3.26.2024 City Council - Economic Development and Tourism

hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey

heyy

oh as for city council uh subcommittee on economic development tourism will now be called to order Madam clerk roll call please coun here Sam here here pursuant to the open meeting LW any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether

perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledge and permissible first item on our agenda this evening um is uh C C input is there anybody here on citizens input pertaining to this agenda these agenda items anything written or submitted hearing none next order of business is uh the minutes from the November 14th 2023 meeting that Ur to approve second motion to approve minutes has been made

by councel reposo seconded by councel Washington all those in favor I oppos the eyes have it item three is a resolution for the E committee on Economic Development and Tourism uh it's to meet with Community Arts organizations to provide a 2023 year in review and plans for 20124 uh I'll read um the resolution that was referred to the committee um resolution was made by Council oroso

whereas a community organizations such as creative art n network Viva Fall River and others have put on many different exciting events in 2023 and whereas many of these events were well attended and enjoyed by all and whereas these efforts should continue to be supported and highlighted now therefore be it resolve that the committee on economic development tourism invite these Community

organizations to discuss their 2023 year and review sheare ideas for 2024 and how they can further support their efforts to benefit residents of the city of Fall River uh that was made by a resolution was adopted by the council and sent to the subcommittee I'll invite the individual who were invited to the meeting to the table at this time um we did invite Micha Sullivan CEO of the South Coast chamber Patty rioo

executive director of Viva Fall River um Ashley oino executive director of for of arts and culture Coalition uh Charlie demoney from the veterans advisory Council Sandy Dennis and Dave Dennis from Creative Arts Network roxan long Stone from creative Community Vision and Christine Tyrell director of strategic Partnerships at Battleship Cove um we did invite many um some folks could

attend some couldn't uh we did receive a communication from Miss rioo from viva Fall River saying she had a personal matter to attend did originally intend to be here but can't be here at this time um so the purpose of the resolution I'd recognize councilor reposo if he wants to speak on the resolution first yeah real real brief um like similar to my resolution last year at this time was

to review the exciting events that we've had um in the past year highlight at this in this channel a way to bring to forth to the residents some of the good things that are happening and then to highlight some of the things looking forward um ahead in 2024 so I'll defer to the our guests here this evening and before we do if you just please state your name and address for the record

please Dave Dennis 132 Highland Avenue 132 Highland Avenue River Micha Sullivan 20 P cassid Street Fall River Ashley okino 200 pic cassid Street Fall River okay I'm sorry I missed that's okay I was I was speaking with Lauren at the time and I didn't get a chance to all right I'm happy you didn't inherit that um okay um Mr Dennis would you like to go first I think it'd be best uh or

or Mr Mrs Dennis you'd like to go first I'll go first um that would be great um basically um we emailed everybody our yearend report you should have all gotten one uh it's this brochure and then I will hand each one of you out on some topics that we'll discuss tonight have so basically if you can just move Miss Dennis the microphone to you so we can the community can hear you thank

you to being down here uh 2023 we had some major accomplishments uh the first one was the mass memories Road show that we did with a Boston uh it was at DCR Heritage State Park it was a great day and a great opportunity for the people of Fall River to Showcase who they are and get their items and stories memori meem memorized in um Boston Library so that was a really good day it was a fun

day and then the second big accomplish that we accomplishment that we had was the cultural tourism conference uh again that was held at DCR Heritage State Park and the reason that we hold many of our events down there is because it is the designated Waterfront Cultural District so we try to have as much down in that area as we can uh to support it and try to build that area especially for tourism and for the economic

development and we feel that's where pretty much all the activity is going to be happening uh We've thought that for many years that's why we've always kind of focused on the waterfront with our things we also did the cultural tourism map um we did that years ago I'm sure you've all gotten a copy of it and basically it acts as another tourism guide for people that come into the City

and it has all of our cultural sites on there and then this is the poster we don't have any more of the maps because they've all been handed out but the map has on the back of this it's a little bit smaller but on the back it has a map and it lists all of the organizations um historic sites uh on there so that people can go and hopefully patronize them so this was

done we also did the Cultural District brochure that's going to be on our 2023 2024 um things to do because we need to update it I'm sure you've all seen this and gotten this as well at some point uh over the last year or so but this is going to be updated we are working on a new logo for the Waterfront Cultural District so it's going to be implemented on this brochure for the Waterfront Cultural

