Title
Presentation by Forecast Public Art and City Staff on Draft Public Art Master Plan
Body
To: Honorable Chair and Members of the Public Art Commission
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Forecast Public Art (Forecast) and staff will provide a presentation on the revised draft Public Art Master Plan (Plan). The presentation and facilitated discussion will focus on the revisions to the Plan following feedback from the Public Art Commission (PAC) and the public during the April 17, 2023, meeting. Following this discussion, staff intends to present the Plan to the Recreation and Park Commission on June 8, 2023, and the Planning Board on June 26, 2023, before bringing the final Plan back to the PAC for approval in July. If approved by the PAC, staff would bring the Plan before City Council for final approval in September 2023.
BACKGROUND
The completion of a Plan was recommended by the PAC to guide the implementation of the City of Alameda’s (City) public art program, in alignment with the vision and goals of the Alameda community, PAC and City Council. A Request for Proposals from qualified consultants was issued in June 2021 and Forecast was selected in November 2021.
In June of 2022, Forecast provided an introduction to the PAC that included a review of initial timelines and work plans, a discussion of definitions, and a collaborative effort to agree on next steps in the planning process. In August of 2022, Forecast’s second facilitation focused on defining the mission, vision and goals of the Plan and introducing the PAC to new community engagement approaches. In October, Forecast facilitated a third discussion exploring the role of the PAC as well as artwork selection and installation processes.
In addition to these facilitated discussions, Forecast conducted a robust community engagement strategy, which involved collaboration with local artists, arts organizations, and community members. This community engagement strategy has played a key role in shaping the development of this Plan and has included:
• One-on-one conversations
• Focus groups
• Pop-up, creative engagement activities conducted by local team members
• Community wide survey
On April 17, 2023, Forecast and staff presented a draft of the Plan to the PAC. The draft presented at the April 17, 2023, meeting included only text content and Forecast and staff received feedback related primarily to four key elements of the Plan:
• Vision, Mission, and Goals of Alameda’s Public Art Program
• Recommendations
• Five-year action plan
• Typical processes for artwork commissioned by Public Art Fund grants
During the April 17, 2023, meeting, the PAC provided feedback about the Plan. This draft Plan incorporates feedback on the Plan’s content from the April 17 PAC meeting.
DISCUSSION
This presentation and facilitated discussion will focus on the revisions to the Plan following feedback from the PAC and the public during the April 17, 2023, meeting. These revisions include, but are not limited to the following sections:
• Executive Summary
o Expanded executive summary to include information from each section of the Plan.
• Mission/Vision/Goals
o Completed revisions to the Mission/Vision/Goals so that they better align with PAC input in August 2022 and October 2022 meetings.
• Recommendations and Action Plan
o Simplified and pared down Recommendations and Action Plan sections per PAC suggestions. This includes removal of the “proposed public art projects” section from each year of the Action Plan;
o Reordered Action Plan and moved content (e.g. unveiling ceremony structure) to an appendix;
o Added to Year 1 the development of a toolkit/reference package that can be used to onboard new PAC or staff members when there is turnover;
o Added specificity regarding what should be in the Biennial Plan; and
o Simplified language regarding the visibility plan in Year 3.
• Appendices
o Moved content from the beginning of the document into appendices;
o Added an appendix that shares examples of what other communities in California are doing regarding funding public art;
o Incorporated a handful of sample charts (final version will include all designed charts and graphs);
o Rearranged the order of the appendices (e.g. moved the Guidelines and Procedures documents to be the last two appendices);
o Removed suggestion for the creation of a public art advisory committee and reference to naval history;
o Changed the “Evaluation Committee” to be “PAC Subcommittee” in the Procedures and included a note that this subcommittee will recommend to the full PAC which grants to award; and
o Simplified suggestions that would involve volunteer coordination to better align with staff capacity.
Following this discussion, staff intends to present the Plan to the Recreation and Park Commission on June 8, 2023, and the Planning Board on June 26, 2023 before bringing the final, designed Plan back to the PAC for approval in July. If approved by the PAC, staff would bring the Plan before City Council for final approval and adoption in September 2023.
Forecast has prepared a presentation for the PAC at its May 23, 2023, meeting.
RECOMMENDATION
This item is for discussion purposes only. No action is needed.
Respectfully submitted,
Walker Toma, Development Manager
Secretary, Public Art Commission
Exhibit:
1. Revised Draft Alameda Public Art Master Plan
Cc: Lois Butler