- [Announcer] "Flatland" is brought to you in part through the generous support of AARP, the Health Forward Foundation, and RSM.

- Hi, I'm D. Rashaan Gilmore (upbeat music) and welcome to "Flatland in Focus."

For this very exciting episode we'll be talking about public art, its impact, and how Kansas City supports it through the program known as One Percent For Art.

(upbeat music continues) As Kansas City cuts the ribbon on the new airport terminal, it is also introducing the largest public art project in Kansas City's history.

$5.65 million was provided by the city's One Percent For Art Program to commission artwork for 28 artists, 19 of whom are from our very own metro area.

Let's take a look at how this program affects our region and hear from some of those artists who are supported by this opportunity.

(tranquil music) - Public art is a very difficult platform.

I think it's more than just presenting a work for interior space.

You bear a responsibility beyond the realm of aesthetic.

You are also addressing the community.

It is about civic pride.

It's about civic responsibility.

I think those factors have to be kept in mind when you are creating a space that the community has ownership of.

- The One Percent For Art Program came about in the mid to late 1980s.

1% of the engineers cost of a public building should be set aside for adornment by art.

When the big sports networks show up for a big game and they wanna show symbols of the city, what do they show?

Well, one of the things that they show often is the Sky Stations sculptures on top of Bartle Hall.

That has become a symbol of the city in many ways and that is part of the One Percent for Art Project.

Had 54 works of public art out there.

Now that the new single terminal at KCI is finished we just added 28 more.

So we now have 82 works of public art.

(tranquil music continues) - These are my fingerprints of making the handmade surrounding pieces.

- Oh, I see it, that's awesome.

- [Hasna] If you see all the local artists work they are at the concourse wall right by the gate.

It's the local artists who are inviting you into the city and it's the local artists who are saying goodbye as people leave the city.

- You'll be able to use your device in your hand, scan the QR code, and Linda's actually made a whole list of all the different elements she's used in here, little facts about the plants, recipes, all kinds of fun things that as you're sitting here waiting for your flight, you can actually learn something new.

- The art commissioner, James Martin and Holly Hayden did a phenomenal job of getting a separate jury, blind jury for every space and for all the local projects, local artists, the jury was national.

And for all the national artists the jury was local.

Here it was just the work and the work alone stood for itself.

- We had a different selection panel for each of the locations and that meant that we had a lot more selection panelists involved in the process, over 50 selection panelists.

What we found in the artists who were selected is that there were things that kept coming up.

Kansas City's incredible music history, for one.

The incredible skies that we have here.

The incredible prairie grasses that we have here.

The flora and fauna.

Immigration and diaspora.

The fact that Kansas City is a very international city even though we're right here in the middle of the country.

- I started thinking about (jazz music) really what makes up a city is the people that are in the city.

So that was kind of what I did for my proposal and what I was commissioned for.

I tried to choose various aspects of the city and the people in the city.

So capturing everything from kind of the work ethic, I think, kind of a Midwest work ethic, the lush and the green and the richness, I think, that's here.

I try to capture kind of the music scene as well as the advocacy for the arts and hearing your voice.

And then, just the opportunity for families to kind of be here and the affordability of what it means to be here.

- We always go through these moments where we question what we do.

Am I really any good?

Is my work really of value?

I cut, I burn, every day when I work with this material it takes a lot out of me as a human being.

And just to get that validation on a personal level is so deep and profound for me.

It is huge for my career because a lot of people don't realize that this work has been selected by a national jury comprising of art connoisseurs, art critics from all across the country, from California, from the East Coast, from the West Coast, everywhere.

(jazz music) - I think there is a perception out there that art is extra.

That it's not essential, that it's not infrastructure.

It needs to be considered something very central to the human experience and for the best human outcomes in things like health and community.

People have a need for aesthetic enjoyment.

- The city, like many cities and many units of government at different levels, haven't funded infrastructure improvements and maintenance like they should.

One of the biggest backlogs is on waterline repair because we've got water lines that are older than me, if that's believable.

But water can get contaminated and people can be without water for a while.

Now, we've had a problem with the sewer overflows and then in a lot of areas out here where I live, in the Ruskin Hickman Mills community, we don't have any sidewalks.

So I see people, including children, walking in the streets.

Every year we could easily spend, or recommend spending, over 10 times the money we have available because the need is so great.

I don't think the public art program is a real threat to general funding of our infrastructure needs.

I think the real threat is that for decades the city just hasn't spent enough money on maintaining our basic public infrastructure that really contributes a lot to public safety if it's well maintained.

- If we can demonstrate (serene music) that this really small amount of money has been very effective for creating community with people who have very different backgrounds and different orientations, than I think cities and other agencies are going to see public art as a great investment.

