Changes are planned for several of the ways in which the Sedona City Council shows support for the arts in Sedona following discussions on Dec. 12, the second day of council’s annual priority retreat, during which council directed staff to explore an arts support contract program, split off the Moment of Art from council meetings and stand up not one but two poets laureate, the last ideally by April.

Poets Laureate

“This would be in collaboration with the Sedona library,” Arts and Culture Specialist Nancy Lattanzi said about the poet laureate program, which was also proposed last spring. She added that Community Library Sedona Executive Director Judy Poe “is champing at the bit, as you know.”

“My Rotary club had the proposed poet laureate — I can’t remember his name — Rex Arrasmith — come and speak,” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog said. “He talked about that program, but the idea was that you would have a junior poet laureate and a senior poet laureate and they would be in the schools working with students … They were a little bit frustrated with us because this program was supposed to have been launched last year … they feel a little bit snubbed.”

“He’s very passionate about this and he does feel snubbed,” Lattanzi said. “Yes, most of it is to go to the schools to do this current and kind of cool poem … it’s just to promote literary arts.”

“I think we’re talking about $2,000 per poet per year, and then we would give them assignments where they would have to perform at schools but not just schools, any big events in the community,” Lattanzi said with regard to stipends.

“April is poetry month, I guess,” Ploog said. “Is it possible to get something?”

“It’s possible if I collaborate with Judy,” Lattanzi said.

“We can certainly dust all that off,” City Manager Anette Spickard said.

The final composition of the poet laureate selection committee has not yet been announced, but it is currently expected to include Poe, Sedona Poetry Slam host and Sedona Red Rock News Managing Editor Christopher Fox Graham and city Finance Director Barbara Whitehorn, whose father is a poet.

Moment of Art

Lattanzi also enquired as to whether council had arrived at any further conclusions on whether they wanted to expand, abolish or adjust the Moment of Art at the beginning of the first council meeting each month. She suggested potentially setting aside a separate time once every other month for an expanded Moment of Art “where it’s more of an event.”

“We could offer to even pay the artists,” Lattanzi suggested.

“It drives me crazy that we spend a Moment of Art that goes way more than a moment,” Councilman Brian Fultz said. “We can do better for our artists, and I think what Nancy’s talking about doing is way better.”

“I don’t want to lose Moment of Art from meetings because, to me, that’s exposing people that would not normally have the exposure,” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella said. “The whole idea of Moment of Art was that you’re here because of a land use issue that you care about, but guess what, you get exposed to this great moment of art … I don’t mind doing something in addition, if that’s what you’re talking about.”

“Giving our artists more of a chance to talk about their art … I think that does honor the artists more than the few minutes we give them,” Councilwoman Melissa Dunn said. “I would be in favor of an expanded time.”

“We could try it and see how it goes,” Spickard said.

“They’re different audiences,” Ploog said, noting that arts events tend to draw an audience of friends, collectors and fellow artists rather than the general public. “The people who are here for land use issues are getting to experience something they would not come here to experience if it was solely an art experience.” Instead, she suggested confining the choice of acts to smaller groups or shorter performances.

“That Tuesday thing was the most energetic thing we’ve done here,” Councilman Pete Furman said, referring to the Dec. 10 appearance by the Sedona Community and Youth Orchestra.

“Usually I look at the clock, I watch it,” Jablow said. “I want to keep our meetings shorter … I do feel that we should look at the two-hour idea … I’d like to look at both.”

Dunn proposed using the Moment of Art as a “taster” for a full-length arts program by the same artist, but said that would necessitate keeping it “really short.”

“If the concern is the meetings running late, we can exercise a little self-discipline,” Councilman Derek Pfaff said. “I don’t want to shortchange Moment of Art just so we can get out 10 or 15 minutes early.”

“We’re micromanaging Moment of Art,” Kinsella said. “We are way off base.”

“We’ll come up with a plan and see how we can accommodate both ideas,” Lattanzi said.

Small Grants

Last fiscal year, the city increased the amount distributed under the Small Grant Program from $200,000 to $350,000 and added a requirement that at least 40% of those grants be given to arts organizations; according to city staff’s calculations, arts grants came to $205,000, or 59% of the total, for fiscal year 2025.

“We did get a request from a couple of the applicants who have been in the pot the last few years about whether the arts portion should be separated out from the formula and funded separately from the Small Grant Program,” Spickard said. “The proposal I received was that the arts support would not be a competitive process; it would be treated more like a community service provider contract.”

“I think it was just two organizations wanted to be pulled out because they were the largest ones, which was the [Sedona International] Film Festival and the [Sedona] Arts Center,” Ploog said. “They’re bringing in people who we want as tourists … they’re good at attracting the right kind of people to our community.”

City Attorney Kurt Christianson said the arts grants fits better in the Small Grants Program than with the service provider contracts, but that the council could structure the program either way. He also noted that the bed tax revenue currently being spent on the city’s tourism department could be reallocated to another tourism-related expenditure such as arts programming.

“I would be hesitant to cut the tourism department,” Spickard said.

“I would hate to see our small arts providers getting shunted to the side,” Dunn said.

“This isn’t about cutting up the pie differently, it’s baking a new pie,” Kinsella said. “What I’m looking for is either not messing with the small grants program but creating either a large grants program or an arts support contract program. I do see these two organizations … ticking off a lot of boxes, a lot of needs for our community … We would have to put something in that you can’t apply for both … it’s to protect the little guy.”

“When are we going to start saying ‘no’ to stuff?” said Fultz, who voted to pay for the Uptown Parking Garage in May after complaining about $5,184 for toilets. “At what point are we going to get serious about fiscal discipline?”

“To single out arts because we have momentum around that seems kind of unfair,” Councilman Pete Furman said. “That’s not the only thing that’s good and valuable in life … this conversation really is about tourism.”

Spickard said that she detected sufficient interest among council to work on bringing forward a program for a set of arts support contracts during the planning process for next year’s budget.

‘Apple Turnover’

Uptown residents may have noticed the disappearance of Fuller Barnes’ “Apple Turnover” sculpture from the entrance to the Sedona Heritage Museum.

Lattanzi informed the council that it was recently struck by a car and was removed for restoration; the sculpture will be reinstalled outside the apple shed at the museum, instead of at the driveway, to prevent future vehicular damage.