Shelburne Cultural Council 
September 23, 2021 Meeting - Draft Minutes 
  
The September 23, 2021, meeting of the Shelburne Cultural Council was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Connie Clarke, Chair. The public meeting was held via Zoom due to Covid restrictions. 
  
Council members present: Connie Clarke Chair, Jennifer Bauman Treasurer, Kate Whittaker Secretary, Linn Bower, Jacqui Goodman, Eben Sorkin, Barbara Watts 
Absent: Owen Brandon Co-Chair 
Welcomed Guests: Jessica Atwood, Economic Development Program Manager, FRCOG; Rosie Fanale, interested in possibly joining the Shelburne Cultural Council. 
  
Minutes from the August 24, 2021 meeting were approved by unanimous vote and will be posted on the town web site. 
  
Guest Jessica Atwood of FRCOG presented an overview and fielded responses from Cultural Council members regarding a proposed Summit that seeks to engage Village Center businesses, arts/culture community, municipal officials, and other interested parties as part of the Village of Shelburne Falls Rapid Recovery Plan—please visit: https://frcog.org/publication/view/local-rapid-recovery-planning-program for more information. Our responses focused on the importance of the Memorial Hall theater which has been closed since March 2020 due to COVID and Jessica was urged to contact officers of the Memorial Hall Association board to learn more about the renovations feasibility study completed in 2019; unfortunately COVID aborted the launch of the $800.000 capital campaign. Jessica mentioned some funding opportunities at the state level that might become available. Jessica appreciated that the SCC is entering its busiest time of the year, which will last through December, but that in principle we want to support the RRP's commitment to the cultural life of the village. Connie offered to send MHA names and emails to Jessica. 
  
Guest Rosie Fanale was welcomed to the meeting and invited to sit in and gain a sense of what we do and who we are. Unfortunately, she had to leave the meeting before we came to the New Business segment of our Agenda. She is welcome to come to our October meeting and introduce herself and discuss her interest in the Council and what skills she feels she can offer to it. 
  
Update on SCC’s newly launched Facebook site included a report prepared by Owen Bragdon, read by Kate in his absence, with additional comments by Jennifer regarding current posts and information as to how grantees post/tag their projects/presentations on our new Facebook site. Discussion included a review of SCC’s own website project, whose development can be revisited when more information is available to the Council regarding redundancy concerns, both with the now inactive website managed by the inactive Greater Shelburne Falls Area Business Association and with the proposed creation of the Western Mass ArtsHub, a web-based portal from Western Mass Creative Economy Network (CEN): https://www.umass.edu/aes/artshub. Further discussion involved our SCC town website presence: its relevance beyond the government necessitated items and if any additional information may now not be necessary with the Facebook site in place. 

Connie walked members through the 2020 & 2021 grants update, noting funds Paid, Encumbered and Released. She also shared with the Council a tentative forecast for FY22 noting MCC’s allocation and the preliminary adjusted balance, based on the Town Accountant's FY21 financial report, and now certified by both Dara LaPlante and Connie. Connie noted that she has entered the Town's Accounting at the MCC-SCC page but left it in 'draft' mode so that Jennifer as Treasurer can review before hitting the Submit button. She agreed to send to members a summary of the 2020 and 2021 grantees that have as yet not responded to emailed requests to provide updates on their projects so that others can reach out to them. 
  
Discussion of MCC’s SmartSimple Grants Management program revealed that most members have registered and those who have not plan to do so before the next meeting. 
  
Eben presented his logo designs for the SCC and discussed his ideas and asked members for their candid opinions. Eben graciously agreed to further develop the logo incorporating several members’ suggestions. 
  
The meeting adjourned at 9:20. 
  
Draft Minutes by Kate Whittaker, Secretary