Task Force Suggests $70,000 to Fuel Airport Art Exhibit

The John Wayne Airport Arts Task Force has suggested a budget of $70,000 to launch an arts program proposed for the new terminal and an annual budget of $250,000 for the program’s ensuing years.

A professionally curated, inaugural exhibit to feature Orange County artists exclusively also is among proposals made Tuesday by members of the task force, a 12-person panel appointed in March by the County Board of Supervisors. The terminal is scheduled to open April 1.

The proposed $70,000 kickoff budget, which is a partial budget because the proposed program would start in the middle of a fiscal year, is a preliminary recommendation only. On Tuesday, the task force will make its final recommendations, which will be presented on Oct. 31 for examination and possible revision by the supervisors, a county official said.

The $70,000 budget would cover the program’s first two exhibits and the acquisition of one work of art for a permanent collection.

The suggested $250,000 annual budget, to fund four exhibits yearly plus the acquisition of two works of art, will not be presented to the supervisors as a formal “recommendation,” but only as a “sample” spending plan for board consideration, said Courtney Wiercioch, executive assistant to Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, whose 5th district encompasses the airport.

“The task force was not instructed to determine a future budget, but I think it is important that the board understand that if you want a top-quality program, you will have to fund it in a top-quality fashion,” Wiercioch said. “This is a sample of what that sort of budget will look like and will certainly be used as a reference.”

The sample $250,000 budget was based on expenditures for arts programs at other airports, including Los Angeles International Airport, Wiercioch said. Any arts program would be financed largely by the “airport enterprise” fund, which is generated from fees charged airlines, rental car companies and other airport users. The task force also envisions some support from private donations.

The arts program could mean an increase to enterprise fund rates, said Kathie Rutherford, chief of airport special projects and public information, who has been working with the Board of Supervisors and the task force on the airport arts project.

Airport staff will want to review all task force proposals once final, but “the board certainly, and the airport, at the staff level, have been supportive of starting this kind of program,” Rutherford added.

Other preliminary recommendations for the airport arts program made last month after surveys of airport users and officials at arts organizations throughout Orange County include performing-arts presentations and the creation of a five-member commission to oversee the program.

NEXT STEP

The John Wayne Airport Arts Task Force will present its final recommendations on a proposed art program for the new terminal on Tuesday. Those recommendations will be put before the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 31.