2026-08-17 - Culture and Arts Advisory Board

00:49Okay.

00:50>> It's like we're going to get some

00:51I think some rain.

00:52>> All right.

00:55>> And

00:56I can't pay attention cuz it's marching

00:58band's about to start practice.

01:00>> Okay.

01:00>> Of course it's about to finish though.

01:01>> Nice.

03:11>> the

03:13Apex Culture and Arts Advisory Board

03:15meeting for August 17th, 2026.

03:19So, welcome everyone.

03:21Uh first order of business is the

03:23approval of our meeting minutes from our

03:25last meeting, which was June 15th, 2026.

03:28So, uh first any questions on the

03:29meeting minutes?

03:32Seeing none, do we have a motion to

03:33approve?

03:35>> Motion to approve.

03:36>> Is there a second? Are there a first and

03:37a second?

03:38>> Yes.

03:39>> Is there a second? All in favor, say I.

03:41>> I.

03:42>> I.

03:42>> Any opposed?

03:43And the motion carries.

03:45Okay. Now, we'll go over to Taylor for

03:47the town liaison report.

03:49>> All right, I have a couple I have a

03:50couple

03:52By a couple I mean a few.

03:53>> [laughter]

03:55>> Um, I wanted to give you guys a

03:56marketing report. I know the last time

03:59you heard from me was back in the June

04:00meeting. Um, so since our last meeting

04:03in June, we're up 150% of new followers

04:07both on Instagram and um, Facebook.

04:11We have 3.6

04:13K views with both uh, platforms. So,

04:17that's really good for what we're

04:18putting out right now. We're primarily

04:20putting out information about the

04:23sculpture walk that's up right now. I

04:25would love to put up some new

04:27information here. I know we're working

04:29on murals. Be great to

04:32maybe showcase our new artists. We can

04:34get some ideas out there, but I'm always

04:36open

04:37to ideas about how to showcase our board

04:41on social media. So, feel free to send

04:43me any of those ideas. That would be

04:45great.

04:46Um, and I will be posting at the end of

04:48this month specifically about the

04:51sculpture awards, which we'll talk about

04:54in um, old business.

04:58Moving on, um, on the September 21st

05:01meeting, you'll be um, your staff

05:04liaison will be Jamila Godfrey. So,

05:06thank you so much for taking that on in

05:08my absence.

05:10Um, you're in good hands.

05:12Uh, Tom, you're going to be presenting

05:14at the September 22nd council meeting

05:17for the quarterly public art moment.

05:20Thank you for taking that on as well as

05:22primary. Uh, you and I will work

05:24together to build everything well in

05:26advance before I'm out of town, so

05:29they'll have all of that information.

05:31And then the last thing I wanted to talk

05:33in my liaison report is our approved

05:362026-2027

05:39projects. So, these are tied to the

05:41approved budget. This is our first

05:43meeting since the new fiscal year was

05:45put into play. So, here's a little

05:48synopsis.

05:49We have, obviously, the sculpture walk.

05:52The sculpture walk has several parts to

05:54it. Not only does it have the honorarium

05:58for the 11 sculptors. It has the two

06:01awards, which is best in show and

06:04people's choice. So, the cost for that

06:07the possible purchase. We were approved

06:10for a purchase of a sculpture.

06:13We have a sculpture professional art

06:16appraisal, which we do every year.

06:19As well as the sculpture app called

06:21OttoCast.

06:23Um and that is the same app that we've

06:25been using the last several years. So,

06:27those are all the sculpture-related

06:29um projects.

06:31We're also in the midst of doing two

06:32murals, which you guys are both you're

06:35all aware. We have two murals, one at

06:38the Apex Nature Park amphitheater.

06:40And one at the Saunders Street parking

06:43lot.

06:45You'll hear more about those murals in

06:46new in old business, excuse me.

06:49We do have intro costs for four new

06:53projects. These four new projects are

06:56poetry and literature workshop.

06:58Music night. Augmented reality and

07:02artist in residence.

07:04And we can talk more about what those

07:06intro costs look like and how to launch

07:09those this fiscal year into a bigger

07:11project hopefully in the future.

