HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-04-04 Cultural Council MinutesIs
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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Cultural Council
Date: 2022-04-04 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Location:
Address: Session: Open Session
Purpose: Monthly Meeting Version: Final
Attendees: Members - Present:
Brian Kimerer, Katherine Lopez Natale, Sherllla Lestrade, Steve Theodoridis,
Kerri Perry
Members - Not Present:
Megan Fidler -Carey, Michael Smith
Others Present:
none
Minutes Respectfully submitted By: Kern Perry
Topics of Discussion:
Meeting of the Reading Cultural Council April 4, 2022, 7:00 PM Via Zoom
Called to order at 7:02 PM.
The Council welcomed Steve Theodoridis as a new member.
Review of meeting minutes from March 7, 2022, took place. Minor grammatical edits were
proposed and accepted. Sherllla motioned to approve the minutes, Kathy seconded, and
they were unanimously approved. The November 1, 2021 minutes have not yet been
submitted by Megan and she was not present this meeting. However ahead of the meeting
Megan had shared some content for the minutes. The Council members present then added
to the content and the minutes were drafted during the meeting for November 1, 2021.
Sherllla motioned to approve the minutes, pending any final edits by Megan, Kathy
seconded, and there were three votes of yes by Kathy, Shenlla and Brian and two members
abstained: Kerrl Perry and Steve Theodoridis as they were not present at the November 1,
2021 meeting. Kern will send the approved minutes (pending any future edits by Megan) to
Megan with the action for her to do any final edits and then send to Town Hall the final
minutes.
The Treasurer's report was presented. The Town funding has been fully utilized.
Massachusetts Funds for 2021 have some carry over. It was noted that it was unclear if the
Massachusetts Cultural Council has sent the 2022 funding to us as it is subject to a signed
contract by the Town of Reading Finance Department. Kathy will be checking the status of
that. Brian stated that he heard that eight thousand dollars will go to Town Meeting to
approve as part of the budget. It was discussed If fundraising was possible, and it was
shared that in the past the council was told it was possible to have an event to fundraise. It
was also discussed that we likely don't need to fundraise right now. Shenlla motioned to
approve the Treasurer's report, Keri seconded. Vote was unanimous to accept the
Treasurer's report.
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Birch Meadow had reached out to the council to share they had Enrichment Grade 5
changes. This is due to the Royall House in Medford not resuming programming in time, so
the 50 grade students will be taking a field trip to the Freedom Trail to take the "African-
American Patriots" tour instead. It was discussed if we needed to approve this program.
This would not Increase any funding needed. Sherilla motioned to approve the changes in
venue for the program for the 5'h grade, Kathy seconded. Vote was unanimously yes.
The Twitter and Instagram accounts were discussed and there was concern that we lost the
credentials to manage these accounts when Michael Smith resigned from the council. It is
noted that he is still listed as a member online and Brian will alert Town Hall and share the
resignation letter, he received from Michael, with them. It was discussed that we had no
real following yet on the Twitter and Instagram accounts. Steve shared he is interested in
helping with the social media accounts and he would like access to the Facebook account
and will try and retrieve the Twitter and Instagram passwords best he can by reaching out
to them. Brian will also try and reach out to Michael to obtain passwords for Twitter and
Instagram and the one for Facebook from Megan In order to share with Steve. It was
agreed the naming references should match on all accounts. It was discussed that it would
be nice to gain some following this summer before the Fall application window.
The community survey has been created and will launch.
The possibility of a Fall Reception was discussed. Sherilla shared that the teacher supporting
the students who work with RCTV was Interested In the students partnering with us. The
goal would be for 2021 and 2022 grantees to share photos and content with us from their
events for the students to work with to create a sideshow. This would be created before
the Fall Reception to be shared then. And post Reception any photos from that would also
be Included. The council could then share this final sideshow via social media during the
application timeframe.
The next meeting will be May 9, 2022, via Zoom
Meeting was adjourned at 8:28 PM
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