District we um we did receive an Opa Grant last year uh we applied for many facets of it we applied for I believe it was like 191,000 um to includ tourism to include money for the Cultural District to include money for a specific mural and then for the hydrange project unfortunately we only got one component of that so for $25 $25,000 and that was just for the um Hortensia project uh

that project will start in April and will end in June so all of that off of money will be spent relatively soon and quick um let's see 20 23 if you refer to your yearend report it has most of what we did in 2023 uh a lot of our community affiliations the tourism and marketing which has always been a part of our mission for the last 10 years um The Hobbit magazine that was featured we um

hosted Porter um hosted n Porter Brown to the city we spent a whole half a day with her bringing her to different cultural organizations and introducing her to the executive directors there and she did a really nice story uh about Fall River uh we also met with another film crew and went over a lot of Fall River things on the waterfront they did the Amazon video I don't know if you've

seen that just recently um but we met with them to do some introductions and tell them a little bit about about the city other events and projects outside of what's in this brochure city tours people that we've hosted the Waterfront tourism plan that we have it's being finalized in 2024 it's an action plan and it's primarily for the Waterfront Cultural District um we've done a lot of Youth

Outreach over the last year actually last several years but last year especially we worked with CFC with the kids we did a Flag Day ceremony with them we've worked with um BCC students with their event planning and Hospitality we've been doing that since Co and it's enabled them to actually get their course credits because we acted as their sponsor to do virtual events during that and we've continued to build

that relationship now we also participate in the virtual fair at BCC and what that entails is you go up on a virtu and all the different classes can come to your zoom and talk to you about opportunities with your organizations um we work very closely with the event planning and Hospitality class like I said we hav't been doing that for many years but last year to our surprise we ended up working with a

student in the criminal justice class and the professor said you know I don't know how we're going to connect our students to you know an art culture and tourism organization but we did so what I did as I introduced the to the student to race Girling at Recreation and she did an amazing um art therapy class there with a whole bunch of Youth so it she did a fantastic job um and the kids

really really did enjoy that and you know they they're the underserved kids um kids that tend to get in a little bit of trouble that need a little bit more Direction um and they really did enjoy the class so maybe it just inspired them to move on to something other than Mischief we also um presented at the community based learning opportunities uh class at BCC um and we at dery participate in the

volunteer Fair there and we also have in the past participated in their project red and black with the students as well uh so we kind of do a lot of Outreach when it comes to the youth organizations but if you refer back again to this and our end of the year report it'll tell you a little bit about the hydranga project and what we did last year we're also working uh started the interpretive

Ford projects that will be completed in 2024 so a lot of these projects will move right into the 2024 Year from 2023 we did the urban textile fashion show which was awesome it was down in the rail spur on the waterfront um they sent MCC sent Representatives down that day and I will say they were very impressed by it and wish they hadn't had to leave that day in State for the whole

thing um but it was a great event um we did the Frederick Douglas reading you know what is the flave the slave to the Fourth of July we did Let Freedom Ring and a lot of what we do we've Incorporated a lot of education and history into our our events and our projects um we feel it's important for people to really understand um history in general and to understand a little

bit more about the history of Fall River um you'll see that in the urban textile show we worked with a lot of the um textile manufacturers in the city of Paul River to try to bring awareness how many there still are and they are not just local they're worldwide I mean they're International Distributors uh and they're right here in our own City then we um let's see just some of the pictures

here just shows a little bit about the things that we did with the organizations that we did them with then we go into 2024 and it's basically it's a lot of the same as 2023 working on projects um doing events um what happened is you'll see we do a lot more projects now than we do events because a lot of the ear marks have gone and when we spoke to the delegation they said they're not giving