07:14Um but we can definitely get those off

07:16the ground this fiscal year, which goes

07:18from July 1 of this year that we just

07:20passed to June 30 of 2027.

07:25And that's my part of the report.

07:29>> Sounds great. Thank you. Any questions

07:31for Taylor from anyone?

07:34All right. We'll move on to

07:36chairperson's report. Uh my updates I'll

07:38give in the old business section, so I

07:40don't have anything additional to add

07:42here.

07:43Uh public comment, not seeing anyone. I

07:46think we'll move right past that. And

07:48now we're into old business. So

07:49sculpture walk is the first one up.

07:52And um

07:53we have a couple of updates. One is on

07:56the on the current sculpture walk. As

07:59Taylor mentioned, there were

08:01um we did complete the public

08:04uh voting for

08:06uh the people's choice award. And so um

08:09I'm okay to announce

08:10>> that out. Is that right? Is that it?

08:11>> The winner of the people's choice award

08:13is the butterfly enchanter by Aldo

08:15Murelli. Uh that is the piece that's in

08:18front of the depot. So I know this has

08:20been a very popular piece. So not not a

08:22surprise uh winning in that in the that

08:25award. So that's terrific.

08:26So congrats to Aldo.

08:28Uh and then the um best in show, we need

08:33to have a vote to agree this one. What

08:36we did was we got input from everyone.

08:39So everyone that's in voted on the best

08:42in show. And then a small group of us,

08:44Susan, Daryl, and I got together and and

08:46kind of sorted that out and uh came out

08:49with the the result. So

08:51the resulting um

08:53uh recommended winner is Inspired by

08:56Jessica Bradshaw. Inspired is um in

08:59front of the law firm on on the way

09:00downtown um

09:02near the sushi restaurant. So that's

09:04just to give you a little

09:06um

09:07perspective of where that one is. So

09:09also very popular piece in the people's

09:11choice. Just uh

09:13Yeah. So just to let you know that as

09:15well. So

09:17um

09:18so that's uh on the table for

09:19recommendation for the for the best in

09:21show award.

09:23Um so

09:25if there's any discussion on that, uh we

09:27can open that right now.

09:31>> Yeah, that's great. I think it's great

09:32that we have two very figurative pieces

09:35that won.

09:36>> Yeah. Yeah.

09:36>> Both of the article one

09:38>> than what we've had.

09:38>> Yeah, different than with our other

09:40pieces.

09:40>> Sure.

09:41>> And different in scale.

09:42>> Agreed.

09:44Um okay, so no no further discussion,

09:47can we have a motion to approve the the

09:50recommendation of Inspired as the um

09:54Best in Show award winner?

09:55>> Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve um

09:57the recommended piece for Best in Show.

10:00>> There's a motion, do we have a second?

10:01>> I'll second.

10:02>> There's a second, uh all in favor say

10:04aye.

10:05>> Aye.

10:05>> Aye.

10:05>> Aye.

10:06>> Any opposed?

10:07Not hearing any, uh motion carries.

10:09Thank you.

10:11Um I think that's it on this Sculpture

10:13Walk.

10:14What we um

10:16will bring to a future um

10:19meeting is a recommendation for purchase

10:21and location for that, so we'll hold on

10:23that for today, but I I'll bring that

10:26forward in the next meeting, okay?

10:28And then um we will Taylor and I were

10:31just talking on the side, we need to I

10:33get the RFP out for the next one, so by

10:35the time we meet again, the RFP will be

10:36out for the Sculpture Walk 7.

10:39So uh it it's uh yeah, that's the nature

10:42of a annual event, it kind of never

10:44ends, so um

10:46so uh we'll start that already.

10:48Okay, any other questions or comments on

10:50Sculpture Walk?

10:52Okay, we'll move on to murals. So um the

10:56murals, so there was a couple of

10:57meetings with the artists uh for uh the

11:00two murals, the one at the Nature Park

11:01and uh the one at the um

11:04downtown on the retaining wall. And um I

11:07was able to attend one, it went

11:08terrific, I know some others here were

11:10able to attend, uh but maybe Taylor,

11:12I'll just maybe turn it to you to give

11:14us a little bit of update where we are

11:16on both of those.

11:16>> Absolutely.

