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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2016)
theater, dance, music, comedy). “The bifurcation of visual arts and performing arts feels unnatural,” Cultural Services Director Anderson tells me. “To me, they really seem woven together.” As art becomes more multi-disciplinary, it’s true that the distinction between visual arts (think 2D art) and performing arts tends to blur more frequently. However, lumping the visual arts in with performing arts, which are the dominant focus of the Hult Center, is also an easy way for the visual arts to be lost in the fray. Anderson explains that the city does support the visual arts in many ways, the efforts just aren’t as visible as the performing arts. “We do not support an art center currently,” Anderson says. “But we do support tons of arts programming, but a lot of it is distributed through the community in ways people don’t see.” Anderson adds that the city also supports the visual arts by maintaining different venues, funneling grants through Lane Arts Council, hosting community events and the city’s public art program, “which is kind of quiet in the background.” Isaac Marquez has been the city’s public art manager since 2010. The position, however, is halftime (.5 FTE), which he combines with another half-time position helping organize and host Cultural Services events like the annual (sub)Urban Projections mutlimedia festival. “The art that the city owns, we’ve pieced together a little funding and we do a better job of caring for it and maintaining it now,” Marquez says, pointing out that before his half-time position was created in 2010, there was no public art manager. Eugene has more than 200 commissioned and donated works in its collection. Some of these art works are outdoors — Pete Helzer’s Ken Kesey statue or the new skate park murals, for example — and some are displayed in public buildings around town, while others are in storage and others still are unaccounted for. “The database is not up to date,” Marquez says. “It’s kind of embarrassing that we don’t have this really high- end inventory system, but we’re not like a museum.” He says in June he is getting help to revamp the system. NUMBERS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS In January 2010, the city released the Eugene Public Art Plan. The plan came to fruition through a $25,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant and the participation of the Eugene Public Art Committee and a 14-person steering committee, as well as stakeholder interviews with more than 400 Eugeneans, from City Manager Jon Ruiz to EW’s own music writer William Kennedy. The plan, prepared by Portland consulting firm Barney & Worth, Inc., in association with Oregon’s Regional Arts & Cultural Council, draws many conclusions about Eugene’s relationship to the visual arts. The good news: “Eugene has emerged as an arts destination, with an abundance of arts and cultural offerings enjoyed by visitors and residents alike.” It should be noted that the Jacobs Gallery, which is mentioned in the plan, and other art galleries have closed since the information was gathered. There are several areas where the plan identifies that Eugene has fallen behind best practices: For midsize cities (populations of 100,000 to 250,000), the average annual budget for public art programs is $330,000. “The city of Eugene’s most recent completed budget year shows the Public Art Fund with total resources of $213,000,” the plan states. The city has not yet responded to a request for the program’s current budget. It also states, “Unlike its peers, Eugene has not developed a robust array of printed brochures, maps, web information and other interpretive materials” of its public art. In other words, the city of Eugene has not made its public collection accessible to the public. And despite Eugene being one of the earliest adopters of the percent-for-art funding model in 1981 — a model now used by more than 75 percent of public art programs 13 February 4, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com 'THE CITY HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR PLACES TO CUT THE BUDGET, AND IT GIVES A LIE TO THE DECLARATION THAT THE CITY OF EUGENE IS THE CITY OF THE ARTS AND OUTDOORS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NEVER PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS.' - JERRY ROSS nationwide — the city has since faltered. Eugene’s One Percent For Art ordinance currently requires that one percent of funds for all city construction and remodeling projects go to the public art fund, which funds art commissions, infrastructure and maintenance. Peer cities have moved from a one percent to two percent model, have widened the scope of eligible funding to include transportation projects and have calculated the percentage for art on the city’s entire capital budget, including purchases of land, buildings and machinery. “The rationale for Eugene’s unusually narrow percent- for-art definition is no longer clear,” the plan states. “Eugene’s funding level of one percent for capital projects also now falls