A survey of Public Art funding with examples

1. John Kotarski – Ann Arbor Public Art Commissioner
Aaron Seagraves – Ann Arbor Public Art Administrator
1. Brief History of Taxpayer Supported Public Art
2. Funding Sources
3. Terminology – a mixed bag
4. Examples
5. Process – RFQ & RFP
6. Tips for Artists

2. Taxpayer Public Art – A Brief History
Hero on Horseback – Central Park Gates
• Federal Triangle Building 1900-1920
• Federal Art Project 1935-1943
• Percent for Art – Municipal
• Philadelphia 1959, Baltimore 1963, San Francisco 1967,
Seattle 1973, Ann Arbor 2007
• Percent for Art – State
• Hawaii 1997, Maine 1973, Washington 1974, Montana 1983,
Oklahoma 2004
• National Endowment for the Arts 1965

3. Public Art Funding Sources
• Percent for Art
• Millage Tax
• Crowdfunding - Kickstarter
• Developer’s fees
• TIF (Tax increment financing) – Downtown Development Authorities
• Foundation grants, including those from National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
• Neighborhood appeals
• Parking meter revenue
• Hotel/motel taxes (Transient Occupancy Tax)
• Sales tax revenue
• Proceeds from the sale of city land
• Funds pooled with the County State and city governments
• Historical societies and commissions
• Local companies (including locally based branches of national corporations)
• Utilities
• Arts councils and advisory boards
• Museums, Art centers

4. Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary
Site integrated: Integrated into the construction of a facility, usually through design team
process
Site specific: Designed for a specific location but can be detached if necessary
Portable Works: Paintings, prints, photographs, glass, ceramic, small sculptures that are
displayed in public places and can be moved to alternative spaces
Temporary Art: Short-term artwork, often tied programmatically to the work or mission of
an event or organization. Interchangeably used with Installation art.
Installation Art: Art that temporarily transforms a space. - interactive or performance art

5. Public Art - A Mixed Vocabulary
Gateways: Creating a sense of arrival.
Transit/wayfinding: Providing orientation for travelers.
Murals: Part of a town-enhancement strategy.
Performance Art: Interdisciplinary performance mostly unscripted and usually presented
only one time
Placemaker Art: Defines a community gathering place
Street Furniture: Benches, Streetlights, hatch covers/pavement, gates and fences, wall
decoration

6. Integrated Public Art
Nisbet Road Pedestrian Bridge
Phoenix, Arizona
Alavadaro Water Treatment Plant, San
Diego. Branded questions about San
Diego water history, 1998
Pima Freeway, Scottsdale, Arizona

7. Situated Public Art
Bell Town Popsicle
Seattle, Washington
Catherine Mayer

8. Installation Public Art
The Gates • Central Park, New York • 2005
Christo and Jeanne-Claude

9. Temporary Public Art
Yarn-bombing
Seattle, New York, Toledo

10. Myrtle Edwards Park, Michael Heizer
Adjacent, Against, Upon, 1976
Seattle Art Museum,
Jonathan Borofsky,
Hammering Man, 1991
Tilikum Place Park, James Wehn,
Chief Seattle Fountain, 1909

12. Sidewalk Stamps • Seattle, Washington

14. Murals
Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle

15. Fremont Neighborhood
Seattle, Washington

16. Repurposed Lenin statue from former Repurposed ICBM missile
USSR Fremont Neighborhood
Fremont Neighborhood Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington

17. Grass Blades
Painted steel sculpture • 2003
Seattle, Washington
John Fleming and Susan Zoccola

18. Downtown mural • Portland, OR

19. The Spiders • Bronze • Cleveland
Temporary art installation
Louise Bourgeois

20. Puppy, 1992 Father and Son, 2005.
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain Olympic Sculpture Garden
Jeff Koons Seattle, Washington
Louise Bourgeois

21. Public Seats

22. Public Transportation
Fremont Neighborhood Seattle, Washington
Seattle

24. Fire Station Art
Seattle, Wash

25. Ziggurat–East, Summer • Abandoned Fisher Body Plant, Detroit
Sculptural installation and photography project
Scott Hocking

