Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Historic Preservation Events topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cathedral City committee maps May preservation programming, launches oral-history pilot and notes public-art grant
Summary
At its March 17 meeting, the Cathedral City Historic Preservation Committee outlined Historic Preservation Month activities May 11–16, plans an online story map featuring the Agnes Pelton home, approved a small oral-history pilot (four to six interviews), and highlighted an Arts in California Parks grant-backed public-art project at Espironza Park.
At a March 17 meeting, the Cathedral City Historic Preservation Committee approved minutes from its Feb. 17 session and heard a briefing on this spring’s preservation outreach, an oral-history pilot and a city-sponsored public-art program.
Associate Planner Cynthia Schultz told the committee the city will mark Historic Preservation Month during the week of May 11–16 with daily social-media topics and the first iteration of an online historic-resources story map. "This will feature the city's first and only designated historic landmark, the Agnes Pelton home," Schultz said, and the map will link photos and basic information about other potential historic resources.
The committee learned the event series will culminate in a panel and short film program at the Mary Pigford Theater on May 16, anticipated to run about 10 a.m. to noon. Chair Patrick Evans volunteered to moderate the panel, Schultz said.
Schultz also reported the city received approval to pilot a small oral-history program using in-house staff to record four to six interviews with long-term residents to capture lived experience and community memory. Interviews will be audio or video recorded depending on participants’ preferences; the pilot is intended to document the approach and resource needs so the program can later be transitioned to an outside organization or partner.
The committee discussed access and long-term hosting for the materials. One member urged that at least some interviews be recorded in Spanish to reflect the community’s language diversity, and members emphasized the need for a persistent website to store and share the growing body of materials. Schultz said she has been coordinating with the local historical society and is exploring grant options; she referenced potential mini-grants from organizations such as the California Historical Society.
Schultz gave an additional update on a separate, city-sponsored arts project: the city received an Arts in California Parks grant to support "Espironza Rising," a program that will culminate in a public-art installation at Espironza Park and a series of events organized around the themes of past, present, future and healing the past. Organizers plan an April 11 event with a history component and are seeking local storytellers for both the April and May programs.
The committee did not take formal action on the presentation items; Schultz’s updates were treated as discussion only. The meeting concluded with a separate committee suggestion to pursue a street topper honoring early council member Sarah Deg Grandandy, and Chair Evans said staff would follow up and report at the next meeting.