behind national best practices.” The plan also makes recommendations for city staffing. “The program still does not have a full-time, dedicated staff, an ingredient that is essential for ongoing success.” Under national best practices, the plan states that peer cities typically have “two (or more) full-time staff.” A PUBLIC HUB FOR THE VISUAL ARTS On Nov. 4, 2015, Mayor Piercy wrote an email to Grube, Anderson and the City Council. “It is my great hope and determination that we will use this moment of change with the Jacobs to do something really important and innovative in the visual arts for/with our city.” She continues: “Two things come to my mind. One is that we have a collection of some fine local art pieces and no place to show them in a focused and meaningful way. I have long been interested in us showing the local art and artists that we have in our city collection. Artists have told me they would contribute additional pieces if they knew they would be part of a city collection and would be shown.” Piercy goes on to say that the Jacobs Gallery folks are interested in a venue that “teaches and nourishes artists,” while the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art “has long talked about a downtown presence. Is there some connection here?” She concludes by saying: “Let’s not be pedestrian and let us take advantage of this opportunity.” Perhaps this is the moment for which the visual arts community has been advocating for decades, the moment to build a public art center and museum. Maybe Eugene can have an art center, which many in the arts community say could be run in a similar fashion to the city-run rec centers in town, with art classes, studio space and a permanent gallery space where the city’s public art collection could be on view and easily accessible to its citizens. And while the visual arts community stated that the art hubs Eugene does have — like Maude Kerns Art Center, the volunteer-run New Zone Gallery and the Schnitzer — are essential to local visual arts, fundamentally they have different missions than a public art center. “There’s collections everywhere and they need to be in one place,” Miriam Jordan says of the city’s art. “Our heritage is scattered everywhere.” Lane Arts Council Executive Directer Liora Sponko says she and the LAC board would support a public art center. “An art center would put us on the map as an exceptional art city. It could bring cultural tourists for us." Several are wary that the city does not have the commitment to the visual arts, both financially and culturally, to build a central public art hub. “You notice there is never anything coming from the city manager, very little from the mayor and definitely complete silence from the City Council regarding the cultural heritage of the city of Eugene,” artist Ross says. Ross, for one, has long advocated that the city purchase the U.S. Post Office building at 520 Willamette St., which was for sale in years past, and turn it into a public art museum and art center. The post office is home to federally protected WPA murals, an effort that Ross spearheaded, and thus anyone who buys the building cannot alter these murals. The post office is no longer on the market, but you can read about Ross’ efforts at poempnw.wordpress.com. Others have suggested the old, vacant Lane Community College building downtown and EWEB’s old, vacant steam plant as potential homes for an art center. Old buildings are good for the arts as they typically cost less to rent. “It’s a matter of who’s going to fund it? Who’s going to create it?” Sponko asks. THE ONE-PERCENT “You can imagine that half the people in this community, or any community, don’t think the government should be funding the arts at all,” Anderson says. She adds that she’s unsure what role the city should play in the visual arts community. “Making sure there is equitable access and that we’re reaching all areas of the community, that’s really what we’re best at and probably what’s our most appropriate role,” Anderson says. But could the city initiate community partnerships to finally build some sort of central public hub for the visual arts? “Yes, and we’re exploring a couple things that I can’t really talk about,” Anderson says. In the end, it always comes down to money. But perhaps the city could finally reevaluate the One Percent for Art ordinance and follow the recommendations from the Eugene Public Art Plan to move to a two percent model. “I think that Eugene’s Percent for Art program is awesome and I think it could grow and expand,” Anderson says. “That would immediately double our percent for art budget for projects. The more funding that we have through those — obviously we can create more art — but we can also create the infrastructure to maintain and take care of it.” As Marquez and Anderson point out, changing the percent for art ordinance is a policy decision that is up to the Eugene City Council. It’s also something citizens of Eugene at large need to answer for themselves. Should the city increase its financial support of the visual arts? “I think that would be a great question to ask the community,” Marquez says.
