Silver City MainStreet & Arts and Cultural District
Community Collaboration Meeting Minutes
Location: Sunset Room, Student Memorial Building, Second Floor
Western New Mexico University
March 2, 2023
Attendees: Renee Provencio, Noah Cook, Sharla Lefkowitz-Oberg, Holly Noonan, Eric Ockerhausen, Lucy Whitmarsh, Frank Merritt, Alexandra Tager, Nick Prince, Stephen Lindsey, Chris Thomopoulos, Abrianna Gamez, Noah Cook, Candice Baca, Kitty Clemens, Joseph Kennedy, Lee Gruber, Sarah Zamora, Bryan Hyde, and Alexa Tubbs.
Guest Presenter: Lee Gruber and Abrianna Gamez - Co-starters is an entrepreneurial program that helps new businesses. 65 people have gone through this program since 2020. Priscilla Lucero and Eric brought in an EDA grant for the program. We were the first ones in the state.
Lee - Five points initiatives - at one point was charged with examining buildings in the county to see which vacant ones could house businesses. The mayors in the mining district were really open to the initiative. That is how the 5 point initiative was born. The water works building is being restored and the governor visited the site and gave money to the project. In Santa Clara the only two story adobe building left in the county was bought by the village of Santa Clara and we would love to see that building restored.There was rumor that the mine was not going to support the a mining museum because of the history of the strike but they confirmed they are supporting the museum which will be housed in the Hurley Train Station Building. The train station was given to the town of Hurley but it has to be moved because it is on a contaminated site and other reasons.If you know of anyone who moves buildings please get in contact with me.
The Clay Festival has transitioned into the hands of Courtney Michaud, professor of clay at WNMU, though SWNMACT will support the event. The juried show will open July 10th & July 30th.
Silco Theatre Report: Sharla Lefkwitz-Oberg - We are interested in the Music Day and we are willing to take the lead. The Silco Gala is scheduled for May 10th, the 2nd gala ever. Ward Rudick is going to organize multiple acts. The comedy show we had almost sold out and we are getting bookings for more shows both private and public shows. We also have a film club. We are looking to add a Monday Matinee.
Murray Ryan Visitor Center Report: Noah Cook – Operations for the VC this past month has been focused on restocking and cataloging the brochures on display in the VC lobby. The TV's in the lobby have been updated to remove any past events and outdated information. If you would like to have something added to the TV's slide-show please feel free to send me a .JPG or .PNG . Only events that are open to the public will be displayed, no personal/private events will be allowed. The events calendar has been updated with all submitted events through July. If you have submitted an event but do not see it on the calendar, please contact me directly.
General interior building maintenance has not been completed in a few months. This has led us to several light bulbs in our lobby being burned out as well as a problem with our office side door's lock. Work order requests have been sent out as of 2/28/23. These things and more have been added to a checklist that will be completed monthly in order to prevent a build up of issues. We have received several complaints about the cleanliness of our restrooms from patrons, employees, and volunteers alike. Currently the building is contracted to be cleaned 3 times a week, including the restrooms. Steps have been taken to address these concerns with the company contracted to complete this work.
Our statistics for the past month are as follows:
Visitors – Jan 954 / Feb 1057 (73.68% were first time visitors)
Volunteer Hours –Jan 51 / Feb 48.25
Sales – Jan $96.40 / Feb $147.50
Donations – Jan $40.51 / Feb $46.00
Relocation Information Requests – Jan 8 / Feb 3
This past month has had a steady increase in visitors and sales. Donations and Google search data has not been collected yet. Most of our visitors this month were first time visitors on day trips or passing through (47.37%). This month our visitors indicated that the majority of them had heard about us through word of mouth and chance discovery while traveling. Downtown continues to be our biggest attraction, closely followed by the Gila Cliff Dwellings and Gila National Forest.
Discussion:
Chris Thomopoulos- I got here in July and was living in my van outside the Enjoy the Cafe until I found a place. We have an Etch and Sketch Night where people can create and the next one is on Sat, March 4th. We have Kava and music nights where we try to create a positive environment free of harsh substances like alcohol. I serve healthy vegetarian food. We have coffee, tea and other drinks. Our hours are 11- 3 Sun - Thur t and we are working on expanding hours in April to Thurs - Mon 11-3. Hacienda Reality and Silver City MainStreet and redid a park and We are working on doing block parties like there used to be in the past.
Candace Baca - Coordinator for Earth Day and Toss no Mas - We have a clean up event every 3rd Saturday of the month. We picked up 1098 lbs of trash last month. We just expanded to do a business pledge program where businesses can sign up to pledge to clean up trash on their business grounds. Gila Earth Day is Sat, April 22nd 10 am - 2pm so if you're interested in being a vendor let me know. There will be a pancake breakfast and a jumping balloon. We are hoping for a good turn out. Nonprofits can have a booth for $15. Anyone can be a vendor but we ask that you don't have styrofoam products. We have a planning committee meeting March 24th at 2-3 pm and a zoom link will be available.
Alexandra Tager - Director of WNMU Cultural Affairs. Tomorrow night at 7 pm is the National Dance Company of Ireland at the Fine Arts and tickets are $15. March 9th is Right in the Eye, Vintage silent movie with a live band at 7 pm at Light Hall Theater. March 21st is an all female African American group called The String Queens and they play Classical, Jazz, and Pop. Will be held at Light Theater at 7 pm. . April 1st is State Street Ballet which will use local kids as extras and will be at 7 pm at Light Hall Theater. The Great Race Concert Series April 21 and 22nd will have food trucks and Q's will have a bar. Fiesta Latina will have mercado with Mexican vendors and exhibits, performances etc. Alexa is her assistant and handles the social media accounts.
