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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2024 0521 AC REG ITEM 08BItem: 8.B. CITY OF MOORPARK MOORPARK ARTS COMMISSION AGENDA REPORT TO: Moorpark Arts Commission FROM: Chris Ball, Senior Management Analyst DATE: 5/21/2024 Regular Meeting SUBJECT: Consider Options for Programming Sculpture Garden at New Moorpark Library BACKGROUND Construction of a new City Hall and Library has been one of the City Council’s top ten priorities for over twenty years. The project stalled for various reasons until 2017 when the City Council adopted a new Strategic Objective in an effort to move the Library forward: Develop conceptual design proposal for New City Hall and Library including a Civic Center master plan, with Library as initial construction phase. Subsequent work on the project resulted in City Council approval of the Civic Center Master Plan in 2020, confirming the location of the new Library on the north side of High Street across from the Post Office. In this location the library will be a prominent feature in the downtown area, encouraging daytime and evening pedestrian traffic, and contributing to the activation of High Street to stimulate economic support to local businesses. In 2022 the City Council approved an architectural style reflective of Moorpark’s agricultural history for the exterior design of the library. This Agrarian architectural theme is based on a barn style structure with a vaulted framework, wood beams, and large windows allowing ample natural light to illuminate the interior. Since the ap proval of the exterior design, Design Development drawings have been completed, which include the development of the library site plan. One of the notable features identified on the site plan is a sculpture garden located at the northeast side of the libr ary outside a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that open to the children’s area of the library. (see Attachment) DISCUSSION The sculpture garden is located alongside the walkway leading to the north library entrance and will be highly visible to library patrons from both the interior children’s area 3 and the exterior northern approach to the building. The sculpture garden will feature three sculptures along with complementary vegetation appropriate for the location. A curved path will wind through the sculpture garden, allowing visitors to experience the artwork close up. Staff is currently considering two options for programming the sculptur es in the garden, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. The first option is to develop a temporary sculpture program for the location whereby selected artwork would be displayed on loan for a limited period of time (typically 1 – 3 years), and in return the artists would receive a stipend from the City. At the end of the loan period a new set of sculptures from a new set of artists would replace the outgoing artwork and be displayed for another limited loan period. This cycle would continue perpetually, resulting in a new set of artwork displayed in the sculpture garden at regular intervals. This concept of a rotating temporary sculpture installation is drawn from the Moorpark Arts Master Plan, Objective 1.2 which relates to transforming public spaces into points of interest and recommends that the City “think beyond installing free -standing permanent sculptures for public art and re-define public art to include temporary sculpture installations, pop-up exhibitions of art, community participation art projects, f estivals and performing arts events.” The primary advantage of this option is that it would create a public art display space that offers a new experience for visitors on a recurring basis. Each new sculpture loan period would provide a new opportunity to draw attention to the library and promote public art to the community, as well as offer artists a unique, recurring opportunity to showcase their work to the Moorpark community. This option does, however, come with a number of limitations. Temporary scul pture programs of this nature are best suited to displaying prefabricated artworks that can be installed on pre-existing pedestals without extensive modification. This would place limits on the size and variety of sculptures that could be displayed in the sculpture garden. Additionally, implementation of a rotating sculpture program would create an ongoing obligation for staff (and to some degree the Arts Commission) to manage and implement the program on a recurring basis. This includes artist recruitment, selection, and contracting, as well as artwork installation and promotion - an effort that would encompass around ten months of advance work for each new temporary installation. Most significantly in the short term, a temporary sculpture program would need to be researched and developed. Programs in other southern California cities like Encinitas and Santa Clarita could serve as models for this program, however a wide variety of details will need to be determined including, but not limited to: the art ist selection process; artwork display period; artist commission amounts; footing and anchorage design; sculpture size limitations; artwork contracting and insurance; and artwork installation, maintenance and removal policies and procedures. With library construction anticipated 4 to start early next year, if the City elects to move forward with a temporary sculpture garden at this site, program development will need to begin immediately. The second option for programming artwork at the library sculpture gar den is to commission and install three new, unique permanent works of art on the site. This option would follow the City’s established artwork selection process with works of art developed specifically to complement the library and enliven the surrounding exterior space. This approach is supported in the Arts Master Plan by Objective 1.1 which reads “Engage creative placemaking techniques that leverage the visual and physical characteristics of Moorpark to distinguish it as a community and as a destinatio n.” This objective goes on to specifically identify the new library as a location to “encourage attractive and imaginative additions to the Moorpark cityscape.” A primary advantage of this approach is that the artwork would not be constrained by prefabricated footings, resulting in potentially larger and/or more impactful artwork that is better integrated into the location. Each piece could be uniquely designed for the site with footings and supports specifically designed to support each piece. Furthermo re, artwork selection, approval and contracting would follow the City’s established procedures, allowing for more certainty in the implementation of this public art element of the library project. The one-time nature of this approach would also avoid the long-term commitment of managing a rotating art exhibit in this location, and staff could continue to explore other opportunities to incorporate temporary art around the City. Downsides of this approach include the possibility that over time the novelty and appeal of the artwork may diminish as regular patrons become accustomed to the piece, potential long-term maintenance costs to maintain the permanent works of art, and a larger initial commitment from the Art In Public Places fund to finance the purchase and installation of the artwork. Given the inherent advantages and disadvantages of each option, staff is seeking direction from the Arts Commission on which approach the Commission would prefer for the library site. If the consensus of the Commission is to move forward with the development of a temporary sculpture garden, staff will commence with the development of program guidelines and return to the Arts Commission at a later date for review. If the preference is to move forward with installation of permanent artwork in the sculpture garden, staff will establish funding for the artwork and return at a later date to request Commissioner participation on an artist selection panel for the project. STAFF RECOMMENDATION 1. Provide a recommendation regarding the proposed options for programming artwork for the Moorpark Library Sculpture Garden. 5 Attachments: 1 – New Moorpark Library Site Plan and Exterior Rendering 6 New Moorpark Library Site Plan HIGH STREET SCULPTURE GARDEN CHILDREN’S AREA NORTH ENTRANCE WALKWAY SOUTH ENTRANCE MOORPARK AVE POST OFFICE ATTACHMENT Attachment: 1 7 NORTH ENTRANCE SCULPTURE GARDEN New Moorpark Library Rendering (northeast elevation showing sculpture garden location) 8