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Appendix 1
Public Art Policy
(2003)
Wellington City Council
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Contents
Section 1 – Setting the Scene:
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Definition of Public Art
1.3
How this Policy Relates to Council’s Strategic Directions
1.4 Objectives of the Policy
Section 2 – How These Objectives Will be Met
2.1 Art and Urban Design
2.2 The Wellington Sculpture Trust
2.3 Guidelines for Acquisitioning, Commissioning or Accepting Gifts of Public
Art
2.4 Guidelines for Deaccessioning or Relocating Public Art Works
2.5 Temporary Art in Public Places
2.6 Community Art in Public Places
2.7 Funding
2.8 Maintenance and Asset Management
2.9 Monitoring
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Section 1 – Setting the Scene
1.1 Introduction
Wellington has some fantastic and diverse examples of public art, from
sculptures to murals, fountains to mosaics, monuments to statues, and the
integration of art into the urban fabric of the city in order to enrich and enhance
the physical attractiveness of the city.
Our rich heritage of public art works are an integral part of what makes
Wellington a beautiful, dynamic and enjoyable city to live in, and will continue to
be an important component of Wellington’s future as a Creative City.
The Public Art Policy aims to ensure that public art continues to make our urban
environment visually beautiful, and reflects both Wellington’s heritage and
contemporary cultural diversity.
1.2 Definition of Public Art
For the purposes of this Policy, public art is defined broadly to include all art
forms, permanent or temporary, which are located in, part of, or associated with
a public space, environment or facility that is highly accessible to members of the
public. Without limiting the definition of public art, the following spheres of
public art are included:
• Permanent art works created for (often specific) public places
• The collaboration of artists, architects, and landscape, urban and
roading/traffic designers to create unique physical environments or features
which integrate art into the urban fabric of Wellington City
• Art works produced by or through the involvement of the community (where
they result in art in public places). Community public art has a specific,
stand-alone section in the policy.
• Temporary art exhibits/performances/exhibitions/events/installations in public
places.
Examples include sculptures, murals, functional art (e.g. designed public seating,
paving, and manhole covers), forms of landscaping, sound and light works, water
or glass features.
This policy will apply to public art that is created, facilitated, owned or
maintained by Wellington City Council.
The Public Art Policy will not cover:
• Heritage Buildings or the Council’s Heritage Art Collection
• Indoor art works covered by the Furnishing Art Collection Policy (2001)
• Privately owned works (except where they are located in public places)
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• Street performance and busking (street performance is covered by the Street
Performance Policy)
• Community Arts programmes (except where they result in art installations in
public places)
• Contemporary advertising/billboards.
1.3 How this Policy relates to Council’s Strategic Direction
The Public Art Policy relates to the city’s vision Creative Wellington – Innovation
Capital, in particular to retain and attract creative people to our, in order to help
our economy grow by:
• Celebrating our diversity, culture, heritage, innovation and creativity
• Fostering technological, economic, cultural and artistic creativity and
innovation
The Public Art Policy also relates to the following strategic outcomes sought by
Council:
Outcome 1.3:
Memorable City
Wellington is a memorable, beautiful city, celebrating its distinctive landmarks,
defining features and heritage.
Outcome 3: Culture and Arts
3.1
Arts and Cultural Capital
Wellington is New Zealand’s arts and cultural capital where the arts
infrastructure is strong and supportive of the performance, exhibition and
development of the arts.
3.3 Art in Public Places
Art enriches the natural environment of Wellington’s central city and
suburbs.
3.4
Maori Art
The arts of mana whenua and nga iwi o nga hau e wha are valued,
promoted and enhanced.
3.5
Quality of Life
The city provides lifelong opportunities for access to the arts, thereby
enhancing the quality of life of residents.
3.6
Diversity of Arts
The city values and celebrates the arts of a wide diversity of cultures.
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Outcome 4: City Economy
4.1
Ideal Location
Wellington is known throughout the Pacific Basin as an ideal location for
business people and their families
4.3 Premier Centre
Wellington’s central city is the premier and most rapidly growing retail,
entertainment, service and knowledge centre for the region.
4.5 Destination of Choice
Wellington is a growing destination of choice for international and
domestic visitors
1.4 Objectives of the Public Art Policy
The primary objective of Public Art Policy is to increase the amount, quality and
diversity of public art in Wellington city.
The Policy also has secondary objectives, which are to:
•
Excite the imagination of the community and increase its understanding,
enjoyment and involvement in public art
•
Reinforce the unique identity of Wellington as an Arts Capital
•
Integrate public art into the infrastructure and natural environments of the
city in order to enhance public spaces
•
Acknowledge the cultural diversity of contemporary Wellington, and the Mäori
and Pakeha heritage of historical Wellington
•
Raise awareness of public art and promote opportunities for increasing the
amount of art that is accessible to the public either visually or physically in
Wellington City.
