Our Agency

 
 

 
 

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:	BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:
Amber Danielson, Chair	Suzanne Conquest
Tim Dickmeyer (virtual)	Akwi Nji
Donna Dostal, Vice Chair
Lance Ehmcke
Bruce Miller
Claudia Rivera (virtual)
Frank Sposeto

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:
Jon Berg	Beau Hanson	Rick Peterson
Director Debi Durham	Staci Hupp Ballard	David Schmitz
Elizabeth Ferreira	Jennie Knoebel	Deanna Triplett
Rita C. Grimm	Molly Lopez	Chris West

 

OTHERS PRESENT:
Aaron Burnett - City of Mason City (virtual)	Seso Marentes - Artist
Sally Dix - Bravo Greater Des Moines (virtual)	Kevin Maynard - Quad City Arts (virtual)
Katie Hallman - Theatre Cedar Rapids (virtual)	Matt McIver - McIver Communications (virtual)
David Janssen - Brucemore	Michelle Wodtke Franks - Iowa West Foundation (virtual)
Susan Kloewer (virtual)	Lesley Wright - Iowa Cultural Coalition (virtual)
Leon Kuehner - Iowa Alliance for Arts Education

 
CALL TO ORDER

• Welcome

Iowa Arts Council (IAC) Board Chair Amber Danielson called to order the meeting of the IAC Board at 10:01 am

• Roll Call and Introductions

A quorum of the IEDA Board was established with the following Board members present: Amber Danielson, Tim Dickmeyer, Donna Dostal, Lance Ehmcke, Bruce Miller, and Frank Sposeto. Claudia Rivera joined the meeting a few minutes later, at 10:22 a.m.
All meeting attendees were invited to briefly introduce themselves.
 
Approval of Minutes – June 25, 2024 IAC Meeting
MOTION: Lance Ehmcke moved that the IAC Board approve the minutes of the June 25, 2024 IAC Board meeting, seconded by Frank Sposeto. Motion carried unanimously.
 
CONSENT AGENDA
Chair Amber Danielson encouraged IAC Board members to review the Consent Agenda items and reach out to Iowa Arts Council staff with questions.
 
REPORT FROM CHAIR
Chair Amber Danielson welcomed new board member Bruce Miller.
Danielson and David Schmitz encouraged IAC Board members to review the calendar included in the board packet for potential engagement opportunities.
 
MISSION MOMENT
Seso Marentes provided an overview of his work as an artist within the Latino community and his recent “Bienvenidos a Des Moines” project, which was supported in part by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council.
 
Claudia Rivera joined the meeting at 10:22 a.m.
 
ARTS COUNCIL DIRECTOR’S REPORT
David Schmitz provided high level updates on operations initiatives including annual budgeting, the realignment of Produce Iowa under the Iowa Arts Council, and collaboration with other teams within the Iowa Economic Development Authority.
 
Schmitz then highlighted upcoming funding opportunities from Arts Midwest and encouraged IAC Board members to share those opportunities, noting that Iowa is guaranteed to receive some of that funding. He also reported the IAC’s annual application for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Partnership Award is in progress and includes an opportunity for new funding to support initiatives at the intersection of the arts and health.
 
Last, Schmitz shared progress on several strategic initiatives, including work with contractors on folk and traditional arts, the Poetry Out Loud program, and the new Artist Career Development program. He also highlighted upcoming events and programming, including the Iowa Arts Caucuses, the new Iowa Creative Places Accelerator and Exchange program, the Iowa Fine Arts Education Summit, and the 2025 Governor’s Arts Awards.
 
COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE
Staci Hupp Ballard provided an overview of the Communications and Marketing teams’ work to attract talent to Iowa and ultimately grow Iowa’s population.
 
CREATE IN IOWA UPDATE
Board member Donna Dostal re-introduced the Create in Iowa initiative and its three key objectives: engage a broad spectrum of Iowa leaders for input and ideas on how we can leverage the arts and cultural opportunities to grow our communities, develop a shared vision and set of focused and actionable policy recommendations for advancing Iowa's creative economy, and educate key stakeholders about the role the arts, culture and creative industries plays in creating an overall climate for growth in our state.

Consultant Matt McIver of McIver Communications reminded board members that Create in Iowa was launched in response to the Envision Iowa report and will fulfill the IAC’s legislative reporting requirement. He then shared initial recommendations and themes gathered from the Regional Art Forums, an industry stakeholder survey, a series of interviews with community leaders, and a community needs assessment from the Iowa Great Places communities. Key findings were organized around the two key themes of growing communities and opportunities and leveraging the creative economy impact. Preliminary recommendations included better connecting the creative sector to existing opportunities and resources; promoting better integration of creative sector in community and economic development efforts and increasing understanding of the creative sector as core to attracting, growing and keeping talent; connecting opportunities regionally, so smaller rural communities can leverage nearby creative sector resources; and deepening cross-sector partnerships—leveraging state investment, philanthropic contributions and public-private partnerships—to maximize the full impact of Iowa’s creative sector.
Meeting attendees took part in small group break out discussions about the initial themes and recommendations and then shared a brief overview of those discussions with the larger group.
David Schmitz shared that next steps for Create in Iowa will include a more formal report to the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Iowa Legislature by early January, followed by a more public-facing report and potentially the formation of task forces around the identified priorities.
 
OTHER BUSINESS
The next IAC Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.
 
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
No comments were made.
 
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the IAC, the chair adjourned the meeting at 12:01 p.m.
 
 
 
 
Respectfully submitted:                                                   Approved as to form:                                                                                                                            
Elizabeth Ferreira                                                              Amber Danielson
Board Administrator                                                          Chair