11:17Absolutely, I it is also a good time to

11:20announce the name of the artists. Um so

11:23for the Saunders Street retaining wall,

11:26we have artist named Britt Flood. Um she

11:30is a wonderful Raleigh out of um Durham.

11:34And so we're really looking forward to

11:36working with her for this project. That

11:39meeting with the downtown stakeholders

11:42went really well for um business owners.

11:45Bethany, thank you so much for being

11:46there and representing both downtown and

11:50CAB. So I appreciate that. Um we also

11:53had uh

11:54two other business owners and a um

11:57and Colleen Morace from economic

12:00development as the downtown business

12:02manager.

12:03Um

12:05Britt will be sending her first draft

12:07designs to the stakeholders for review

12:10by the end of this week. So we'll be

12:12getting the initial view of her ideas

12:16for this project. So that first meeting

12:19was primarily to talk about um

12:22essentially do's and don'ts of what we

12:24want to see in that space. And her

12:27inspiration of that location, she grew

12:32up in Apex until about first grade and

12:35then moved to a neighboring city. So

12:37she's very familiar with this area and

12:40um still lives within the triangle,

12:42which is great.

12:43>> [cough]

12:44>> Um so we are looking forward to seeing

12:46the drafts of that design.

12:48Um and then the artist for the Apex

12:51Nature Park Amphitheater's name is Amy

12:54Cruz. She is out of um Wake Forest, I

12:58believe. She's also another wonderful

13:01artist um who specializes in nature

13:05painting. Um so she is a wonderful fit

13:08for that space. Um we did have a meeting

13:11with her uh about 2 weeks ago. Um and

13:15she has already submitted her first

13:18draft drawings and she's working on

13:20tweaking those based on um some uh

13:24really size ideas. She's got wonderful

13:26ideas about some trees and um honeycomb

13:30and bees and whatnot. So, we're looking

13:31into

13:33how that will look on that space. And

13:35that mural is if you're familiar with

13:38the nature park amphitheater, the actual

13:41physical structure of the amphitheater,

13:43there is a

13:45a storage closet essentially as the base

13:49of the amphitheater. And that mural will

13:51be all the way around that that part of

13:54the facility. So, we're really looking

13:56forward to that as well.

13:58Things are coming along nicely with her

14:01drafts.

14:02And looking at the calendar, I will be

14:04presenting

14:06to this crew with

14:09cab ready designs, that's what that's

14:12what we're calling them

14:14in the October meeting. So, just a

14:16couple months honestly for this

14:19turnaround and then they are expected to

14:21both be painting

14:23relatively simultaneously

14:25in November. So, we're really looking

14:28forward to that. So, by the end of the

14:30year we're going to have two new murals

14:33here in town. We're really excited for

14:35that.

14:35>> Starting in November?

14:36>> Yeah, they'll be physically paint on the

14:38wall in November.

14:40>> Well, believe it or not, they're

14:42actually favorable to November with the

14:44heat [laughter] outside right now.

14:47>> Okay, I get that.

14:48>> Yeah, the the closer we get to really

14:50cold paint or excuse me, really cold

14:52weather. So,

14:53>> to be like February.

14:54>> in Yeah, in January and February it

14:56actually becomes more of an issue with

14:58the paint materials than it does with

15:01the artist. The artist will just bundle

15:02up.

15:03>> Yeah.

15:04>> But luckily we shouldn't we shouldn't

15:05need to worry about that this time.

15:08That's my updates about the murals.

15:10>> Great, thank you. Any other questions on

15:12the murals from anyone?

15:15All right.

15:16Let's see, then last old business item

15:18was the public art master plan. So, the

15:21master plan team was in town

15:23uh several weeks ago and got input from

15:26a number of town

15:27uh employees and other people working

15:30with and supporting the town, number of

15:32folks from from this group. Uh and spent

15:34a lot of time with Taylor. So, thank

15:36you, Taylor, for all the time you

15:37committed uh to that. Um and uh they're

15:40working on a draft now. So, I don't know

15:42if you want to give a update on on where

15:45we stand on the master plan.

