Council Could Let Arts Funds Pay For Memorials, Statues [UPDATED]

UPDATES APPENDED

Nashville’s Metro Council will vote tonight on a measure to let public arts dollars pay for statues and memorials. Over the last decade Metro has set aside millions of dollars to install art around the city, and the proposal is to make sure that includes monuments.

The bill is up for its second of three readings, and sponsor Vivian Wilhoite says she aims to clear up some ambiguity about what kinds of project the arts commission can approve. While final say would still rest with the commission, Wilhoite says she’s paving the way for a Civil Rights memorial.

“To be tied by the mere fact they could not do public art that would be in dedication to such heroic events of the Civil Rights movement as the sit-in participants and the freedom riders, it seemed to me that we should be able to do those things.”

In years past, the arts commission has been criticized for not approving projects fast enough and sitting on funds. Wilhoite says her measure provides another outlet to release that money.

At the state level, some statue proposals have triggered partisan disputes, like a scuttled plan two years ago to build a statue of Al Gore at the state capitol. Wilhoite says that kind of conflict won’t be a problem for Metro, because she’s confident in the arts commission’s criteria for deciding what to fund.

UPDATED – Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Jennifer Cole, executive director with Metro Arts Commission, points out the measure was defeated in Budget and Finance Committee on Monday afternoon.

Cole argues as the current law stands the commission can already fund memorials and statues, pending a design process (ppt) required to incorporate input from the public and the Historical Commission. Cole says for that reason the Arts Commission has committed to doing a Civil Rights memorial, but can’t guarantee what it will look like, saying the result of the process might not be a conventional “bronze bust.”

“I think we can honor historical events without having to be figurative, or literal… we can be more abstract,” Cole said.

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At Tuesday night’s meeting of the full Metro Council, despite the lack of committee support Wilhoite brought the measure up. After twenty minutes of debate the council opted to put her measure off one meeting. You can hear raw audio from that discussion below.

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WEB EXTRA:

From the council’s analysis:

ORDINANCE NO. BL2011-952 (WILHOITE) – This ordinance amends the public art financing provisions in the Metro Code to specify that public art funds can be used for the commissioning and installation of statues, memorials, and monuments. In 2000, the council enacted BL2000-250 to establish the “one percent for public art” program, which requires that one percent of all general obligation bonds issued by the Metropolitan Government for construction projects be set aside to fund public art. The 2000 ordinance required the arts commission to develop public art guidelines that include criteria for accepting donations or gifts (both of money and art), a procedure for the selection of artists, and for placement of public art projects. The arts commission was also required to develop rules and regulations for the expenditure of the public art funds to be approved by a resolution of the council. The resolution approving the rules and regulations was adopted by the council in September 2001.

The public art ordinance, guidelines, and the rules governing the expenditure of the public art funds do not expressly prohibit the use of these funds for statues, memorials, and monuments to commemorate a historic person, place, or event. However, the code does not specifically include them within the definition of “public art project”. This ordinance would amend the definition to include the commissioning and installation of statutes, memorials, and monuments to honor, recognize, or commemorate a historic place or event, or to honor a person of historical significance.

The council office would point out that this ordinance is, and can only be, permissive in nature. That is, the council can grant the arts commission the authority to procure a monument using the public art funds, but cannot mandate that the arts commission select a specific historic event or location. The arts commission would continue to follow its policies and procedures for the selection of artists, artwork, and sites.

The council office recommends a housekeeping amendment for this ordinance to include the participation of the historical commission, as one of the powers granted to the historical commission in the Metro Code is to “cooperate with appropriate officials and agencies in … the erection of monuments, markers, etc.”

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