Santa Monica praised for its public art projects
Santa Monica is spending $95,000 to study whether or not rampant development is having a negative effect on the amount of public art in the city.
If a correlation is found, the city would charge developers fees to create sculptures, murals and landscaping.
California cities such as Culver City and San Francisco already charge developers for public art. Seattle and Boston do the same.
“The council commissioned the planning department to do a Nexus study, which proves from a legal basis the relationship between development and some sort of infrastructure improvement,” said senior planner Kim Christensen. “What we would be doing is trying to prove the need in the community for public art and art improvements in relation to development.”
A similar study is being undertaken to determine if a correlation exists between development and the need for child care.
Santa Monica already taxes the construction of new office and residential complexes to address the additional people who are drawn to the area and need city services.
City officials said it’s likely the city would offer developers options on how they could fulfill their art obligations.
Developers would be given the chance to include artwork in their projects, buy artwork for the city, or pay the city to develop the artwork. The study will even look into whether fees collected from developers could be used to build artist live-work spaces throughout the city.
“I think this is a wonderful idea,” said Elena Allen, chairwoman of the city’s arts commission. “There is a real need in Santa Monica for more artwork, and especially for more space for artists to work.”
City officials say residents and the city’s arts commission will have a say in what kind of artwork is included, to make sure nothing too scandalous or anything in bad taste is included.
“Community process is very important when hiring artists or including artwork in projects,” said Hamp Simmons, a cultural affairs coordinator with the city. “We always make sure people get a chance to look over what is being proposed before it’s approved.”
Christensen said the city has long included public artwork into negotiations of larger corporate developments. During the planning approval for the MGM building and the Water Gardens complex, city officials negotiated for the inclusion of public artwork in their proposals.
“The city has taken steps to recognize this is a major cultural attribute to our community and it has tried to address these types of issues,” Christensen said.
Whenever Santa Monica builds a new park or makes an improvement, 1 percent of the budget must be spent on art in the project.
Art aspects are heavily involved in the $120 million Civic Center Redevelopment plan, the $50 million renovation of the Main Library, as well as numerous other projects throughout the city.
“We have artists partner with the engineers directly,” Simmons said. “The artists concentrate on the decorative aspects of the site — the tiles, the color schemes or the types of materials being used — while the engineers and architects work on the technical aspects of the project.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 5, 2002. Read the original PDF.