26. Cloud Gate • Millennium Park, Chicago
Anish Kapoor

27. Aires Libres
Montreal, Canada 2011
Claude Cormier
Steam Pig
2010 Art Prize
Grand Rapids, Michigan

28. Seattle, Prague

29. Big Blue Bear
(I see what you
mean)
•
Colorado
Convention
Center, Denver
•
Elizabeth
Thomsen

30. Eyeball benches • Seattle, WA
Louise Bourgeois

31. Co2LED • Arlington County, VA
Solar-powered LEDs on rods, each topped with a reused plastic bottle
Jack Sanders, Robert Gay and Butch Anthony

32. Pocket Beach
Olympic Park
Seattle, Washington
Art Tool, 12 foot imprint of Los
Angeles as seen from above
Santa Monica, 1986

33. The Sequence Uchronia
Brussels Nevada
Arne Quinze Arne Quinze

34. Federal Building
Tacoma, Washington
Dale Chihuly

35. Cloud City
MOMA, New York
2012
Tomás Saraceno
Balloon Dog
New York
Jeff Coons

36. New York, Seattle

37. Odette Sculpture Park,
Windsor

38. Odette Sculpture Park,
Windsor

39. Odette Sculpture Park,
Windsor

40. Odette Park
Windsor, Ontario

41. Memorial Art
Toledo, New York

42. Waterfront Place Falls
Vancouver, British Columbia
Waterfront Fountain
Seattle, Washington, 1974
James Fitzgerald and Margaret Tompkins

43. New Public Art
Cost Comparison
These are samplings of recent public art from other cities
and communities in the United States. Each piece of public
art also list its budget

44. Sentient Beings
Los Angeles, CA 2010
Budget $348,000
Clif Garten

45. Open Channel Flow
Houston, TX, 2010
Budget $150,000
Matt Geller

46. Giant Mushroom Forest
Austin, Texas, 2010
Budget $5,000
Bill Davenport

47. Camera Rosetum
Projected light
2010, Brooklyn Artist Gala
Budget $5,000
Sean Capone

48. The Nereid Beckon
Evanston, Ill. 2009
Budget $12,000
Matthew Dehaemers

49. Revamp Fort Brooke
An installation of projected light
Tampa, Florida 2009 Budget $134,000
Sabine Weissinger and Friedrich Foester

50. Revamp Fort Brooke
An installation of projected light
Tampa, Florida 2009 Budget $134,000
Sabine Weissinger and Friedrich Foester

51. Revamp Fort Brooke
An installation of projected light
Tampa, Florida 2009 Budget $134,000
Sabine Weissinger and Friedrich Foester

52. Revamp Fort Brooke
An installation of projected light
Tampa, Florida 2009 Budget $134,000
Sabine Weissinger and Friedrich Foester

53. Remembering Boat
2009 New Orleans
Budget $24,000
Raine Bedsole

54. Vocal Witness
Projected light
Connecticut, 2009
Budget $174,000
Jim Sandborn

55. Smpyrean Passage
Hollywood, CA, 2009
Budget $75,000
Dan Corson

56. Rainbow Arbor
Los Angeles, CA, 2009
Budget $340,000
Ned Kahn

57. Sign Of The Times
Emeryville, CA, 2009
Budget $2,000 each
Seyed Alavi in collaboration with high school students

58. Untitled: #6209 • Salvaged home pieces, New Orleans • Budget $25,000
Eric Dallimore

59. Public Art Process
Request for Qualifications (RFQ): Why do you qualify to make a proposal?
Examples of past work that relates, letter of interest, brief concept
Request for Proposal (RFP: Finalists from RFQ usually given a stipend
Full proposal, manquette/rendering, budget, timeline, local sourcing,
estimate of maintenance by independent conservator, references

60. Tips for Artists
• Know the funding source
• Know the public space
• Know the public viewer
• Know the decision makers
• Know the history

62. Interview Questions
1. Who are you and how are you involved in “X”
2. What is “X” or how would you describe “X”
3. How would you explain what is most important
about “X”
4. What do you like best about “X” or how do you
respond to “X”