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The relationship between
the Wellington Sculpture
Trust and Council works
well. This suggests that
much of the acquisition of
sculpture in Wellington
should remain within the
ambit of that relationship.
Section 2 – How these objectives will be met
2.1 Art and Urban Design
A key feature of public art is the integration of art into the urban fabric of the city
in order to enrich and enhance the physical and cultural dimensions of the city.
Public art can transform and enliven public spaces, contributing several benefits,
from the purely aesthetic, to economic and social benefits such as tourism, links
with our city’s heritage, and an appreciation of different cultures.
Wellington City has several examples of integrating art into urban design in the
development or re-development of public spaces, including the Civic Centre and
Te Aro Park. Such integration can also result in functional art, such as the City
to Sea Bridge linking the Civic Centre to the Waterfront. This integration reflects
Wellington’s position as New Zealand’s arts and cultural capital, its belief that art
enriches its natural environment, and its quest to provide lifelong opportunities
for access to the arts, enhancing the quality of life of its residents.
To ensure that artistic design becomes an ever-increasing component of
Wellington’s urban fabric, the potential for integrating art (including functional
art) into the design of public spaces will be an active consideration in all Council
development projects in Wellington city (not just in the CBD). Appropriate
development projects will incorporate artistic design costs into overall
development budgets.
2.2
The Wellington Sculpture Trust
Much of the public art in Wellington over the last 20 years has resulted from a
partnership between the Wellington Sculpture Trust (WST) and the Wellington
City Council. The WST has an established process
for funding and commissioning works of public art,
and works with the Council to establish locations,
clarify issues of suitability and maintenance
requirements, and to organise transfer of
ownership to the Council.
The relationship between the WST and Council has
resulted in a significant boost in the number of
public art works in Wellington City in recent years,
aided in large part by generous funding from the Griffin Trust and Meridian
Energy. Examples include the Meridian Energy Wind Sculpture series, the
Lambton Quay Sculpture project, and the Sculpture Walk in the Botanic Gardens.
The Public Art Policy endorses this relationship to continue to provide Wellington
City with quality public sculpture.
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2.3 Guidelines for Acquisitioning, Commissioning or Accepting Gifts of
Public Art
Where Council wishes to commission a work of public art, or perhaps run design
competitions for public art, it will work with the Wellington Sculpture Trust,
utilising the already established processes of the Trust to commission works.
From time to time the Council is also offered works of art for display in public
places, on both a temporary or permanent basis, sometimes without recognising
the ongoing liability that the Council may be entering into, for example in terms
of maintenance, repair or public safety issues. In considering commissioning or
accepting gifts of public art, the Council will make decisions based on the
following guidelines
1
:
Meeting the objectives of
the Public Art Policy
Primary consideration should be given to the objectives of
quality and diversity. Diversity should be taken to mean
diversity of culture and of type of art (for example sculpture
versus functional art; ‘European art’ versus ‘indigenous art’;
temporary versus permanent). Consideration should also be
given to the secondary objectives of the Policy.
Cost of Maintenance &
Installation
The costs of maintenance over a 10 year period should be
estimated and assessed, along with an indication of the
expected life of the artwork. Maintenance and installation costs
should be reasonable in relation to the value of the art work,
and affordable within operational maintenance and installation
budgets.
Safety
Public art is, more often than not, physically accessible to the
public. Art works therefore need to be both physically robust
and safe to members of the public. Issues of safety are of
primary concern.
Artistic Merit & Quality of
the Work.
Art works will and should be the subject of debate as to their
artistic merits. Bearing in mind the primary objective of gaining
quality and diverse public art, regard should be had to:
the anticipated public response and interaction
accessibility to the public
the degree to which it reflects Wellington’s heritage and/or
contemporary culture
expert judgement as to the merits of the art work
the degree to which its artistic merits will be sufficiently enduring
to justify the costs associated with its adoption.
Materials
Council may draft and publish more prescriptive guidelines for
the types of materials that should be used in the construction of
public art, bearing in mind issues of durability, maintenance,
public safety and location.
Involving Council’s
Treaty Partners
In making decisions about accepting, locating or
commissioning public works of art, the Council will
consult with its Treaty Partners as appropriate.
Consultation with
Communities
Where possible, decisions regarding public art works
should involve consultation with the relevant local
community.
Special Reason
Sometimes an offer of a gifted public art work will
come from an individual or organisation where the
relationship with Council requires broader relationship
issues and sensitivities to be considered and
consulted on in weighing up whether to accept a
gifted public art work.
1
This section on guidelines does not apply to community public art: a separate section of this
policy sets out Council’s role in respect of community public art.
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Gifts of public art works should only be accepted if they can be properly utilised
and made publicly accessible. The Public Art Policy does not envisage placing
public art works in storage against the possibility that they be useful some time
in the future, although temporary storage (e.g. waiting for a specific site to
become available) will be permitted.
