17 Nov Public Art MOU Approved Between City, Arts council
November 16, 2016 ? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
At the November 15 Commission meeting, commissioners approved the Greater Augusta Arts Council?s Policy on Public Art as well as a Memorandum of Understanding for Professional Services related to Public Art with the Greater Augusta Arts Council. These approvals mark progress on the Greater Augusta Arts Council?s Master Public Art Plan for Augusta, which will be released in early 2017.
The plan, being written by Convention, Sports & Leisure International, coincides with two other plans being written by the same company for the purpose of destination development in Augusta- the Parks and Recreation Master Plan and the Augusta Master Plan commissioned by the Augusta Convention & Visitor?s Bureau.
Once the Public Art Master Plan is finalized, the Greater Augusta Arts Council will start work on determining ?neighborhood themes? that will guide the selection process for new art works around the city through community input meetings, neighborhood surveys, and researching historical features of the areas. When themes are established that reflect the communities of Augusta?s districts, then public art projects will commence.
Funding for these projects will depend on a variety of public and private partnerships, as well as strong community support such as the approval of SPLOST VII in November 2015. In it, the City of Augusta allocated nearly 1 Million dollars for Gateway Beautification, specifically, public art installments on the gateway entrances to Augusta. With the Public Art Master Plan complete, the Greater Augusta Arts Council will make recommendations to the city on how they may best utilize these funds, as well as any allocated for public art by the City of Augusta in the future.
The Arts Council will continue seeking such partnerships with city departments, private enterprise, and national arts organizations in order to fund additional projects around the city.
?Augusta, Georgia is on a rising tide,? said Brenda Durant, Executive Director of the Arts Council, ?Recent hotel announcements, the roll out of the downtown TSPLOST Concepts, and the approval of the Public Art Policy create a vision for our future that will be second to none. It?s impressive to be engaged in so much creative collaboration and partnerships. For Augusta, the sky is the limit.?
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Greater Augusta Arts Council :: PO Box 1776 :: Augusta, GA 30903
The mission of the Greater Augusta Arts Council is to enrich the quality of life for?citizens and visitors of Augusta and the CSRA by advancing a vibrant cultural arts agenda.