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84MASTER VISIOn85curAtoriAl Vision 1. general Recommendations • Allow planning time and budget for the selected artist to spend time in Redwood City to better understand the people, city and context. • Consider the city’s unique placement in the Bay Area and its central position to nature, the bay, high tech industry, and residential communities. • Honor the historic and ongoing diversity that Redwood City embraces. • Recognize that Redwood City is also the county seat for San Mateo County. • Relate to the environmental interests of the community including the park system, San Francisco Bay Trail, Harbor. • Recognize the diversity of scale of projects from budget, to size, to placement. • Seek out projects that provide a big impact whether in central locations like downtown or the unique and different neighborhood communities. • Welcome and embody the values of the residents while also providing thought provoking and timeless artworks. 2. Commissioning Although commissioned artworks are preferred, sometimes pre-existing artworks are equally appropriate for permanent or temporary public artworks. In all cases, the proposed site and project should begin with either a city staff need/idea or a CCC initiative. In all cases a steering committee should be formed with appropriate community input to form the basis of the project. Industry standard has since bifurcated the RFQ/RFP process into two separate stages. The belief was that it was unfair for a city to request ideas for free at the RFQ stage and could open the city to law suits. Templates for a standard RFQ and RFP and flushed out examples of each have been provided by Fung Collaboratives for City staff to review and modify as appropriate. The call for artists (RFQ and RFP) should be done electronically. The CCC can request all applications to be sent as a pdf to a designated city staff person. Late entries should not be accepted. If the CCC envisions multiple open calls within a year, platforms like Slideroom should be considered. The annual fee is minimal ($1,200) and provides an organized and easy presentation mode for any selection committee or viewer. All content is confidential and easy to access. Included is a current list of sites to post national RFQ and RFP in the useful document section of the Master Vision. 3. Permanent All eyes and attention go to permanent public art because they are designed to last the test of time. Often cities rush and acquire artwork that is unsuitable for the site or that has no connection to the people and place it was on view for. Removing permanent public art can be a difficult process, and should absolutely be avoided. All permanent public art projects should have enough time for the proper process to take place, giving time to ensure that an artwork is meaningful, relevant, timeless, thought provoking, and desired by the community and visitors. The CCC review and oversight process described in the Master Vision should always take place with the special steering committee maintaining proper control. This process takes between two – four years on average. Each new public artwork has its own needs, so there exists no effective cookie cutter approach. In some cases, a local artist may be preferred or an outside artist preferred. Each approach has its value. Regardless, with proper support to either artist, an amazing artwork should be the outcome. The steering committee should seek out fresh and different forms of expression. A wall does not necessarily mean a mural but rather could accommodate photography, light, kinetic, projection, relief artwork or even sculpture. Be imaginative in your search! It is obvious that ADA compliance, safety, maintainability, and appropriateness are all necessary but what can really set apart Redwood City’s public art program is the vision. Artists that can listen, communicate and embed, produce an artwork that has both personal and universal content and appeal should be the benchmark during the artist search. The search process can be an open call, selection from a pre-registered list, part of a recommended search list or any combination of the above. The most important thing is to find an artist that is the right fit for the particular assignment. The end goal is to have an artwork that is authored by the artist, but in a way that the artist does not impose their ideas on the community. Rather, through mediating proper dialogue with the right artist, the artist can embrace the needs and aspirations of the community while expressing their own artist voice. The committee, community and artists all need to be on the same page. Intentions, goals, and desires should all be clearly defined at the time of contract signing. This allows the artist time to research and create his or her conceptual ideas and evolve them over time until a final, detailed proposal is created, reviewed and approved. Redwood City residents want High Art – not decoration - and from a miscellany of artists from the local to the foreign. The main priority is appropriateness and intellectual and aesthetic quality. It is equally important that the demographic of artists reflects that of Redwood City. The Bird Bath and Fountain at the Jardin de Ninos Park is a great example of embracing and listening to the local community. The only way the outdoor museum can be envisioned is by embracing artists with different philosophies, backgrounds, aesthetics, and interests. The Arts are about conversation and acceptance. Colette CrutCHer & aileen barr redwood City ante bulJan redwood City 8.A. - Page 48