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

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James Peto (1992) notes that the question of the public in public art has no easy answer because its definition is a moving target that dynamically shifts over time and place. An essential question that emerges when considering whether the artwork is public is: To whom does the art belong? Many researchers have included public perception of art as a basis for evaluation of the impacts of the public art project. In planning and evaluation of projects, Evans (2005) contends that those that were involved or are impacted by an art project should play a key role in the proj ect's evaluation, but their experiences with the project are often overlooked. The role of politics is also identified as a contributing factor in public art projects, with the people that live and work in the neighborhood often only a second thought in the art development process. Miles (2005) contends that cultural projects are often predetermined in the political realm, and the regular observers in the public realm become the receivers of the project and are not invited to `shape' the project as it is developed. The definition of`public' as applied to public art is a frequent subject of literature in the field due to the fact that the parties that conceive plan, and implement public art projects often have different goals and aspirations for the project. For example, the politician may want acceptance and accountability for the spending of tax dollars, while the artist may view the piece as an intentional conscious awareness-raising exercise. Fleming (2007) sites the fact that funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)Art in Public Places program funding was cut in 1995 due largely to the fact that the panel of art professionals that administered the program failed to understand and appreciate the `public's' expectations for the program. Marie Gee (1996) states public art is different from private art because it "needs to be concerned with the everyday lives of the audience and the eventual experience of the artwork, coupled with the need to somehow maintain the authority of the art and the artist." 28