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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.3 Appt Historian & Poet Laureate STAFF REPORT CITY CLERK File #110-30 CITY COUNCIL DATE:June 19, 2012 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers FROM: Joni Pattillo, City Manager SUBJECT: Appointment of City Historian and Proposed Suspension of the Poet Laureate Program Prepared by Ann Mottola, Heritage and Cultural Arts Manager EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In March 2012, the City began recruitments for the City Historian and Poet Laureate positions. One application was received for City Historian and none for Poet Laureate. The City Council will consider confirming the Mayor’s re-appointment of Georgean Vonheeder-Leopold as City Historian, as well as the temporary suspension of the City’s Poet Laureate Program to create a literary arts program in its place. FINANCIAL IMPACT: None. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council confirm the Mayor’s re-appointment of Georgean Vonheeder-Leopold as City Historian and temporarily suspend the Poet Laureate Program to create a literary arts program in its place. Submitted By Reviewed By Director of Parks and Assistant City Manager Community Services DESCRIPTION: The two-year terms of the City Historian and Poet Laureate have ended. Staff conducted recruitments for each position. One application was received for the City Historian. The Mayor is recommending the re-appointment of Georgean Vonheeder-Leopold as the City Historian to a two-year term that will end on June 30, 2014. The City Historian is a resource to Staff, the Commission and the City Council, and assists researchers, students, librarians, members of the public, the press and directs them to ITEM NO. 3.3 Page 1 of 3 resources for historical information. Ms. Vonheeder-Leopold has served the City in the past four years as the City Historian. Being a Dublin resident since 1971, Georgean has seen the City evolve over the past 40 years and with her many years serving on the Board of the Dublin Historical Preservation Association, has been instrumental in preserving and documenting the City’s heritage. In the past two years, Ms. Vonheeder-Leopold has accomplished a great deal as City Historian. Some of her accomplishments on behalf of the City include:  Participating in the initial planning of “Heritage Happenings” a collaborative event with the Tri-Valley History Council  Providing a history talk at the 2011 Black History Celebration  Assisting with planning and coordination of the preview party for the Kolb House opening  Assisting with production of the DHPA coloring book based on photos from the Kolb farm  Advocating for the placement of the Lincoln Highway signs  Providing a presentation at the Kolb House Grand Opening  Editing and writing the preface for the Kolb’s of Dublin book  Responding to questions from the website  Collecting information formerly on the Heritage Center website for preservation and inclusion on the DHPA website  Advocacy for City to take stewardship of the Camp Parks collection Ms. Vonheeder-Leopold will give a brief presentation to the City Council at the meeting regarding her accomplishments in the past two years. Proposed Alternative to Poet Laureate Program A new application process was initiated in March of 2012 to refill the Poet Laureate position. Through the recruitment process, no applications were received for the Poet Laureate position. The past two recruitments drew only one applicant each. In light of the poor response to the recruitment for the Poet Laureate position, Staff recommended to the Mayor that, rather than extend the deadline for the recruitment, a program be developed to engage the community in the literary arts until such a time that the advancement of the literary arts in the community generates enough interest to reestablish the Poet Laureate program. The Mayor asked that a proposal be brought to City Council for consideration. The three primary goals of this proposed program are to:  Develop appreciation and advancement for the literary and visual arts in the City of Dublin.  Create a vehicle to engage the community in the literary and visual arts .  Use the literary and visual arts as a bridge between Dublin’s historic past and dynamic present. The program would be introduced to the public through a variety of media outlets and community facilities as a “call for entries” for inclusion in a culminating exhibit. In the “call for entries,” several pairings of photos would be presented juxtaposing images of historic Dublin and relevant contemporary culture of the City. These photos would be published online and in Page 2 of 3 the Parks and Recreation Activity Guide. The photos would be presented without explanation or context. The challenge would be to “reCREATE…HISTORY” (this is a potential title for the program). Residents would be invited to artistically recreate one of the images presented through one of two methods (the method can be limited to one form of expression in the pilot year):  Create a work of literary art (prose or poetry) telling the story (factually or fictitiously) of what they observe in the image.  Create a visual artwork (of a specified limited format/size) that recreates or re-interprets the image. Fact or fiction; poetry or prose; or, re-sited photograph or work of visual art; there would be no limit to the imagination or expression – only the size of the entry. All entries would be submitted in the same size format for efficiency of installation and optimal impact of the exhibit. An exhibit would be prepared with all entries. This could potentially be a juried competition with separate best of show awards for literary and visual arts, and could encourage participation by Middle School and High School students by creating a youth division for entries. The City Historian would be invited to provide an accurate historic summary of the photos that would be revealed at the time of the exhibit’s opening reception. The benefits of this program are to not only stimulate the creative culture of the community, but the program also presents a highly accessible and non-intimidating vehicle for residents to participate in the arts. NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH: A copy of the Staff Report was distributed to the Heritage and Cultural Arts Commission and Georgean Vonheeder-Leopold. ATTACHMENTS: None Page 3 of 3