Percent for Art
Percent for Art is a program administered by New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs. The project, begun by Mayor Edward Koch and passed by the City Council in 1982, requires that one percent of certain City-funded construction porjects be used for art commissions and acquisitions. Over the last twenty-five years, more than $26 million has been spent on public art through Percent for Art.1
New York's Percent for Art program is not the first or the only one in the country. For example, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, and cities as different as Atlanta and Philadelphia all fund public art through Percent for Art initiatives. Programs like New York's Percent for Art receive public support because, as New York's Department of Cultural Affairs puts it, "public sites provide an important venue for all New Yorkers and visitors to appreciate artwork outside the traditional museum or gallery setting."
This stated purpose of Percent for Art makes it appropriate for York College's public art to be collected and presented as an online gallery.
Links to Related Content (links open in a new browser window)
- The Percent for Art Collaborative - A consulting group "committed to strengthening the field of public art, expanding opportunities for communities to experience the broad reach of artists, and for artists to create successful works of public art." The Collaborative's website includes a list of recent publications about valuing art in public spaces.
- Public Art Fund - This group is dedicated to placing art in public places throughout New York City. According to the Fund's website, it "provides a unique platform for an unparalleled public encounter with the art of our time."
- Artslynx - This website is a web portal to a wide array of resources related to the arts, including a substantial collection of websites dedicated to public art (http://www.artslynx.org/heal/public.htm).
Notes
- Information about New York City's Percent for Art program comes from the Percent for Art portion of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs website. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcla/html/panyc/panyc.shtml
