Finding Common Ground
Madison tourism board to vote on bylaw change to accommodate Chautauqua
The proposal would give a full
voting seat on the board
(December 2019) – The VisitMadison Inc. tourism board on Dec. 17 is scheduled to consider and vote on a proposal by the Madison Chautauqua Festival of Art Committee that spells out the terms for continuing its relationship with VisitMadison Inc. to operate the annual fall juried arts festival – considered the largest single tourism event in Madison, Ind. The annual event attracts an estimated 30,000 people over two days to Madison on the fourth weekend in September.
At its monthly meeting held Nov. 26, the VisitMadison Inc. board went into executive session to review and discuss the proposed Memorandum of Understanding agreement prior to submitting it for approval at its December meeting. Afterward, board president Cara Fox said the proposal was found to be satisfactory pending a few minor changes.
Tourism board member Lindsay Bloos was asked by Fox to describe the sentiment of the board, saying, “These changes do not in any way change the spirit of the proposal as written, so we think we can move forward with it.”
The primary request in the proposal was to provide a full voting seat on the tourism board for the Chautauqua Committee. This would require a change in the board’s bylaws and a three-week public notice prior to making the change. Fox said the board was making the notice that day in order to allow the board to vote on the bylaws change on Dec. 17. Earlier this year, the tourism board created two non-voting ex-officio seats on its board to represent the Madison Ribberfest and Madison Chautauqua committees. Jeff Frazier holds the Ribberfest seat, and Chautauqua committee president Kara Hinze represents the Chautauqua.
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Photo by Don Ward With the Madison Chautauqua Festival of Art about to enter its 50th year, tourism board members and festival committee members are trying to work out an agreeable plan for managing the event going forward. The juried art festival is considered the city’s largest event, attracting an estimated 30,000 people over two days each September. |
Hinze attended the November tourism board meeting and said afterward that she “is optimistic that we can move forward in a positive manner.” She did not know at that point what changes the tourism board wanted to make to her committee’s proposal. But she said the seat on the board was an important issue for the committee.
“It is important to our committee members that we have some say in what happens regarding the Chautauqua,” she said. “I think everyone wants what’s best for the Chautauqua in the long run. It’s been around for so long that no one wants to rock the boat that would cause any major problems going forward.”
Late last year, Thomas announced plans to take management of the festivals in house and relieve the four paid contract employees who had been directing the festival planning for the RiverRoots, Ribberfest and Chautauqua. The directors were to finish out the year and then be relieved from their duties after their respective festivals had concluded.
In the wake of that announcement, the Chautauqua committee around April submitted a proposal to the board requesting that tourism allow the committee to split off and form its own nonprofit agency to operate the festival – free from the control or ownership of VisitMadison Inc. When it appeared likely that the tourism board would not give up the 49-year-old art festival, its two co-directors resigned. Hinze took over the reigns at the last minute, and she and her committee guided the festival through this year’s event.
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Hinze |
A decision on the festival’s future was put on hold until after the 2019 festival, held in late September. Now that time has come, and Hinze and her team are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the tourism board’s decisions in its upcoming December meeting.
“We are looking forward to continuing to work with all of our volunteer committees in 2020,” Thomas said in a statement. “The success of all of our community events are evident because of their hard work and dedication to Madison and because of the visitors who come year after year.”