Artful measure

Suzie Harrison

The Arts Commission is steps away from establishing a policy that

will help the city purchase, loan, donate and permanently remove

works of art from its collection.

The effort to draft a policy began more than four years ago, Arts

Commissioner Chairwoman Jan Sattler said. There is no city criteria

for the acceptance or denial for loans or donations. There is also no

guideline regarding the permanent removal of art from the city’s

collection.

The need for such a guideline came into play when the city had to

remove a sculpture in front of City Hall last year because of safety

concerns. Having no guidelines has led to some controversy over the

situation, especially between the artist and the city. Sattler and

City Arts Manager Sian Poeschl said they have created the resolution

to protect the city. Right now, they don’t have written rules except

state law and the Visual Artist’s Rights Act.

“The overall aim is to create an arts ordinance that would relate

to visual and performance arts that would be an easy reference for

artists, developers and the public,” Poeschl said.

“The safety of materials for public expectations are equally

important to the artists and the city,” Poeschl said.

After reviewing the Arts Commission’s proposed policy last spring

the City Council requested that City Atty. Phil Kohn review the

proposed guidelines and include a purchase policy. At Tuesday’s

meeting, council members voted unanimously to send the proposal back

to Kohn for additional changes. The Arts Commission plans to return

to the council with the changes on April 20.

“The Arts Commission looked at the same type of policies that

existed in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Long Beach and how they

were beneficial to their Arts Commission and gave them a guideline,”

Poeschl said.

“You have to make a decision -- guidelines help the artists and

Arts Commission,” Poeschl said. “It gives a clear criteria of future

expectation of artworks in the city.”

Though some have expressed a desire that money spent on art should

be spent on sewers and other city needs, the funds were collected

specifically for the purpose of art.

Public art does not come out of the taxpayers’ pocket. It is

funded through the hotels that have voluntarily agreed to assess

themselves an extra 2% in bed tax.

“That is the business improvement tax, and of that 2%, 1% goes to

the Laguna Beach Visitors Bureau,” Sattler said. “And of the

remaining 1%, three-fifths goes to three nonprofit arts organizations

-- Laguna Art Museum, the Laguna Playhouse and Laguna College of Art

and Design.”

The remaining one-fifth goes to the Arts Commission, which uses it

to install public art and to create the cultural arts calendar.

The proposed policy calls for individual contracts that are

approved by the city attorney, Sattler said.

Commissioned artwork is not part of this policy. When the Arts

Commission holds a competition, it writesthe specific guidelines for

it, and the artist submits their work accordingly. The art is not

considered purchased. After it is completed and installed, it is then

part of the city’s permanent art collection.

The city also has an Art in Public Places ordinance. These funds

are collected from building projects, excluding private homes, where

if the value of the project is in excess of $225,000, they need to

donate a percentage of the total project, Sattler said.

“If the project owner hires their own artist, the art has to be

worth 1% of the total project,” Sattler said. “If they want to donate

it to the city, it’s one and a quarter percent.”

An example is the Montage Resort, which has six art projects in

public places -- two in the park and four hotel list projects. The

City Council had to approve all six, Sattler said.

“For specific items, the Arts Commission can choose a location,

for example, artist-designed benches, sculptures, etc.,” Sattler

said. “Those have to be on property owned by the city or public

property.”

The city also receives art donations.

“Any donation has to be approved by the Arts Commission and the

City Council,” Sattler said. “Before it is accepted, the Arts

Commission looks at the city collection to see if [the donation]

enhances the city’s art collection.”