Privatizing Public Art

Dear Editor:

I'm writing today to express my concern for an issue about to come up for vote at the City Council meeting on June 13 that will affect my work as a creator (and critic, and consumer) of public art.

As you may be aware, in mid-May at the request of the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs (Lois Weisberg), Mayor Daley proposed an ordinance to revamp the Public Art Program. Unfortunately, this proposed ordinance is bad government: bad for Chicagoans and particularly bad for the Chicago art community. In essence it wipes out public participation in the selection of public art. This is outrageous, and will not be tolerated by the Chicago art community.

Mayor Daley and the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) have proposed an ordinance to modify the Public Art Program. Their stated reason makes no sense: that the open meetings were cumbersome and unnecessary. Unfortunately, public participation is a necessary and vital aspect of the selection, creation, and consumption of public art. It is, in other words, absolutely necessary.

We have proposed an alternative ordinance. We are the following groups: Punk Planet, Bad at Sports, the Chicago Artists Coalition, Lumpen, Sharkforum, ArtLetter, and others to be named soon. The issue comes up for a vote on June 13th, and I am writing in support of the ordinance as we've rewritten it here.

This language, in comparison to the original ordinance and that proposed by the DCA, can be found here.

Chicago has a great tradition of public art. This is a process that should be opened to wider public participation, not shut down to members of the public. To that end, I'm asking you please act in support the Public Art Ordinance Amendments we've created.

Sincerely,

Anne Elizabeth Moore
Punk Planet

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