It appears as though some reasonable management may have occurred at the city recently.
I ran across this request for proposals recently. It asks for national, regional, and local artists to apply for funding to create public art at our soon to be erected baseball field.
Evidently the plan was to award up to $500,000 to a national group, $200,000 to a regional group, and $150,000 to a local group to decorate the new ball field.
Give me a break! If a local group is good enough to win whatever kind of competition (OK, I know we are dealing with the city, it looks like to me competition is an unknown word over there) a local group should be eligible for just as much money as a national or regional group.
Management seems to have happened though. From what I can tell the request for proposals has been modified and now only offers $150,000 to a local winner. I don’t know if the national and regional offers are off the table. I hope so.
Now thinking about the $150,000 I realize that the city has a graffiti removal program. Maybe we could get some of those talented artists without a palette who decorate our city for free to come over to the ball park and paint for us once in a while. This could give them something to do, lessen the graffiti removal costs, and maybe even give us changing art at the stadium.
Then again, I doubt that many of our local Picassos read the city web site. They probably seek truth elsewhere.
We deserve better.
elpasospeak 
This is yet one more RFP that has the appearance of having been drafted and “fixed” to ensure a particular winner. Maybe I missed it, but I do not recall seeing any news coverage of this aspect of the ballpark project and design (frankly, very little has been shared). One would think that the art components of this project would have been used to create positive publicity and community involvement and “pride” (remember that word being used in the opening pitch for the ballpark?).
What’s the rush given that City Hall is still standing? In fact, I don’t think the team has even been named. The speedy, quiet manner in which this art project is being pushed through suggests that this this was done to limit submissions, giving the certain persons’ preferred supplier an edge. More telling, however, are the requirements specified in the RFP. Those requirements, which revolve more around commercial art and business acumen rather than artistic talent, were clearly designed to limit the number of individuals or organizations that could make the cut or even think about submitting.
As your post points out, the articulation and differentiation between local, regional, national organizations also makes one think that the writer of this RFP was predisposed to giving a bag of money to someone out of town. The $150,000 that might be awarded to a local group seems more like a small bone intended to keep the scruffy, local dogs occupied while the fat cats sneak away with the meat.
If this contract is awarded to an out-of-town organization rather than to a local group/artist, it will prove once again that the local leaders’ professed commitment to home-grown talent is merely talk. It will reinforce the belief that El Paso doesn’t have local creative talent.
I’m betting that “someone knew someone” had a beneficiary in mind before the first pitch was even thrown in this art game. We’ll eventually know the truth and it will probably be apparent once the winner is announced.
Footnote: Given that we have a great art museum with a strong staff, can someone please explain why we need a public art program coordinator on the city staff? Why shouldn’t those programs be managed by the very capable and knowledgeable El Paso Museum of Art staff whose mission is to get El Pasoans engaged in the arts?
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FedUp,
Well said!
Help spread the word. The public needs to know.
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