Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 5.D
Meeting Date: July 9, 2025
From: Anne V. Ambrose, Assistant City Manager
Title: Approve Recommendation from the Public Arts Commission for a Not to Exceed Budget of $173,000 from the Art in Public Places Fund for the Esperanza Park Entryway Sculpture
RECOMMENDATION:
To approve the Public Arts Commission’s recommendation to establish a not-to-exceed budget of $173,000 for the Esperanza Park entryway sculpture.
BACKGROUND:
With the construction of Esperanza Park complete, staff are moving on to one of the finishing features, a public art piece to be located in the main entranceway roundabout. The Public Arts (PAC) and Parks and Community Events (PACE) commissions have selected a sub- committee to collectively work on soliciting community input from the community to get their desires for the piece, consistent with the level of engagement seen throughout the entire development of the park. A meeting was held with the Dream Homes residents on March 18 at Agua Caliente Elementary School. In advance of the meeting, flyers were distributed through the schools in both English and Spanish and postcards were mailed to each home in the Dream Homes neighborhood to solicit input. An art exercise was distributed to the students at Agua Caliente Elementary School asking them to draw their ideas for an art piece for the park and one-hundred ninety-two drawings were received (some samples are included in this report).
During the meeting, a presentation was made by Assistant City Manager Ambrose on the importance of public art in communities which began a discussion soliciting ideas from the residents on themes or images for the sculpture. Michelle Molina from the Public Works Department continued the discussion in Spanish to ensure all the residents had the opportunity to participate equally in the discussion.
There were some very clear themes shared by the residents who attended the meeting. The following words were said by the community to describe what they felt the entranceway sculpture at Esperanza Park should represent:
• Resilience
• Rising from the ashes
• Transformation
• Metamorphosis
• Growth
• Regeneration
• Rebirth
• Inviting for all children
During the discussion, the participants were also asked if they had any specific images that aligned with the themes above. Below are the ideas received during the meeting. • Boy and girl with flowers
• Police officer with boy and girl
• Butterfly with rainbow colors
• Rainbow after the rain
• Big butterfly with children underneath it/looking at it • Butterfly coming out of a cocoon
DISCUSSION:
At Public Arts Commission’s May 13, 2025, regular meeting, the commission discussed setting a budget for the artwork. During that meeting, the Commission voted to support a budget of $120,000 for the commission of a public art piece for the park. Following that meeting, staff did some additional research on the cost of recent commissions to determine if the budget proposed was sufficient. Following staff’s research, staff brought an item back to the Public Arts Commission on June 10, 2025, recommending an increase to the budget for the project from $120,000 to $173,000. The proposed budget includes the following:
Item Cost
Stipend to three artists to create a concept for
the sculpture - $1,000 each
$3,000
Artist fees (materials, construction,
transportation, travel, etc.)
$100,000
City costs – advertising for the call,
installation, electrical, plaque, etc.
$50,000
Contingency $20,000
Total Not To Exceed $173,000
The Public Arts Commission voted unanimously (with Commissioner Mojica absent) to recommend the $173,000 budget to the City Council for approval.
Following City Council approval, staff will prepare a call for artists for the commission. A committee will be selected which will include the PAC commissioners, PACE subcommittee members, and a member of the Public Works engineering division to review and recommend three artists. The three artists will be given a stipend of $1,000 each to develop a concept for the sculpture. The concepts will be presented to the Dream Homes community and the public for input on a desired sculpture. Following community input and PAC approval, the recommended concept and award will be brought to the City Council for final approval. Staff will get the call for artists out during the summer months with hopes to award during the fall.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This project is funded by the Art in Public Places fund. There is currently a balance of $373,066 available in the fund. The balance after this project will be $200,066.
DESCRIPTION GENERAL
LEDGER
ACCOUNT
CODES
PROJECT
CODE
AMOUNT ONE TIME
or
ONGOING
2025-2026 Esperanza
Park Public Art
231-000-000-
000-3310-3311 N/A $173,000 One Time
2025-2026 Total $173,000
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN:
Goal B: Community Investment
Objective: Cathedral City roads, gateways, public spaces, and other infrastructure are well planned, designed, constructed and maintained.
ATTACHMENTS:
1.Public Arts Commission Staff Reports