Helen is always so great at exploring the nuances!

Aurora has an annual temporary sculpture exhibition that we present in partnership with the Havana Business Improvement District, which includes urban renewal zones.  Costs and responsibilities are shared.  We have lease agreements/easements with the 13 businesses that host a sculpture at their site.

The community, the business owners and city leadership all love this program.  We get great PR off of it every year. The program has been around since 2011, and during this time period, this area has seen strong economic growth.

It is also very labor intensive for our small staff of one full time person (me) and one part-time public art assistant.  We issue the Call for Entries and manage the art selection process, correspond with the artists, schedule and oversee the de-installs, schedule and oversee the installs, maintain the sculpture bases, and our AIPP Commission jurys the artworks for cash awards for 1-3 place.

Our partner handles most of the PR and all of the advertising expenses, handles the relationships with the business owners, covers the cost of artsits’ honoraria, and presents a very nice gala for the opening.

We are currently reviewing this program and its sustainability balanced with other growing programmatic demands.

Roberta

Roberta Bloom, Public Art Coordinator

Department of Library and Cultural Services | City of Aurora

14949 E. Alameda Pkwy., Aurora, CO 80012

office 303.739.6747

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Nextdoor | AuroraTV.org

From: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com [mailto:public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com] On Behalf Of Helen Lessick
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2019 10:46 AM
To: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com
Subject: Re: Public Art Sculptures on Private Property

Hi Amanda and PAN colleagues,

I second what Liza Zenni reported, and so counsel my art consulting clients: why allow public dollars (and the assets they have purchased) to beautify private property? 

Spending public dollars on private property improvements has both legal and policy ramifications, and they should be examined.

Start with your city attorney and ask if this is a reasonable use of Georgetown's public assets. If the attorney's offices affirms it in writing, review your cultural policies to see how all private businesses can be made aware of and apply for this benefit. 

Who should pay for staff research and development of this specific contract? Is there a public benefit that outweighs the staff cost of developing and monitoring the program, and the risk to the work of publicly owned art?

If you move forward, liability insurance covering the public, and fine art insurance for the art, should be required and paid for by the property owner.  This might require a 2019 assessment and replacement value of the artwork (not the commission cost)  Typically, public art collections are self-insured, so the decision to put one artwork in a private space will need specific policy coverage.

There are special cases for saying yes. I would argue the public benefit of the city-wide, issue-based temporary (3 month) public art program I led, with 15 commissioned works sited at diverse venues including a private yacht club, commercial fishing marina and tribal center, is one such special case.

Good luck!

Helen Lessick

HelenLessick.net

On Wed, 17 Apr 2019 at 08:41, Julia Muney Moore <jmoore@indyarts.org> wrote:

Our experience has been the opposite:  a private entity wants to place a sculpture on public land, generally a park or a greenway. We work with the city to make sure the owner of the sculpture insures and maintains it, and the city executes a MOU with the private property owner. (to be clear--the Arts Council is a private nonprofit organization but we do a lot to interface with the city on a variety of things)

Julia Muney Moore

Director of Public Art

Arts Council of Indianapolis

jmoore@indyarts.org

924 N. Pennsylvania St.

Indianapolis, IN  46204

(317) 631-3301 x 240

(317) 332-8382 mobile

www.IndyArts.org

On Wed, Apr 17, 2019 at 10:03 AM Amanda Still (via public_art_network list) <public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com> wrote:

Dear Public Art Network,

I am looking for examples of other municipalities that have placed public art sculptures on private property and how the legal agreement was structured.  For example, was an easement granted to the City by the property owner?

Thank you for your input!

Amanda Still

Arts and Culture Coordinator

City of Georgetown

512-930-8471

arts.georgetown.org

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