memorandum

to:	Town Council
from:	Kevin C. Foy, Mayor
subject:	Appointment of a Mayor’s Committee on Public Arts
date:	March 9, 2009

PURPOSE

The purpose of this Committee is to develop a concise public arts strategy and explore means of implementing those strategies.

BACKGROUND

In July 2007, a Mayor’s committee was formed to develop a comprehensive economic development strategy for the Town.  The Committee was charged with the review of all existing economic development documents, a review of other towns’ economic development strategies, and to establish a series of goals and objectives to guide economic development activities.  Public meetings were held to receive citizen feedback and to refine the goals.  The year long process resulted in the drafting and subsequent acceptance of a concise working document to direct the efforts of the Economic Development Office.

DISCUSSION

The success of the Mayor’s Committee on Economic Development has created a model for which a similar committee may be created for public arts.

One of the goals established at the February 20-21, 2009 Council Retreat was the development of a public arts strategy for Chapel Hill.  A meeting was also held with Council members Mark Kleinschmidt and Jim Ward, who were on the committee that recommended the creation of a Public Arts Administrator staff position and the transformation of the Public Arts Commission to that of an advisory committee.  They agreed it would be useful to follow the same process for public arts.

There are many guiding documents for public arts that have been developed over the years including the Percent for Art Ordinance and Guidelines, various Chapel Hill Public Art Commission (CHPAC) guiding documents, and more recently the draft Contextual Plan, which positions public art in context with other town infrastructure, the Streetscapes Master Plan, Land Use Management Ordinance, and the Comprehensive Plan.  These documents, while helping to guide public arts activities, do not provide a clear strategy for implementing public arts for the Town beyond the Percent for Art Program based on the Capital Improvement Project budget. The recent transition of the administration of the Public Arts Program and budget from CHPAC to a Town Office, offers further opportunity to develop concise strategies for public arts.

Following the Economic Development Committee model, the committee so named as “The Mayor’s Committee on Public Arts” would be comprised of the Mayor, two Council members, and two members of the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission.  The Town Manager, the Public Arts Administrator and other Town staff will serve as resources for the committee. A series of public meetings would also be held to gain citizen input and to help refine the goals.

The Committee would be tasked with

• Reviewing all existing public art documents for direction and discrepancies
• Reviewing current public art programs and those program strategies
• Developing concise goals and objectives for public arts with measures for success
• Recommending implementation strategies, including ways of funding public art outside of the existing Percent for Art Program

RECOMMENDATION

I recommend that Council authorize the Creation of a Mayor’s Committee on Public Arts.