To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Rick Tooker, Community Development Director
Prepared By: Robin Klingbeil, Senior Development Project Coordinator
TITLE:
Title
Report on the Napa Art Walk Program
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Accept the Napa Art Walk Program update report, and provide direction to City staff for implementation.
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DISCUSSION:
In accordance with the Napa Art Walk Program Guidelines adopted by City Council on October 6, 2009, staff has prepared this status update to the Council. A brief presentation announcing the new art sculptures and the artists chosen for the upcoming exhibit will be made at the Council meeting.
Background:
Following City Council’s approval of the Napa Art Walk Program, City staff worked with Arts Council Napa Valley (ACNV) to implement the Program in July 2010. The Art Walk Program was implemented before the City had a public art ordinance and permanent public art program in place. Napa Art Walk is a collection of temporary sculptures strategically placed along downtown retail corridors to help strengthen foot traffic and add visual interest along these corridors. With each exhibit, a brochure is distributed through the Welcome Center, lodging properties, and various downtown merchants which provides a self-guided walking tour. As an alternative, the City has contracted with Otocast, a mobile tour app which may be downloaded onto a smart phone for self-guided tours of art exhibits. Narrated by the artists themselves, listeners may hear about the art sculptures and what inspired their design as they take the tour on foot.
The Napa Art Walk art pieces are curated through a request for proposals process and juried by art professionals based on program criteria. The jury’s final recommendations are submitted to the City Manager for approval and presented to the City Council. The selected pieces are loaned by the respective artists in exchange for a stipend; the City enters into a contract with each artist and coordinates the installations and removals of each sculpture. Program sponsors have included ACNV, the Downtown Napa Property & Business Improvement District and the Napa Tourism Improvement District /DoNapa.Com. Local lodging facilities have provided in-kind lodging for visiting artists; restaurants and retailers have furnished gifts for the Peoples’ Choice winner; and individuals and business owners have sponsored sculptures in support of the program. Some of the sculptures are on privately owned property with formal permission from the property owner.
Over the course of the first four exhibits, 52 sculptures have been featured created by 43 different artists. Several pieces from these exhibits have been sold to private parties as a result of this display, which provides additional incentive and exposure to the artists and their art. For each piece sold, the program retains a 10 percent commission. Napa Art Walk has generated positive media attention for Napa, and ACNV and DoNapa.com continue to market the program through websites and social media. Napa Art Walk was recently named one of the “25 Best Things to do in Napa Valley” by Dream Vacation Magazine and Vacation Idea.com. The program has been featured in several media outlets including: The Miami Herald, 7 x 7 Magazine, The Washington Post, California Wine & Travel, Sunset Magazine, and Local Happenings Magazine. Local schools have toured the Napa Art Walk on field-trips and incorporated the program into class art projects as educational opportunities.
With each exhibition, the public is provided an opportunity to vote for their favorite sculpture. The winner of the current exhibition will be announced and honored with a proclamation at the Council’s April 4th meeting to coincide with the “Arts in April” events throughout Napa Valley.
Napa Art Walk Exhibition #5, June 2017 through April 2019:
Sculptures in the next Napa Art Walk exhibit are scheduled for installation in May and June 2017. The theme for this exhibit is “Shifting Perspective,” a portrayal of sculptures that demonstrate the power of perspective: art that changes depending upon how, when and where it is viewed; the presentation of art in an atypical environment, scale or context; art that forces one to pause, reflect or take note. A shift in perspective can engender mindfulness and creativity in all things. Some things that are hidden in one view become visible in another, or arrangements of things may be easier to recognize from one perspective than another. The aim of this exhibit is to personalize the phrase, “When you change the way you look at things, the way things look starts to change.”
In February 2017, three local arts professionals met to jury the entries and recommend the final selections and alternates: Mechele Manno, Associate Dean at Napa Valley College; Ann Trinca, Gallery Director Berkeley Art Center; and Tom Walker, Sculpture Artist and former art instructor at Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles. Twelve sculptures have been selected for the new exhibit, and staff is currently working with the chosen artists to confirm their participation and work on final locations for placement. Locations will be determined by the sizes of the selections and the optimal location for each work. Staff is in the process of obtaining bids and coordinating with electricians to up-light some of the art pieces.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
For the upcoming exhibit, the budget has been estimated at $60,000. The City received $10,000 in funding support from the Napa Property and Business Improvement District, so the estimated City costs would be $50,000. Program costs include artists’ stipends, concrete work and pad creation, lighting of five sculpture sites, photography, collateral layout and printing, and labor / equipment rental costs. The current program budget has sufficient funds.
CEQA:
The Community Development Director has determined that the Recommended Action described in this Agenda Report is not subject to CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c).
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
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NOTIFICATION:
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