2026-09-21 - Culture and Arts Advisory Board

00:58likes to make popcorn. I'm like,

01:00>> "Yeah.

11:20I'll call to order the uh

11:23Apex Culture and Arts Advisory Board

11:25meeting for September 21st, 2026. So,

11:29welcome everybody. Um, our first uh

11:33business is to approve our meeting

11:34minutes from the last meeting, the

11:36August 17, 2026 meeting. Do I have a

11:39motion?

11:41>> Motion. Second.

11:42>> Motion to approve.

11:42>> There's a motion. Do I have a second?

11:44>> I'll second.

11:45>> All in favor say I.

11:46>> I. Any opposed? Motion passes. All

11:50right. We'll move to the town leazison

11:53report. So, Jamaa,

11:54>> I have a very, very brief report in

11:56Taylor's absence.

11:59Um, she wanted me to share with you all

12:01that visits and our social media

12:03interactions are still up from last

12:05month. And uh, she wanted to also

12:08highlight that this month's posts are

12:10all pertaining to the murals pretty much

12:12in the call for artists opening

12:13regarding the sculpture walk

12:15application.

12:16And then the only other update we have

12:18is tomorrow our chair Tom will be

12:21presenting the quarterly public art

12:22moment at the town council meeting

12:24tomorrow night.

12:26All right,

12:27>> that's tomorrow night at 6, right?

12:29>> Yes, at 6.

12:31>> Not sure where we are in the agenda, but

12:33uh we're hoping close to six. [laughter]

12:36>> Yes, we are.

12:38>> That's it, Tom.

12:39>> All right. Thank you, J. Okay. Um and

12:42for my report, I will make updates on

12:46the old business items. So, uh I don't

12:48think there's anything for me to bring

12:50forward right now. So public comment,

12:53not seeing any, we will move on to old

12:55business. So sculpture walk. So that's

12:57the first order of business. So first

12:59thing I'd like to do is um uh the talk

13:05about the um piece that we have up for

13:09um we want to bring forward for

13:10purchase. So it's shown on your screen

13:13in front of you, the butterfly enchanter

13:15by Aldo Mitzerelli. This is the piece

13:18that's in town right in front of the

13:20depot and um

13:24uh it was the people's choice award

13:26winner for this year. So historically

13:29we've brought forward the people's

13:30choice award winner to the council for

13:33purchase. Um, it's not a must that we

13:36choose that one because there have been

13:38years that we've gone to an alternate

13:40and typically that was because maybe we

13:42already had purchased one from that

13:44artist or it was no longer available

13:46because they are all for sale and

13:48sometimes they do get purchased by

13:49others. Uh, this one is available so we

13:52would like to bring this one forward. So

13:56um we can have some discussion on it or

13:58if no discussion then we can if we could

14:00have a motion to make this purchase and

14:03recommend recommendation for purchase

14:05then um we'll we'll go about making a

14:08motion

14:10>> as a goer of this park frequently. I

14:12like the I like the placement.

14:15>> Oh okay great. Yeah. So yeah the

14:16placement that's Thank you for pointing

14:18that out. So that's the Apex Nature

14:19Park. It's a very popular playground

14:21area. Um yes. So, we thought that we'd

14:24get a lot of visibility there. There's a

14:26child sitting with a butterfly and a

14:28book. U there's also uh not too far from

14:31the pollinator garden.

14:34>> It looks like in a in a busy in a busy

14:36like a a easily viewed area. So, like

14:39security wise,

14:40>> that's Evans Road.

14:42>> Yeah. On Evans.

14:45>> Okay.

14:48If no more discussion, is there a

14:49motion?

14:50>> Motion to purchase.

14:52>> There's a motion. Do I have a second?

14:54There's a second. All in favor say I.

14:56>> I.

14:56>> Any opposed?

14:58>> Motion carries. So that will go forward

15:01to the council a council meeting in

15:04October. We'll put that up at that

15:07point. Other item on sculpture walk and

15:09J as Jamila had mentioned we do have um

15:12the call for artists out for the next

15:14sculpture walk. This is kind of it never

15:17ends, right? It's a it's a big loop. So,

15:20um, that call for artists is out right

15:22now and, um, if you do know any

15:25sculpture artists and you want to

15:26forward it along to them, please do so.

15:29And we've already received one, uh,

15:32submission. So, usually the artists wait

15:34until the last week, if not the last

15:37day. So, it's nice to get one that

15:39early. So, so it's out there. Um, any

15:42questions about sculpture walk?

15:46All right, we'll move on to the murals.

15:47So, we have two murals that are out for

15:50public comment right now. So, we have

15:52designs on both of the murals. One will

15:54be at the nature park at the

15:55amphitheater uh at the nature park and

15:58the other will be at the on the

16:00retaining wall of the new parking lot in

16:03downtown. Uh so, both designs have been

16:07posted. They're um and we post them for

16:12a month roughly for public comment. And

16:15then once we get the public comment in,

16:17we go through those and uh perhaps make

16:20some adjustments to the design with the

16:22artist. And then the next step is to

16:25come back here to this body. So we'll do

16:27that next month uh at our meeting next

16:30month to make sure everybody has a look

16:32and then make a recommendation to move

16:34it forward to the council the following

16:37uh following month uh or following

16:39meeting for the council as soon as we

16:41can. So, uh, we're trying to do all this

16:44as quickly as we can so that the

16:46painting can happen this fall. Uh, get

16:48it in before, believe it or not, it

16:51might actually get cold. So, [laughter]

16:53before cold weather happens.

16:56So, so that's our that's our objective

16:58with that. Any questions on the murals

17:01that are in progress?

17:04>> So, Tom, is it is it a couple more weeks

17:07left on the public comment? Yeah. Okay.

17:09It's been posted already for probably

17:12almost two weeks, I think. Okay. So,

17:13yeah, still a couple weeks left.

17:15>> Where's the public comment?

17:17>> Yeah. So, the it's posted um on our

17:20Instagram. You can see it on the website

17:22and there's also signage at the uh out

17:26near the murals where you can scan a QR

17:28code and you can go right in and make

17:30your comments.

17:36All right. If nothing else on that,

17:37we'll move to the uh public art master

17:39plan. So on the master plan, the team is

17:43working on there was a revision or not

17:45revision, there was a draft of some

17:48commentary that was sent out to a small

17:50group of folks who provided some

17:53feedback and with that feedback the um

17:57the consulting firm is putting together

17:59a draft of the master plan which we'll

18:01get to everyone here once that once that

18:05is ready. uh which should be inside of

18:07about two weeks I think. Jamila, is that

18:09roughly the time zone? Yeah. Time frame.

18:12So maybe by the end of the month or so,

18:13we'll have something for everyone to

18:15take a look at and review and provide

18:18your comments and feedback. I'd say back

18:20to Taylor and then she can consolidate

18:23those um for uh for the next round. And

18:27then what'll happen from there is once

18:29all those comments are incorporated

18:32again that will come back to this group

18:35um I suspect in that case we'll have a

18:37presentation and and kind of share main

18:40concepts of it and then as as one step

18:43and then the next step will go to town

18:45council as well. So again a lot

18:47happening this fall. Uh I don't know

18:49that we would be doing that in October

18:52meeting. It's probably more in the

18:53November meeting, I would suspect. And

18:55then uh move to council shortly after

18:57that. Okay.

19:01Any questions or comments on master

19:04plan?

19:07All right. Go to augmented reality.

19:09Brad.

19:10>> Yeah. So, I was hoping to have this uh

19:12ready to share by this meeting, but

19:14it'll be next meeting. I have the

19:15individual pieces created um as a kind

19:17of a test project working with uh the

19:21kids town area where the people who

19:24built it, the kids made their

19:25handprints, put up as tiles. Uh I've

19:27made a 3D model of the entire enclosure.

19:31I've isolated the four individual panels

19:33and once I send it out in a few weeks,

19:36you'll be able to the first version

19:38you'll be able to spin it around, click

19:40on one of the panels and kind of get a

19:41zoom in on the panel. And then I'll be

19:43sharing that with Taylor and seeing if

19:45there's any appetite to do more. And the

19:48next phase would be going and doing uh

19:50higher scans of each individual tile. So

19:52you click on each tile, then there'll be

19:54an overlay of the person's name and any

19:56information. Um it' be a larger public

19:59history project at that point to gather

20:00information about if uh anybody wants

20:03that information to be made public, just

20:04kind of who they are, where they are

20:06now, and the information to go along

20:08with it. But I'll be uh building that

20:10into a website and sending out ahead of

20:12the next meeting just to share.

20:15>> That sounds great. And then you said

20:17you'll share that with this.

20:19>> Yes. Yeah, I'll send it um to the group.

20:21>> That's cool. Thank you.

20:25>> All right. Any questions for Brad on

20:27that?

20:29>> Thanks. Thank you for that. All right.

20:32Moving on to new business. So, holiday

20:34window painting. So, um,

20:38>> to you then.