Location decisions should include consideration of the sensibility of the art work
in relation to the suggested site and cityscape, and be positioned to maximise
exposure to the intended public. Consideration will obviously also be given to
any potential impact on existing uses of the public space (e.g. pedestrian access,
traffic flow, utility infrastructure etc).
2.4 Guidelines for Deaccessioning or Relocating Public Art Works
From time to time decisions need to be made about either removing or relocating
public art works from Council’s collection, for a range of reasons including artistic
relevance, public safety, changes to the design and use of the public space
occupied by the art work, and the possibility that a new and better site has
become available for an art work.
Decisions on deaccessioning will be made by Council, taking the following into
account:
•
the primary objective of the policy is to increase the amount, quality and
diversity of public art in Wellington
•
wherever possible, decisions must involve consultation with the artist(s) (or
the family of the artist(s) if necessary) and other relevant people or
organisations involved in its establishment
•
that an emphasis of the Public Art Policy is on raising awareness of public art
and promoting opportunities for the public to access public art and, as such,
the storing of public art works is generally to be discouraged
•
whether an art work continues to be relevant to its location
•
whether the work forms part of a ‘collection’, such as the Meridian Energy
Wind Sculpture series
•
the popularity of the art work with the Wellington public
•
if an art work needs to be moved, consideration should be given to whether
an another site can be located
•
if an artwork needs to be moved or altered in any way, consideration should
be given to the moral rights of an artist under the Copyright Act 1994.
Options for deaccessioning include:
•
re-location to another appropriate site
•
selling or gifting the art work back to the artist
•
donating to a community group or facility, or organisation that operates for
public benefit
•
open sale or auction
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•
other removal as appropriate
Decisions on the above options will need to be made on a case by case basis,
based on criteria that include:
•
resale value
•
sensibilities around how Council came to own the art work
•
condition of the work
2.5 Temporary Art in Public Places
An increased emphasis will to be given to promoting temporary public art works,
which enliven our environment, raise awareness and engender debate about
public art. The new Council Public Art Group, formed to implement aspects of
this Policy, will have a role in actively promoting temporary public art works. A
list of possible sites where artists could locate public art works will be developed,
and a process established for artists seeking to create a temporary exhibition/art
work.
The proposed establishment of a new Public Art Fund in 2004/05
2
may present
opportunities for promoting temporary public art works, possibly with a focus on
regular exhibitions and/or based around events such as major festivals.
2.6 Community Art in Public Places
Community public art aims to assist communities towards self celebration and
self definition, through the expression of a sense of identity and the creation of
community consciousness. It encourages active participation from community
members whilst also developing audiences. Wellington’s community public art
predominantly takes the form of public murals and aerosol art. Current
examples are the murals on the James Smiths, Lombard and Marion Street car
parks and the Balaena Bay mural.
Wellington City Council provides a Community Arts Development Coordinator
who works with the community to support and develop community-based quality
arts programmes and activities, including community-based public art. The
Community Arts Advisor also works with schools to encourage participation from
children and young people in community art. The Public Art Policy continues to
support the provision of community art through Council’s Community Arts
Development Coordinator.
2
See section 2.7: Funding.
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2.7
Funding
Funding for public art will come from a variety of sources, including:
•
Council grants, operational and capital funding
•
Sponsorship
•
Private funding.
Funding is set aside each year by the Council for the maintenance of its public art
works.
The Council also works with various organisations, such as the Wellington
Sculpture Trust, to fund and promote public art, and funds a Community Arts
Development Coordinator who works with the community to produce community-
based public art.
Consideration will be given in future to establishing a specific Public Art Fund
through Council’s annual budgeting processes. Such a budget would be used to
cover costs such as installations for gifted works, commissioning works, and
running regular public art work competitions in Wellington.
2.8
Maintenance and Asset Management
The Council is responsible for maintaining its public arts to a reasonable and safe
standard. An Asset Management Plan for Public Art, already in progress, will be
completed and regularly updated as required to represent a complete register of
public art works that Council has responsibility for, and will provide a
conservation management plan that details the condition and maintenance
requirements of each work.
2.9
Monitoring
The Council will monitor the performance of the Public Art Policy and report
annually against the following measures to the Economy and Arts Committee:
• The total number of art works in the public domain
• The number of new artworks installed in public places each year
• The number of art works in the public domain with Mäori design themes and
features
• Level of compliance with the Public Art Asset Management Plan for those
works covered by this Policy
• The amount of funding devoted to public art in Wellington
• The proportion of Council development projects that integrated art work into
urban design
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• The diversity of cultures represented by the artists that either gift works or
who are commissioned to produce public art that will be owned by Wellington
City Council
• Feedback on public art works from the Resident Satisfaction Survey
• Feedback on public art works from Positively Wellington Tourism surveys of
tourists.