15:46>> Sure, absolutely. Um so, they are still

15:49finishing up their stakeholder meetings

15:51right now. Um we are extending their

15:55contract. The contract was originally

15:57supposed to end at the end of this

15:58month. But after their

16:01um in-person tours, they did two

16:04back-to-back days in late July, they

16:07realized the magnitude of what we have

16:10and what they would like to be able to

16:12present to us. Um so, the contract

16:15itself is extended to the end of

16:17November, but that gives us a little bit

16:19of leeway for them to be able to present

16:21us with their draft, us give it to CAB,

16:25give it to staff, bring that towards

16:27council, and make sure that we have

16:29plenty of time before the end of that

16:31contract. And they were highly favorable

16:33to that timeline, and so are we. We

16:36wanted to make sure that they did their

16:37due diligence with this project. Um but

16:41they were very very excited when they

16:44were here to see all of the parks, all

16:47of our existing art. Um I brought them

16:50to every sculpture, every mural we have,

16:53um partnerships we've had with um

16:56artists, um some information about

17:00downtown. They loved the alley. They

17:03loved being able to be in the

17:04facilities. Um you know, they're looking

17:07at

17:08public art in its entirety. Um

17:11so, we're really glad to have their

17:13perspective on that. Um

17:17but other than that, I'm waiting on

17:19their draft. They actually emailed me

17:21and said that it would be coming this

17:23week. So, it would be very preliminary.

17:25They're still within their stakeholder

17:27meetings. I know they still have um,

17:30some conversations that they're going to

17:32be setting up with the clerk's office.

17:34Um, so this is the bare bones before

17:36they get into the meat and potatoes with

17:38them.

17:39>> Okay. It will it be this draft or

17:41another that will share with this team

17:43for input or comments?

17:44>> Yes, we can I'm happy to do all of the

17:47above. Yeah, that way you guys can see

17:49the draft as it's in progress.

17:51>> All right, perfect.

17:53That's great.

17:54Um,

17:55any questions or comments or anything

17:57else on the master plan on it?

18:00>> I'm excited because just talking to them

18:01briefly gave me a lot of just other just

18:05facets of public art in Apex. So, it was

18:07really great just getting to talk to

18:09them and I was pretty quiet, but I was

18:10absorbing it all in.

18:12It was pretty It was pretty neat talking

18:14with them.

18:14>> Is that Is that who you would recommend

18:16like different ideas to them?

18:19>> Um, so this is an outside contractor

18:22that specializes in public art programs.

18:26So, they're they did the

18:29I believe it's Winston-Salem project.

18:32They work They're working with Wake

18:33County right now.

18:35Um, so

18:35>> I've seen some nice murals in

18:36Winston-Salem.

18:36>> Absolutely. Absolutely. But, we've got a

18:39lot of beautiful murals in this this

18:41whole triangle area. It's wonderful. Um,

18:44they would they would not necessarily be

18:46the best person to approach with ideas

18:49if you have for here. If you have ideas

18:52for Apex with art, bring it to our new

18:56business and the petitions. I think that

18:59would be a great opportunity. We can

19:01also talk through some ideas that you

19:04have. We can bring them to town.

19:05>> Okay.

19:09All right.

19:10Very good. Thank you. Okay, and now on

19:13to new business. Do we have any new

19:16business anyone wants to bring up?

19:18>> Let's give a

19:19quick [clears throat] status update. So,

19:21back in June, Taylor set up a meeting

19:24with Shweta with the town and talked

19:26about possible digital preservation

19:28tools and techniques like an augmented

19:30reality type project uh for preservation

19:33of Kids Town, which

19:35it's the it's our go-to park. We it's

19:38it's time for an update. So, a lot of

19:39the wood is starting to rot, but for

19:42this meeting, I put together a very

19:44quick low-res demonstration.

19:46Just making a 3D model of the handprint

19:48area

19:49the structure towards the front of the

19:51playground and then put it on a website

19:53where you can navigate around, zoom in,

19:55see things, and I should have a higher

19:57res demo a demo ready in about 2 weeks,

20:01and I plan to share that then and also

20:03share it with the group.

