Community Relations Commission

1 Minutes of a Meeting of the 2 Celebration of Cultures Subcommittee of the 3 Community Relations Commission 4 Northbrook, IL 5 Tuesday, August 16, 2016, 7:00pm 6 7 Present: Co-Chair Dr. Rochelle Singer, Co-Chair Jason Han, Community Relations 8 Commission Chair Bruce Doughty 9 10 Others: Arts Commission Chair Chris Laughlin, Village Staff Liaison Erik Jensen, Library 11 Representative Steve Gianni 12 13 Welcome 14 15 Co-Chair Singer called the meeting to order at 7:04pm in the Second Floor Business Conference Room at 16 Northbrook Public Library. 17 18 Discussion of the Celebration of Cultures and Potential International Film Festival 19 20 Chair Doughty thanked everyone for attending and stated he would just briefly overview the history of 21 the Celebration of Cultures and the idea of bringing together multiple groups for an international film 22 festival. 23 24 Chair Doughty reviewed the history of the event and that President Frum had mentioned the possibility 25 of an international film festival component and that the Commission had expressed interest in 26 collaborating with the Library and Arts Commission. Chair Doughty discussed how the Community 27 Relations Commission typically organizes subcommittees to manage individual projects and suggested 28 the same could be done here with one subcommittee managing the Celebration of Cultures event and a 29 second one managing the film festival. Chair Doughty asked Mr. Laughlin and Mr. Gianni for their 30 thoughts. 31 32 Mr. Gianni discussed the Library’s existing Wednesday Film Series. Mr. Gianni stated a foreign film series 33 would be possible and discussed some of the technical considerations the group would have to take into 34 account. He concluded by saying that the only problem was that he would not necessarily know what is 35 available until January or February. 36 37 Mr. Laughlin asked Mr. Gianni if he was confident he would know by then. 38 39 Mr. Gianni stated he was. 40 41 Mr. Laughlin asked what the Subcommittee had envisioned for the festival. 42 43 Co-Chair Singer briefly explained and asked Mr. Gianni about how he envisioned showings could be 44 handled. 45 46 Mr. Gianni explained that this festival would follow the format of previous Wednesday showings with an 47 afternoon and evening showing. 48 49 Co-Chair Singer stated that she thought a collaboration would be possible where the film festival and 50 event are connected under a broad umbrella. She also explained how the Subcommittee currently 51 organizes the event with individual station coordinators. 52 53 A brief conversation occurred on the groups which had previously participated in the event. 54 55 Co-Chair Singer discussed the possibility of connecting groups that are participating in the event and 56 films at the festival. 57 58 Mr. Laughlin asked if the Subcommittee envisioned the film festival as being restricted to showings prior 59 to the event. 60 61 Co-Chair Singer stated that she would comfortable with showings throughout the month and the 62 possibility of making April “Celebration of Cultures” month. 63 64 Chair Doughty stated he liked the Celebration of Cultures month concept and stated cultures that were 65 not represented at the Faire could be otherwise represented at the film festival. 66 67 Co-Chair Singer stated she agreed. 68 69 Chair Doughty asked Mr. Gianni for more detail on the logistics for showings. 70 71 Mr. Gianni explained the logistics and stated that discussions following a showing are sometimes done. 72 73 Mr. Laughlin asked if the Celebration was limited to groups represented in Northbrook or broader than 74 that. 75 76 Co-Chair Singer explained that many of the groups that participate are not necessarily from Northbrook 77 and that the event had become broader. 78 79 Mr. Laughlin reviewed some of the programs the Arts Commission had previously done which could be 80 connected to the Celebration of Cultures such as Latin Jazz and Flamenco programs. He stated he 81 thought they could be easily blended. He stated there was a Commissioner on the Arts Commission who 82 was very knowledgeable about dance who could be of great help as well. 83 84 Co-Chair Singer discussed how dance and music were handled at the first Celebration of Cultures event. 85 86 A brief conversation occurred on how to incorporate existing Arts Commission programs into a broader 87 umbrella event. 88 89 Co-Chair Singer stated that dance and music programs could be easily managed separately and 90 connected through the umbrella. 91 92 A conversation occurred on which groups may be willing to participate. Co-Chair Han suggested reaching 93 out to high school and community college groups. 94 95 Mr. Laughlin stated that dance groups have performed in the Glenbrook Variety Show in the past. 96 2  97 A brief conversation followed on costs. 98 99 Mr. Gianni stated that the costs for Library participation have already been budgeted as the film festival 100 would simply exist within the Wednesday movie showing framework. 101 102 Mr. Laughlin asked about costs for the Arts Commission. 103 104 Chair Doughty asked if the Arts Commission would be willing to share costs with the Community 105 Relations Commission. 106 107 Mr. Laughlin stated he would look into it. 108 109 Co-Chair Han asked if the Arts Commission would like assistance with finding groups to perform. 110 111 A brief conversation occurred on how to make contact with individual groups. 112 113 Chair Doughty summarized that all groups seemed interested and suggested that each group discuss 114 internally what might be practically done and regroup after those meetings. 115 116 Adjournment 117 118 Co-Chair Singer made a motion, seconded by Co-Chair Han, to adjourn the meeting. On a voice vote, all 119 aye. 120 121 The meeting concluded at 7:57. 122 123 Respectfully submitted, 124 125 126 127 Erik Jensen 128 Staff Liaison 129 3