Mountain View adopts long-anticipated public art plan

Mountain View has more than 100 public art installations, with the vast majority concentrated in parks and on corporate campuses. The City Council is looking to change that, adopting a plan to expand opportunities for public art so that it is better distributed across the city.

Councilmembers on Oct. 27 voted unanimously, with Councilmember Pat Showalter absent, to approve a new framework to guide processes and policies for establishing and maintaining public art in Mountain View. To implement the plan, the city created a new public art administrator position as part of its budget cycle earlier this year. The job was filled last month.

“I’m just really excited that we finally have a public arts administrator,” Councilmember Alison Hicks said at the meeting. “Somebody absolutely dedicated to it.”

The nearly 150-page document lays out Mountain View’s strategy for a “community-driven” public art program. It identifies two main goals: expanding public art opportunities and modernizing policies, funding and staffing.

The plan includes 65 action items that are grouped into two main categories: “action opportunities” and “guiding strategies.” The action opportunities have discrete timelines while the guiding strategies are more open-ended and intended to inform a “big picture” approach, according to Kirstin Hinds, the city’s economic development strategist.

Councilmembers expressed general support for the plan, noting that it was responsive to many community concerns. That included creating more opportunities for public art to reflect the cultural diversity of Mountain View, as well as supporting local and early-career artists. The plan also highlights a community desire to see more “functional art,” like painted bollards, bicycle racks, benches and trash cans.

The council also backed the idea of a centralized public art fund. Mountain View’s existing policy mandates that 2% of the construction budget for certain city projects costing more than $1 million must be set aside for public art, with a cap of $400,000. That includes projects like new parks, buildings, plazas, bridges and trails.

Previously, the policy was site specific, meaning the funding was tied to the location of a construction project and had to be spent at the site or would disappear. That is no longer the case.

“Priority actions include creating a dedicated pooled public art fund to allow for flexible investments citywide rather than restricting funds solely to construction sites,” Hinds said.

The pooled money will also roll over from year-to-year, making it possible to build up reserves for new art, according to Community Development Director Christian Murdock.

Hicks expressed particular appreciation for the pooled resources, noting that it would advance the city’s goal of spreading art more equitably across Mountain View and in places where people actually gather.

Councilmembers also addressed community concerns about preserving existing pieces, like a slab of the Berlin Wall that was donated to the city more than a decade ago and sits on display outside the Mountain View Public Library.

“There might be a life cycle too of the art pieces,” Councilmember Ellen Kamei said. “Some of them are quite aged and might need some restoration.”

Councilmember Lucas Ramirez also weighed in on the plan, describing it as an “inspiring document” that will guide the future of public art in the city while reducing bureaucratic red tape.

“(It will) facilitate the creation and placement of public art throughout our community without having to wait for the council to participate in every step,” he said.

This story originally appeared in the Mountain View Voice. Emily Margaretten joined the Mountain View Voice in 2023 as a reporter covering City Hall.