HomeMy WebLinkAboutREDkiserb2From :Kiser, Betsy
Sent :Monday, June 14, 2010 5 :12 P M
To :Carter, Andrew
Cc :Lichtig, Kati e
Subject :RE : Portola Fountain Art
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Hi Andrew ,
Please see the responses to your questions below . Contact me if you need additiona l
clarification .
1.Prior to Tuesday's meeting, I'm interested in some detail on the $130,000 budget for th e
public art . What else, if anything, does that include besides the cost of the art? On the surface, i t
seems like a high amount .
The Portola Fountain public art budget includes : $125,000 for the artist commission and $5,00 0
for finalists stipends, plaque, dedication, and conditions required by the ARC/Council . The artis t
is responsible for all costs associated with the creation of the piece : engineering, fabrication ,
installation, attendance at jury reviews, ARC and Council meetings, lighting, etc . What remains i s
what the artist is paid for his artistic expression and idea .
The amount of work required by staff, the jury and advisory boards/Council for any public ar t
project (regardless of size and location) is relatively the same, therefore, 3 years ago the CI P
Review Committee agreed to focus on fewer but larger, more elaborate pieces of public art . At
30 feet high the Portola Fountain project, if approved, will be the largest (in size) commissione d
piece of art for the City . However, the piece is comparable to other City pieces in price . Iro n
Road Pioneers (at the Railroad roundabout) was purchased in 2002 for $100,000 (include d
$75,000 of donated funds), Puck (the statue in Downtown Centre) was purchased by th e
community in 2003 for $80,000 and Bequest (Monterey/Buena Vista) was commissioned fo r
$88,000 in 2009 .
2.Could you also provide some comparison costs for other recent art installed in the City ?
For instance, the Beebe sculpture at the Little Theatre, the obelisk in beside City Hall, the dancin g
people and cubes sculpture at the north end of Monterey Street, and the kids going up the spira l
sculpture in Mitchell Park .
Over the years, the City has been fortunate to work with a generous art community who ha s
either raised funds or donated money or in-kind labor to acquire many of the City's pieces . In th e
programs infancy many of the pieces would not have been possible without such efforts ; such a s
BeeBee Works His Magic ($10,000 donated by family and Arts Obispo), Puck ($80,000 from 6
families in community), Garnet (donated by artist Kate Briton and Diane Blakeslee), Iron Roa d
Pioneers (matched $50,000 of City funding with $75,000 from Friends of Iron Road Pioneers),
Bear/Child Fountain (all donations), and the Seven Sisters Railing to name a few . Therefore, it i s
challenging to provide comparable costs to current pieces in the City's collection . The fabricatio n
and materials used for each piece also heavily influences the price point, for instance a bronz e
piece is more expensive than a stainless steel piece and a kinetic piece (such as the Portol a
Fountain) is more difficult to fabricate and therefore costs more than a stationary piece . Beques t
is the most likely comparison with a budget of $90,000 ($88,000 for the artist commission); the
three sculptures vary in size (15, 12 and 9 feet respectively). It is also important to note that th e
artist's commission includes all materials and installation costs as well as any cost associate d
with lighting .
RECEIVE D
JUN 15 201 0
SLO CITY CLERK
3.The $130,000 funding chart for the art shows $42K in "In Lieu" and $88K in "Genera l
Fund ." Am I correct that the "In Lieu" is developer-paid in lieu and the "General Fund" is the i n
lieu we charge ourselves ?
You are correct -- the "In-Lieu" fund is developer paid fees (Y2%of project cost up to $50,000) and
General Fund is a 1% set-aside of estimated cost of eligible projects in its Capital Improvemen t
Plan for public art . While the funding chart indicates the majority of funding being allocated fro m
the General Fund, there are sufficient un-allocated "in-lieu" funds to cover the full cost of thi s
project if the Council chooses to direct staff to do so . That being said, by ordinance, the Genera l
Fund allocations remain earmarked for public art and staff would eventually return to Council wit h
proposed projects for these funds .
4.A reminder about how we have recently reduced the in lieu we charge ourselves woul d
also be helpful . (As I recall, reduced rate and changes to how the base is calculated .)
As part of the Council approved 2009-11 Financial Plan budget balancing strategies, the City's
public art CIP contribution was decreased from 1% to 'A% (reducing the public art budget b y
50%).
Betsy Kiser, Parks and Recreation Directo r
City of San Luis Obisp o
1341 Nipomo Stree t
San Luis Obispo, CA 9340 1
tel 805 .781 .729 4
web www .slocitv .org/parksandrecreation