Public Art Conference Archive—2001

Study Session: Preparing for the Big One: Smaller Programs Tackle Larger Projects

Presenters: Sherri Olsen, Bernallio County Percent for Public Art Program, Albuquerque, NM, Lori Roderick, Quad City Arts, Rock Island, IL, and Judi Holdorf Quad City Arts, Rock Island, IL
Notetaker: Patricia Hamilton

Summary
This session will provide a 20/20 hindsight look at what smaller public art programs could encounter when a large capital project is approved. Learn from two perspectives, the administrator and the artist, about the common and not so common public art hurdles that can be avoided with some preliminary planning.

Bernalillo County Courthouse Overview:

• 272,284 square foot facility
• Seven floors, and lower level parking and 4 story atrium
• Design begun April 1997, and construction completed in July 2001, Dedicated April 2001
• District Attorney Building
• Square footage = 79,800
• Four floors
• Design Begun April 1997 Construction Completed April 1999
• Total construction amount for both to date $45,650,000
• 1% for Art Budget $1.5M
• Included Jail Revenue Bond Funds @ $1.07M
• Approx. $300,000 still unspent in 1% for Art funds
• 27 Works of Art, 8 Commissions 19 Purchases for Courthouse
• 8 Works of Art all commissioned for DA Building

Concerning the Public Art Organizational Structure: Arts Board or Selection Panel

• inclusive or exclusive: how many user agency representatives do you want?
• committees: Standing or Ad Hoc?
• Length of Terms: Stagger and revolve! Do not expect/allow the same people to be on the project the whole time. A fresh perspective after the 3rd year can be invaluable even though the training time can be time consuming. Rotate no less than 1/3

Responsibilities

• Select art only vs. involvement in administrative functions, i.e. contract development, correspondence w/ artists

Public Art Administration Staff

• Existing bureaucrat w/ public art tacked on or part time/fulltime/contract/permanent? Plan for evolution.
• Clearly define responsibilities to Administration and to Arts Board

Agency Administration and Elected Officials

• Review/Approval process: at what stage?
• Maintain regular communication.

Concerning Architects & Engineers: Lines of Communication

• direct vs. via project manager only vs. direct w/ artists. Who documents communications? You will need documentation to refer back to.
• Written vs. verbal
• Change Orders are usually expensive, but well documented
• Who Approves? Remember your government/agency is the Client

Design Process and Planning

• Designate 2-3 individuals to be at every meeting, even if they don’t have public art on the meeting agenda, it will come up anyway.

Early Topics

• Lighting, design in proper locations for artworks, and consider what other circuits art lights hooked up to?
• Security, connected to internal alarms system or not?
• Foundations or bases, integrated or part of artists design/services
• Mounting to wall or floors, will there need to be extra support built in?
• ADA Compliance
• Maintenance, who what will need it and how will it be done? See below.

Internal Departmental Communication

• Be sure to talk with Building Maintenance every step along the way, for they will be the ones taking care of it all later!

Selection Process/Method & Schedule

• Try to define clearly in advance but be able to adjust if necessary.

Communication

• Do your best to communicate with them regularly, even if there is no news yet.

Contracts: Purchase vs. Commission

• You’ll never be able to think of everything so include an Additional Services Clause and a contingency amount. (See below)

Quality Control

• Inspect all artworks at all phases. Purchased artworks need to be thoroughly inspected prior to final notification of intent to purchase.
• Make sure frames are sturdy enough for permanent installation/mounting. Who chooses frame styles?
• Will you need protective covering such as Plexiglas boxes? If so, who pays for them?

Storage

• Long term, short term? Who/where/insured? Then how will artworks be transported from the storage location?

Working Images of building and artworks

• Need good representations to show everybody, especially elected officials and the media.

Concerning Contractors, and where they "meet:" Lines of Communication

• Superintendent vs. whoever you run into. Whoever you run into may be very helpful, but might not be able to make the final decision.
• Do they need construction drawings from Artists?

Sub Contractors

• Know who they are and what they do. They can save money on special services as projects begin to be installed.
• If they can’t do it who can? If somebody else has to be brought in, will the contractors insurance coverage allow them to be on the site?

Other Considerations: Professional Art Handlers

• Contracted services to eliminate handling, storage and insurance burdens for artists.
• Can be used as a back up for the back-up plan when all else fails.

Other Art Details

• Plaques for Artworks must be ordered 6-9 weeks in advance
• Time Capsules
• Artists/Arts Board appreciation Plaques

Grand Opening Event Planning

• Will probably default to you since you’re the "art" person
• Need good images of artworks for media
• Have graphic designer in place
• Who will pay for things such as flowers? Catering? Printing invitations?