ear marks for events anymore they're leaning more towards the projects so although they're not giving ear marks we are gearing and we have been gearing more towards a project basis which still gets the word out like the Hortensia project it also offers events um we'll be doing huge projects with that this year um the do property and at DCR we're going to have a whole hranger garden up there we will um have the

whole pollination Gardens there we'll have lectures on care and maintenance of these plants um teaching about pollination we did have the Lego event at talked about pollination it was again it was a huge success we kind of oversold that event um so we're going to do more with that because people want it so we're trying to offer what people want more of and we pretty much survey

every event that we have so we know what they want what they don't want what they like what they don't like where they come from we we do a lot of um research and development on demographics so we can you know Implement what we do according to that let's see um you should have all received this as well which is our new tourism initiative and it's designed to Ure that B river is described accurately

and effectively on state Regional and National travel and tourism sites and this is something that hasn't been done on a lot of these sites so this is an initiative that we've started in 2024 and it will continue um this is going to kind of help the face of the city because there is a lot of misinformation out there on a lot of these sites and we want to make sure that if someone is

traveling and they go on these sites that the River information is accurate I mean there's nothing worse than going up on a site and then finding out that the city or town that you want to visit has wrong information just as a point of information do you communicate with the IT department at all uh uh with the city's website is there any links we used to be on the city website but they

took us down uh did they take everybody down or just you down just us apparently okay so um all right uh well we'll table that discussion but um that's a good point we should probably discuss because I don't know how fair that is but continue because we um we will be revamping our website uh the Waterfront Cultural District will um be getting its own logo it'll have its own Facebook

page um and it would be nice to have it on the city website like it was before uh so people can access that yeah and just for if if it's the will of the committee if we want to get something to the mayor in terms of a communication on behalf of the subcommittee to encourage that all of our our organizations that you know work in the community have the same equal share access I think that's a

good uh progress within the committee to send up to the mayor's office so um we could maybe have that discussion and yeah we yes we can we'll can I'll I'll make sure we acknowledge that before we go um but I don't want to let you lose momentum Miss Dennis that's okay no that's okay I've got it all done I don't lose my place um but the tourism initiative is it's extremely important because it sets

the image of full River um we don't want to set a bad image when people go up on websites and the information is wrong or the links aren't working um so we're we're going to be going through all the different sites uh through the Commonwealth and regionally to make sure that they're correct this is our 10th anniversary so we have been around for 10 years um proud to say we are self-

sustaining um we are an all volunteer organization so we do a lot with very little uh and we're kind of proud of that uh and be being able to do it in the climate that we've had with covid and everything else uh we feel is a huge huge accomplishment um like I said we're doing a whole new Refresh on our website we are going to be doing um an event

April 20th that I'm hoping that you will all support it's called The Bard in bequest and it's a mystery dinner basically what will happen is people will be offered a dinner and they will be seated at tables of six and they will all get a puzzle and it all tells the story of the bordon family and the people in the city The prominent people of Fall River and the full River

Line ships so Mr bordon has an Unexpected death people are coming for the reading of his will to the Fall River Line they will get a puzzle to solve the mystery of his death and whoever solves the puzzle first wins his inheritance so we're encouraging people to come in Period dress uh it should be a fun night uh it should be an interesting night and it should be a historical night so people

will learn a little bit more about um the Fall River Line and and all the prominent families from Fall River back in the day and that event will be held at DCR Heritage State Park um like I said we're going to be finishing some of the projects uh that weren't finished last year um we'll be doing the arpa funds will be depleted this year that we were given of the $25 225,000 $225 well could be

25 don't be surprised uh $25,000 um which seems like a lot of money but it really isn't for a project of that size um we will be doing a public art installation on the waterfront we will be finishing a placemaking area on the waterfront and we will be doing the installation of hopefully the interpreted boards uh in the Waterfront Cultural District um we have a plan with numerous infrastructure

business and development and marketing tourism initiatives to improve the Waterfront uh we'll be working on that like I said we'll be doing a lot of R&D um this year we're cleaning up a lot of stuff adding a lot of new stuff um to our portfolio our Facebook page our marketing materials we do team meetings um on a regular basis we'll be holding our um annual districtwide meeting which usually is in August for the cult

