Bernalillo County could increase funding for public art by 50%

May 17—Bernalillo County commissioners voted unanimously this week to introduce and publish amendments to the Art in Public Places ordinance. The amendment would increase funding for public art from 1% of the county's general obligation bonds to 1.5%.

The cost of artists' materials has increased and continues to increase, said Public Art Project Coordinator Kent Swanson. The increase in the rate would help the county adjust to the rising costs of materials, labor and artists' fees.

There have been several recent public art projects that required other sources of funding to complete, Swanson said. For example, the sculpture created during the Sunport expansion, "Where the Earth Meets the Sky," did not have enough funding to pay for electrical, lighting or the concrete pad, so Public Works provided the additional money.

"If approved, the amendment would have a positive impact on the county through increased economic development, beautification of public spaces, placemaking and enhancement of cultural identity, increasing cultural appreciation and through arts education," Swanson said.

The amendment would also add other types of artwork, allowing mediums like etchings, clay, textile, fiber, wood, metal, plastic and glass to be supported by the public art money. The amendment would also explicitly exclude landscaping, performing and literary arts from the ordinance.

The ordinance will be posted for 30 days for the public to review, and the commissioners can vote on adopting the changes in June. If adopted, the new 1.5% rate would go into effect with the November 2024 general obligation bond questions. The general obligation bonds are passed every two years during the general election.

The public art program was established in 1992 and revised in 1997, Swanson said. Since it was adopted, the program has purchased or commissioned over 600 works of public art.

Commissioner Eric Olivas said he supports increasing funding for public art but would like to see the county also find more money for housing.

"I'm still going to support this, but our housing funds that are in the current GO bond are in the order of about $1.1 million, and so the public art piece that's coming off of the entire bond package is more than half of what we're putting into housing," Olivas said. "We're saying that that is our biggest challenge as a community ... I just think we've got to find a better way, a bigger way to fund housing."

The city of Albuquerque has the same model for funding public art, and in 2022 the City Council approved making the same increase from 1% of general obligation bonds to 1.5%.