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24master vision25public artThe committee should consist of 1 city staff member from the Parks, Recreation, and Community
<br />Service Department, up to three CCC members, who may be selected on a voluntary or rotating basis,
<br />stakeholders, neighborhood representatives, and at least one artist.
<br />Projects over $50,000 should hire an outside art advisor on either an hourly basis or flat rate fee (based
<br />upon the scope of work) and paid from the overall project budget. The advisor’s role can simply be a
<br />committee member up to helping advise and and guide the committee through the process. Fees can
<br />range from $75 per hour to $1,000 per project. Fung Collaboratives has reached out to the leading public
<br />art directors to enlist their support for future projects. A list of local art experts is attached. This list can be
<br />used in the search for an art advisor.
<br />Each committee will be assigned a manager, who should be one of the CCC members. The manager’s
<br />role is to guide the process, ensure best practices are being followed, communicate with the city public
<br />art coordinator, and update the CCC and City Council of milestones. The same procedure should take
<br />place if an outside organization proposes an artwork.
<br />If an outside organization brings a public art project to the CCC, a steering committee will still need to be
<br />formed. If a project is fully funded and is on private property, the steering committee will have the sole
<br />responsibility to make its recommendation to the CCC and eventually to the City Council of whether or
<br />not to approve the public art request.
<br />Standard City procurement policy should be followed allowing projects up to $ 10,000 be approved by the
<br />Director of Parks, Recreation, and Community Services. Projects up to $ 60,000 may be approved by the
<br />City Manager. All other projects will need to be approved by the City Council. The CCC may use their
<br />discretion to seek City Council approval for any special projects or unique situations. In all cases, City
<br />Council should remain in the communication loop and should be encouraged to attend public meetings.
<br />recoMMendAtions
<br />organization and responsibilities
<br />The existing Redwood City arts organizations are functioning although in most cases their full potential is not
<br />being realized. There also remains a lack of communication between the organizations and transparency to the
<br />general public. These issues are intensified by the lack of a lead organization such as a significant museum,
<br />university, or private foundation. The best way for the city to increase efficiency and efficacy is to centralize the
<br />public arts process. Following are three recommendations to do so.
<br />Centralize the public art process by abolishing the PATF and
<br />expanding the responsibilities of the CCC.
<br />As the primary cultural organization for Redwood City, The Civic Cultural Commission (CCC) needs to
<br />become the main city organization for arts and culture, as well as public art. It should be the conduit
<br />between all public and private art organizations and Redwood City. It is only through active and informed
<br />commissioners that any initiative can flourish. The success of any immediate campaign relies on the
<br />passion, participation and work done by the CCC.
<br />Although the Public Art Task Force (PATF) has played a significant role in how Redwood City approves
<br />new public art for the city, we recommend the elimination of the PATF. The current committee consists of
<br />up to three CCC members and two City Council members. One of the original purposes for the formation
<br />of the PATF was the desire to keep the City Council informed of all public art initiatives from conception,
<br />to the City Council approval process, and unveiling. Industry standard does not encourage City Council
<br />to take part during any design review process.
<br />The recommendation is that the full CCC should review all public art proposals and vote if the proposal
<br />is worthy for further review and process. One member of the CCC should be selected as the public art
<br />administrator whose main function is to routinely update the city staff member so that staff reports to the
<br />City Council are up to date in regards to all public art activities. This assignment can be voluntary or on a
<br />rotating basis.
<br />The CCC should also lead the art commissioning process. Commissioning an artist to create a site
<br />specific public artwork usually results in an artwork that includes the voice of the city and community
<br />better than acquiring pre-existing artwork. There are of course some few exceptions. In creating a
<br />meaningful artwork that satisfies the city and community, getting the right artist is crucial. In most cases it
<br />is best to do an open call that details the specific interests, goals and needs to be fulfilled by the artwork.
<br />This is typically done through a Request for Qualifications (RFQ), from which a predetermined quantity
<br />of artists advance to the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage. These artists are paid a design fee for their
<br />detailed conceptual proposals. Cities can also create a pre-approved “pool of artists” that the city and
<br />CCC has approved for consideration for future projects. These artists can be found in a number of ways,
<br />such as unsolicited applications, an RFQ for becoming part of the artist pool, or sought out directly by
<br />the city or CCC. On occasion the City, CCC, or selection committee can instead invite an artist directly
<br />at the RFP stage. This action is usually justified by the artist having a specific expertise, by extenuating
<br />circumstance such as time restrictions, or some other important factor.
<br />For each public art initiative accepted by the CCC for further review, a special review / steering
<br />committee should be formed. The committee will oversee, guide, and make recommendations to the
<br />CCC, as well as keep the City Council informed on relevant information. They will oversee all permanent
<br />and temporary public art projects as well as city and private public art requests.
<br />The committee involvement may vary based on the situation.
<br />For City projects or City funded projects, this steering committee will be involved with every aspect of the
<br />process: creating and implementing the RFQ and RFP, community input, location selection, call for artist,
<br />artist proposal, final design, budget review, etc.
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