The Willow Glen Resident Council Watch SJ prepares to launch public art master plan Neighborhoods will be asked to aid in selections By Cecily Barnes The San Jose City Council is expected to approve the creation of a Public Art Master Plan for the city of San Jose this week. An actual master plan has not yet been devised thus the council's approval will mean only a green light to devise such a plan. Over the past 12 years money earmarked for public art has been used on a case-by-case basis as the money and art presents itself. Once the Public Art Master Plan is in place, this will no longer be the case. A comprehensive plan will determine which areas of the city need more art, and what types of art are lacking. "This will be moving us out of a more or less reactive mode, of reacting to each project, into a plan or a vision," said Jerry Allen, Director of the Office of Cultural Affairs. Although the plan has yet to be drafted, Allen assures that the plan will include directives to place public art in the neighborhoods, and to insure community input in the selection process. "In the past decade or so, much of the city's efforts have been on revitalizing the downtown," Allen said. "But there's been a shift in the last few years towards greater emphasis on neighborhoods and communities. "We want to see how the public art program can evolve by having more emphasis on the neighborhoods and communities rather than just the down town," Allen said. And it logically follows that the communities where the art is placed, should have some say in what that art will look like. Allen says that a format for public involvement will likely be built into the master plan. "We really want to emphasize the public part of public art, how to develop meaningful ways for the public to get involved in the design and ownership of the work," Allen said. "We're very conscious of the community's right to be involved in the decision making process about publicly funded art that might be in their community for the next 50 to 100 years." For the past 12 years, public art has been subsidized by the two percent ordinance, whereby two-percent of city developments and certain redevelopment agency projects go towards the public art pot. According to Allen, this totaled approximately $400,000 this last fiscal year. Eighty art pieces have been completed, and 30 are currently in the works. If approved by the council, the public art team will include Harriet Traurig, Jennifer Murphy and Tom Low. Traurig has consulted on public art for San Francisco, Emeryville and St. Louis. Murphy directed the Denver International Airport Art Program, and Low is an architect and urban planner. [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, December 9, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.