Recess. All right. Today's meal of public art and design, 14th of May, 2026. Our first business is to get a chance to read the minutes. Are there any changes? None. Will someone make a motion to approve the minutes? Make a motion to approve the minutes. We have a moment in favor? The minutes approved. We have some new members to talk. I want to just take some time and go around and have everyone introduce themselves and tell us a little bit about why you are here. My name is Sherry Appelar. I also sit on the board for the Clearwater Arts Alliance. So I'm representing the Arts Alliance. I also am with Baystar Restaurant Group. Here's Arts. I love Clearwater. Live right here in close to the downtown area. 25 years. See what you've done to help better and bring the arts to the community. Thank you. I'm Greg Bird. I've been in, lived at Clearwater for about 30 years in the area for about 35. I teach at St. Petersburg College. Creative writing, sometimes humanities. And my daughter recently finished her master's degree in music. But the reason I mention that is that she's been involved in music in this area through different public schools and LSU Symphony and all. So she's a product of the arts in Clearwater and in Tampa Bay. I'm Brian Watton. I am this chair for about five more minutes. I am a resident here of Clearwater and also an artist as well. And happy to be here. I'm Jonathan Barnes. I am faculty at St. Petersburg College in visual arts. I teach printmaking, ceramics, design, art history. And I've been in Clearwater for about 16 years and at the college for 20. I have a studio practice outside of work. And I've been on this board for, I don't know how long, quite some time. Hi, I'm Jake. Hi, I am the co-founder of Pinellas Diaspora Arts Project. And I also work at Pinellas Community Foundation. It's my paid job. I run a fund there. I call myself a community artist because I mostly work in the community. But I am an artist from back in New York. Different things. I'm Maggie Duffy and I work with Creative Pinellas. And I'm also an arts writer. And I worked for the Tampa Bay Times and was the arts writer for years. I worked at Florida Craft Art. And I actually did live in Clearwater as a teenager. And I live in St. Pete now. But I do love Clearwater. My parents lived here for a long time. And I'm just excited to be here and just bring more art to Clearwater. Great. I'm Mark Lutz. I'm also kind of a long-term resident. I was born here a few years ago, obviously. Like I said, I'm a retired architect. So for about 35 years, I spent a lot of time traveling the globe doing projects which integrated art and architecture. So it was kind of the crossover of the two. So one of the things I believe is that time to give back to your community as part of the board. But also, I think it's great that we can integrate art into our projects here in the city. Thank you all for showing up today. It's always fun when there's people in the seats. Our next order of business is citizens to be heard. Are there any citizens that have things to say? I don't see any. All right. So moving right along to new business. Item 4.1, Art Oasis Mural Festival. Good afternoon. Amber Brice, Arts and Cultural Affairs Manager. Currently, there are three new murals in the North Greenwood area that have been completed as part of the Art Oasis Mural Festival. So the first one is located at the North Greenwood Library. This was done by artist Ashley Kassens. This was funded by the library through the Clark Turner Trust. This mural is particularly meaningful because the library staff really helped design this. So it includes a tribute to a beloved staff member that passed away, Fairwater's first African-American librarian, Christine Woodfall Morris. There's an astronaut to recognize this library branch manager as an official NASA ambassador. And there's a lot of other hidden Easter eggs in this mural as well. So we recommend everybody go and see him personally. These are in order, of course. Then there's two additional murals. One is located on the Safe House. I think it's just called Safe House. By artist Carlos Jefferson. And the mural depicts a lot of images that the business or the nonprofit does a lot of work in the community. Donations, feeding people, people that are addicted to substances. So it's a really beautiful mural. Next one is the Cherry Harris Park Mural, which is done by artist Zulu Painter. It says octagon, but it's not. It's a hexagon. There's only six sides. So all six sides are painted. It's obviously very colorful. It's a really beautiful contribution to that park. The next mural, slated to begin this coming week, is going to be on the Issei Gully Center Head Start Building. So it will be completed by artist Sherard Sadler. This is the design. Mrs. Issei Gully is a highly respected community leader. She's served for 41 years on the Clearwater Neighborhood Housing Services Committee. She's very much alive, so we had to get – she's very much involved in the community. She did give her blessing and permission to use her image, and we got permission from the photographer that took this as well. And she's very excited, and she said she feels very honored to be part of this mural. So we're excited to see that one turns out. The next one will be – this is slated. It just got approved by CRA to be on the Let's Go Carting Building, which is on Fort Harrison. So this wall right here will be painted, and also the surrounding wall, the shorter wall, goes all the way around. That will also be painted. Then we have the Rec Center Storage Building. This is at the North Greenwood Rec Center. So this storage building kind of sits on