
A motion was made by Vice Chair Klehr to adjourn.  
Meeting adjourned at 9:33 a.m.  
Minutes respectfully submitted by Augusta Brulla pending commissioner approval.