J Magazine Winter 2018

“I had this whole
inspired thought that
I need to open up an
art gallery and make
Jacksonville a nationally
recognized art city.”
Jessica Santiago
co-founder,
president and
curator of
Art Republic
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For Downtown, Art in Public Places
worked with the Downtown Investment
Authority to develop the Urban Arts Project.
DIA’s master plan in 2014 called for
commissioning artists to paint murals,
Skyway walls and utility boxes, install
outdoor sculptures and design bike racks
and other street furnishings. It budgeted
$406,000, with 20 percent for administration
and maintenance and the rest to
commission artists.
In the first of three phases, 38 artworks
were installed around Downtown, and
the Skyway columns got 18 hand-painted
murals. Phase II is now underway, focusing
on “vinyl-wrapped traffic signal cabinets,
sculptural bicycle racks, 2-D art and
outdoor sculpture.” Public art sites are
throughout the entertainment district and
near the river in an area damaged by Hurricane
Irma last year.
The cost of those Urban Arts Project
pieces is pretty small potatoes compared
to some other Art in Public Places projects.
As part of the city requirement that
.75 percent of eligible capital projects be
set aside for public art, the city invested
$35,000 in commissioning two 52-foottall
murals on the Yates Parking Garage on
East Adams Street in 2013. Other projects
from the percent-for-art are at Veterans
Memorial Arena, the Main Library and
the Southbank Riverwalk, under the Main
Street Bridge.
Now, Art in Public Places is in the final
stages of commissioning art for the Water
Street Parking Garage — with a budget of
$355,000 from the percentage of the renovation.
Three artist finalists are preparing
concept designs, and the winner or winners
should be announced early in 2019.
Artists and designs are chosen on recommendations
from Art Selection panels,
which include an architect or other design
professional, two artists or other art professionals,
community representatives and a
representative of the site of the installation.
The performance of Art in Public Places
has been challenged by City Hall. The
Jacksonville Business Journal reported City
Council members and a representative
from the Mayor’s Office have questioned
slow progress on installing funded art projects,
whether APP is inadequately funded
and whether existing public art is being
maintained and, in some cases, restored as
needed.
The criticism could have included
the Water Street Parking Garage project,
which, according to the Cultural Council’s
website, is more than a year late. The artist
was supposed to be selected in April 2017,
then “artwork will be installed in May 2018
with a dedication ceremony tentatively
scheduled for June 2018.” Instead, development
of an artist contract took two
years to get through the Cultural Council
and the City.
Both Carey and Holechek agreed that
Art in Public Places has not been functioning
smoothly under the Cultural Council,
the Journal story said, raising the possibility
that the agency could be moved to another
city department.
Interestingly, and importantly, the criticism
was not about the concept of public
art or any artwork.
Art Republic’S
approach
Art Republic, by contrast, is less organizational
and non-governmental but,
rather, intensely personal, in the person of
Jessica Santiago, its 36-year-old co-founder,
president and curator.
Santiago, who grew up in Mandarin
and went to UNF, says her passion for public
art appeared during a personal health
crisis. Her career path from real estate to
commercial finance to business consulting,
she said, had left her very stressed by
her late 20s. “The deals were big. You have
all these people around you. You work
around the clock. I was so stressed out. At
BOB SELF (2)
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J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2018-19