Seminole. There's a public survey out right now to gather input on themes that the neighborhood would like to see before we select an artist. And the last one is the Parks Beautification Building, which is on Pennsylvania Avenue. That's ironic. So this is definitely the largest mural. So both walls will be painted. And then – so you're kind of depicting how people are enjoying parks. This park sign will not be in the mural, just FYI. And then the other side – actually, that wall on the left, it will wrap around that side. So it's, like, colorful. The community really had input. Plaza Park faces – this wall faces into Plaza Park. They wanted something colorful, vibrant. So this was from community feedback. So we're really excited about this mural as well. Once completed, we're hoping to have kind of a giant kind of party, like a neighborhood party, to showcase all the new art, bring out the artists, have the neighbors meet the artists, and just have a nice celebration of all the new art that's going into the North Greenwood neighborhood. And then I just want to say this building technically is in the North Greenwood neighborhood, but it's not within the CRA boundaries. So this mural is being funded by the Neighborhoods Division of Public Communications, not the CRA. I see. Number 4.2, Chalk the Bay Art and Music Festival. So I'm very excited to announce that Clearwater will be hosting the first ever Chalk the Bay Art and Music Festival. This will be a two- to three-day event aimed at highlighting both visual arts while supporting economic activity for surrounding businesses. I've hired a consultant who's also a professional talk artist for this event. Artist application is currently live. We have almost 50 submissions already from artists all over the U.S., but also Florida. Most of them are the consultant's own contacts. We haven't even promoted the application yet. So originally I wanted to have at least 40 artists. I think now 80 to 100 is completely doable, reasonable, if we can, obviously budget-wise. And going through the applications, all of them are really good. I haven't seen one that I would toss. So that's really promising. This will be a combination of 3D pieces, 2D pieces, and then we'll have some temporary walls put up as well around the park, so like mural walls. In addition to the live art component, we're going to have live music, arts and crafts vendors, food vendors, and then we have an artist dinner that's going to be hopefully hosted by the Arts Alliance where we'll give out artist awards. The festival dates right now are January 16th and 17th, 2027. Artists will begin work on Friday, January 15th. We just met with park staff on Wednesday, so we're thinking about doing some sort of other activation, like a movie in the park on Friday, scenes on the green. And then we're talking about doing possibly a color run or like a neon 5K or something Sunday. So Friday could also act as packet pickup, so this will activate the space on Friday as well. I'm going to attend the Downtown Development Board meeting in July, asking for funding, but then there's also sponsorship opportunities. As you can see in this photo, a lot of festivals, what they do is sell smaller sponsorships to help actually sponsor the artist spot, and then they get to put their business name underneath the piece of work. So we're hoping to be able to do that. And this is just some festival photos from other places, so any questions? This is the first time you've done this, right? It'll be the first time. Well, at least, I mean, it seems like you have a lot of interest already. Yeah, especially from artists. Yeah. And a lot of them are from out of town, so there's already economic impact there from artists coming to stay. So the music festival aspect of it, is that falling under your work, or is that someone else putting that part together? It would be me and special events and parks. So most of the art consultant is going to handle the artists, which will take a huge load off of me. And then we're hoping to maybe partner with somebody else to do the arts and crafts part, the vendors, so that we would just be logistics, music, that type of stuff. Is there a – can you repeat the dates for that again? January 16th and 17th, 2027. So we're not doing the world's largest rubber duck this January. We're doing this instead. Let's discuss beach walk, 3D art pieces. So the Parks and Recreation Department have reached out regarding these newly constructed concrete pads along the Clearwater Beach Walk. They accommodate bike racks and water fountains. Three of these have been completed. I think I may have stated last time that more would be installed, but that – I've been told that's not necessarily the case, or if it is, it's going to be in the distant future. We have the Parks Assistant Director, Matthew Anderson, here, if you guys have any questions about that or this project in general. But I just wanted to correct that statement. You can see that the concrete surfaces don't quite match the existing pavement. Obviously, it's been a while, and these are new. So Parks had said, you know, can we add some sort of art element? I recommended maybe a 3D piece. So, you know, there was another photo opportunity on the beach. So we found that Laura Thomas, who recently did the Marymount mural, she specializes in 3D. She does 3D chalk art as well, was identified as a strong fit for this. So Parks has approved the following designs. We went back to the artist a couple of times. So the top is kind of how it will look if you're standing in the correct location. The bottom is what it would look like when you're standing right on top of it. But we'll have