By Bill Parry
Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law Wednesday a raft of bills that changes how the city approaches and is involved in the arts following years of controversy over the placement of a sculpture known as “The Sunbather” in Long Island City.
The 9-foot-high hot pink sculpture now gracing a median along Jackson Avenue at 43rd Avenue in Long Island City proved to be so contentious that the City Council last week passed its first ever package of cultural legislation since the establishment of the Department of Cultural Affairs in 1976 as well as the largest set of reforms to the Percent for Art program since it was initiated in 1982. Brooklyn-based artist Ohad Meromi was commissioned by the city to create “The Sunbather,” angering some in the Long Island arts community that one of their own was not selected.
The $515,000 cost raised the ire of many, but the lack of community involvement in the decision-making process so outraged a Community Board 2 meeting in 2014 that it led to the first-ever Cultural Town Hall meeting before a standing-room only crowd at MoMA PS1 in March, 2015. City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) co-hosted that evening alongside Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl, and the two later worked to deliver legislation that gives the community greater input, increases funds allocated to public art installations and encourages diversity in the artists commissioned for the project.
“Today we passed the largest package of bills ever in the history of the Committee of Cultural Affairs, and the first reform to the Percent for Art program since it was created under Mayor Koch,” said Van Bramer, who chairs the committee. “These pieces of legislation will bring more transparency and accountability to the public art process and strengthen the programs that help make our city the cultural capital of the world.”
The Percent For Art law requires that 1 percent of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects be spent on public artwork. The law was initiated by Koch in 1982. The program is managed by the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
“These bills will increase community input into the Percent for Art program by requiring community members to sit on Percent for Art panels, requiring the DCLA to collect data on who receives commissions, and mandating that outreach to artists is conducted in multiple languages,” Van Bramer said. “They will also strengthen Percent for Art by increasing the amount of money that can be spent on these important projects.”
The Percentage of Art program has commissioned hundreds of site-specific projects in a variety of media such as painting, lighting, mosaic, sculpture and works that are integrated into infrastructure and architecture.
“This package also contains legislation requiring reports from the Arts Commission and the cultural institutions groups, bringing more transparency to the institutions that literally shape the face of our city,” Van Bramer said. “New York City is better with more public art, more ambitious public art, and public art in every neighborhood. what this package will accomplish.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