20:39>> So, holiday window painting. Um, I

20:41didn't look at the dates, so I'll have

20:42to look at the dates. Um, see when that

20:45falls. Um, I should have looked at

20:46before before I got in here. Um, but

20:48it's always um the Monday after

20:50Thanksgiving. Um, and I wouldn't mind

20:53having somebody else just t if somebody

20:55wants to tune in with me just because

20:57next year I won't be here for on the

21:00board. So, it might be good just to have

21:02somebody else who might want to be

21:03tuning into it like when I email the

21:05teachers um just copy you in on it. So,

21:08if you are interested in that, just let

21:10me know after the meeting and then I can

21:12just make sure that um maybe you could

21:14be available for that day. Is it the

21:16November 30th? Okay. And then we'll we

21:18usually just plan the next day, which

21:19would be December 1st, would be like the

21:21rain makeup date. Um it's been a long

21:24time since it's been very cold, but um

21:26usually um rain would be the only reason

21:28we might have to postpone a day. Um and

21:31there's no reason I think we would just

21:33keep it to the same locations as

21:34previously, which is this front of the

21:35Halley Cultural Center and then the

21:37front of the fire station uh bays. I

21:40think last year we didn't do the first

21:42bay, which is where the fire trucks come

21:44in and out of. Um and then we again uh

21:48the same high schools um Philey's Apex

21:50High School, Apex Friendship and um

21:53Selton Grove High School are the schools

21:55that we've always included and um

21:59>> All right,

21:59>> we'll get it done.

22:00>> And they're all aware they're planning.

22:03>> I haven't emailed I'll email them.

22:04>> Oh, you okay do these paintings?

22:07>> Yeah. So, the kids will come in. Um it's

22:09usually the art um honor society um

22:12national honor society for art um that

22:14does it through the high school. So the

22:16teachers bring whatever group of

22:17students that they select. So the kids

22:19have to be like in the within the art

22:22program and the and the teachers bring a

22:24group of kids that they've already

22:25talked to about painting and they

22:27usually have their whole the teachers

22:29usually have a whole plan on which

22:30windows they want to do and and get it

22:33done. But it's only about two hours that

22:34we do it for. So they'll paint the

22:36windows downtown. um on the fire station

22:39and the halley um usually in some kind

22:41of holiday theme. We haven't kind of

22:43requested them to do any specific theme.

22:44I know we were talking about it um in

22:46some of the events groups. So, I don't

22:48know if that's something that um we

22:50wanted to ask them specifically to do,

22:52but um we've always just made it kind of

22:54holiday.

22:55So,

22:56>> the business owners don't participate.

22:58>> No, we used to do it with the business

22:59owners, but it just it was too many. It

23:01was too big and too many and then COVID

23:03happened. So, we just started doing it

23:04just to the town buildings.

23:06>> Call over. and and some of the um

23:10business owners now do

23:11>> do it on their own. Yeah, they do it on

23:13their own.

23:13>> So, it's really great that they picked

23:15up on the idea.

23:16>> Yeah. Okay.

23:17>> And you're seeing more and more do it

23:18each year.

23:19>> Well, maybe we need to talk to the new

23:21newer business owners

23:23>> cuz some of these been down here for a

23:24long time.

23:25>> Yeah. A lot of

23:26>> Yeah. A lot of I think with um the

23:28holidays this year, a lot of the

23:29business owners are planning on

23:30different window decorations and light

23:32decorations specifically. Um, I know

23:35some have done window painting in

23:37addition, but we stopped doing it to the

23:39actually because it usually ended up

23:41being a really drawn out, it usually

23:42ended up being the [clears throat] board

23:44members who ended up finishing all the

23:45window painting. Um, so we decided just

23:48to limit it to the town buildings of

23:49downtown um that we did it for um back

23:52in 2000 was the first year we started

23:54doing that.

23:57>> Okay. Do we have any clue as to when the

24:01streetscape will be completed? getting

24:04any information.

24:05>> I think specifically like final sounds

24:07like it's supposed to be January, but

24:09but I think a lot of the a lot of the

24:10portions like on the main street are

24:12supposed to be finished up before before

24:13Christmas. So,

24:14>> okay.

24:15>> Hopefully,

24:16but specifically where the window

24:18painting is is not really in that main

24:19block. So, um I don't see any issues as

24:23far as our work down there.

24:25>> Uh is the is the parade going to be in a

24:28different location this year?