signage to tell people where to stand. And then – so this is the one with the seashells. This is the one with the stone crab. And then this is the one with the tarpon. I believe it's a tarpon. Dr. Bird can correct me. So these have already been approved by Parks. We're ready to move forward. We just need an official board vote on these three designs if you all are okay with moving forward. I had a question about just kind of the logistics and the wear of those since they're on the ground and people are going to be stepping on them and all. How is that – is there a plan to repaint them? Or is there something special that's coating them? I mean, they will have a special coating on top. But obviously it's going to have – the fact that it's not in the direct pathway, it won't have as much wear and tear. It's more just people parking their bikes occasionally or using the water fountain occasionally. So I don't anticipate it being needed every year. But maybe it will be an every three-year thing. We'll do touch-ups too. Would you repeat what you need a vote for? On the three designs, just approval on the three designs. Okay. Could I get a motion to approve these three designs and move forward? I'll make a motion to approve the three designs. I had to look at the stone grub. He's like – He's kidding. Second it. All right. We have a motion to second. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? Item 4.4, discuss New City Hall's stairwell and the BayCare sound mural. The highest-scoring applicants from our most recent call to artists, a top list of artists was shared with the Parks and Rec staff as well as marketing representatives from BayCare and Rebeccaard Hall. So from this list, we whittled it down to five artists to send developed proposals for two different projects. So one is the BayCare sound rear-facing facade wall, which is this one here, and faces kind of the water into the park. And the other one is the City Hall's stairwell, which is a much older rendering, but this is ideally kind of what it would look like from the outside. You'll be able to see it with the windows. So we're still waiting on those proposals. Once I get them back, I will send them via email to the board to gather feedback as well as from the people I mentioned previously. And then we will have to move forward with the City Hall project fairly quickly because that's slated to open in October. But we will come for an official board vote next meeting, which will be July 9th. And item number 4.5. The board is going to be asked to elect a chair who will preside over the meetings and conduct board business, as well as a vice chair who will fill in for the chair if they are absent. Anyone is welcome to throw their name in the ring. You guys will just have to vote. This chosen board chair and vice chair will be so for the remainder of 2026, which will be the July 9th and the October 8th meeting, unless we have a special meeting that we schedule. Can we nominate people? I would like to nominate Mr. Brian Fulton to be chair and Dr. Greg Byrd to be vice chair. He's cool, isn't he? Technically speaking, it's more practice. I'm actually available during those times. And I don't know if I am, so I don't want to obligate myself. Right. I am available. I think that's great. That way it's continued from before. Just keep the ship going in a straight direction. Keep it going in one direction. So we have to make a motion for that. You two can't make a motion. I would like to make a motion to elect Mr. Brian Fulton and Dr. Greg Byrd as chair and vice chair for this board. I second it. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? I get to sit over there next time. Item number five. Do we have a director's report? I do have something from Arts Alliance they asked me to say. There's an art teacher exhibition opening next week in the Clearwater Main Library galleries. And they would like everybody to come check that out. And then, I don't know if you all know, the boxes, the signal box wraps on the beaches were damaged from the hurricanes. They have made a commitment to rewrap those. Even though we were waiting for new boxes to be put in, we're not really sure when that is going to happen. So they've already slated to use their funds. They're just going to go ahead and rewrap the ones that are on the beach. When they get replaced, they'll wrap them again. So that is all the news from Clearwater Arts Alliance and all the news from me. Item number six, board members to be heard. Has anybody, anything else to say? I've got a few things. Yes. All right. Get it. For the Chalk, Chalk the Bay Art and Music Festival, is there a section as part of that for local youth artists? Good question. So we are actually hoping to do an emerging artist and, like, student section up Cleveland Street. So on the 400 block of Cleveland Street, to kind of activate those downtown merchants, but also have a space that's for those people. Reaching out to local high schools and elementary schools and things like that. Yes. And then there will be a kids' area with actual chalk. Oh, they can actually do that? Yeah. Oh, that's cool. That's really cool. Along with kids, as I was driving here today, I was thinking about how Pinellas Youth Symphony, if you guys have never heard them play before, they're very, very good. And they rehearse at Ruth Eckert Hall. So we have them here. I'm wondering if there would be any interest in finding a way for them to perform, maybe downtown or something like that a little bit, because they do their own thing. You know, mostly parents kind of show up when they perform, but they've got some advanced ensembles as well as the whole orchestra. I