Editor’s Note: The following is one of RoundTable’s many educational explorations of the City of Evanston government and how things work. Call it Evanston Arts Council 101.
The Evanston Arts Council is a citizens’ committee that promotes the arts in Evanston. It is composed of 12 individuals, appointed by the mayor, with the opinion and consent of the City Council. The Arts Council reports to the Human Services Committee, made up of five City Council members who in turn report to the larger City Council – a bureaucratic hierarchy that actually works.
A member of the Arts Council must be a resident of Evanston or an employee of Evanston. The term of office is three years and the maximum that can be served is two terms. The board meets monthly at the Civic Center, but during the pandemic, the meetings were held on Zoom, proving efficient but not nearly as fun.
The board met virtually in July of this year but canceled its traditional August meeting. “Most members would love to be back in person, but there’s a funky rule that if the meeting is a hybrid, only those in the room count towards a quorum – so the hybrid isn’t a good fit for us,” said Toby Sachs. , current president. .
Zoom details are always posted with the council’s agenda on the city’s website.
Five years of current and past meeting agendas, minutes and information packets on agenda items are also posted there.
