Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

EMMA S. BARRIENROS MEXICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER REGULAR MEETING MINUTES WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2024 The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center convened in a Regular meeting on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, at City Hall – Board and Commissions Room located at 301 West Second Street in Austin, Texas 78701. (Some members of the ESB-MACC Advisory Board participated via videoconference.) Chair Navarro called the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center Meeting to order at 6:00pm. Board Members in Attendance: Angelica Navarro, Chair Hilario “Larry” Amaro, Vice Chair Noemi Castro, Member Cynthia “Cy” Herrera, Member (Arrived at 6:09/Left at 8:10pm) Raul “Roy” Reyna, Member Lily Zamarripa-Saenz, Member Board Members in Attendance Remotely: John Estrada, Member (Left at 9:40pm) Board Members Absent: Gerardo Gandy, Member Anthony Martinez, Member Eduardo “Eddie” Rodriguez, Member Staff in Attendance: Jodi Jay, PARD Assistant Director Laura Esparza, PARD Division Manager of Museums and Cultural Programs Michelle Rojas, ESB-MACC Culture and Arts Education Manager Marie Ortiz, ESB-MACC Culture and Arts Education Supervisor Tina Davila, ESB-MACC Administrative Specialist PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. The minutes from the Regular meeting of January 10, 2024, were approved on Member Zamarripa- Saenz’s motion. Vice Chair Amaro seconded the motion. Unanimous vote (6.0). Motion passed. Members Gandy, Herrera, Martinez, and Rodriguez were absent. STAFF BRIEFINGS 2. Staff Report by Marie Ortiz, ESB-MACC Culture and Arts Education Supervisor and Michelle Rojas, ESB-MACC Culture and Arts Education Manager on January and February programs, 1 marketing, scope of outreach efforts by ESB-MACC staff, La Mujer and Awards of Excellence planning report, and opportunities for Board participation at ESB-MACC programs for the month of February. Marie Ortiz, ESB-MACC Culture and Arts Education Supervisor gave a report on the Holistic Wellness programs, Education, Caminos Teen Leadership, and Academia Cuauhtli programming, sharing highlights for the month of January along with upcoming programs & events for the month of February. She also provided an update of current and upcoming marketing and outreach events and informed the Board they were currently in the process of securing a venue location for their annual La Mujer event. She also mentioned the Awards of Excellence event would take place June 29, 2024, at the Long Center and the MACC’s Event Coordinator, Estrella DeLeon would offer ways for the Advisory Board to assist with the event, such as securing donations, sponsorships, helping with event planning and having a role in the ceremony the day of the event. Michelle Rojas, ESB-MACC Culture and Arts Education Manager let the Board know they had recently published their 2023 Annual Report. She stated it was the MACC’s first time producing an Annual Report for the community. She explained that the report showed all the wonderful things the MACC had been able to produce throughout the year such as its events and programs and how they were able to collect the number of community members who participated in each program. Laura Esparza, PARD Division Manager of Museums and Cultural Programs informed the Board that there was a reduction in the MACC’s budget for the rest of fiscal year 2024. She also stated the reduction was happening across the Parks and Recreation Department at every recreational and cultural center site, and the cost of the reduction was $320,000. She explained that with the reduction it would mean they would have to cancel all remaining programs for the rest of the fiscal year, except for Caminos which was being funded by the Austin Civilian Conservation Corps (ACCC) and Academia Cuahutli which was funded out of a Council allocation.  Esparza let the Board know staff would be completing a submittal request February 23, 2024, for the FY24 Phase 2 operating budget and would include funding for programs and special events.  Member Castro asked if the Board and staff could work with other organizations or individuals who are willing to donate to continue their involvement in events like Viva Mexico that way, they are able to keep the objective and mission of the MACC alive. Esparza stated collaborations and donations were welcomed but made it clear the only thing staff and the Board could not do was solicit donations.  Member Reyna asked what the normal course of business regarding publicity was. He stated he was curious that if KVUE got news that programs were going away it could potentially spark donations from the community. Staff commented they could not address the question, but the Board could review their Boards & Commissions training material for rules and guidance on solicitations. (Please see the Board and Commissions Website for backup material.) DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS 3. Discussion on the Awards of Excellence, the scope of the working group is to provide support in the event planning for the Awards of Excellence and to take action on voting on approving the creation of the working group. Estrella de León, ESB-MACC Cultural and Arts Special Events Coordinator expressed her excitement to have the Boards support in helping with the Awards of Excellence. She provided a brief overview letting 2 the Board know the awards ceremony was created to bring together leaders, community members, and artists. She shared several ways the Board could provide their support, that being, encouraging their communities to nominate artists, young emerging artists, community leaders, etcetera. She also stated choosing an Advisory Board member to be a part of the Awards of Excellence Selection Committee and helping select a community member to participate on the committee would be helpful and commented that the Board could also participate as an Emcee, award presenter, event greeter, or identify "In-kind" donations for the event. Examples: food, desserts, beverages, flowers, party favors, and set up & break down.  Member Zamarripa-Saenz motioned to create the Awards of Excellence working group to assist with nominations and a selection committee, to help with event planning and assisting with setting up and breaking down and supporting MACC staff. Member Reyna seconded the motion. Unanimous vote (7.0). Motion passed. Members Gandy, Martinez, and Rodriguez were absent.  