What is Public Art

DENTON, TX, July 8, 2024 - Public art works are created and displayed in public places and accessible to everyone. The main goals of Public Art are to enhance the beauty of a particular location; help engender a sense of community and place; and encourage a wider, collective conversation about art, beauty, and aesthetics.

How is Public Art different from other art?

The broad intended appeal of Public Art and the fact that it is often designed with a specific setting in mind, are both some ways in which public art differs from other kinds of art - art that is created for a private commission, or that represents and reflects the social, political, and artistic commitments of its creator or patron, for example. Public Art has differing commitments. It seeks to beautify public spaces in ways that bring people together and does not generally emphasize a political point of view.

Public art in Denton aims to beautify public space, enrich residents' lives through encounters with art, and supply moments of joy and whimsy to residents and visitors as they navigate our public spaces.

What kind of art can be Public Art?

Traditionally the City of Denton Public Art program has supported works of permanent art in traditional formats. We have installed sculptures within park spaces such as the Vela Soccer Complex and the North Lakes Dog Park, and along walking trails at Carroll Boulevard and South Bonnie Brae Street. We have also supported the installation of brick reliefs at the Civic Center, and the purchase of framed art for display in City buildings and facilities. The City has also sponsored several murals around town, the latest at Sycamore Street Bridge near Carl Young Sr. Park.

A community's Public Art program can also include less permanent forms of art like chalk drawings and public performance. In Denton, City staff are actively exploring how best to include fleeting and temporary works within our overall portfolio of Public Art. Our recent vinyl traffic box art wraps are an example of temporary art, with life span expectations for these art works ranging from 5-10 years or more, depending on environmental conditions.

Is all Public Art sponsored by the City?

Most of the art a person encounters in Denton's public spaces are not sponsored or created by the City of Denton. Consider murals, for example. The City has sponsored the installation and upkeep of only a handful of murals. Most murals one encounters on buildings in the Square, on Fry Street, on breweries and other private buildings downtown, are the result of private property owners taking the initiative to hire artists to provide these public-facing works of art. The City only intervenes with these privately funded projects to make sure they meet the requirements of our sign ordinance and do not include any elements that might distract drivers, or otherwise be detrimental to public safety.

How does the City pay for Public Art?

The City funds public art projects through three main funding mechanisms. The first sources of funds used to support public art on an annual basis derives from the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT), a tax that is levied on visitors to Denton who rent a hotel or other short-term rental. The HOT is not a tax that that burdens Denton residents directly. Under Texas law the usages of HOT funds are restricted to purposes that help to encourage tourism and the hotel industry. Among these enumerated purposes is the "encouragement, promotion, improvement and application of the arts" to improve tourism. Currently, the City of Denton Public Art program receives around $100,000 each year from this funding source. HOT funds can be used to fund public art throughout Denton and are not limited to use at a specific project or location.

The second major source for art funding are those funds that support a public art component within a wider bond project. The 2023 Bond Program included several propositions that contain a public art component. For example, Proposition F calls for issuing of $47.4 million of bonds to build a new active adult center, of which $930,000 will support Public Art connected to that project. Public art funded through bonds must remain part of the specific project indicated in the bond proposition.

The final, and usually smallest, source of public art funding is external grants from public or private organizations and institutions. The City of Denton regularly receives funding from the Texas Commission on the Arts, to support public art projects. Grants often require a certain percentage of matching funds from the City, to ensure that the organization applying for a grant has demonstrated a commitment to the project. The first phase of traffic box wraps was funded through a TCA grant and the City's grant match.

Why don't we just use this money to pave streets?

Sometimes, concerned residents ask us why we do not use Public Art funds for other purposes, such as repairing street surfaces or other infrastructure. As the text above illuminates, Public Art funds come from sources that are specifically dedicated to supporting Public Art. In the case of bond propositions, the public, in their capacity as voters, have chosen to support propositions that include Public Art components.

The City of Denton is a full-service city providing all kinds of services and amenities to its residents. Our voters have showed, repeatedly, their support for a community that fosters arts and culture, just as it attends to critical infrastructure needs. There are also intrinsic reasons to support public art, specifically. Public health researchers have demonstrated in several studies that public art can help reduce stress, encourage a sense of curiosity and play among residents, and build a stronger sense of place and community.

Who oversees the City's Public Art Program?

The City of Denton Public Art Committee (PAC) provides oversight of the Public Art program. The Committee is appointed by the Denton City Council and meets to discuss matters of public art on the first Thursday of every other month (Feb., Apr., June, Aug., Oct., Dec.). The meetings are open to the public, and Denton residents are welcome and encouraged to attend and share their opinions about public art with the Committee. For more information about the Public Art Committee click this link to visit this link. Upcoming agendas of Public Art Committee meetings as well as archived agendas and minutes of past meetings are available on the City's Public Meetings and Agendas page at this link.

Administrative support for the Public Art Committee and the Public Art Program is provided by staff in the City of Denton Parks and Recreation Department.

What is the process for creating new public art?

The process for creating new Public Art differs slightly depending on the funding source used to support a particular project. For projects that are funded with Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) funds, a list of prospective projects is drawn up on an annual basis by Denton Parks and Recreation Staff. This list of projects is shared with the Public Art Committee, who will help staff refine which projects to support. Public Art staff in Parks and Recreation will then share this list of possible projects with the City's Community Partnership Committee (CPC), which is ultimately responsible for disbursing HOT funds to departments within the City and to community partners whose work supports tourism in Denton. Public Art staff will then work to refine the annual projects and each project's final overall scope after they have received a final funding level from the CPC.

City staff then create a project scope and a call for artists (request for proposals) which they distribute widely to local artists in Denton, as well as artist across the state and nation. The call for artists is also posted on the City's online purchasing bid platform as well as websites where artists commonly look for public art proposal request. Once the proposal deadline is reached, submissions are considered and voted on by the Public Art Committee as a whole, or in the case of larger projects, by a subcommittee of the Public Art Committee. The subcommittee will rank projects for a final vote by the Public Art Committee. The City Council must approve all Public Art projects before a contract can be issued with the chosen artist. After a contract is signed, Public Art staff in the Parks and Recreation Department continue to work closely with the artist as the work is fabricated, installed, or otherwise provided to the City.

Bond-funded projects are designed in consultation with project-specific staff. This may include staff within the City, as well as external project partners such as construction company staff, architects, and community stakeholders. A scope for project-related art is developed in consultation with these varied stakeholders and the PAC. The PAC may ask for modifications to the scope before voting for its approval. Following this determination, a similar Artist Call / Request for Proposal is shared widely with artists and posted to arts websites. Following council approval and the signing of an artists' contract, the fabrication process proceeds toward completion and installation.

Why doesn't the City only use local Artists?

The Public Art Program seeks to maximize its limited resources to bring the very best Public Art to Denton residents and visitors. Often, we work with local artists, as we have done on the Robertson Murals off Dallas Drive, which were painted by Dan Black. But in the interest of fostering a diverse inventory of Public Art and providing the greatest impact with the funding available, the Public Art Committee does consider artist from outside the region, state, and even the nation. Sometimes the best artist to meet a designated project scope is not a local artist. Still, Public Art staff and the Public Art Committee understand that nurturing local artistic talent is one of the reasons to support a public art program. To help with this goal, public art staff are working to refresh and bolster their database of local and regional artists, and to create closer connections to Denton's community of working artists.

Local artists are also encouraged to reach out to the Public Art staff and the Public Art Committee to share their ideas about public art, and any artist is welcome to submit a proposal for artist calls.

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