As Manager of Public Art at Americans for the Arts, I wanted to familiarize our constituents about the Public Art Network (PAN) and the tools and resources available to enable arts professionals to create public artworks and programs in their communities.
PAN was initiated in the late 1990’s by a group of public art professionals from across the nation and Americans for the Arts officially adopted the network in the year 2000. PAN serves a membership of over 1,000 public art programs and artists nationwide and operates with a fifteen member-elected Council of advisors.
One of the first questions people often ask is: “what is public art?”
This wide ranging art form can be temporary or permanent, and created in diverse scales. Often it is integrated into the design and construction of the exterior or interior of projects, but can also be created as a stand-alone object as well. Public art enhances the identity, livability, and quality of places through projects that are meaningful to the community for which the art is created.
Public art is typically developed as part of a public capital improvement project (CIP) through a percent-for-art policy. Typically 1% of a CIP construction budget is set aside for the public art project. Frequently artists are selected and short-listed through a Request for Qualification (RFQ) process, with one finalist artist selected by an artist selection panel made up of art and design professionals and representatives of the community where the work is sited. Early involvement of an artist at the outset of design is a best practice encouraged by PAN.
The PAN Council recently published Best Practices Guidelines that are available on our website, as well as guidelines for selecting artists, sample contracts, and our invaluable advocacy tool, the Year in Review CD. PAN’s Year in Review is the only national award that annually recognizes 40 outstanding projects completed in the previous year. The CDs contain digital JPEG images of projects that can be utilized for educational and advocacy purposes. If you are starting a public art program or initiating a project, I highly recommend PAN Council member and Director of San Jose’s Public Art program, Barbara Goldstein’s Public Art by the Book. If you are an artist interested in entering the field, The Artist’s Guide to Public Art by, Lynn Basa, is a must-read.
Whether you are initiating a public art project or manage an existing program, I recommend subscribing to the PAN listserv and joining the conversation online with other public art professionals. It is a high traffic listserv, but the information-sharing is an invaluable resource for anyone involved in this creative and expanding field. To join the listserv—(you must be an Americans for the Arts member)—contact membership@artsusa.org. For any other public art question, feel free to contact me at pan@artsusa.org.
Popularity: 1%