24:29>> I believe it's still downtown. Is that

24:31correct? I

24:31>> think they moved it. Yeah, it it's still

24:33downtown, but the route's going to be a

24:35little different.

24:36>> Okay.

24:36>> Yeah.

24:38>> Okay. Anything else on the window

24:40painting?

24:42>> All right, then let's go to poetry and

24:44literature. Any update on that, Bethany?

24:47>> Um, I haven't done anything on that in a

24:48while. Um, we've talked about doing um

24:53the the poem,

24:55>> the community poem. um it kind of fell

24:57off the radar a couple months ago, but

24:59if anybody is interested in kind of

25:00talking through that again, I'd be open

25:02to talking about that um especially in

25:05advance of Peak Fest. I know I know

25:07Peakfest is a ways away, but um we

25:09talked about that specifically doing

25:11that during Peakfest next year. So um or

25:14last year, but if we wanted to boot that

25:16up, I think that would be a great plan

25:18to have during peak next year. That

25:19would be right.

25:22>> Person that does it or

25:23>> no like a community poem like everybody

25:24um like the community helps to create

25:27like a poem during like a special event

25:29like Peakfest um and kind of work

25:31together um during an event to kind of

25:34create poetry um and kind of develop a

25:37town kind of poem based on a theme is

25:39what we talked about previously. Um and

25:42we also talked about maybe getting a

25:44poet or some you know somebody to help

25:46us with it.

25:49Okay.

25:51Any other questions on that?

25:54All right. Thank you very much. Okay. Uh

25:56on to our next item, announcements or

25:59anything else? There was one other thing

26:00I I remember. Uh so tomorrow at town

26:03council there also we have a couple of

26:06vacancies on our board and so those are

26:09on the agenda to be uh filled uh

26:12tomorrow. So, we'll see if that happens

26:15and then um we should have a a more full

26:19slate of folks uh in October's meeting.

26:21Okay.

26:25All right. And anything else? Any other

26:28items anyone wants to bring up?

26:30>> I just have a question about the event

26:31the weekend. What was that about?

26:32Because I missed it. Didn't see anything

26:34about it or anything.

26:36>> What what weekend?

26:37>> This weekend. Last weekend.

26:38>> Oh, past weekend on events.

26:40>> Yeah. Was something happening? Was it

26:42the Italian?

26:43>> Yeah, there was Italian festival. Um,

26:45and then there on Friday night there was

26:47a kind of a hurricane hockey thing.

26:49>> I've seen the Friday night thing, but

26:51anything about Saturday. When I was

26:53going to Costco at 6:30 cuz they closed

26:54at 7:00

26:55>> and when I got back everybody was

26:57breaking their temps down and [laughter]

26:58everything, I was like, "Okay, I missed

27:00it."

27:00>> Almost every weekend there's some kind

27:02of festival. [laughter]

27:04So, yeah, most of the uh

27:05>> because I got it Facebook a lot of that

27:08information. Yeah.

27:15All right. Any any questions, comments

27:17from anybody on anything?

27:18>> All right.

27:19>> Uh, anything happening with more seating

27:22at Pleasant Park or anything like that?

27:25>> I'm sorry.

27:25>> Any any more seating going to be at

27:27Pleasant Park?

27:29>> I'm not sure.

27:30>> Like or bleachers or something?

27:34>> Oh. Oh. Oh. Seating at the I I'm not

27:37aware. I know there's another phase

27:40coming to the park. I'm not sure what

27:42the status of that project is, but there

27:45is another phase coming because it's not

27:47100%. It's still not complete park.

27:50>> Yeah. So maybe maybe with that I'm not

27:52sure of a detail.

27:54>> Maybe something happened there.

27:56>> Yeah, it's possible. Yeah.

27:59And it's going to be another park at

28:01what's the new the new place called off

28:0455

28:08>> yeah.

28:09>> Okay. Yeah.

28:10>> It's going to be a park there too,

28:12right?

28:14>> There's a number Yeah. a number of other

28:15parks coming in town. Uh where there's

28:18been some properties purchased and

28:19others that are on the plans. Yeah. For

28:21longer term long range. Yeah.

28:24>> I think that can be found mostly on the

28:26parks and recreation page. Yeah, it

28:29should be.

28:31>> Okay.

28:33All right. Anyone else?

28:37Okay, then that's uh last item would be

28:40a motion to adjurnn.

28:43>> I make a motion to adjurnn.

28:44>> There's a motion. Do we have a second?

28:46>> A second.

28:47>> A second. All in favor say I. I. All

28:50right. Meeting adjourned.