Geneva considers arts center support
Geneva aldermen will consider two requests Monday night from the Cultural Arts Commission.
First, the commission wants permission to give $27,500 of its budget to a nonprofit dedicated to establishing a cultural arts center in Geneva.
Secondly, it wants to waive rules that require three price quotes when it shops for bicycle racks.
The committee of the whole meets at 7 p.m. at city hall, 109 James St.
According to a memo in aldermen's meeting packets, the arts commission has a budget of $77,925 this year. It raises the money by admission and sponsorships for events such as Eat Your Art Out, the RiverPark Concerts series, Shakespeare in the Park and the Dancing With the Geneva Stars competition.
The $27,500 would go to the Geneva Foundation for the Arts, a federally recognized charity, for planning, construction or operation of an arts center.
Arts commission chairman Tim Vetang is also president of the foundation's board. The foundation deliberately wanted to have representation from the arts commission.
The commission is also seeking permission to waive a city rule requiring formal bidding for buying or commissioning an artistic bicycle rack. It has $10,000 in its budget to purchase such racks, and believes waiving the bidding process will enable it to just consider local artists.
When it bought its first artistic bike rack in 2013, the city formally advertised a request for proposals. Twelve artists submitted designs. A committee that evaluated them did so without knowing who the artists were, to avoid bias. The work of a professor at Tulane University in Louisiana was chosen.