Cultural District and um everyone usually goes to that all the department heads the Police Department fire department the mayor usually comes um to hear some of the major issues that are going on in the district which we all know is parking um but now that they have the trolley hopefully that will alleviate some of the parking issues with shuttle services uh so we're hoping for that uh and what we do is we will

ask representatives to come to update us on that stuff we'll the mayor's office to come please update us on the trolley you know how they're planning on using it um is it a fee is it not a fee who pays who doesn't pay um what we can use it for to alleviate some of the pressures that people have with parking um we'll continue our plantings we'll continue our cleanups um we've addressed

many many safety issues already in the cultural District we've really kind of done a lot with the homeless and we've pretty much kind of taken care of that that issue um and Anan street is now a one-way Street officially which was a good thing U and accomplishment for us and we'll continue our collaborations with our major um Partners okay um did you want to add anything to you yeah Mr Dennis you want

to add anything just move the microphone over to you if you canist that was very well done yes she did a great job counil reposo I just had a question regarding the data you collect I know last week we had a presentation regarding where people come from for these events so I'm just curious what your data looks like as far as how far-reaching are some of these events and where are people coming

from well our last event we had someone from Connecticut so Connecticut's been um a furthest point for us uh we do a lot of East Bay a lot of people from the East Bay come to our events Rhode Island come to our events um Boston um few from Boston have come to our events and we strategically Target those markets like we will strategically Target for the board and request event we will Target

New York because obviously the Fall River Line left from the New York peers to come to Fall River into Boston so we will look at um promoting this event there and at the same time as we promote that event we know we need to think of you know weekend accommodations because if someone's going to come to this event from New York or even Boston we want to make sure we have plans for them to stay

the weekend and then things for them to do the following Sunday you know maybe they can you know check out the battleship go out to breakfast stay for lunch things like that uh so we'll we'll hook up with the hotels in the area to see what their um availability is for that weekend generally speaking Focus M more or less this event will probably focus a little bit further out though makes sense we also yeah we also

have other plans that we can share with you if they come to fruition um for some cross marketing with um with the Rhode Island market place so I can't really talk about it right now but there are things that we're working on already on that awesome thank you welcome councel Samson um thank you for that presentation and I love how you incorporate the history of Fall River with everything you do I just love that

um you're nonprofit right you're a certified nonprofit how long you're a 5 1c3 how long have you been a nonprofit for 2017 2017 okay and you've been April 201 so you've been a nonprofit for a long time I'm curious because you're not funded you're not you don't have a funding stream you got $225,000 but there is no funding mechanism that you guys currently have right well we would

like for the city to fund the Cultural District this year I mean we would like to have some that money in the budget for the Waterfront Cultural District um which is a separate funding from Creative Arts Network it goes to the Cultural District and is spent in the cultural District only um I'm just amazed uh that you've done a lot with a little and you maintain a very website that's it's going to be changing it's

it's amazing now how do you what how do you pay for that volunteers volunteers we we we pay for it through grants um the website we pay on our own any extra money that we get from things that we do um we'll pay for the website uh we're very creative um we work very hard trying to get funding um we do do a lot with very little we don't pay anyone so

all the money that we get go goes right back into the community or the website or the Facebook um any technology that we have so um you know we've been fortunate the state's been very good to us I have to say MCC um we don't get anything from M um we've tried over and over and over again uh and we've always had tourism as far part of our mission but um we'll keep trying sometimes when you

do so good it's like ah they don't need the they don't need but I come from a sales background so it's called putting the bag on we'll be putting the bag on um just a few more questions I have you work with youth I'm all about the young people and I love that have you worked or reached out to I think I asked this at the other meeting yah is a group

in the city we have matter of fact they participated in the textile event they I just always want to cooperate them yeah and we made a point of um making sure they met the people that came from MCC okay so we we made a point that we did the introductions um so that they could meet them and understand there another Revenue source for them so we we work yeah we try to kind of hook people up

with you know some of the because it's hard for them to get funding too yeah really hard and they're for everyone's information there are an art group that focuses on young people within the city another volunteer-based um group so I appreciate that they've been around they have been around for quite a while Su wolson runs that group and she does an amazing job uh you know is there a

