Promoting public art

Promoting public art

Written by Kara Vaught Friday, 20 February 2009

Leander arts ordinance creates public art fund.

Capital Metro’s Red Line train, opening March 30, and the extension of Toll 183A in 2010 will make getting to and from Leander quicker and easier.

By approving a public arts ordinance Dec. 18, the Leander City Council took a step toward making sure people have something to do when they arrive.

“Art contributes to society in such a constructive manner,” said Kirk Clennan, Leander economic development director. “It makes people think. It helps you stop and look and listen. [The arts ordinance] is a component of Leander’s sustained economic development efforts over the next 50 years.”

Money for art, money from art

Leander’s arts ordinance creates a public art fund. It stipulates that 1 percent of the construction cost of a municipal building project and up to 1 percent of the construction cost of a municipal construction project should be deposited into the fund.

Also, when private developers or owners of commercial structures apply for building permits, they will “be encouraged to commit 1 percent of the construction or reconstruction costs” to acquiring fine art to be displayed on the property or donate that sum to the public art fund.

Tamara Hudgins, executive director of the Chisholm Trail Communities Foundation, consulted with Clennan in the formation of the ordinance. She cited Chicago, which has a similar statute, as an example of how public art drives economic development.

“It brings tourists to you. It brings unlikely viewers or visitors to you, and when they come to you, they drop cash near or around you,” Hudgins said.

Art in Austin

Art is working for Leander’s southern neighbor. A 2007 study, Arts & Economic Prosperity III, found that the nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $271.69 million in local economic activity for the City of Austin. That spending, according to the study, supports 8,625 full-time equivalent jobs generating $154.77 million in household income to local residents and produces $27.49 million in local and state government revenue.

Leander does not have projections on what its potential art community could mean in terms of dollars, but the city is open to all artistic comers.

“We’re not only talking about the small picture,” Clennan said. “Films, television shows — anything artful is welcome in Leander.”

Public arts committee

The seven members of Leander’s public arts committee will secure donations, grants and other financial support to supplement private and public donations to the art fund.

They will also create and sponsor public nonprofit programs to foster development of and interest in public art.

Decisions of the public arts committee will be subject to approval by the city council. Members must be residents of Leander and serve for no more than two four-year terms.

City of Leander Mayor John Cowman said he would nominate Carmen Amaya, executive director of the nonprofit Legacy Voices, which promotes arts education and instruction through events such as the Nutcracker Tea Party at the Leander Public Library.

Amaya also owned Pulse Center for the Arts, a dance and performing arts studio, which she had to close when the credit market crisis began.

Leander’s arts ordinance, Amaya said, is the beginning of a city-wide movement she hopes will result in building a performing arts center located in the transit-oriented development.

“That way it could be accessible to the children by public transportation,” she said. “It would be somewhere where people could go pretty cost-effectively without having to depend on a car to get there. I would like to see it have a great after-school program.”

To that end, Amaya said she wants to develop some pilot programs for schools.

“There’s so much research about how the arts help children learn every academic subject.”

Big on art

Tamara Hudgins, executive director of the Chisholm Trail Communities Foundation, consulted with Leander in the formation of its arts ordinance. She cited Chicago, which has a similar statute, as an example of how public art drives economic development. The Windy City helped fund popular attractions including the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor amphitheater with brushed stainless steel ribbons and a trellis of steel pipes that carry a sound system. A sculpture called Cloud Gate is composed of highly polished stainless steel and is casually called The Millennium Bean because of its likeness to an upside-down jelly bean.

Members of Leander’s public arts committee were scheduled to be nominated at the Feb. 19 city council meeting. Per city ordinance, the committee includes:

• One city council member

• One executive director of an active local arts nonprofit corporation

• One landscape architect, architect, urban planner or related design professional

• One active professional artist

• Three citizens supportive of and educated or active in the fields of public art, education or community affairs

Leander’s arts ordinance created a public arts fund, stipulating that it would receive contributions from:

• Grants secured by the public art committee

• Private donations

• Public projects — 1 percent of the construction cost of a municipal building project and up to 1 percent of the construction cost of a municipal construction project should be deposited into the fund.

• Private developers or owners of commercial structures — When applying for permits, they will be encouraged to commit 1 percent of the construction or reconstruction costs to acquiring fine art to be displayed on the property.

Legacy Voices

Carmen Amaya, Leander mayor John Cowman’s nominee for Leander’s public arts committee, is the executive director of Legacy Voices, an arts nonprofit originally founded by her father in Virginia.

In 2004, Amaya moved to Leander and took over Julianna’s Performing Arts Studio, renaming it Pulse Center for the Arts.

“It was the best thing I could have done,” Amaya said. “I needed to see how the for-profit model worked. One of the biggest things I learned was that some of the most talented kids who wanted it the most were the ones who couldn’t pay for [classes].”

She began to search for grant money that would enable her to give scholarships, but soon realized the need outweighed the resources.

In an effort to keep the center going, Amaya applied for an operating loan. But at the closing table, her funding fell through. Pulse was a casualty of the national lending crisis.

However, Amaya said she realized the world of for-profit arts instruction was not for her.

“It seemed like it was something that some people used to be competitive or exclusive and that’s not me at all. Arts should be for everyone.”

Which is why Amaya approached Cowman about creating a more art-friendly Leander.

“I really didn’t know what to expect when I first met him, but I was overwhelmed at how supportive he was. He’s truly a visionary,” she said.

Now that the ordinance establishing a public arts committee is in place, Legacy Voices can aid the city in creating its artistic vision.

“It takes a collaboration of a city and a local organization to really bring the arts into fruition,” Amaya said. “Different foundations fund things differently — some only give to foundations and some only give to municipalities.

“My dream is to build the facility, whatever mechanism is needed to get that accomplished.”