San Francisco Arts CommissionSTAFF REPORT
Date: November 27, 2002
To: The Honorable Members of the Visual Arts Committee
From: Judy Moran, Project Manager, Public Arts Program
Re: Art on Market Street
The Arts Commission is exploring the reactivation of the Market
Street Art in Transit Temporary Projects Program in 2003. This
program, which commissioned a wide range of temporary projects,
including dance, performance, installations, and music concerts, was
active from 1992 until 1998. This popular program sponsored dancers
on the face of the Ferry Building, banners at United Nations Plaza, a
puppet theatre, slide projections of people waving to be viewed by
passengers riding on the Muni Metro, a temporary urban apple orchard,
and a book of historic photographs and text about Market Street,
among numerous other imaginative events. The Temporary Projects
program was an important promotional asset for the Arts Commission as
the events were typically covered by the media.
Proposed Art on Market Street --Temporary Projects program
Staff has the following recommendations for reactivating the
Temporary Projects program:
1. Name change: Staff is proposing changing the name of the program
to Art on Market Street for both the Temporary Projects and the Kiosk
Poster Series as the current program is no longer focussed on
transit.
2. Commissions: Staff is proposing commissioning between two to three
temporary projects per year, in the late Spring to early Fall, to
avoid rainy weather. The project amounts will range between $5,000 to
$25,000, allowing for a diverse program of activities that vary in
scope. The total maximum budget annually for all temporary projects
will be $35,000.
3. Application process: As with the Kiosk Poster Series, the
Temporary Projects will be an annual competitive process, with
applications reviewed by a peer panel of artists and art
professionals. The projects would be restricted to Bay Area
artists.
History of the Temporary Project Program
Public Utilities Commission (PUC) funds, generated by the
reconstruction of mid-Market Street in 1991, combined with funds from
Gannett, funded the Market Street Art in Transit Program program,
which included six to eight Temporary Projects and five exhibitions
in the Kiosk Poster Series annually. By 1998, the original PUC funds
had been reduced to a level at which the budget was insufficient for
supporting the continuation of the original scope of the Temporary
Projects. Fortunately, the Kiosk Poster Series has been able to
continue due to the ongoing annual donation of Gannett funds.
Over the past five years, the Arts Commission has accumulated an
annual surplus of the Gannett funds, which, combined with the
remaining amount of PUC funds, is sufficient to permit the Arts
Commission to reactivate the Market Street Temporary Projects program
for the near future on a modest scale.
The Arts Commission staff looks forward to bringing this innovative
program back to Market Street.