20:04Just as an idea, when I view you've

20:06heard me talk a little bit about

20:07augmented reality and digital

20:09preservation, and this is

20:11in that that direction. And so, it may

20:13not make it to the final plan, but it's

20:15something that I used to do

20:16professionally and happy to volunteer to

20:19do it for the town if

20:21if if there's a need, but worst case,

20:23I'll be showing it out in a few weeks to

20:25give an idea of the kind of

20:27technology that can be used in public

20:29art.

20:30>> Terrific.

20:31>> Yeah, that's great. Thank you. I know

20:33we've been talking about augmented

20:35reality, bringing it in in some way,

20:36shape, or form, so this sounds like a

20:38good opportunity.

20:40>> Just to give a little bit of perspective

20:42or outside perspective, Brad, that

20:44meeting was incredible. What you I mean,

20:47even in I know you said you put a little

20:49bit of time. I don't know what a little

20:50bit of time looks like. I mean, you were

20:52there for an hour. But, it was capture

20:5430 minutes. It was really well done. And

20:56even in that in that level,

20:58I came off that meeting and was

21:00messaging Shweta and was like I had no

21:03clue he knew how how do this. This is a

21:05wonderful tool and she's very much

21:08looking forward to hearing hearing about

21:10how I can integrate

21:13that somehow into our projects and

21:16really memorializing kind of this

21:20project that is in you know, in

21:23renovation but really has such a tie to

21:27our community and

21:29keeping that tie

21:31through you know, the digital work that

21:33you did. I don't even know how to

21:35articulate exactly how like what you

21:38did.

21:39Um but it was really well done and um I

21:43mean even in the the small part that I

21:46saw and I'm probably going to butcher

21:48this. So, please feel free to jump in.

21:51Um you had you know, essentially digital

21:56almost like a digital zoom in of almost

21:58every single brick or every every tiny

22:00mural, all of these and you can kind of

22:03jump into it and zoom in. Well, again,

22:06um this is very arbitrary on my side. Um

22:10not my expertise at all. Um but it was

22:12amazing. You can go in and Brad, I know

22:15you said you could get background

22:17information. We can say like this piece

22:19was made by this person and it was

22:22incredible to see that that was a

22:24possibility um

22:27for this this project. So, I appreciate

22:30you you putting in your 1 hour. That was

22:32great. Um so, no, thank you for that. I

22:34know that Shweta was very inspired by

22:37that as well.

22:38>> We'll be

22:39more to come in in 2 weeks.

22:40>> Sure. [laughter]

22:42No, thank you.

22:44Absolutely. Wonderful.

22:46>> That's great.

22:47>> Thank you for that.

22:47>> Thank you.

22:48>> Uh any other new business

22:52or any announcements or other items

22:54anybody wants to bring up from the

22:55board?

22:56>> Um I wanted to make a point on something

22:59really quickly.

22:59>> Sure.

23:00>> So, one thing I have noticed over the

23:02past year is

23:04our networking with the community and

23:06how that has certainly flourished

23:08throughout the past year and I figured

23:10it was in perfect timing to bring this

23:12up since we're approaching the next

23:13year. So, I just wanted to say

23:15everyone's done really well and I hope

23:17to continue that into the next year.

23:19>> Yeah, great. Thank you.

23:20>> Thank you.

23:22>> And continuing that with the schools,

23:25we'll be starting to talk about

23:26>> was actually I meant

23:27>> painting or window painting the next

23:29probably the next meeting. We'll talk a

23:31little bit more about that, but that'll

23:32be another way to continue that

23:34relationship.

23:34>> Yes, and a lot of people have definitely

23:36become more knowledgeable about what we

23:39do with culture and arts around Apex, so

23:41>> Okay.

23:42>> and I think that'll be really important

23:44coming up into the future.

23:45>> Excellent. Thank you.

23:47>> Thank you.

23:49>> All right. Anything else to bring up

23:51today?

23:53And welcome there.

23:56It's great to see you.

23:58All right. If not, then we can have a

24:00motion to adjourn.

24:02>> I'll make a motion to adjourn.

24:03>> There's a motion. Is there a second?

24:04>> Second.

24:05>> All in favor?

24:06>> I.

24:06>> I.

24:07>> All right. Meeting adjourned.

24:10Thank you all.

24:11>> Thanks.

25:16>> Mhm.