Lucy Whitmarsh - does outreach for Murray Hotel - The Ball room is 2000 square feet and non-profits often use it for fundraising. The Art the community has caught on to doing different sales there. The rates are $75 a day for non-profits and $300- 500 for the day depending on the type of event.
Steven Lindsey - director of the Future Forge - We are doing workshops with Las Cruces Creative. We are hosting Give Grandly on May 6th. I am coordinating the Blue Festival this year so if anyone needs information about it, reach out. One day event this year on May 27th with restaurants hosting bands the days before and after the event. Additionally, I am hired by the mines to do the Community Resiliency Program for mental health awareness and Economic development. We are about to present a draft to the county Commission and we are hoping we can open up the draft to the community at the end of march.
Sara Zamora - Community Engagement for Silver City Museum - We are extending the Arturo Exhibit through the end of summer for many reasons. Many local visitors are saying they came to the museum for the first time. April 17th is Bingo at the Murray Hotel.
Bryan Hyde - MainStreet Board - We are working on the Silco Gala on May 10th. I am also on the board of MRAC and Blues Fest Bands are Dirty Red, Local bands Famous Ramous and Blues Dogs.
Kitty Clemens - I addressed you all a couple of months ago about a survey for internet connection. Thank you to all who contacted me afterwards and participated in the survey. Kitty is continuing to work on this project focused on bringing high speed internet access to rural, southwest New Mexico.
We need to think about how we fund workforce development for various sectors.
Joseph Kennedy - Silver City Art Association - We are working really hard on the new Red ARt Dot Guide. We are having first Friday which is tomorrow and is when the galleries open. We are trying to make it less boring and are doing more activities instead of just art on the walls. I also have a show on GMCR.org and I play only records.
Ted Presler - SW Word Fiesta - Mission is to celebrate the written and spoken word. https://swwordfiesta.org/ is an active website and is updated every week. We added 40 people to our free library. We added a new section called Haiku. We added a section for young adults. Nina Burleigh wrote a beautiful article about Los Alamos that is featured on our website called "The Day the Sun Rose Twice: A Tour of Atomic New Mexico." This month we are trying to do Women's History month. This year is our 10th anniversary and we will hold a fiesta on Oct 23-29th.
Nick Prince - Dale Rucklos at Tranquil Buzz is having his 6th anniversary with events. From the town side of things, we are on track for construction of the recreation center. We are starting a recreation department. The Cassie health center is on track to open up their Family Clinic. WNMU is also opening up a medical facility.
Holly Nunen - Founder of Crooked Forest Institute - our website is crookedforestinstitute.org - It is an Affordable Housing initiative. The goal is to have a 10 acre campus where we teach how to build small 300-600 square foot buildings. We also aim to build 100 buildings on a land trust. The number one priority is health and the homes are designed with no chemicals for people with sensitivities. The 2nd priority is affordability. The 3rd priority is scalability. We just applied for a USDA grant.
Eric Ockerhansen - The Grant County Art Guild Gallery will be participating in the SCAA First Friday gallery walks again this year. "First Fridays" are gallery walks from 5-7 pm on the first Friday of each month, March - December.
For the March 3 First Friday, we will have a meet and greet reception for the six new artists the Guild has added this year. Our two newest artists, who just joined us this month, are Paul Meyers, a blacksmith, and Charlee Alexander, a painter. Paul started blacksmithing in 2007 and completed a four-year apprenticeship in West Virginia. He has been in Silver City since 2019. Charlee Alexander is from Silver City and is a traditional student at WNMU. She is President of the Student Art Association and works at the Francis McCray Art Gallery.
On Saturday, March 4, from 11am-2pm, we will hold a free paper feather-making workshop with Guild member Sally Tilton. The feather will only take up to 30 minutes to complete, so you can drop in any time during the workshop. It will be held at our new Studio, which is at 200 W Market Street in Silver City, diagonally across the street from the Javelina Coffee House.
Also at the Studio, are our free Open Studios, which are on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month from noon to 3 pm. Bring an art project, and meet our area artists. If you don't have a project with you, we have basic art supplies you can use. Open to the public.
On Saturday, March 25, from 10am-3pm, we will have an Art Supply Sell and Swap at the Murray Hotel Ballroom. The table fee is 5 dollars with a limit of two tables. Anyone wanting a table can contact annex@gcag.org to reserve a space or get more details.
April 7-9 (Friday through Sunday) Guild members Sally Tilton and Jo Thomas will have a two-person art show at The Studio. The opening reception is Friday, April 7 from 5-7pm during the SCAA First Fridays Gallery Walk. Show hours are 11am-7 pm Friday, and 10am-5pm Saturday and Sunday.
The Grant County Art Guild will be holding some weaving classes in the near future, and will be a part of the CDT Trail Day event on Saturday, April 22 at Gough Park. We are still working to get Silver City involved in the June World Music Day.
WILL Announcement : WILL is deep into our Spring Semester of Courses. We have 69 Courses offered this semester, many of them full with waiting lists. You can view the list of courses on the WILL website, www.will.community. In April WILL will offer its three free and open to the public Lunch and Learn Lectures. These are also listed under the Activities Tab on the WILL website. Ever Since the COVID Epidemic and the resulting vaccines were offered, the WILL membership has been slowly climbing back to its pre-covid membership numbers. This month our Volunteer Chair, Patty Reed and our Social Chair, Kari Scullion, will be meeting with the new members to WILL for a Meet and Greet. These coffee and dessert meetings give us a real opportunity to get to know our members.
The next meeting will be Thursday, April 6, 2023, at 9:00 am at the Silco Theater.
Meeting adjourned