If Anne Burke, Dr. Kelly Kent and Scott McVarish think winning a School Board seat on Nov. 3 is a back-stiffener, they should try something genuinely complicated.
Like pursuing a modest two-year appointment to the just-created, non-paying position of Honorary Artist Laureate for Poetry.
Dr. Janet Hoult, Culver City’s unofficial poetess laureate and the community’s most prominent poetic voice throughout the present decade, encountered such fierce headwinds at last evening’s City Council meeting her presumed hands-down selection nearly was derailed.
Unexpectedly.
Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells seemed a lonely, distant voice when she said the appointee would be a cultural ambassador for a city that could use one, that among significant duties would be visiting campuses and enlightening students.
Therefore, Ms. Sahli-Wells concluded, why is there a fuss?
Councilman Jeff Cooper declared that what was born a few months ago as a one-step low-profile appointment suddenly and elaborately has spiraled to the skies with unforeseen city staff expenses.
The second critic, Vice Mayor Andy Weissman, never a fan of the concept, was his transparent self:
“I have heard nothing to indicate what such a position would do. Nor have I heard that we had a need for this appointment except for the Centennial (which starts in 12 months).
“If the Centennial Committee wants an Honorary Artist Laureate for Poetry, there is no reason they cannot appoint one.”
When the notion of a Poet Laureate was raised last spring, the Council’s semi-enthusiastic response was to farm out the germ of an idea to the advisory Cultural Affairs Commission.
Dr. Hoult, a spirited advocate for the position and a popular choice, plunged into ordered research with Cultural Affairs commissioner Thomas Small.
Meanwhile, Commissioner John B. Williams suggested widening the honorary appointment from merely Poet Laureate to all-arts-encompassing Artist Laureata, spanning every dimension of the arts.
Capital idea, said many people not named Weissman or Cooper.
This converted the original project into a multi-layered undertaking calling for extensive research.
Councilman Jim Clarke, chief of the Centennial Committee, summoned Julie Lugo Cerra from the audience to explain how she gained appointment as the city’s official historian. Ms. Cerra said it was pretty casually done.
Even though the Honorary Artist Laureate for Poetry position is non-paying, city staffer Christine Byers said that 80 to 120 hours of city workers’ time may be required for the project during the next 12 months’ plus. That cooled Mr. Cooper, if he ever was warming up.
The Council voted 4-1 to name Dr. Hoult, Mr. Weissman dissenting.
The decision to press on with researching what other communities have done for this appointment passed on a squeakier vote, 3-2, with Mr. Cooper joining Mr. Weissman.
