Better Government Association

You Talk, We'll Pick

By Deanna Isaacs
May 18, 2007

LAST WEEK THE mayor quietly introduced an ordinance that looks like it'll take the public out of the city's Public Art Program. Acting "at the request of the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs," according to a cover letter, Daley asked the City Council to agree to changes in the Percent for Art program that will transfer the powers and responsibilities of the Public Art Committee and the project advisory panels, both of which include citizen members, to the Cultural Affairs staff. Under the new provisions, Cultural Affairs will develop its own procedures and control the purse strings, deciding which artists are invited to participate and selecting the art. The department will be required to hold two public forums on each project but won't be obligated to act in accordance with anything said there.

Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association (which has represented attorney Scott Hodes in lawsuits against the city over its administration of the program), says, "The existing procedure is subject to the Open Meetings Act; with these changes, we'll have a very closed, top-down, bureaucratic process" that'll take away transparency. "If this goes through," Stewart says, "the name should be changed from the Public Art Program to the Government Art Program."

In a written statement acknowledging that the project advisory panels and Public Art Committee will be dumped, Cultural Affairs commissioner Lois Weisberg maintains that the changes will nonetheless "provide for more community input into the process." According to Public Art Program director Greg Knight, "the Public Art staff and curatorial staff will take the lead. We want broad public participation, and that starts with the alderman's office, but we also have great confidence in the staff to work on public art projects in a very informed way." Knight says restrictions on the program had become "ridiculous," focusing on details, mandating meetings, and hampering creativity. "We're worn down by eight years of lawsuits by Scott Hodes," Knight says. "He needs to get a life."