Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 01/09/2025

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There are a variety of considerations that must be accounted for in a public art program.These include artist and site selection for public art projects, maintenance,funding, staffing, administration, and other elements.This analysis will review the master plans of cities in three population categories, weighted based on the distribution of public art programs by population range, and survey literature and statistical information on public art. From this methodology,this report will outline the typical creation process for a public art master plan, components found in a public art master plan, and the practical implications for cities looking to undertake this process. Literature Review Understanding the benefits of public art is a key consideration in setting the goals for a public art master plan. Civic dialogue, arts& culture:Findings from Animating Democracy reports findings about 36 art projects in the United States with the goal of promoting civic dialogue through the arts. While the projects are not limited to those of traditional public art, the discussion from the cases presented provides a critical link between what are perceived as two very different worlds, governmental policy and the arts.The authors present practical evidence that the arts can be used to illuminate public issues and bring about dialogue, supporting governmental efforts at community and consensus building. One particularly relevant example to this analysis is the Social Public Art Resource Center in Los Angeles.This ongoing project brought together artists, scholars, students, and local residents to design and create a public mural that illuminates the often forgotten history of minority communities. Its goal is to use art to tackle the sensitive subjects of demographic shifts and race relations that are prevalent in Los Angeles. Feedback was sought via the internet and traditional public forums to help decide what should be depicted in the mural. Other projects used similar artistic approaches to tackle issues such as the holocaust, human genomics, and poverty(Korza, Bacon, &Assaf, 2005).The direct visualization of these issues inspired controversy and media attention, which brought 4