The Beverly Hills Arts and Culture Commission meeting on Feb 11 included a detailed review of the city’s art acquisition process and raised questions about whether a potential merger with the Parks and Recreation Commission will proceed. The meeting also covered details of the city’s support for artists and organizations following the recent Palisades and Eaton wildfires, an update on the Kusama Infinity tulips sculpture restoration and upcoming cultural events in the city.
Arts and Culture Program Associate Brandy Scott presented the commission with a detailed report on how art is acquired by the city. Since the commission’s inception in the early 1980s, the city of Beverly Hills has amassed a world-class collection of both fine art and public art. There are currently four main ways in which the city adds to its art collection. The first is the City Art Collection, which falls under the responsibility of the Arts and Culture Commission, and includes developer-owned art, donated art, loaned art and temporary installations.
The second is the Mayor’s Purchase Award, whereby the mayor is invited to attend the Beverly Hills Art Show each year and select a piece of artwork to be purchased and installed at a location of their choice. The City Council also has authority to choose and install artwork independent of the Arts and Culture Commission’s review, as was done for the Remembering Lives Lost memorial flag display in Beverly Gardens Park last year.
Donations are a pivotal way in which the city acquires artwork through its relationships with community partners such as the Chamber of Commerce, Rodeo Drive Committee and the Beverly Hills Unified School District. In 2019, several Mr. Brainwash pieces were installed by the Rodeo Drive Committee throughout the business district and were later donated to the city’s public art collection. Residents and organizations are also allowed to install art on their property independent of commission review, so long as the artwork does not require exterior construction work with a valuation over $500,000.
The city’s fine art is paid for using the Fine Art Fund, and the Mayor’s Purchase Award is financed by the Community Services General Fund budget. Senior Recreation Supervisor Paul Paolone updated the commission on the Fine Art Fund’s balance, which currently sits at $2,651,066.
Commissioner Maralee Beck said this information is helpful for Beverly Hills residents who may have concerns that taxpayer funds are being used to finance all the artwork across the city. “It’s a way for the public to understand how art becomes a part of permanent collections in the city of Beverly Hills, and that’s very helpful because we have to keep reminding people that no, we’re not taking your tax money and spending it this way, nor are we using it to take care of our artwork,” Beck said. “It is a restricted fund specifically for this purpose, and that’s why the commission was invented.”
Assistant Director of Community Services Patty Acuna shared details about the projected next steps for the restoration of artist Yayoi Kusama’s “Hymn of Life: Tulips” sculpture in Beverly Gardens Park. The sculpture is particularly significant due to being Kusama’s first public art commission in the United States and the Arts and Culture Commission’s first commissioned artwork. The restoration is progressing, with a second site visit scheduled for next week for final touch-ups.
Restoration and redefinition served as central themes in this meeting as the commission discussed its future. The City Council is currently reviewing the commission standardization process, with potential plans to merge the Arts and Culture Commission with the Parks and Recreation Commission. Commission members expressed concern at this prospect. Chair Carla Gordy Bristol said, “I hope the time they’re taking means they’re really researching what makes the most sense for our commission.”
Vice Chair Pamela Beck said, “You need to have some expertise about arts and culture to be on the Arts and Culture Commission. If you are on the Parks and Recreation [Commission], it’s unlikely that you have arts and culture credentials … I’m not quite sure how a commission would function if it’s composed of people who do not have expertise in a specific area.”
The City Council has yet to come to a decision about whether the Arts and Culture Commission will survive as an independent entity.
The city has convened with other municipal arts agencies and the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response to help coordinate a regional response to the wildfires. Angela Gaspar-Milanovic, director of grants and professional development at the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, presented the commission with a list of resources available to displaced artists or workers in the arts and culture industry, including the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, the Getty Foundation’s LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund and LA County’s Department of Economic Opportunity grants.
The commission also shared plans for upcoming events in the city, including Community Services Nowruz Table Displays in March, Festival Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hills Art Show. Submissions for the art show close this month, with the initial application deadline on Feb. 14 and the late application deadline on Feb. 21.
