J Magazine Winter 2017

Office tracked him through his Facebook
posts. The artist told a news reporter his graffiti
had been well-done and well-executed
and he never expected to be arrested for it.
He had reasoned the way to get something
done in Jacksonville was to ask for forgiveness
instead of permission. For his treacherous
acts, he paid a fine and performed community
service.
Street artists in Jacksonville today are asking
permission for their projects, and they
are getting it. To paint a Downtown mural,
one needs only a building owner’s permission,
and to submit the design to the city’s
Downtown Development Review Board.
Artwork almost always makes the cut, Allegretti
said.
These days, the city is getting in on the
street art movement too.
City-owned graffiti
Around the same time ArtRepublic was
painting murals on privately owned buildings,
the Cultural Council launched its
own program to cover barren public structures
with art.
Ugly concrete Skyway support pillars
became brightly colored cylindrical murals.
Electrical boxes were wrapped in patterned
vinyl resembling Christmas gift paper.
Artsy benches sprouting playful metal
flowers popped up on sidewalks. And bicycle
racks that looked like they were straight
out of a Dr. Seuss book replaced standard
cage frames.
The project was funded by Art in Public
Places, a city program that’s been around
since 1997. By ordinance Jacksonville sets
aside 0.75 cents of every dollar it spends
on capital projects for public art. The money
has commissioned such artwork as the
paintings that hang in our libraries. But the
program seemed nearly forgotten in recent
years. The Great Recession that quieted
capital projects for a decade also silenced
the art projects they funded.
Now the money is flowing again. And
the Downtown Investment Authority aims
to use it to change the face of Downtown
districts. The plan directs the funds into an
urban art facade and streetscape program
designed to make Downtown more pleasant
and walkable. Phase one brought street
art to Jacksonville’s civic core. Phases two
and three will extend the artwork into The
Elbow.
REVITALIZATION: What’s
art got to do with it?
When Jacksonville business leaders talk
about Downtown re-development, they
usually mean a tower was sold to a bigname
developer, an empty warehouse was
re-purposed, or a global business was persuaded
to open a corporate office.
Art is nice to have. An investment in
Downtown redevelopment? Not so much.
Santiago disagrees. If a city wants to
compete on a global stage, art is a necessity,
she said.
“If you think about New York City, it is
amazing because of its art and culture. That
is what makes it exciting,” she said. “It’s true
for every city you look at that’s great.”
It can be hard to put a value on the vibrancy
that art brings to a downtown.
Sometimes, the dollar value can’t be
missed though.
Street artists began painting murals in
Miami’s gritty warehouse district five years
ago. It transformed the Wynwood neighborhood
into a trendy tourist hotspot,
filled with craft breweries, art galleries, chic
clothing boutiques, bistros and late-night
bars. Two years ago the city re-zoned, and
now 11 new construction projects — including
apartments, condos, office and mixeduse
complexes — have been proposed there.
In Jacksonville, business leader and
philanthropist Preston Haskell has backed
ArtRepublic both years. He’s also the private
donor behind a two-year-old Downtown
Sculpture Initiative.
There’s a business case for art, Haskell
said. Put simply, it raises property values.
Art helps catalyze the virtuous circle of live,
work and play that makes downtown economies
spiral upward.
“Right now we have the ‘work’ and a little
bit of the ‘play’ but very little ‘live,’” he said.
If more people live Downtown, it creates a
larger customer base for restaurants, retail
Mural artist Adele Renault (left) works on her ArtRepublic piece as cans of empty spray paint (right) fill boxes after artist Okuda finished his Downtown mural.
WINTER 2017-18 | J MAGAZINE 57