Amanda,
It sounds like you have an overly cautious legal dept. that doesn’t like murals and has exaggerated the “risk” involved. In San Francisco, the Arts Commission by City Charter has approval authority of all artwork
on either public property or on private property if it is funded with city funds. We have been approving murals since 1932. The question is, does your legal dept. have the authority to define murals as signs? Most cities have sign ordinances that define
signage and legal must follow the law, they don’t make it.
Susan Pontious
Civic Art Collection and Public Art Program Director
San Francisco Arts Commission
401 Van Ness Ave. #325
San Francisco, CA 94102
Direct: (415) 252-2241
FAX: 415-934-1022
Sfartscommission.org
From: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com <public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2019 3:22 PM
To: public_art_network@americansforthearts.simplelists.com
Subject: Legal Issues with Permitting Private Murals
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Hello, Public Art Network,
Our City is getting several requests from businesses to paint murals on their buildings, and we are fortunate to have the support of our City Arts and Culture Board as well as the City Planning and Permitting Dept. However, our legal department
does not want to allow businesses to paint murals on their property because of some recent court cases involving freedom of speech. Legal does not want the City to be in a position where we would be regulating freedom of speech through artwork approval, so
Legal is categorizing all murals as signage. And, of course, a mural does not follow our City’s design guidelines for signage, so they are not approved. Does this sound like a familiar situation to anyone, and if so, how has your City handled the legal and
permitting process for privately owned/funded murals?
Thank you so much for your input!
Amanda Still
Arts and Culture Coordinator
City of Georgetown
512-930-8471
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