Foreign Experience of State and Private Support for Public Art on the Example of the USA
https://doi.org/10.25281/2072-3156-2022-19-1-46-55
Abstract
The article examines the experience of direct and indirect state support for public art in the United States of America. The Russian model of culture financing differs from the Anglo-American one, but, despite completely different historical background and traditions, modern Russia seeks to be integrated into the creative economy, where the difference in approaches to cultural policy is offset by involvement in global processes. The United Nations declared 2021 the International Year of the Creative Economy for Sustainable Development. The agenda of the Government of the Russian Federation include the development of creative industries in the country. Public art is an effective method of building a city’s creative ecosystem.
The goals of mass agitation and propaganda were the backbone for the alternative concept of decorating public spaces that existed in the USSR, but, despite the unique system of training artistic personnel and the achievements of Soviet art historians and artists, this approach needs to be rethought in the current cultural environment. The visual culture of urban spaces today receives additional incentives due to the needs of sustainable urban development. At the same time, the search for optimal approaches to the dialogue on this matter between the authorities, the art community, and citizens has been at the stage of self-determination in recent years.
The article aims to study the features of support for public art in the United States. The article includes an overview of key American scientific publications on the topic and official materials of the National Endowment for the Arts, the “Art in Architecture” program of the General Services Administration of the US, the governments of the city departments of culture of New York, Chicago, San Jose, data from non-profit organizations and professional associations.
Formulated in the conclusions of the article, the management decisions, methods and tools for the public art development, based on the American experience, can be considered as recommendations for the development of public art projects in our country.
About the Author
Ekaterina A. Kartseva
Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125993, Russia
ORCID 0000-0002-3517-5551; SPIN 7970-8713
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- Public art is art displayed outside specialized exhibition spaces in streets, squares, parks, or inside public buildings such as hospitals, universities, libraries, and other public spaces. The mode of existence of contemporary art outside the art infrastructure.
- As part of the cultural policy, public art can be a way of transforming the dullness and facelessness of the urban environment, improving the quality of life of the population, a tool for gentrifying industrial areas. In Russia, this form of urban development has been gaining popularity in recent years, but has not yet developed approaches for creating high-quality art projects in the urban environment. The city authorities allocate funds for decoration, facade lighting, small architectural forms, but not for art.
- An example of support for public art at the federal and municipal levels in the United States indicates the need for a set of measures:
- a state program to develop the arts, especially at the local level; the existence of a reasonable legal framework and the enforcement of laws that make it impossible for abuses in the field of construction (for example, the development of park areas, waterfront or non-compliance with requirements for free areas in front of buildings);
- pursuing a policy of openness — programs and competitions should be presented in advance in the public domain, giving an opportunity to a wide range of artists of all levels to participate in the competition and get a chance to design and manufacture an object of art;
- the presence and activity of professional associations and art communities to involve city residents, especially schoolchildren and youth, in artistic and creative projects.
- Public art in Russia should take into account not only foreign experience, but also the domestic history of the development of monumental and decorative art.
Review
For citations:
Kartseva E.A. Foreign Experience of State and Private Support for Public Art on the Example of the USA. Observatory of Culture. 2022;19(1):46-55. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25281/2072-3156-2022-19-1-46-55
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