Cathedral City’s Public Arts Commission advanced planning for its inaugural Festival of the Arts on Saturday, March 28, and discussed a staff proposal to pair the event with the city’s Taste & Sounds series to provide continuous live music without using the festival’s limited commission budget.

Vice Chair Travis and commissioners described a recent planning meeting with events and communications staff and Desert Recreation, and said staff will work with a performing-arts subcommittee to refine hours and programming. Staff proposed using the Taste & Sounds budget to cover artist fees for a blues/jazz lineup led by Grammy nominee Eve Evans, allowing festival organizers to retain their $5,000 event allocation for other needs.

Commissioner Stouder said the commission would allow artists to bring standard white tents and requires vendors to provide their own tables and display equipment. “We decided to go ahead and require that every vendor have had their own coverage,” he said, noting inexpensive short-term vendor policies are widely available online.

Sue Townsley, who introduced Eve Evans’ experience to the commission, described a rotating schedule of performers to fill a noon-to-4 p.m. program and offered promotional materials. “She’s wonderful,” Townsley said of Evans, adding that Evans has organized multi-act festivals locally and could curate a rotating lineup.

Staff told commissioners that moving a Taste & Sounds date into the festival footprint would not draw on the festival’s $5,000 budget because musician costs would be paid from the communications/events budget. Commissioners raised concerns about whether full-band performances would distract from a show focused on visual art; staff recommended the performing-arts subcommittee and communications staff finalize timing and stage placement.

The commission discussed two options for recruiting artists: continue the commission’s informal outreach or use the cafe registration system (a flat fee per call) for a broader, trackable application process. Staff said the call for artists will likely open in mid‑January so that publicity and the flyer can be ready before the end of December.

Next steps: staff will provide written materials and artist bios to commissioners, subcommittees will refine hours and stage programming in January, and communications staff will confirm whether Taste & Sounds can allocate one of its weekly concerts to the festival date.