Committee Report CR-3

The purpose of the meeting was to continue to discuss using public event and celebrations to further economic development, including discussion of an annual funding mechanism.

Present at the meeting were Councillor Kenneth E Reeves, Chair of the Committee, Richard Rossi, Deputy City Manager, Ini Tomeu, Public Information Officer, Louise DePasquale, Assistant City Manager for Fiscal Affairs, Mary Hart, MIS Director, Cynthia Griffin, Purchasing Agent, James Monagle, City Auditor, Estella Johnson, Economic Development Director, Richard Scali, Chair of the License Commission, Jason Weeks, Executive Director, Arts Council, Elizabeth White, Community Arts Administrator, Arts Council, Robyn Bell, Director, Office of Tourism, and D. Margaret Drury, City Clerk.  Also present were Terrence Smith, Chamber of Commerce, John Clifford, Green Street Grille, Rosann Kraus, Dance Complex, Susan Fleischmann, Director of CCTV and Mark Goldring, Vice President of Wolf, Keens & Co.

Councillor Reeves opened the meeting and stated the purpose.  He suggested that the committee look at the issue in two parts.  One part would be the short-term issue about the continuation of the Destination Cambridge program for the next year or two.  The other part would be the longer-term question of how the City could proceed to a plan that could draw in the arts, culture, heritage and other unique aspects of the City to be part of a strategy that keeps Cambridge successful in the competition it faces from other cities in growing and maintaining its knowledge-based economy.

Councillor Reeves said that previous discussions in this committee have led him to look and how other cities package themselves and distributed an advertisement for “Select Greater Philadelphia”

. Arts, culture, heritage and tourism have been suggested to him as a combination that could approach what is uniquely attractive and marketable about Cambridge as it competes to retain its dominance as a preeminent knowledge-based economic center.   He then introduced Mark Goldring, Vice President of Wolf, Keens and Co., a Cambridge company that has helped communities and cities to use their arts and culture assets to compete with other cities.

Mr. Goldring said that succeeding in the long term in this area can be as much about how you connect the dots as it is about doing a traditional strategic plan.  It is important to get the cultural groups to the point in their development where they can meet the needs of the community.  Mr. Goldring added that it can often take a year to agree on what to plan and then it can take another year to actually plan something that could be implemented.  The process is important for building consensus.  This kind of process in Birmingham resulted in a $5 million county commitment to arts programming.  Cambridge would need to decide whether a consensus approach is powerful enough to supercede a moderately adequate “band aide” approach.  He said that it is not clear that Cambridge needs a comprehensive “six-figure” planning process.  He advised that in whatever process is used, the definition of arts and culture be kept broad.  Ethnic heritage and historic preservation should be included.  He urged bringing to the table as broad a coalition as possible and including the arts community, the Arts Council, the business community, Harvard and MIT and city government.

Councillor Reeves asked Mr. Goldring what he sees as Cambridge now and what he sees as its potential.  Mr. Goldring said that there are incredible pockets of activities in Cambridge, but they are fragmented.  He does not see synergy, and he does not see those connections being made.  He recommended that committee members look at the website artropolis.com. Mr. Goldring added that Cambridge absolutely is a place that can be a destination because of its culture.

Councillor Reeves thanked Mr. Goldring. Councillor Reeves then moved the discussion to the short-term issue of programming for the upcoming summer and fiscal year.  He suggested taking as  today’s goal agreeing upon a proposal to bring to the City Council and the City Manager to be considered as part of the FY budget planning.  He asked which of the programs that were done last year are worth doing again.  Mr. Rossi said that everything except the parade would be worth doing again.  The following were agreed to as programs worth repeating:

Mr. Clifford asked about the symposia.  It was agreed that the events were interesting, but except for the one at MIT, they were not finalized enough in advance to enable sufficient publicity.   Mr. Rossi suggested involving the Library in planning symposia.  The Library does a great deal of interesting smaller scale programming such as its Authors Nights series that could perhaps be publicized as part of symposia offerings. It was agreed that the Ms. Flannery would be contacted about possible Library participation in this planning process.

Mr. Smith said that the question of programming symposia raises the communication issue that Mr. Goldring discussed.  In Cambridge there are many interesting lectures by well-known speakers on a regular basis, such as the Cambridge Forum series at First Parish in Harvard Square and speakers’ series at the Kennedy School.  Most are open to the public, although many are not well publicized.  Councillor Reeves said that the Hotel at MIT publishes a daily page of interesting events taking place at MIT.  Ms. Bell said that the Office for Tourism website maintains an up-to-date listing of interesting events taking place in Cambridge.

Mr. Weeks said that the coordinated packaging of the events as part of “Destination Cambridge” was very helpful for the Arts Fair.  Mr. Scali agreed with respect to the Taste of Cambridge event.

The discussion moved to the specifics of the Art Fair.  Councillor Reeves asked what would be necessary to have the Arts Fair again this year.  Mr. Weeks said that it would be largely a question of the funding and the timing.  It was agreed that the Art Fair should take place in September, especially in light of the return of the River Festival as a summer program of the Arts Council.  Councillor Reeves asked whether the Art Fair paid for itself.  Mr. Weeks said up to a point it did.  However, it did not pay for the musical program, and there should have been additional marketing, which would have required additional funds.  Ms. White added that including a Monday in the schedule was not a success.  She said that the excellent support from DPW was a very important aspect in the success of the event.  Councillor Reeves and Mr. Weeks agreed that although the music was a nice addition, it probably was not necessary to the overall success of the event.

Councillor Reeves asked Mr. Scali for an update on the Taste of Cambridge.  Mr. Scali reported that the event committee had just met and had agreed that the July date worked very well, as did the inclusion of the event in the “Destination Cambridge” umbrella.  The committee is looking at a possible July 21 or 28, 2005 date and is hoping that it can again be associated with another program of events, although it was not clear to Mr. Scali that the association needed to be as close as another concert the same night.  Councillor Reeves and Mr. Rossi agreed that the very successful Latin Concert that took place later the same evening drew a different audience than the very successful Taste of Cambridge event.  In response to a question from Councillor Reeves, Mr. Scali stated that 1200 people attended, twice as many as the year before.

With regard to the Latin concert, Mr. Reeves stated that he would like to see such a concert as one of four free concerts each year.  He also noted that Alexis Pena had recently taken him to see a very successful performance by El Jeffrey at the Lido, the former Wonderland Ballroom.  The room was packed, the crowd was enthusiastic and the dancing was extraordinary.  Mr. Pena told him that it would cost considerably less to produce a concert with this performer than was spent on last year’s concert.  Ms Barr said that in developing a plan for yearly offerings to the public, there should be a survey of what already exists and works well.

There was a discussion of the coordination of the events for this next year.  Ms. Johnson said that if these events are going to happen again, she believes that there should be a paid coordinator to play the role that Jubi Headley played last year. Councillor Reeves agreed that this whole program cannot run itself.  He does not want to play the role that he did last year.  Someone has to coordinate.  Possible vehicles include the Arts Council non-profit and the Office for Tourism.  Mr. Goldring said that in Cambridge, the issue does not appear to be programming – there is a great deal. Rather, the question is how to make the existing programs more successful and more a part of the broader community identity.  In other communities, this is a role that Arts Councils often play.  Mr. Scali said that the model of the Taste of Cambridge, with one coordinator for the one event who can direct volunteer assignments, has worked well.  Mr. Rossi said that most of the events under consideration already have an administrator or a logical potential for administration.  Perhaps the Council committee can leave that part to the existing staff and focus on the fundraising aspect.

Councillor Reeves stated that he learned last year that the job of publicity can be very difficult.  The banners were lovely, but he believes they should have been bigger to be more noticeable.  Mr. Rossi said that the volunteer greeters at the T stations were very effective.   Visitors asked lots of questions, and the volunteers enjoyed themselves as well.  Perhaps they could hand out something along the line of “While You are Here this Week” to publicize the particular events.  Ms. Bell said that her office could provide assistance with getting the word out there.  Ms. Tomeu stated that the City can build on what was done last year as “Destination Cambridge,” and this year, perhaps seek a television and print sponsor.  In addition some budget for paid advertising, for example in the Chronicle, should be considered, rather than just relying on news coverage, which can be more after the fact.  Mr. Weeks agreed with the importance of the “branding” aspect of “Destination Cambridge.”    Councillor Reeves agreed that “Destination Cambridge” worked well, although he would also be interested in something that promotes the “Summer in the City” concept.  Mr. Rossi suggested that as part of longer range planning, January and February could be used as the time when ideas and events are solicited and submitted to be part of an identified and “branded” package.

The discussion moved to the issue of budget and fundraising.  Councillor Reeves suggested that the committee aim for a budget of $200,000 for the program for FY 2006, and that the committee request city funds in the amount of $100,000, with the goal of raising a matching $100,000 in contributions.  He noted that in discussions with the Mayor, Mayor Sullivan had expressed his concern that he would not want to see the fundraising for this program competing with the small nonprofits that depend on contributions to fulfill their missions.  Councillor Reeves said that he had agreed with Mayor Sullivan that it would be important to focus “Destination Cambridge” fundraising approaches on the larger institutions, Harvard, MIT, the banks and large corporations.  Those present agreed that this would be a reasonable approach and budget.

Ordered:         That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to recommend to the City Council that the FY06 budget include $100,000.00 allocation for the continuation of the “Destination Cambridge” program of arts and cultural events, with the view that the program budget would also include an additional $100,000.00 which would come from fundraising donations.

Councillor Reeves noted that the end of the meeting was imminent but that there is a need to make progress on the short-term issue and to begin the discussion of the long-term issue of institutionalizing the role of arts and culture in the “branding” of Cambridge.  With respect to the long-term issue, Councillor Reeves reported that he met with Mr. Sage, Raddisson Hotel, and that Mr. Sage believes that the committee should consider making a proposal to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) Board for some additional funding from the proceeds of the $4 million of hotel/motel taxes that Cambridge provides to the MCCA.  Currently the Cambridge Office for Tourism receives $100,000.  Councillor Reeves said that Tom Lucey also expressed interest in taking part in a meeting with MCCA officials.

It was agreed that a smaller group of the following members of the committee would  meet on Monday, March 14, 2005 in the Anastos Room, 2

floor, City Hall, to discuss next steps and to begin discussion of the long-term issue of how the City could proceed to a plan that could draw in the arts culture, heritage and other unique aspects of the City as part of a strategy to maintain Cambridge’s competitive position as a preeminent knowledge-based economy: