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Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 3.B
Meeting Date: January 10, 2024
From: Anne Ambrose, Assistant City Manager
Title: Discussion Regarding the Use of the Art in Public Places Fund City Council
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the City Council discuss and provide direction regarding the use of Art in Public Places funds.
BACKGROUND:
Since 2001 Cathedral City has had an Art in Public Places program established by ordinance. New development that meets established criteria must either provide public art as part of the development or may elect to make an in-lieu payment into the public arts fund. The Public Arts Commission (PAC) is then authorized to recommend art purchases and locations of public art to the City Council. Subsequent amendments to the ordinance allowed a portion of the in-lieu funds to be used for art education programs. In 2018 an ordinance adopted by Council set the percentage of funds, which may be used for art education, at 30% annually.
Periodically, requests have come before or have been proposed by the Public Arts Commission and subsequently to the City Council seeking to use Art in Public Places funds for educational purposes. On several occasions, the items brought before the City Council have resulted in lengthy discussions about the appropriateness of the request and whether it met the definition of ‘art education’ as outlined in the City’s Municipal Code.
On January 8, 2020, the City Council held a study session to review the definition of “art education” as it had been suggested the definition at the time may have precluded the use of art education funds for programs in the schools or other locations that were not open to the public. An ordinance revision was approved on January 22, 2020 broadening the definition of ‘art’ in relation to ‘art education’ programs.
At the November 29, 2023 City Council meeting, a request for funding for a series of chamber music concerts raised the question again as to whether the program had a nexus to “art education” as defined by the ordinance. There was additional discussion about the appropriateness of using the Art in Public Places fund for educational
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purposes at all, citing concern that once the program was over, there was no further impact from the investment in comparison to acquiring a piece of permanent public art. The City Council directed the funding request to be sent back to the PAC and asked for a study session to discuss funding for art education. Since that meeting, the applicant has withdrawn their funding request.
There are currently two additional proposals that were scheduled to go to the PAC in December that been tabled until after this study session: a request referred to the PAC from the City Council from the Wyld Womxn and Desert Art Wommen Gallery for arts programs and a request proposed by one of the PAC Commissioners to fund some of the transportation costs or scholarships for the Cathedral City High School Symphony Band to perform at the San Francisco Heritage Festival in San Francisco. Additionally, there are two other programs the PAC has been working on proposals to implement: a Cathedral City’s Got Talent event and a 4th grade student tour of the downtown art and tour of the City Council Chambers proposed by Councilmember Lamb. These proposals are also tabled pending the outcome of the City Council discussion.
What is the Art in Public Places Fund?
For all new commercial and industrial projects over 15,000 square feet; remodels/repair/reconstruction of existing commercial and industrial with a building permit value of over $100,000 (except for Acts of God); and some public facilities over 15,000 square feet are required install public art. The developer may opt to contribute funds to the “art in public places fund” established pursuant to Section 11.45.130 of the Municipal Code equal to one percent of ninety percent of the total project valuation.
Additionally, pursuant to this section, on an annual basis, up to 30% of the art in public places fund may be used for art education, including any and all ancillary costs associated with funding such art education.
By practice, and by policy, the City also reserves $100,000 annually of available funds in a reserve for maintenance or replacement costs.
Chapter 11.45.020 defines art education as:
“Art education” means the public service of providing activities or experiences (“activities”) for the purpose of expanding the awareness, knowledge, understanding, appreciation, or familiarity of members of the public with art in all of its forms.
For the purposes of utilizing funding for art education, the term “Art” is to be construed more broadly than “Art” as defined above and includes art expressed in any medium, including, without limitation, painting, sculpture, photography, lithography and other physical mediums, music, singing, spoken word, and other auditory mediums, plays, films, dance, and other performance mediums, literature and poetry, art history and interpretation, clothing and fashions, and cultural expressions. Art education may be provided by any reasonable means that best achieves the purpose set forth above, including, without limitation, classes, lectures, tours, programs, events, festivals, exhibits, tours, performances, writings, films, audio recordings, and similar means. Art Cathedral City Page 3 of 6 Printed on 1/4/2024
education funds may also be expended to provide material related to such activities. An activity qualifying for expenditure for art education funds must be reasonably available to members of the general public. An activity will be considered reasonably available to members of the general public where the time, date, and description of the activity has been advertised via the city’s website and social media for at least one week prior to the activity, and either the activity is open to the general public or is open to members of the public who timely reserve participation in the activity. Space for participants may be limited, the activity may be provided for only a limited time, and a charge may be imposed for participation in the activity. Activities may be held in the facilities of public entities, non- profit or charitable organizations, and private facilities, provided that attendance of activities must not be limited to members, owners, subscribers or other interest holders in the private facility. Participation in certain activities may be limited to certain members of the general public, such as youths, students, seniors, or other reasonable grouping that does not constitute unlawful discrimination of a protected class. Art education funds must not be expended for prizes, gifts, or similar items.
The following table provides background on how the Art in Public Places funding has been used for educational purposes since FY 2018-19:
Event Description Amount
FY 2018-19
HOLA Mexico Film
Festival
Presentation of a three-day Spanish
Language Film Festival at the Mary Pickford
Theater
$ 2,500
DATA Program Boys and
Girls Club
Partnership with Cathedral City High School
DATA program and the Boys and Girls Club.
The program involves the Cathedral City High
School DATA students, under the supervision
of a teacher, to mentor kids at the Boys and
Girls Facility in Cathedral City.
$ 4,000
Coachella Valley
Repertory (CVREP)
A CVREP partnership with Cathedral City
High School drama class and the Commission
to host eight-week educational classes
benefiting students of Cathedral City High
School. The Commission approved funding for
two (2) eight-week classes.
$ 4,800
Cathedral City’s Got
Talent
Partnership with the Commission and
Cathedral City Library to sponsor Cathedral
City’s Got Talent contest for members of the
community of all ages
$ 1,500
Commission Brochure Created and printed a brochure “What We Do…” Public Arts Commission
$ 355
Día De Los Muertos Commission sponsorship of the Day of the Dead Event
$ 2,500
November Group Exhibit
in Museum
Cathedral City Artists Exhibit at the Cultural
Arts Museum from November to February
$ 1,000
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"TourBuddy” APP Annual
Fee
Annual charges to continue the APP program
identifying art in public places within the City.
$ 400
Event Description Amount
Senior Center SongShine
Program
10-week SongShine class, a music and
drama-based program that strengths voices,
hosted at the Cathedral City Senior Center
$ 1,000
Cathedral City High
School Choirs
Lions Pride Chamber Singers performance at
the Invitational Festival Competition open to
the public
$ 2,450
Stardust Art Expo Cathedral City High School one-day event open to middle and high school students,
professional group of musicians providing a
master class for students
$ 1,000
FY 2019-20
Dia de Los Muertos
Student Art Contest
Sponsored by the SCRAP Gallery $ 575
Senior Center How to Paint classes $ 934
CVREP Drama Classes
for CCHS
These were education classes for
Improvisation and Beginning Acting. The
budget was approved by Council, but due to
COVID, this program did not happen.
$ 4,802
FY 2021-22
Boys and Girls Club online
arts education
programming
Five classes, offered every 6-8 weeks $ 1,000
Coachella Valley
Repertory (CVREP)
Various theater events, conservatory
scholarships, broadcasted online
$ 4,650
Senior Center/Library joint
proposal
Painting, crafting and 3-D printing classes and
demonstrations, pottery demonstration and
classes, Coachella Valley Show Us Your
Talent, art exhibition - online or in person
when practical
$ 8,701
FY 2022-23
Cathedral City Senior
Center Jazz Concert
Series
Series of jazz concerts and video recording of
the performances.
$ 2,800
FY 2023-24
SCRAP Gallery Dia de los Muertos youth art event $ 750 Old Gays Book
Reading/Signing Event
Facilitated discussion about the Old Gay's
new book, Q& A, and book signing
$ 800
DISCUSSION:
Staff is seeking input from the City Council as to whether the Council wishes to continue to allow the use of the Art in Public Places fund for arts educational opportunities.
Staff have prepared some policy options for discussion and consideration by the City Council.
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Option 1 Continue to utilize up to 30% of the annual available Art in Public Places funds for educational programming in accordance with the currently adopted ordinance. Staff seeks direction from the City Council as to what type of educational programming has the highest priority for the Council.
Option 2 Continue to utilize Art in Public Places funds for educational programming but at a lower percentage (10% or 20%) of the total available funds to provide more funding available for acquisition.
Option 3 Stop all use of Art in Public Places funds for education and direct that funds only be utilized for acquisition and maintenance of the collection.
Option 4 Create an arts education program, funded annually by the general fund ($10- $20,000). The PAC could create an application process and assign a subcommittee to review and select applications to be proposed for approval by the City Council. This process would be similar to the process the City Council adopted for the community grants program.
Option 5 Consider application of development fee to a broader array of projects to increase the funds available. Currently the ordinance only applies to new commercial or industrial construction over 15,000 square feet; however, the majority of new construction falls below that threshold, ranging from 2,000 to 6,650. Staff would need to conduct an analysis of the Cathedral City’s fee compared to area cities and report back to the City Council with recommendations.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact for this discussion item.
The table below depicts the funds available in the Art in Public Places Fund for FY 2023/24. It is adjusted annually.
Beginning Balance as of 6/30/22 $ 402,998.97
Total Developer Fees Received FY 22/23 $ 45,962.21
Total Expenditures FY 22/23 $ (71,169.82)
Ending Balance as of 6/30/23 $ 377,791.36
Council-directed Reserve $(100,000.00)
Annual Maintenance Allocation $ (40,000.00)
Total Funds Available FY 23/24 $ 237,791.36
30% for Arts Education $ 7 1,337.41
Available for Art Acuisition $ 166,453.95
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN:
Goal C: Fiscal Stability and Sustainability
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Objective: Cathedral City has economically prospered by facilitating the investment of private dollars in high quality development which benefits the community. We remain financially solvent by instituting prudent fiscal policies and transparent financial practices.