Glendale Arts and Culture Commission to draft public art master plan for city
The Glendale Arts and Culture Commission is working with the consultants behind CicLAvia as well as a renowned public art planner to develop and implement a public art master plan for the city.
The plan will be the first of its kind for Glendale and is meant to serve as an organizing document to help guide how the now more than $6 million in the city’s Urban Arts Fund will be used over the next five to 10 years.
Chuck Wike, community relations manager for the city’s Library, Arts and Culture Department, said the plan will outline goals, look at ways to secure additional funds and cover how to safeguard the art projects themselves.
“The master plan is really about integrating the arts into the fabric of the city and discovering other ways to raise arts and culture in Glendale besides what we’ve done in the past,” he said. “[We want to know], what does the community want and how does it support Glendale’s identity?”
Commission members have recruited the help of Community Arts Resources, a Los Angeles-based consulting team responsible for urban-art projects such as CicLAvia, Chinatown Summer Nights and the Santa Monica Festival.
They are also working with independent consultant Barbara Goldstein & Associates, whose namesake is an award-winning public art planner and former committee chair of the Public Art Network for Americans for the Arts.
The consultant teams spent last month meeting with City Council members, the arts commission and artist focus groups. Now, they are now seeking input from the public to get a broader idea of what should be included in the plan.
“We want to hear from people and educate them as to what is possible. It’s a real long-term look at the city, and we have a big chunk of money that we want to use creatively,” Wike said. “We want to raise the visibility of Glendale. We want to get as many people thinking and talking about this as possible.”
A free public workshop will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 18 at 201 E. Colorado St., next to the Glendale Central Library. A “play zone” will be provided for children.
The public arts master plan is expected to be completed sometime next year, Wike said.
“Great cities are defined by their arts and cultural offerings,” said Mayor Vartan Gharpetian, in a statement. “We look forward to a public art plan that is built upon Glendale’s rich and diverse cultures, its beautiful setting and its vibrant neighborhoods.”
Twitter: @JeffLanda