Member Reyna, Castro, Estrada, and Chair Navarro volunteered to participate on the working  Chair Navarro nominated Member Estrada to sit on the selection committee. Member Estrada group. accepted. (Please see the Board and Commissions Website for backup material.) DISCUSSION ITEMS 4. Presentation by Robert Ojeda on the Bronze Community Band for support to implement a Basic Music and Performance Program. Robert Ojeda, Bronze Band Artistic Director provided a presentation on the Bronze Community Band Projects mission, vision, project description, and a history of their collaborations with the MACC.  Ojeda stated the MACC had provided in-kind support for space to implement the Bronze Community Band Project (BCBP) program components but there was still a funding gap of $3,000 for the cost of materials and stipend for instructors/musicians. Ojeda asked the ESB- MACC Advisory Board to consider their request for additional support for their program in FY25. (Please see the Board and Commissions Website for backup material.) 5. Presentation by Dr. Angela Valenzuela and Katya Guzman from Academia Cuahutli requesting support for their fiscal year 24-25 budget. Dr. Angela Valenzuela, Professor at The University of Texas at Austin provided a brief overview of how Academia Cuauhtli was created and established. She also shared that their mission was to honor the community’s cultural heritage, foster social justice consciousness and reclaim collective identities in pursuit of educational freedom. She stated since its inception in 2014 Academia Cuauhtli has: enrolled over 500 students; trained and retained 60 teachers, hosted 200 professional development workshops, initiated Cuauhtli's Grow Your Own bilingual leadership development program for AISD teachers of color, and successfully implemented a research partnership between AISD and UT Austin's College of Education researchers. Dr. María Del Carmen Unda, Academia Cuauhtli Project Manager discussed the challenges that bilingual students have faced, partnerships and initiatives that were created to solve those challenges, operational costs to run their programs, and an outlined budget proposal for fiscal year 2024-2025. Unda also shared with the Board that they would be hosting a Summit titled, Educación con Corazón: Una Plática Comunitaria/ Education with Heart: A Community Conversation on Saturday, May 4, 2024, from 10am to 4pm located at Consuelo Mendez Middle School, 5106 Village Square Drive Austin, TX 78744 and invited members to attend if they were interested. (Please see the Board and Commissions Website for backup material.) 6. Discussion on Phase 2 Construction Project Updates. 3 Laura Esparza, PARD Division Manager of Museums and Cultural Programs synopsized the report that was received from Heidi Tse, Capital Delivery Project Manager regarding the current project phase, construction progress, announcements, scheduled milestones, and offered the MACC Advisory Board to a construction tour in late February or early March on either Wednesdays or Thursdays (2/21, 2/23 2/28, 2/29, 3/6/ & 3/7) during mid-morning until 3:00 pm. The report also provided follow-up answers and clarifications to questions from the Wednesday, January 10, 2024, ESB MACC Advisory Board meeting.  Chair Navarro requested that when Phase 2 Project Updates are provided for the project team to submit their report to the Board at least 3 days before the Board meetings to allow members time to process the information and to be able to ask articulated questions. (Please see the Board and Commissions Website for backup material.) 7. Update on the Music Creative Hubs Town Hall meeting that took place on January 13, 2024, and to provide an overview of the findings of the community engagement events of the Music Creative Hubs. Michelle Rojas, ESB-MACC Culture and Arts Education Manager stated a PowerPoint presentation was received from the meeting that was held January 13, 2024. Rojas gave an update on the findings from the community meetings as well as the focus group meetings that were held by EQ Austin. She went over the talking points for creative and collaborative spaces, types of workshops and panels, youth programs, networking, community engagement, and long-term plans. She also provided information on the commonalities of all three focus groups, their challenges, and shared the educational tools for success along with the names of the focus group participants. (Please see the Board and Commissions Website for backup material.) 8. Presentation by Vice Chair Larry Amaro on demographics to discuss the possible action of creating multiple working groups for ESB-MACC Cultural Arts Activities. Member Reyna and Vice Chair Amaro provided a presentation on the demographics for Hispanic and Latino Americans as well as historical and cultural events in the United States.  Vice Chair Amaro expressed that he felt there was a lack of Equity in including Mexican American events and its artists. Member Reyna interjected letting the Board know Vice Chair Amaro wanted to make a recommendation to form a working group to research and look into the performing arts, literary arts, and visual arts, in order to be able to understand and evaluate the nature of the events and to make sure the MACC’s events were truly represented, and if not to see if there was an opportunity to request funding or to foster additional types of events.  Member Zamarripa-Saenz thanked Member Reyna for working on the report that was given but stated she did not feel comfortable supporting Vice Chair Amaro’s recommendation.  The Board agreed to discontinue further discussion and would all plan to share the MACC’s Program Planning Survey with family, friends, and on their social media accounts to allow the community to provide input and feedback on the types of events and programming they would like the MACC to host. (Please see the Board and Commissions Website for backup material.) WORKING GROUP UPDATES 9. Update from Phase 2 Project Working Group Chair Navarro commented that it is the staff’s intent to set up a recurring meeting for noon the Thursday before each Board meeting and for members of the working group to expect an email invite. 10. Update from Budget Working Group Chair Navarro stated there was no update, but it was important for the Board to focus on the March deadline for the FY25 budget. 11. Update from Ethnographic Working Group No update. 4 FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Discussion and possible action on budget recommendations for FY25 ADJOURNMENT Chair Navarro adjourned the meeting at 9:40pm due to lack of quorum. The minutes were approved at the March 6, 2024, Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center meeting on Member Zamarripa-Saenz’s motion, Member Estrada second on a 9-0 vote with one vacancy. Board Member Rodriguez absent. 5