Through sources, Fremocentrist.com has seen an e-mail from a City of Seattle employee mentioning plans to seek permits, and fees, on existing Fremont pieces of public art in the right-of-way. They do plan to ‘bundle’ the public uses to minimize the permit costs.
Most Fremont public art has been located on private land, in part to avoid red tape and processes that inhibit installations. Due to the extreme generosity of private citizens and businesses here, our community has acquired a wealth of art, visible to the public.
Requiring permits on art, on many pieces that have been in place for a decade or more, could prevent future art installations and placements – and endanger those in place. Local artist Jessica Randall has been paying an annual permit for an art piece she facilitated for students at B.F. Day Elementary School. The City has also gone hunting for permit fees for The Fremont Rocket – a work attached to a private building that hangs over the sidewalk more than a story in the air. So far no payee has been found because the organization that installed the Rocket disbanded.
The City has now approached the Fremont Arts Council about permits, and fees, on other assorted art, warning them of the fees to be paid, when that organization faces a severe financial crisis. Fortunately, or not, the Arts Council has only installed a single art work, The Fremont Troll.
Please contact Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien and request that the City consider the rights of free speech, and the benefits our entire city gains, from public art. The Rocket, the Troll, and many other pieces need funding for maintenance and preservation – not for permit fees.