the power of art to open minds, transform our
environments and bring people together.
However, many of us have encountered issues with
the way City's contracting and grant processes work
and have had difficulty receiving the funds that the
City has allocated for the arts.
The Richmond arts community wants to collaborate
with the City to come up with equitable solutions that
will support their important work and allow them to
thrive in the beautiful city we all call home.
We’ll begin this presentation by introducing the three
areas we feel are in most need of a timely
intervention. After that, we will describe what we
suggest could be done to remedy the situation.
5 The Problems What are the pr oblems we’d like to address? 6 Areas of Concern
● Fewer opportunities for
public participation
● Failure to follow Public Art
Master Plan
recommendations
There are three Areas of Concern:
Changes made to the Richmond Arts and Culture
Commission decision-making processes have made
it harder for the public to engage in art funding
processes
We have failed to follow at least some of the Public
Art Master Plan recommendations
Erin McCluskey Wheeler
testimonial
● NPA Mini-Grant program’s
excessive red tape
The NPA program’s requirements, contracting
process and reimbursement policy are driving artists
to other cities and discouraging them from working in
Richmond
7 First Concern: PAAC and RACC
Public Art Advisory Committee
was dismantled.
Richmond Arts and Culture
Commission was disempowered
The Public Art Advisory Committee gave members of
the public the opportunity to participate in the
process of advising on art in their communities but in
2021 it was dismantled.
This left the Richmond Arts and Culture Commission
as the only body making arts funding decisions about
Public Art, but the Commission had lost most of the
institutional knowledge of their role.
So the RACC was effectively disempowered, and
has become a revolving door of commissioners.
PAMP Recommendation 7
Kaelen Van Cura letter
excerpt
8 Second Concern: PAMP
Failure to follow the Public Art
Master Plan’s Recommendations:
● Adequate Staffing
● Maintain existing Public Art
● Create an Artist Registry
We actually have a great Public Art Master Plan that
City Council approved for implementation in 2023,
but years later - and despite ample funds available –
We have yet to follow the Plan’s recommendations
such as hiring the staff the Arts and Culture Division
requires.
As a result, work has accumulated and we have
seen very, very few RFPs.
PAMP Recommendation 7
2025 FY Percent for Art
Budget
Public art already in place (primarily murals) in the
City has been neglected and some are in serious
need of repair.
Richmond still does not have a public, searchable
artist registry or an artist-in-residence program.
9 Less than 10% of the almost $2
million Percent for Art Fund has
been used
In the past five years, less than 10% of the budgeted
Percent for Art Funds were spent in the 2024-2025
Fiscal Year.
This is not because of a lack of need, but because
there is no path for artists to access the funds.
PAMP Recommendation 8
10 Artist John Wehrle
Public artists should not be paying out of pocket to
maintain their own work, yet this is what John Wehrle
and other public artists have had to do.
PAMP Recommendation 1
11 Artist registries in other cities We are the only Bay Area city where visual artists have to fundraise to pay for their own artist directory, and our artists go to other cities to participate in their artist in residence programs
VAR Directory
12 Third Concern: NPA
The Neighborhood Public Art
mini-grant program’s
requirements, contracting and
payment protocols need an
Our third concern is the NPA Mini-Grant Program.
This program was created to support and mentor
community artists.
Michele Seville’s short
History of the NPA program
overhaul There are three main areas in need of reform:
Requirements, contracting and payment timing
Let’s take a closer look
13 The NPA Has
Grant requirements that go
beyond anything other cities are
requiring
Artists have observed that no other Bay Area city
has such onerous requirements.
Artists are given more extensive requirements for the
NPA Mini-Grants, expenses which must be paid up
front, than the City requires of nonprofits receiving
Community
Service Grants for youth sports teams.
Artists are doing 80% of the work before even getting
a contract.
The cost of these requirements sometimes
surpasses the cost of the NPA award.
PAMP Recommendation 6
14 Tiny Village NPA Grant Award:
$9,000
Cost of pollution insurance:
$3,600
The Tiny Village Spirit project is run by a tiny
non-profit with a volunteer staff. They were awarded
$9,000 to pay for small murals on plywood panels.