don't know what their issues, you know, what their concerns are or how willing they'd be to do that. Would there be an interest in reaching out to them? I could check with our special events team. They do a lot of the stuff in the park if we're talking down here or in parks in general as far as entertainment. But it would kind of probably be up to that organization to work something out with city staff. Okay. And the last question I had was something that came up a while back where we had the one mural, and I forget, there was, I think, some roses or something in it. And we brought up the idea that irises would fit better because of? Gladiolas. Violets. And we were kind of thinking about that as a kind of an answer to Gun Eden's oranges. It was the gladiolas. Gladiolas. Yes. I'm wondering if there's a way to promote that, either like an official drawing or whether we want to give, like, maybe come up with a small, maybe this is the Order Arts Alliance thing. Yeah, and I've had that same thought of doing something and wanted to bring it to the Arts Alliance where it could be something where even the Arts Alliance can make it as a small fundraiser for them. And they could have businesses that want to do it, just like Dunedin. We're coming up with the little niche of what Clearwater would be instead of Dunedin's orange. Yeah. I think that's just falling on the back burner a little bit, but it's still something I would love to do. And I think we'd have to figure out how we want to approach it. Do we want it to be one artist? Do we want it to be multiple artists? Do we want it to be Clearwater-based artists that gets, you know, all of this, all these commissions? But, yeah, in the end, we would have to have buy-in from businesses and people to put them on their houses and things like that. Right. I didn't know if that was something that homeowners or whatever would purchase. I think that there would be something as long as it's not a huge commitment as far as financial, you know, something that's smaller that people feel like they can do and contribute and still be part of the arts. $25 or something. Maybe a little. Depending on whether it was subsidized or not. Yeah. I think it's a great idea. I think it would be something that the Arts Alliance should take on. I agree. I think it's perfect for Arts Alliance because it could be a grant. I don't know if the city could fund art on private property. I mean, we do it for businesses but not, like, people's homes. So this would definitely be a great project for Arts Alliance. Yes, I think it's something that where the Arts Alliance could be promoting it and selling it. So it goes to the Arts Alliance and the Arts Alliance pays the artists. So it could be something where the Arts Alliance could potentially keep a little bit of the funding to help with their events and things that they want to do but still be able to pay an artist to do it. In a way of kind of creating city, what, identity? Like, some unity between neighbors and stuff. I guess I wonder if there would be any issues with, like, the code board or anything. Like, I sat on that board for quite some time. So I'm people's private property. I don't think it would be an issue. I mean, it's not signage. It doesn't have a name. It's not considered advertising or anything. So I really don't think there would be an issue. Of course we would check. But me and Sherry can bring it up at the next Arts Alliance board meeting. That's all you got? All right, y'all. I thank y'all for coming today. And actually, one thing I was thinking about is the new city hall stairwell. And I assume that it's on one side of the building and at night you want to be able to see it, right? It's two different sides. There's a north and south. North and south. South side. Sometimes, you know, in different jurisdictions, we turn the lights off on the stairwell at night, right? And you can't see it, but I was thinking that, well, because you've got to run this through the fire marshal's office, too, right? Change the light. Maybe lighting those up at night so when you drive east or west, the backdrop. I mean, you're putting a big mural on those. Yeah. It's a billboard. That's why we have an architect. I mean, there is emergency lights that stay on most buildings. I don't know if that includes the stairwells, so. Well, there are so many foot candles for egress, right? But I don't know if it's going to light up a wall. Well, there's also glass, so we don't want it to have to be internal. So it wouldn't reflect. It would be internal. Can the hanging art in that building, can that be seen through that glass? I don't know the answer to that. You may be able to see it from the road because it is in the front by the staircase, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure because there's an overhang. I'm not sure how visible it is, to be honest, until it's in. So if that was lit up from the inside, that would give. That one does have an illumination piece in it, like embedded in the sculpture. So that's more possible to keep that one lit. I mean, the reason why I think of this is I had a project one time. We had arts and public spaces integrated into the facade of the building. It was different colors at night, the painting. It was just the paint working out. I'm for it. It's just, you know. I'm for it. It takes some extra effort. With our hurricane codes and all the other things that we have to deal with, it takes a little bit of extra effort. But in the long run, it's worth it. They may already have something. Maybe it already is planned. I just don't know. It may. Just a thought. Jaren, I'm you coming up. You can get Jaren. Thank you.