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[Chpac-staff] Chapel Hill News: Letter to the Editor
- From: "Janet Kagan" <jkagan AT nc.rr.com>
- To: <chpac-staff AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [Chpac-staff] Chapel Hill News: Letter to the Editor
- Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2005 14:25:35 -0500
Letter to the Editor
Chapel Hill News
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 her 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.
For
the record, the Town passed a Percent for Ordinance in March 2002. Funds allocated for percent for art
projects do not add additional costs to a project; these funds are already
integral to its budget. The process
of deciding which capital improvement projects should include the work of a
public artist is public, open, and transparent. Ms Cutson seems concerned about the
ratio of local: national artists who are commissioned to design site specific
works. If every community across
America applied her logic of only offering local projects to local artists, our
own accomplished regional artists would be denied the opportunity to compete for
projects elsewhere across the country.
The Public Arts Commission is committed to promoting and advancing
professional opportunities for all artists, regardless of their address. 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. A modest design
competition was held among three finalists, whose proposals for public comment
were displayed in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough for four weeks. The choice of Mr King was made by a
selection 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. Regarding the design of the new Southern
Community Park, the artist team of Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan are receiving
compensation of $20,000 not $28,400 as stated, for consulting services to the
Park design team. Their scope of
work is to collaborate with the landscape architects and the Parks and
Recreation Department to create art elements that will establish a cohesive
aesthetic framework to enhance the experience of the new Park.
Since ancient Greece, public art has been firmly embedded in the idea of synoikismos: making city or place. Without aesthetic beauty or commitment to the arts, Chapel Hill becomes an uninteresting and mediocre town. Instead, let us continue to celebrate ourselves and create works of our time for all time .
-
[Chpac-staff] Chapel Hill News: Letter to the Editor,
Janet Kagan, 01/09/2005
- Re: [Chpac-staff] Chapel Hill News: Letter to the Editor, Bibb Latané, 01/09/2005
- Re: [Chpac-staff] Chapel Hill News: Letter to the Editor, Susan Leeb, 01/10/2005
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