collaborative effort that are doing with theat groups at you see or could we do better or what could we do to help that collaboration is there something that we could do better I mean there the grp there's you know I know my colleague Council perea has talked about this it's it's kind of fractured each group is doing a lot and so how do we get that to come together and and maybe um is there

something that we could do is there something that could be done better I think uh uh Council chairperson cliffmont said getting you on that website would be important but um and needed but what is there there something else we could do or that you see is an issue or not an issue I mean I think we all do something different yes um and I I think that like we we do different

things than other organizations I mean we collaborate with a lot of the art and culture organizations we have a a good reputation on and a good working relationship with you know lafay at dery house the Art Association DCR Historical Society so we build on those relationships um and we do a lot of historical things like big projects um historical projects educational projects um and I can't

speak for the other organizations but I I think we do different things yeah it clearly and I think that maybe that coordination would have to come from the support of the admin in the council you know to actively support what we all do you know I noticed like and I noticed Facebook a lot there's a lot of things that you know don't get supported that we put up there they don't get shared they don't

get tagged they don't get like they don't you know I don't see you know a can event um on someone else's web they don't pull the information and put it up there so I mean there's only so much we can do as an organization um but I think it needs to come from the administration and our Council and our delegation to support everybody uh you know selected um groups and organizations I think if they if you

truly truly truly um believe in art culture tourism Economic Development and there are organizations out there doing it you need to actively be supporting all of them equally um that's how I feel I appreciate that um and I couldn't agree more I I do see that um each group is doing something unique I think Diva does something unique BR does something unique y does something unique you guys

do something unique and so how do we support all of that I think um I don't think we it's I don't I don't know that it's our responsibility to do that because it would be like um asking Burger King McDonald's and Wednesday sit at the table and say okay I want you three burger places to really work together and come up with a plan um and decide how you're it's competition um so

I don't know that the three of them are going to sit at a table and stop brainstorming how you know they're all going to come up with um a new burger that's called the MC Burger King Wendy burger yeah well you know I I respectfully May disagree with that a little bit in the mental health world I think all the mental health agencies although maybe pulling from the same mental health popul we try to support

each other's ideas because we just want to see each other getting better and I see that in the Arts Community everybody wants to support the Arts everyone has a passion for the Arts Ashley is so passionate about what she does and Patty's so passionate and you're so passionate so and it's different and so I don't look at it as um competing I look at it as supporting each other and

how can we support each other's Mission because it it does seem a little different and so um that's what I'm looking at and um also do you so I I guess the answer you answer you guys don't share data so the data that's collected you guys don't share that and so maybe that's something that could be helpful in the future is sharing each other's data and saying you know what did you know this is what we

came up with I mean we just paid a ton of money $50,000 for um tourism data I think that you should be able to see that data and how that could be useful to you and and vice versa the data that you're collecting how that could be useful I don't see it as a competition more as a a collaborative effort but however we can be more helpful with that

on our end um i y thank you thank you counselor uh thank you very much um Mr O San um I'm gonna let Ashley speak because in the Arts world that's what very good Ashley all right so good evening good evening thank you for for having us uh to speak and to highlight it's it's pretty exciting um and so some of the things that I'll highlight from uh the Fall River arts

and culture coalition known as Frack uh 2023 was an outstanding year for us it was we accomplished a lot um both within the city um aesthetically but also economically within the Arts um some of the things that we did was we worked with the city on the call for Arts that they did for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Fitness Court that's at britland Park um we helped uh manage the call for artists

that uh ended up selecting Abigail Collins uh artwork that went up on that uh fitness equipment uh during the fall months we uh empowered six Fall River residents as apprentices on our uh parking garage mural project that we did and also as part of that mural project we handed out two $5,000 grants uh to the health first center and to Recreation for them to do their own mural projects later on in

