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  • From: "Janet Kagan" <jkagan AT nc.rr.com>
  • To: <chpac-staff AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Chpac-staff] Letter to CHNews in Response to Cutson Op-Ed
  • Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 20:11:53 -0500

CHPAC
 
Thank you, everyone, for your comments on the draft response to Robin Cutson's Op-Ed in Sunday's Chapel Hill News.  Please find below the final version of our Letter to the Editor as approved by Jeff and Kate.  It is my understanding that this Letter will run in Wednesday's paper; hopefully the editor will not make any changes to the text (we kept it short of our 400 word limit!)
 
Yours
 
Janet
 
 

 

PUBLIC ART EXTENDS CIVIC PRIDE AND RESPONSIBILITY

 

In response to Robin Cutson's claim (Sunday 9 January 2005 Op-Ed) that public art is a "non-essential" budget item, we would like to correct a misrepresentation of the facts and suggest that public art, when integrated into our experience of public spaces, catalyzes our sense of civic pride, contributes meaning to our Town, and creates a coherent frame for social and communal discourse. 

 

Funds allocated for percent for art projects do not add additional costs to a project; these funds are already integral to project budgets.  Procedurally, Percent for Art commissions are awarded to artists from near and far.  The Public Arts Commission is committed to promoting and advancing professional opportunities for all artists, regardless of address.  Mike Roig, David Wilson, and Sally Erickson are artists who have designed percent for art projects and live locally; Larry Kirkland, Laura Haddad/Tom Drugan, and Ray King live outside of North Carolina.  When communities across America only offer local projects to local artists, our own accomplished regional artists are denied opportunities to compete for projects elsewhere.  In the case of the selection of Ray King to design the new floor for the Homestead Park Aquatics Center, the project received 108 applications from local, regional, and national artists.  Mr King was selected by a committee representing both the Chapel Hill and Orange County Parks and Recreation Departments, the Chapel Hill and Orange County Public Art Commissions, local artists, the project architect, the Town Manager's office, the Town Council, current users of the pool at the Community Center, and outside arts professionals.  The process of deciding which capital improvement projects should include public art, and subsequent artist selection, is open, transparent, and inherently public.  We encourage everyone who is interested to join us in these efforts. 

 

Public art relies upon interaction among artist, community, site, designers and architects, civic leaders, commissioning agencies.  This process produces art that becomes a part of our public history, reflecting and revealing ourselves to each other and our visitors.  The work is an _expression_ of our sense of place and collective identity as articulated by the artist.  Since ancient Greece, public art has been firmly embedded in the idea of synoikismos: making city or place.   Our commitment to beauty in artistic _expression_ makes Chapel Hill a beacon for other communities across the country and helps us celebrate ourselves.

 

 

 

 
 
 



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