DEPARTMENT: Department of Arts & Culture
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Debbie Racca-Sittre
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: All
SUBJECT:
Briefing and possible action on the Department of Arts & Culture's pre-qualified list of public art professionals.
SUMMARY:
Briefing and possible action on the pre-qualified list of public art professionals whose services may be used to implement art projects established by the San Antonio Arts Commission and/or the Department of Arts & Culture in an amount not-to-exceed the budget allocation for public art and arts programming through the department.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Department of Arts & Culture has issued an open call for artists since 2012 to create a pre-qualified list of public art professionals to be available for selection by the San Antonio Arts Commission and/or contracting and payment through the Department of Arts & Culture. In January 2020, City Council approved a list that is valid for three years and remains active for two more years.
In November 2020, the department issued an open call as part of a competitive and curated process to update the City's pre-qualified list of public art professionals comprised of public artists and art support services. Extensive outreach including: weekly emails to art professionals and organizations requesting they apply, such as local universities, community colleges, neighborhood associations, arts agencies, galleries and museums in San Antonio and Texas, SA CARES 4 Art grantees, Americans for the Arts, and the Texas Public Art Association. Information regarding the open call was included in the department's newsletter which has a distribution of 5,000+ recipients, posted on the department's website and social media accounts, and placed in advertisements through various local media with an emphasis on targeting artists of color and residing in underrepresented areas of the city. In addition to these outreach efforts City Council offices also assisted with outreach thr...
Click here for full text