2024 um and so between 2023 and 2024 we injected $37,000 uh into the creative economy uh to 16 Visionaries uh through grants uh we also provided uh 12 free workshops in partnership with uh different organizations such as practice best practice uh Grimshaw gidwitz uh Art Gallery brist Community College The Business Solutions and Partnerships department at Bristol Community College

and they covered topics such as project planning marketing budgeting and grant writing and so these workshops are very essential for being able to equip a creative uh person to thrive Financial in their Artistic Endeavors uh we do have um more actually I'll get to it later in my notes I'm not going to jump ahead stay on track here um we also in at the end of 2023 uh launched our

ignition space at 341 South Main Street uh and then we opened um our location at 44 Troy Street uh both of these locations actually saw investment uh by the landlords to renovate their properties to make these uh projects come to reality um and so again the ignition space Is our commitment to accessibility and resources it provides a communal space for local art exhibitions programming

meetings networking and more and there's a great Synergy that happens within the building known as gather you can see it right over the across the street here uh and that Synergy is between frack and our neighbors the Fall River uh Museum of Contemporary Art though we are in different spaces our programs um amplify each other and the audiences as well um we also have co-hosted as Council Raposa

has mentioned uh a variety of events that happened throughout the year where we engaged thousands of people uh some of those events included uh weart Fall River which features over 40 commun Community organizations in 40 local makers uh we again participated in summer evenings in the park picnics on the pier third Fridays at the gates and thanks Miss Even though uh weather weather was cold and windy but uh people

came out and droves I was I was actually very impressed uh so all of these events are meant to foster a dynamic and interconnected Arts Community here in Fall River where also the creative sector has given the opportunity for their small business to thrive um thanks to generous support from a Fall River arper Grant we were able to launch our South Coast creative arts lab a program

designed in partnership with the narrow Center for the Arts and Fall River Public Schools it's a Hands-On initiative tailored for seventh and eth grade students that offers a safe and welcoming space youth to gather after school to strengthen their Visual and Performing Art skills enrolled students enjoyed immersive uh activities Hands-On music lessons art lessons um and we do invite you and um to come and visit the

program as it's taking place on Tuesdays and Thursdays but we also would love to see you join us for our end of session celebration in early June where the students will uh showcase their remarkable talents and as part of this holistic program we also provide um movement mindfulness yoga snacks and students also now go home with groceries from the Fall River food pantry as well every week uh we do realize that food

insecurity um is is an issue here as we stride into 2024 we have uh many exciting initiatives uh coming up and we already have some accomplishments as well uh one of the things that we have kicked off is our Bristol County arpa supported artist recovery program in may we will be announcing uh the 10 artists that have been selected for capacity building grants um they will receive uh training that will help them

Empower their artistic careers and this program is developed in collaboration with assets for artists which is an organization that has been working um across New England to provide uh artist training for small businesses um and as our commitment to diversity equity and conclusion inclusion remains steadfast we are rolling out new work shops this spring uh our workshops include

unpacking stigma which will be hosted in partnership with the Katie Brown educational programs and a seat at the table which will be in partnership with Bristol black Collective and the Fall River YMCA both of these workshops will be free uh unpacking stigma will be virtual and a seat at the table will be hosted at the YMCA it will be part of their spring two session uh and dinner and

child care will be provided for that one we will again continue our summer events we will be back for eight weeks at summer evenings in the park and we will also um be working with the city on their Bloomberg philanthropies grant that they received to do uh a mural on asphalt here in the city and surveying around Public Safety uh Frack will again partner with the fabric Arts Festival uh

we're thrilled to again collaborate with them and to um work with Galleries and Studios like the greater Fall River Art Association Shane Landing Studios Smoke Stack Studios cfish rocks art Brian Fox The Narrows groundwork and Soo Art Labs to present Fall River Open Studios this annual event draws hundreds uh into the Studio's most creative spaces and it will take place in October It's a

