Art for the city's sake – Public art adds a touch of class to a city
From today’s Chronicle, “Art — especially sculpture — has been installed in public places for centuries, but the modern-day facilitator for most public art created today is commercial real estate development.”
“Arts-minded developers have been known to fund these works, but mandated requirements are the main way cities can ensure public art funding. In San Francisco, Oakland and Emeryville developers of large projects must spend 1 to 2 percent of their construction budget on art.”
“San Francisco’s administrative code adopted a percent-for-art stipulation in 1969, one of the first Bay Area cities to do so. The city has three agencies administering its programs: the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Planning Department and the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. This art must be visible from the sidewalk or in the open-space area of the building, such as an atrium, according to Neil Hart, chief of neighborhood planning for the San Francisco Planning Department.”
