TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Mark Leyman, Director of Parks and Recreation
Martin Betz, Cultural Arts Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Decommissioning Policy for Public Art (Parks and Recreation Director Leyman).
APPROVE
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council approve the Decommissioning Policy for Public Art.
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action.
BACKGROUND:
At the Joint City Council and Cultural Arts Commission meeting held on October 29, 2013, the City Council approved the ability of the Cultural Arts Commission to develop a general decommissioning policy for Art in Public Places. A decommissioning policy is the first step in the development of an inventory list of art works owned by the City. This inventory also includes a condition reporting process. From this inventory and the decommissioning policy work sheet a determination as to the future viability of a specific artwork can be determined.
DISCUSSION:
The City of Manhattan Beach's Decommissioning Policy is designed to ensure that the decommissioning of works of art is governed by careful procedures.
As the Art in Public Places, a program of the Cultural Arts Division, with recommendations from the Cultural Arts Commission and direction from the City Council, has the responsibility of conserving the City's Public Art Collection, and because disposal of artworks is generally irrevocable, decommissioning should be a deliberate procedure. Staff has developed a Decommissioning Policy Worksheet which provides guidelines and clear parameters for determining when the artwork should be decommissioned. (see Attachment 2&3). For example, artwork should not be decommissioned simply because its original aesthetics are not popular and not to dispose of works whose worth might not yet be recognized. Artists' moral rights have been enshrined in law for 20 years through the Visual Artists Rights Act, or VARA, which was enacted as an amendment to the U.S. Copyright Code in 1990. VARA prevents the owners of artworks of "recognized stature" from destroying or altering them without the artist's approval. The reason: Unapproved alterations or destruction may damage an artist's reputation. The law establishes mechanisms by which an artist may retrieve a work of art that the owner might otherwise destroy, as well as enables an artist to disclaim ownership of a piece that has been altered. Works of art are also narrowly defined as paintings, drawings or sculptures, as well as graphic and photographic prints in limited editions of 200 or fewer copies.
CONCLUSION:
The Decommissioning Policy creates guidelines by which a work of art owned by the City can be restored or decommissioned and removed from City property in a well-organized and methodical manner. It follows the protocol as laid out in the Federal law granting rights to artists; VARA(1990), and the California Art Preservation Act(1987)related to the preservation, removal or destruction of artwork.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City council approve the decommissioning policy for public art.
Attachments: 1. Decommissioning Policy
2. Decommissioning Policy Worksheet
3. Standard Condition Report