Wonderful opportunity for local residents and for um tourists alike to meet our local artists and starting in late 2024 uh frack and the Pocasset tribe of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Bristol and Bristol Community College will begin a multi-year project to uncover the quick aan River's hidden history along 3.5 miles using art writing and community events visually tracing the river's path Frack was lucky to receive

one of 15 spatial Justice grants out of 88 applications from the New England foundation for the Arts as we look ahead I do want to extend my gratitude to the almost 200 uh Coalition members of frack um and I thank the city for their ongoing support and enthusiasm thank you uh counselor Samson I again I love the stuff that you're doing with kids I it's so important to keep kids invested in the

community and Community connectiv is everything for our future um how many kids are in that program so our after school program uh this semester we increased to 24 uh 25 students no 24 students I'm sorry it's equally SPL there it's uh 24 students and so that goes up from 20 which was what our original art application was for nice and is it like do do they fluctuate so 25 students and then 2 is

it 25 at a time or just a 25 in total it's um it's a session and each session's about 15 weeks and so 25 would enroll for that 15 weeks and so when we have a new session start it's done by Lottery but previous students are allowed to join back in if they want to so we have seen repeat students participate in the program as well nice and do you have a total number of how

many students you've helped out so so we have done uh 40 40 it would be 65 because we're in our third session right now nice and do you work with yah as well we have you have worked with Y yes we have you wanted to promote them because there're another we have just want everyone to work with yah we have and so um some of the things that we're doing this year uh coming up with them

uh in particular is they'll be at the weart Fall River Festival uh there'll be one of the organizations there uh but they also will be working um with the artist on the asphalt mural that I mentioned that the city received the bloom Bloomberg grant for uh there'll be uh apprentices for that project again great just extremely different um than what the other art group is doing and

then how do we how do we promote it all but good job thank you that I YK you thank you um Mr O you want to comment on anything before we go to the next order of business here I I would just say that we'd be open to the idea of collaboration we always have been and uh and we always will be with other organizations other organizations absolutely yeah we've always been Frack has been here since

2019 and it's been it's always an open even though the chamber is a membership driven organization Frack is not and uh so if artists want to participate um they can they can just come and actually that's uh so Council I would actually like to invite you to attend a Frack meeting at your convenience I know um you both have your convenience attended Frack meetings in the past and I appreciate that we meet the second

Monday every month uh at 5:00 and we meet at rotating locations around the city um so it's it is publicly listed but I can tell you this month we're meeting at uh 145 Globe Street which is the soo Art Labs great and I believe next month we are meeting at cfish on an I personally can't make that next meeting but I can do the next one most likely so if you

want to send over to me I can give you my email before you leave your agenda so I can get on it we can communicate I'd like to personally everyone's always welcome to our Frack meetings that's something I want to make sure every everybody is always welcome appreciate that yeah yep now do you have access is are your events listed on the website do you have equal access to help promote

your events with the city I I I do feel that I I have equal access um I mean the way that I've been promoting my events is um like as you said like through Facebook and other and Eventbrite and other channels like that um so yes I I do feel that my my events are seen by the audience that I'm intending to to reach um but if I could go back and and answer one of the

questions that was asked earlier about how how could the city support in a way that honestly it's it's financially it's it's some type of financial input towards arts and culture in the city and and I mean that's for the city to decide how that would be broken up but we all know that we enjoy the different festivals and the events and everything that happens in the city um and they all

have a price tag to them um so okay um so just and thank you for that yes Mr I just want to add one thing if you if you look at other cities of similar size to Fall River in Bedford worcester's larger but it's a similar concept many of those use a portion of their meals tax or their hotel's tax um is actually is is committed every year uh to arts and

culture and in some cases to tourism so that there's a fixed amount or a minimum fixed amount essentially that goes there and and I think somewhere down the road it would make a lot of sense for Fall River to look at that you know amongst a lot of other Financial pressures and I I appreciate that I I I'll tell you I've been doing some um research and maybe if it comes out of a

resolution from this committee or I'll file one I'm still doing some additional homework on it but um I happen to be cited in the state of Vermont for a parking violation um and I I my my meter extended and I got a $25 fee and they had the option to either pay the municipality or take that there was a sticker on it and they said you can take

that to $25 and you can rebate it at a local small business right and it was backed by a nonprofit organization who I guess essentially would pay the city their fee but it would be backed by a revenue Source from a nonprofit who might be getting grants to be able to incentivize people to shop shop local right so um I I think that comes along the lines of what you're trying to say

um you know I I recognize that the governor has also given cities pounds the ability to raise their meals tax I believe to bring in new additional Revenue um I don't know what the mayor's planning to do with that if he does a discussion could be worthy of bringing that up to him for um for these organizations I don't think that's passed yet but it's I don't think it's past the grating general court but I

think the governor is trying to push it through her fiscal budget yet what what if you don't mind saying what town in Vermont was it so we could take a look oh it's way up there but it I I forget uh I I can get back to you on that I'll text you on that or or I'll email you but I'll I'll I'll just tell you that it was it was neat I actually have a

picture of it in my phone that I got it was a sticker and it you don't have to pay the $25 if you shop local to a small business I'm not talking about Target or Walmart I'm talking about like a mom and pop shop on South Main Street in Fall River so I'm doing some additional research I'll be happy to I'm sure it come to this committee for vetting or another committee for vetting but it's

certainly something I'm looking into getting more details on to learn more about that yeah um so before we adour in this subcommittee meeting there was of course that's an issue that's come upx right it's

not effort Revenue organizations we all do so I think probably time to do something so I I agree so there's actually been three things you know this was a very well-intended resolution and I don't want it to just die in the committee or just get referred back to the council with no action which I don't even necessarily think action is necessary but um there was a couple things that came to light and I'd like

to engage my colleagues on this first thing is um it would be wise for this committee as a whole to possibly discuss adopting a motion to send a letter to the mayor and the IT department to offer opportunity for Creative Arts Network and all organizations to be uh to have the ability to have a link on the city website to help promote their events um any any idea of a motion on that

councelor um I'd like to make a motion to um that we send a letter to the mayor and the it to do exactly what you just said to do exactly what I said so motion has been made by councelor Samson to send a letter to the mayor and the IT department to offer an opportunity for Community organizations who put on events such as Creative Arts Network vaa Fall River and other

organizations um to make sure that their events are promoted on the city website Mo has been made by councelor Samson can I extend that can I add social media platforms as well to that motion we won't even need to do that we'll just make sure we say that it includes social media platforms as well has been by councelor Samson seced by councelor reposer any discussion on the motion hearing none all those in favor

opposed the eyes have it there was another opt uh discussion that was had um in this resolution that there was some hope to possibly get some Waterfront uh for the city to uh fund the Waterfront Cultural District for next fiscal year um that's been a hope is there any appetite from the council to send a communication to the full Council to possibly send a communication to the mayor to do something like that

motion so motion made by Council reposo to um urge the send I guess another communication from this committee um to the mayor um to Poss and urge him and his Finance team to fund the Waterfront Cultural District in this coming fiscal year motion has been made by Council or reposa seconded by Council Samson any discussion on the motion hearing none all those in favor opposed the eyes have

it anything further councilor reposo so and um we'll add to the communication list here today um let's reinvestigate the conversation about the meals tax so I'll make a motion to refer a communication to the mayor and the finance team as well to look at the meals tax and how that could benefit arts and culture and tourism in our city I just say something it's usually hotel and meals tax that goes towards tour

tourism hotel and meals tax hotel and yeah and meals tax usually goes towards tourism in lots of cities and towns yes got it that's right um just as a point of clarification um it's probably best on that to refer all these letters are getting referred by the way to the full Council to then refer it to the mayor for Action um that might be worthy of a stronger resolution for the committee on finance to convene

fair enough uh to discuss because it is financially driven so but um your motion is to um say that again Council please sorry write it down uh communication to encourage the administration to look at the hotel and meals tax in how which we can then in turn support Arts culture and tourism initiatives in the city with um a uh possible referral to the committee on Finance for discussion

correct motion made motion has been made by Council reposo seced by Council Samson discussion on the motion hearing none all those in favor opposed the eyes have it a lot has been accomplished in this committee on Economic Development and Tourism tonight and we hope that we can see some positive momentum moving forward as a result of it um if there's no further action before this committee

motion toour motion to adjourn has been made seced all those in favor I oppose the eyes have a good night thanks you