The Fallout

• Good news: Process leads to more program stability and appreciation within the government structure, and more public art projects!

Additional Services, a must!

• Section X. ADDITIONAL SERVICES (This clause was added to the Commission Contracts after many, many unknown problems came up that only the artist should solve.)
• The Artist may be required to provide "Additional Services" under the terms and conditions of this Agreement, if the parties agree in writing in advance to the additional scope of services and the amount and method of compensation. Submittal of a proposal and acceptance by the County in the form of a letter of written authorization from the County shall constitute an amendment to this Agreement and the Additional Services performed shall be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement as amended by those documents. The County shall execute an Additional Services supplement summarizing the changes to contract terms and provide a copy to the Artist. Additional Services may include:
  • Providing the services of a consultant for the purpose of providing unanticipated professional services necessary to accomplish the Services described in Section 2.
  • Making revisions in designs, drawings, specifications or other documents when such revisions are due to causes not within the control of the Artist or the Artist’s employees, agents or contractors.
  • Other related and appropriate Additional Services as authorized by the County and required to accomplish the Services described in Section 2.

Quad City Arts, Rock Island, IL Overview

• Quad City Arts is a non-profit organization in a community that has no percent for art ordinance. Through their Face the River project, they have raised the interest of residents and government officials in public art and this is helping Quad City Arts to gain support for all their projects, including a new gallery at the local airport.
• The Face the River project was a series of projects along the Mississippi River that were designed and built by the community. Quad City Arts facilitated the projects by inviting artists, community members and local businesses to get invovled.
• The process started with a 4 hour work session where the 150 people in attendence split up into groups to work on initial designs for the various sites. Each site had a theme. Because of the community invovlement in the project, they have gotten no complaints. The project educated the public and enjoyed the support of the local media. Quad City Arts did all of the fundraising for the project.

Questions from Participants

Q: What was the role of the board?
A: The board selected the artwork. At the beginning of the project, the board did all of the administrative work as well, including purchase orders and contracts. The volunteer board was not able to keep up with all of the details and, at some point, they realized they needed support and hired an arts administrator. The organizational structure of the board or art panel is important. Continuity is good, but without some turnover, individual members of the board may begin to fight for control. For long-term projects, it helps to have staggered terms for board members.What was the board composition? The art board had 10 members, plus a representative of the courthouse. The Board composition includes architects, artists, and a broad spectrum of professionals from the community.

Q: Were the architects closely involved with the art program?
A: The architects were very involved with the art portions of the project in the beginning. The art board worked with the architects to identify sites and to make a budget. In one case, the architects changed a major structural element of their design to accommodate a large textile piece that had been purchased by the art board. The original architects were fired however, and then communication broke down between the art program and the architects.

Q: How did you organize selection of so many works and get the large number of pieces to work together?
A: You should be very clear on your intent or goal from the beginning of the project. You will refer back to that original goal often as the project develops. For the courthouse project, we sought to showcase the best possible works by a diverse group of New Mexico artists. In hindsight, it is clear that the budget was large enough to have done a national selection process that would have resulted in more cutting-edge work, however, focusing on artists from our state was very important. It was part of the original goal.

Q: How did you issue the call to artists?
A: An initial call for submissions was done through a statewide mailing that went out to approximately 1,400 people. As a result of this call, we received submissions from 600 artists. A third of the works now in the courthouse came to our attention as part of this initial call. After two years of working on the project, the board wanted new slides and a second call to artists was issued, which asked artists to submit work in the categories of painting and sculpture. A third open call was made to purchase more already existing works.

Q: Is there a standard contract?
A: Three boilerplate contracts are going to be posted on the PAN website. You can also request copies of contracts on the PAN list serve. As you write the contracts, be aware of where the contracts of the artist and installers meet. We had one case where a foot of the base of a fountain was not covered in the artist’s or the engineers contract. It is important for this to be clear. We had great engineers working on our project, but the arts administrator must remember the artists and the art board are the clients. This means that the engineers cannot make changes to the artists designs. If the artists present their designs in a professional manner, the engineers are more likely to respect the design as they work to install it.

Q: Does the community consider this art?
A: Yes

Q: Who owns the projects?
A: The original landowners at each site (e.g. the city, the parks department) own the projects.

Q: Do you think this project will encourage or discourage the move to enstate a percent for art program?
A We hope that it will lead to the establishment of a percent for art program.