by Natasha Khairullah
Staff Writer
The Art in Public Places Committee used its most recent policy planning meeting to discuss the revision process for the committee’s five-year plan. The Committee was created in 1997 through the City of Jacksonville’s Art in Public Places Ordinance and its comprehensive five-year master plan – adopted in 2002 – will expire in the spring of next year. According to Arts Committee Chair, Larry Wilson, the plan’s revision is not one that will happen overnight.
“We want to get this down to a more workable document,” said Wilson of the plan, “and that’s going to take some time.”
A basic logistic revision of the plan with tentative edits was distributed to committee members to review. Wilson said there are two layers to the revision process.
“One part is making sure that the master plan and the City ordinance are compatible,” he said, adding the plan must reflect all that’s stated in the ordinances.
“Then we have to make sure that we’re not being short-sighted of what’s being done in any other cities that are similar in size.”
Possible expansion was also discussed at the meeting. That expansion could incorporate the potential inclusion of private developer participation, implementations of temporary installations and community-based projects.
The committee intends to review plans of similar-sized cities and report the findings as well as suggest which components of those plans, if any, that Jacksonville’s Arts Committee should consider.
According to Arts Committee Director Sara Gay, this comparison process will help the group gain a better understanding of possible improvements to the plan.
The committee hopes to have the five-year plan updated by March of next year.
The Art in Public Places Program, an entity of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, was established by Mayor John Peyton to sustain collaborative relationships with local art museums, art departments at various schools and universities, Downtown Vision, Inc. and local artists.
The APPP’s primary responsibility is to designate artists to create pieces as well as determine where the art will go and what the budget will be.
A simplified version of the public art and artist selection process begins with the designation of the art budget, which is made up of three-quarters of 1 percent of the construction costs of a City-built structure.
Out of that budget, a percentage is used to cover administration costs as well as maintenance expenses. The remaining amount is what can actually be spent on the artwork. Once the spending budget is determined, a request for proposal for artists is put out internationally. Applicants are then whittled down by the APPP’s selection committee.
To date, nearly $3 million has been generated for projects. Jacksonville’s Art in Public Places Program is one of the broadest such programs to launch all at once, with 28 projects mandated for its first three years of implementation. Numerous projects have already been installed, including the “Talking Continents” at the Veterans Memorial Arena by Jaume Plensa of Barcelona, Spain, the “Rookie Card” at The Baseball Grounds by Barbara Grygutis of Tucson, Ariz. and the “Pine Breeze Dandy” at the Equestrian Center by Michael Stutz of Encinitas, Calif. – all of which were generated by the Better Jacksonville Plan.