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Naperville
Friday, March 29, 2024

Art Talk – No further than your own backyard

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On the night after Naperville Century Walk (NCW) dedicated “Ladder of Light,” a sculpture commemorating local firemen who lost their lives in the line of service, Naperville resident John Gallagher addressed the City Council Board at its Dec. 15, 2020, meeting. In his three-minute public forum speech, John stated that he is a part of NCW’s long-range planning committee and that he, along with his team members, has been working to devise a policy for public art in Naperville.

Reflecting back to February 2020, John shared that City Council asked the SECA Commission to research such a policy, and NCW was to be part of the process, but NCW was never actually called to the table.

News that the SECA Commission moved ahead with its own plan came when it announced its allocation recommendations for Grant Cycle 2021 in early December. It was made known that, once again, NCW would not be recommended for its requested funding, and that SECA approved a $25,000 allocation ask for itself to hire an outside public art consultant to define a public art policy.

Citing his confusion, John asked if Council would be willing to aid in NCW’s planning committee’s efforts to establish a policy first and then review its long-range plan before approving a $25,000 expenditure to support an outside consultant. He added that with 25 years of experience, NCW has the knowledge and expertise to capture its vision in an attainable way.

Mayor Steve Chirico spoke boldly at the conclusion of John’s talk.

“The contribution Century Walk has made to Naperville has been tremendous, largely due to the hard work of people who served on your board. Not sure why the SECA Commission has essentially snubbed you guys for the last couple of years.”

The Mayor continued, “I don’t think it’s right.”

In a tag-team effort, artist Sangeeta Pande then took the floor. Also a member of the long-range planning committee, she passionately spoke of potential projects for the public art initiative: interactive art, kinetic sculptures, projection mapping, along with art that highlights people of diverse heritage, honors local sports heroes, and is designed by national or international artists.

All of this can be accomplished based on NCW’s proven track record, without the need of an outside consultant. City Council then agreed to add the discussion to the agenda of its next meeting. As onlookers, many of us are happy to see that NCW will have the opportunity to introduce a draft of its policy and that perhaps the $25,000 consultant fee can be redirected to support one of these exciting new projects.

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Debbie Venezia
Debbie Veneziahttp://www.artsdupage.org
Debbie Venezia is the Director of Arts DuPage, a DuPage Foundation initiative. Contact her at debbie@dupagefoundation.org or visit www.artsdupage.org.

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