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Background and Methodology <br /> Public art master planning for municipal government brings together a broad collection of <br /> elements.These include urban planning, public policy, local government management, arts <br /> administration, and a variety of others.To begin to analyze the idea of public art master planning, it is <br /> first necessary to define what public art is. Public art can only be broadly defined as any work of art <br /> placed in a public space. Expanding on this idea, public art programs are created to provide <br /> administration of public art in a community.This may include commissioning artwork for permanent or <br /> temporary display, purchasing existing artwork for permanent or temporary display, maintaining a <br /> public art collection, developing educational programming, creating public art informational materials, <br /> seeking out partnerships with public and private entities, as well as many other activities (Americans for <br /> the Arts, 2003). <br /> These programs can be housed within government or in private, nonprofit organizations.The <br /> publication A Detailed Statistical Report on the Budgets and Programming of the Nation's Public Art <br /> Programs During Fiscal Year 2001 indicated that, at the time of surveying, 81%of public art programs <br /> were within a government agency and that only 31% of public art programs had undertaken a master <br /> planning process.The majority(62%) of these plans had been completed since 1995, and 41% of those <br /> communities had updated their plan since creation (Americans for the Arts, 2003). <br /> In fiscal year 2001,the majority of government public art programs were funded by a percent- <br /> for-art program.This system allocates a specified percentage of capital projects to be spent on public <br /> art.This percentage generally ranges from one-half to two percent and is typically codified in an <br /> ordinance.The previously mentioned survey found that 58%of government public art programs <br /> received their funding from a percent-for-art mechanism, also finding that 86%of public art programs <br /> that were established by ordinance allocated funding to the program (Americans for the Arts, 2003). <br /> 3 <br />