Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Minutes of Past Meetings

 

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Minutes

Meeting of September 24, 2004, 7 p.m.

210 E. Howard St., Bellefonte

 

1.   Meeting was called to order at 7: 30 p.m. by Romayne Naylor, President.

Present:  Romayne Naylor (President), Kitty Wunderly (Arts Administrator), Colina Jordan, Ralph Seeley.  A quorum was not present; gathering was a work/discussion session rather than a formal meeting.

 

Later present were Jim Dunne, Gay Dunne, Dave Eggler (Treasurer), Dave Kurtz.

 

2.   Review of Minutes, meeting of July 18, 2004:  secretary Colleen Pike Brown was not present, no minutes available.

 

3.   Treasurer’s report:  Dave said that the accounts were up to date and BHCA is solvent at this time.

 

4.   Arts Administrator’s report:  Kitty said that the Garver Fund grant for $3,000 had been received Sept. 5.  Also, the BHCA application for a grant for $2,770 for 2004/05 had been approved by the Pa. Partners in the Arts.  This is about $300 more than last year’s grant.  Kitty reported on the workshop she had attended on Sept. 23 sponsored by the Pa. Humanities Council and the Pa. Council on the Arts.  It is called the “Scholars in Residence” program and involves an application that includes specific details about a proposed project by the applicant group.

 If approved, the group is assigned a Penn State faculty member with the appropriate expertise to provide 8 hours of advice on implementing the project.  Armed with this advice, the group than applies for funding for the project and does the project.  The Scholars in Residence program will be offered annually, in the fall.  If BHCA has a definite project in mind, this might be something to pursue in the future.

 

5.   Committee Reports: 

  1. Gallery at the Gamble Mill:  current installation, “Contemporary Printmaking,” was mounted after a day’s delay due to the flooding on Sept. 18.  Reception went well.
  2. Old House Fair:  no report
  3. Summer Sounds:  no report
  4. Film Forum:  no report
  5. Sunday Afternoon at the Library: first concert of the season will be on Oct. 24.
  6. Victorian Christmas Arts & Crafts Show:  Bush House definitely contracted to be the second site, in addition

to the YMCA.  Mailing to prospective craftspeople has gone out.

 

6.   Old Business:

  1. Jazz Festival:  A great success, concerts were well-attended, Match Factory hall was a good venue. 
  2. Local History Flyer Series:  This project is now planned for launching in Spring 2005, with at least two flyers at once: “Bellefonte and the Farmers High School” by Kitty and a “Bellefonte and Black History” flyer by Dan Clemson.  Other ideas and writers are welcome.

 

7.   New Business:

  1. Meeting with American Philatelic Society: Romayne reported that she, Sharon McCarthy, Jim Dunne, and Kitty met with Bob Lamb, APS Executive Dir., and Kim Kowalczyk, APS Education Dir., on Sept. 21 for a discussion of

potential cooperation in presenting exhibitions and performances in the Match Factory.  The APS would like to have artworks in the public spaces of the Am. Philatelic Center, and the space presents interesting possibilities for three-dimensional artworks and performance art.

     After a lunch at the Gamble Mill, the group toured the second-floor, undeveloped area of the APC, which will be renovated into classroom and exhibition space for APS and possibly some public use (for meetings and events).  There will be an open space on the second floor equivalent to the first-floor hall where the first jazz concert was held in June.  Classrooms will surround it.  There will be an elevator installed between the first and second floors, and the staircase will be improved.  Renovation of the second floor space is hoped for by June 2005, but depends on having available money. 

     Mounting artworks in the brick-walled space presents a challenge, but the BHCA group was excited by the prospect of having this interesting building to use for art.

    

  1. Presentation on meeting space/ boating museum:  Dave Kurtz told the meeting that the kayak/slalom course community was receiving $6,000 from the local hotel tax toward the construction of a meeting room at Sunnyside, next to the trailer currently used by the kayakers.  The new building also could be used as a boating museum, with wall displays; half of the building would be for boat storage. $6,000 is about one-quarter of the amount needed for the building that is wanted.

     Dave said that the slalom course and its associated activities are not well known, either locally or on a wider scale, but that it has real potential as a tourist/recreational magnet.  He suggested that there could be monthly displays of paddling, for example.  Colina said that tourists probably would rather participate than just watch, and it was suggested that Dave could look into working with the Bellefonte bed and breakfast that focuses on fishing and water sports, Riffles and Runs, on N. Spring St., perhaps organizing a kayak package deal.

 

Next meeting: time and place to be determined, but probably in a member’s home.  Meeting ended at 9:15 p.m.

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Kitty Wunderly, Arts Administrator