Richmond high school students presented their
mural designs to the Commission six months ago but
they have yet to paint them.
Risk Management did not waive a pollution
insurance requirement that would cost almost half as
much as the grant award itself.
Tiny Village testimony
15 The NPA Mini-Grant Has Let’s look at NPA Program Contracting Contracts treating individual
artists, nonprofits and big
business vendors the
same way
Artists have to pay for a full year of several types of insurance before they can sign a contract. We’re
talking at least 3 thousand dollars.
There isn’t enough staff to assist with the contracting process. As a result, contracts can be tied up in the
legal division for months at a time.
Artists have had to hire lawyers to review the
contracts crafted by the City, which are based on a
template for construction contractors.
16 Contracting Process Thi s is the slide that the Arts and Culture staff used to talk about the NPA’s contracting process during
this year’s NPA orientation.
17 The NPA Has
The expectation that artists spend
thousands of dollars before they
are reimbursed
No consequences for payment
delays
Payment schedules have generated the most
friction.
Artists were paid up front until 2021.
Now they have to go into credit card debt to afford
the application process.
Because of City delays, projects take more than a
year for artists to complete, so artists pay twice for
insurance and licenses.
Only firms, non-profits and wealthy artists can afford
to apply.
Tiffany Conway testimony
Regina Gilligan testimony
And there are no consequences when the City is late
with their reimbursements
18 Photos of 4 artists Richard Muro Salazar paid his crew’s wages and supplies, then went broke waiting for his second
payment. Regina Gilligan was awarded a mini grant
that she had to rescind when she realized that the
cost of meeting requirements would have her paying
the city in order to paint a mural. Tiffany
Conway-Cornelius spent $7,000 dollars only to see
her contract rescinded without explanation. Rebeca
Garcia-Gonzalez paid $6,000 in lawyers’ fees before
signing a contract.
19 What We Envision for Success In the past, the City has passed a lot of good policies to support artists. We have some recommendations.
20 Transparency
Include members of RAA in the
interim and permanent A&C
Manager selection panel.
We also want staff to report back
with a plan on how they will select
a new manager.
Include members of RAA in the
NPA Mini-Grant renewal efforts
We recommend more transparency.
We would like the City Council to direct the City
Manager to have a transparent community process
on hiring an Arts and Culture Manager and to report
back to the arts community and City Council on the
results of the hiring process.
We’d also like the rankings for A&C Manager to be
presented to the City Council in a closed session.
Richmond PAMP p.14
Tiny Village testimony
21 Address The Challenges The staff ha s already begun the overhauling process, but much more needs to be done.
Reform the most onerous
requirements to increase the
applicant pool
Revise the current reimbursement
model, and issue payments
promptly to ensure artists can
complete public art projects
Right now, only businesses or individuals who can
afford these expenses up front can complete the
process leading to a contract.
SF lets artists request an advance of up to 50% for
large grants.
20 Address the Challenges
Pay small grants up front- most of
these grants go to cover
expenses anyway.
Let artists negotiate advances to
cover the expenses of large
grants.
Compensate the artists who lost
money covering such expenses
before signing a contract.
We believe time is of the essence.
We are here because we want to bring these
challenges to light so that we can work together on
solutions that work for everyone.
We would like to ask the City Council to direct the
City Manager to meet and work with the Richmond
arts community, the Richmond Arts and Culture
Commission, and its Council Liaison to address the
challenges presented tonight and to develop a plan
on how to improve the whole grant process,
including contracts, and requirements, and payment
schedules that the City asks of artists.
Richmond has a great history of supporting and
“growing” the arts through its various public art
programs.
Let’s find a collaborative way to help the city
revitalize these programs and the role they play in
Richard Muro Salazar
testimony
Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez
testimony
Tiffany Conway-Cornelius
Testimony
making our city a welcoming place for all who live,
work, and visit here.
21 Time For Questions
Contact RAA at
[email protected]
Contact VAR at
contact@visualartistsofrichmond.
org
ANY ADDITIONAL POINTS TO BE MADE IN THE
OPEN COMMENT SECTION