Franklin City art committee approves Story web app, hires videographer for artist tours

The Franklin City Community Art Committee voted unanimously to commit $4,000 from this year’s committee funds and to authorize a contract not to exceed $8,220 with Brenton Creative to produce short videos and help launch a web-based walking-tour platform called Story (formerly PocketSites).

The decision, made during the committee’s meeting, responds to a multi-part proposal from committee member Dana to build a hosted, web-based “self‑guided” tours platform and to hire videographer Dustin Brenton to create short videos of artists and installations for the app and other city uses.

Dana said the platform is a hosted web application that the committee would control, noting “we own the content. We make complete decisions on what goes up, what goes down.” Dana told the group Story provides analytics and supports multiple tour types — art, history, business and temporary event tours — and that partner organizations would share the subscription cost.

Glenn Ferris of Franklin Heritage Inc. described Story’s builder as easier to edit than the product’s earlier incarnation (PocketSites), saying he keeps draft tours on the service and that multiple organizations can prepare tours and publish them when ready. Dustin Brenton, owner of Brenton Creative, outlined a proposal to film roughly 10–15 videos, 30 seconds to a minute each, over a two‑day shoot and deliver files with full usage rights to the city.

Cost details presented to the committee included a three‑year Story subscription totaling $6,736 (about $187.13 per month), split among four partners (the committee said the split would be with Festival Country, Discover Downtown Franklin, Franklin Development Corporation and Franklin Heritage Inc.). The platform requires a one‑time setup fee of $400 to enable the builder. Festival Country has already committed a $5,000 grant toward the project. Brenton estimated the initial video package at $6,120–$8,220; the committee authorized a contract capped at $8,220 and committed $4,000 from its current budget toward the effort.

Brenton said the videos would remain the city’s property and could be used outside the app — for social media or a city YouTube page — and described typical deliverables as 30‑second to one‑minute artist segments and finished video files. He also said subsequent single‑video shoots would cost about $1,400 each if the committee chose to add content later.

Committee member Danny Causey moved to approve committing $4,000 and to authorize the contract not to exceed $8,220; Nick Crisafulli seconded the motion. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

The committee discussed timing: Dana said the subscription payments would start when the first tour goes live (the group discussed a likely May launch), and that partners must agree on the launch date so subscription splits and billing begin accordingly. Committee members also noted a desire to capture video of temporary banners and seasonal artwork before those displays are taken down for the winter.

Dana said the group will handle administration of the account, with controlled administrator access for partner organizations and a plan for who will create and edit tour content. The committee noted that some content already exists (artist bios and professional photos) but that no video content currently exists and that the immediate budget request covers the content creation and setup; the subscription cost would begin after launch and be split among partners.

Votes at a glance: - Motion to approve minutes from the prior meeting (motion by Dave Windisch; second by Josh Hendrickson): approved by voice vote (counts not specified). - Motion to commit $4,000 from the committee’s budget and to authorize a contract not to exceed $8,220 with Brenton Creative for initial videos and related work (mover: Danny Causey; second: Nick Crisafulli): approved by unanimous voice vote. - Motion to adjourn (mover: Vicky Noblood; second: Danny Causey): approved by voice vote (counts not specified).

Next steps: Dana said staff will work with Brenton to draft a city contract, which must be routed to the mayor and handled through the city’s contracting process before work begins. The committee also discussed using the content for upcoming conferences and festivals to promote Franklin as a destination.