|
CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM |
|
|
Department: |
City Manager’s Office |
Commission Meeting Date: May 15, 2018 |
||
|
Staff Contact: |
Porter Arneill, Director of Communications and Creative Resources |
|||
|
Recommendations/Options/Action Requested: |
|
|||
|
Receive request to install a mural on the ground-level concrete wall of the Lawrence Library. Provide direction to the applicant, as appropriate. |
|
|||
|
Executive Summary: |
A regional artist team, Womxn of Color, has developed and is proposing to install a mural, entitled, WAK’Ó MUJERES PHỤ NỮ WOMXN MURAL, on the south and west wall of the Lawrence Library building (SW corner). Prior to any formal authorization from the City or Library, the group applied for grants to paint the mural on the library parking garage. (Rocket Grant proposal) They have since changed the request to place the mural on the library building. The grants were approved and the group then approached the Library for formal consideration. The mural proposal was presented to the Lawrence Library Board of Trustees on April 16 and the board has provided a letter of support for the WAK’Ó MUJERES PHỤ NỮ WOMXN MURAL project on the Library building. Because the library building is owned by the City, the City would need to authorize any art on the building.
After receiving the correspondence from the Library Board and subsequent discussions with Library staff, it appears that there may have been another group in the community that had previously expressed an interest in placement of art on the library building. VanGo had mural panels on the front of the library building prior to the renovation and expansion project and had previously expressed an interest to the library regarding placement of those mural panels at the library. Those mural panels are currently on public display on the ground level of City Hall.
At this point, the City Commission could approve the mural request to allow the Womxn of Color mural to be placed in the requested location and proceed with the required City reviews, deny the request, or return the request to the Library Board for further discussion and evaluation if any other group has an interest in art placement at the building.
In fairness to the VanGo group and any other who may have an interest, City staff suggests that this issue be returned to the Library Board for further discussion prior to being returned to the City.
Based on city policy, mural proposals are required to be reviewed by the Cultural Arts Commission prior to City Commission review. In this case, since the building is owned by the City, permission from the building owner to allow the mural is necessary prior to the Cultural Arts Commission review. A mural proposal would also require review by the Historic Resources Commission and final authorization by the City Commission once these advisory bodies have reviewed the mural proposal. These would all be future steps if/when the building owner’s permission is granted.
|
|||
|
Strategic Plan Critical Success Factor |
Select one or all that apply:
Effective Governance/Professional Administration
|
|||
|
Fiscal Impact (Amount/Source): |
The fiscal impact to the City is unknown at this stage as it relates to any ongoing maintenance of the mural. There is a grant for the installation of the proposed mural that does not require any City funding of the initial mural placement.
|
|||
|
Attachments: |
||||
|
Reviewed By: (for CMO use only) |
☐TM ☐DS ☐CT ☐BM |