Public Art Committee

Meetings

  • 4 p.m.
  • 3rd Tuesday of each month
  • City Hall
    2200 Second St.
    Fort Myers, FL 33901

Agendas & Minutes

Agendas are available prior to the meetings. Minutes are available following approval.

All agenda, minutes, and other related materials will be accessible when available.

Members

Members must be residents of the city who have an interest or background in the arts. If not a resident, the member must work in the city or be a member of an arts board or committee in the city.

The committee shall consist of 7 members and 2 alternate members. Members of the Public Art Committee shall serve for 3-year terms without compensation. Any member of the Public Art Committee who fails to attend 2 of 3 successive meetings without cause, shall be automatically removed from the committee.

Overview

The public art program is administered by staff under the auspices of the Public Art Committee, a 9-member volunteer board. The program seeks the establishment of fine art in public places. The Public Art Committee oversees the commissioning, review, installation and maintenance of public art within the City. Municipal and private developers or owners who apply to the city for building permits to construct or reconstruct a structure with building permit values of $250,000 or more shall be encouraged to contribute 1.5% of construction or reconstruction costs not to exceed $150,000 to the provision of fine art to be enjoyed by the public in conjunction with such projects.

The encouraged public art fee will apply to commercial construction, municipal construction, single family residential with 25 lots or more, multifamily residential of 50 units or more, and alterations/reconstruction that exceeds 50% of the building value. In lieu of acquisition and installation of public art on the development site an incentive will be provided through the reduction off the contribution to 1% to private developers or owners who provide a public art in lieu contribution to the public art fund. See Chapter 106, Article III of the Land Development Code for more information.

Duties

The members of the committee shall be sworn by the city clerk to perform the duties of the office. A Statement of Financial Interest, Form 1 is required to be filed annually. The duties of the committee are as follows:

  1. Develop an art plan for the city, which shall be presented to City Council annually.
  2. Prepare implementation guidelines, selection criteria, and organizational policies to facilitate this article to include a fiscal impact and economic analysis, subject to the approval of the City Council.
  3. Responsibility for program planning; prioritizing sites for public art; determining project scope and budget; overseeing the artist selection process; commissioning artworks; reviewing design, execution and placement of artworks; overseeing maintenance and repair of the artworks in cooperation with parks division and/or facilities maintenance division and the process for removal of artworks from the city public art collection.
  4. Invite professionals in the visual arts and design fields to serve in the artist selection process in order to ensure works or highest quality, or to assist in the determination of artistic merit of works of art offered to the city as donation or for purchase.
  5. Ensure appropriate community participation in the public art and public education activities as part of the public art collection.
  6. Coordinate, investigate, review and recommend to City Council other means by which artworks may be obtained, including donations to the public art fund, gifts of artwork, and grant applications for the public art collection.
  7. Act as liaison with private developers to encourage and facilitate private contributions and private art installations within corporate construction and reconstruction projects.
  8. Encourage public art throughout the city and shall educate and stimulate the participation of all citizens in a joint public and private effort to promote art in public places.
  9. Prior to the selection and commissioning of artists, reviewing of design and the recommendation of the acceptance of works of art, the Public Art Committee shall submit the action proposed to be taken to the City Council for approval.
  10. Develop procedures detailing the rights and responsibilities of the artists selected.
  11. Establish and inventory and archive of existing and future public art.
  12. Have other such duties and responsibilities granted by the City Council consistent with the public art needs of the city.
  1. Public Art Committee - Public Art Annual Plan (PDF)