100 North Appleton Street  
Appleton, WI 54911-4799  
www.appletonwi.gov  
City of Appleton  
Meeting Minutes - Final  
Appleton Public Arts Committee  
Wednesday, April 1, 2026  
8:00 AM  
Council Chambers, 6th Floor  
Call meeting to order  
1.  
Chair Mische called the meeting to order at 8:02 a.m.  
Pledge of Allegiance  
2.  
3.  
Roll call of membership  
Present:  
6 - Mische, Bauer, Riesterer, Fernandez, Hoekstra and Laste  
1 - Vang  
Excused:  
Others present:  
Abby Novak, Appleton Downtown Inc.  
Tom Boldt, Celebrating Houdini 2026  
Alex Schultz, Sculpture Valley  
Jed Engel, 1745 N. Superior Street  
Jamin Homan, Woodworker/Creator of Houdini Welcome Tower Model  
Jennifer Stephany, Appleton Downtown, Inc. & Creative Downtown Appleton, Inc.  
Approval of minutes from previous meeting  
26-0405  
4.  
APAC Minutes from 3-4-26  
Attachments:  
APAC Minutes from 3-4-26.pdf  
Mische moved, seconded by Bauer, that the Minutes be approved. Roll Call.  
Motion carried by the following vote:  
6 - Mische, Bauer, Riesterer, Fernandez, Hoekstra and Laste  
1 - Vang  
Aye:  
Excused:  
Public Hearing/Appearances  
5.  
26-0406  
Public Participation  
Alex Schultz and Jennifer Stephany spoke on the proposed Houdini images to  
be placed in the Welcome Tower in Houdini Plaza.  
26-0407  
Presentation of Houdini Tower model made by Jamin Homan  
Jamin Homan, RN and Director of Patient Safety with ThedaCare, as well as  
husband of Community Development Director Kara Homan, also a local  
woodworker, created a to-scale model of the Houdini Plaza Welcome Tower  
and presented the model to the Committee.  
Action Items  
6.  
26-0273  
Request to approve proposal from Appleton Downtown Inc. to replace the  
existing College Avenue banners (from Badger Avenue to Drew Street)  
with a new design, as described in the attached documents  
Attachments:  
StaffMemo_CollegeAvADI_BannerReplacement2026.pdf  
ExistingPhoto_CollegeAvADI_BannerReplacement2026.pdf  
ProposalDescription_CollegeAvADI_BannerReplacement2026.pdf  
DesignImages_CollegeAvADI_BannerReplacement2026.pdf  
StaffMemo_CollegeAvADI_BannerReplacement2026_Revised.pdf  
DesignImages_CollegeAvADI_BannerReplacement2026_Revised.pdf  
The Committee selected all 6 banners (including the 2 new designs presented today)  
and to stagger the similarly colored ones when placing all banners on the brackets.  
Mische moved, seconded by Bauer, that all 6 ADI replacement banners be  
approved and to stagger the similarly colored ones. Roll Call. Motion carried  
by the following vote:  
6 - Mische, Bauer, Riesterer, Fernandez, Hoekstra and Laste  
1 - Vang  
Aye:  
Excused:  
26-0408  
Review images received from Creative Downtown Appleton, Inc. and the  
Year of Houdini Volunteer Group based on "Year of Houdini" theme,  
detail any potential edits, and recommend the images and layout of the  
tiles to be placed in the Welcome Tower in Houdini Plaza at 121 W.  
College Avenue (Tax Id #31-2-0065-00)  
Attachments:  
Houdini Welcome Tower Memo_For APAC 4-1-26.pdf  
Generative AI Technology Policy SB 2024.pdf  
Houdini Photos - Full List.pdf  
Results of Houdini Photos Voting by Public Arts Committee.pdf  
The survey results from the Committee member voting that took place prior to the  
meeting were presented to the Commission and are attached. After deliberation, the  
following photos were selected as the 12 photos to be placed in the tower, with  
placement noted according to location of each side of the tower, top to bottom, and to  
have all images crop squared, resolution enhanced, and black border added by  
Committee Member Jake Bauer by April 10 and for the Committee to review the edits  
at a special meeting on April 22.  
NW: 37, 5A, 17  
NE: 4 (alternate 8), 26, 16A  
SW: 1, 38, 2A  
SE: 19A, 6, 30  
Mische moved, seconded by Riesterer, to select the following photos with  
placement noted per location side and organized from top to bottom: NW: 37,  
5A, 17; NE: 4 (alternate 8), 26, 16A; SW: 1, 38, 2A; and SE: 19A, 6, 30 and for the  
images to be crop squared, enhance the resolution, and add a black border,  
revisions to be approved at a special meeting on April 22 be approved. Roll  
Call. Motion carried by the following vote:  
6 - Mische, Bauer, Riesterer, Fernandez, Hoekstra and Laste  
1 - Vang  
Aye:  
Excused:  
Information Items  
7.  
Adjournment  
8.  
Hoekstra moved, seconded by Laste, that the meeting be adjourned at 9:26 am.  
Roll Call. Motion carried by the following vote:  
6 - Mische, Bauer, Riesterer, Fernandez, Hoekstra and Laste  
1 - Vang  
Aye:  
Excused: