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Leesburg art commission approves 2025 budget, affirms meeting schedule and awards $250 to public piano artist
Summary
The Leesburg Commission on Public Art (COPPA) approved its 2025 budget, kept regular meetings on Mondays at 5:30 p.m., authorized additional $250 payment to the public-piano artist, and discussed a slate of public-art projects and timelines including town banners and a free-art library placement.
The Leesburg Commission on Public Art (COPPA) approved its 2025 budget and several operational items during its Jan. 6 virtual meeting, and commissioners also approved an extra $250 payment to the artist who refurbished the public piano.
COPPA members voted to adopt the draft budget presented at the meeting after a short discussion about line items and prior fiscal-year payments. Commissioners said COPPA's draft budget is roughly $1,500 higher than the previous year to provide flexibility for the commission's events and projects; the commission's staff liaison will confirm with finance whether prior-year payments to external events were charged to the 2023-24 fiscal year or reflected against current-year funds.
Why it matters: The budget establishes funding for COPPA's public-art calendar and programs, including the annual calendar printing, Love Your Mother sponsorship, the public piano, the town sculpture and banner projects, and other community arts initiatives. Several approved allocations determine whether scheduled projects can proceed and how COPPA will promote local artists.
Key votes at the meeting included procedural approvals of the Jan. 6 agenda and the Nov. 2024 meeting minutes; the formal adoption of the 2025 budget; confirmation of regular meeting dates and times; and a separate affirmative vote to provide an additional $250 payment to artist Danielle for extra costs incurred in preparing the public piano.
Commissioners discussed priorities for 2025 arts projects, emphasizing fewer, better-executed projects rather than many small initiatives. Identified priorities and projects on COPPA's list include:
- Town banners and a Call for Art: COPPA agreed on a timeline to solicit and select images for replacement banners, with a submissions deadline set for Feb. 24 and a target to vote on finalists at the commission's March meeting so Public Works can install new banners before the Flower & Garden event in April.
- Selfie station and flower-show collaboration: COPPA members discussed co-branding a movable selfie backdrop for the Flower & Garden show and other events; one commissioner noted design help was available from local vendors and suggested the commission could relocate the installation throughout the year.
- Public piano maintenance and plaques: The commission approved an additional $250 to reimburse artist Danielle for unanticipated supply and repair costs. Commissioners also discussed adding donor and artist plaques for the public piano and the free-art library and assigned follow-up to staff and volunteers to order and install plaques (approximate plaque size: 4-by-6 inches suggested by commissioners).
- Free-art library placement: COPPA reported the donor-supported free-art library will be installed at Rapalo Park near existing public art and will be treated as a pilot to gauge usage and maintenance needs.
- Town sculpture, Lassiter Way and community-garden ideas: Members discussed sculptural and garden projects tied to the Leesburg Movement and possible micro-grants to nearby businesses to improve back-of-property visuals along Lassiter Way. The commission asked staff to pursue permitting and partnerships and to follow up on utility-box and manhole-cover artwork options with Dominion and other owners.
Meeting logistics and membership: COPPA voted to retain its regular meeting day and time as Mondays at 5:30 p.m.; commissioners noted appointments, reappointments and the election of a new chair will be decided at the town's organizational meeting and at COPPA's February meeting when newly appointed members are in place.
The commission recorded its procedural votes on agenda approval and meeting minutes at the start of the session and held detailed budget deliberations before voting to adopt the budget. The payment to the public-piano artist was motioned during the public-art projects portion of the agenda and carried by voice vote; commissioners asked staff to route the payment through normal council approval channels before announcing it publicly.