- [Kwanza] I'm really proud of all the artists that worked with me and are part of this commission.

I'm really proud of the pieces that I put together and I think it also offers some credibility to the local artists to be with some of these other larger national art, so it kind of really elevates, I believe, all of us.

- All right welcome back to the studio for the in-studio discussion portion of today's program.

I'd like to welcome to the table, Bernadette Esperanza Torres, a ceramicist and teacher.

James Martin, who is the public art administrator for the city of Kansas City.

Holly Hayden, thank you for joining us.

Holly is a consultant with PMG and KCI.

And Amy Kligman with Charlotte Street Foundation.

So I was just saying in the break that I am so impressed with our city.

We really are a city that embraces the arts.

We support the arts.

But I'm curious, from your perspective as an artist, Bernadette, do you feel like what I'm saying is true of what Kansas City is?

- Kansas City is really made for the arts.

As an arts educator, I teach at the Metropolitan Community College and I came here from Florida and so many opportunities in Kansas City has given me and also my students a way to showcase their artwork and more and more every day.

- So I have to ask then James, as a city that has something rather unique, and you can correct me if I'm wrong about that, but our One Percent For the Arts Program is really a commitment on behalf of the citizens of Kansas City and the tax dollars that we all pour into this community.

To say that arts are a primary and important part of being here, how did that come about?

- Well, the law that set it up was passed in 1986 and what the ordinance says is that 1% of the engineers estimated costs for a public building will be set aside for adornment by art.

And the key phrase there is a public building.

We only have money for the One Percent For the Art Project when it's a construction project, and with the legacy program, when it's a building.

We have a new program that started in 2017 where the funding comes from GO KC projects and the GO KC projects are the new bridges or renovated bridges, widening of streets to become parkways, that sort of thing.

And so we've already put art and a roundabout in the Northland.

It's the first time we've been able to do that.

It's a branch of the One Percent For Art Program and the GO KC bonds were passed for 20 years, it started in 2018, well the passage was 2017, so we're looking at 2037, 2038 where that pool of One Percent For Art money will be in existence.

After that, I'm not sure.

- In the case of something like the airport, and Holly you played a really important role in this building in this One Percent for the Arts.

I mean, that's a huge budget for a huge project.

What can you tell us about, not only the number of artists that were involved, but the process of identifying those artists?

- So this project was $5.65 million that we knew from the very beginning that was set aside specifically for artwork.

So what does that mean for the artwork?

Is that one piece?

Is it five pieces?

We said 28.

(D laughing) - And how many of those artists were local to Kansas City?

- Yeah, so the way that we set up the calls for art were divided into different sections depending on what type of art we were looking for.

So there were larger sculptural pieces, there were pieces in the concourse, and how we envisioned how travelers could interact with the artwork.

The concourses are those locations that you get that up close and personal area with the art.

What better place to showcase our local artist?

So 19 out of those 28 places are with local artists.

- Charlotte Street Foundation for a long time has been really invested in making sure that people who create art are able to have their art displayed and shown in places and spaces that aren't always the typical, like the gallery or the museum.

How does something like an airport project fit into that?

Is that an appropriate place for the arts?

- Yeah, I mean, personally, I think every place is an appropriate place for the arts and I'm really thrilled that we had this opportunity with the airport to support artists in Kansas City.

But yeah, I mean with Charlotte Street and the kind of work that we do, I think we're really interested in what are these surprising ways that people can be engaged with art in the public and our Rocket Grant program definitely supports public art that's happening in kind of unexpected spaces.

Things that are not typically art spaces, not galleries, not theaters.

Community spaces, middle spaces, green spaces where you could be on a completely other mission and encounter some art on your way.

- So this is a question I want to kind of throw around the table just a little bit.

What role does public art play in community?

In community building?

Let's start with you, Holly.

- Art is a component that maybe some people don't initially think of as something that has a really heavy importance to people as they get through their day.

So what changes a building just from a space with four walls to something that has a moment that you can enjoy, something you can love, admire, take your photo by, talk to your friends about, wanna come back and see it again.

So I think whether or not those places are inside a public building, or around, like you were saying, in unexpected places, I think art plays a huge role in our person and seeing something in a different way.

- So actually, I know I asked another question, but I want to dovetail that a little bit if I can and ask you, Bernadette, what does it mean to have your art seen and viewed and presumably appreciated?

- I have had my artwork at many places and many galleries and shows and to have it in a place that is permanent is so exciting.

I've never had that opportunity.

A lot of people are saying they wanna see it or they miss it, or sometimes it's just online, but for something that will be there, I feel, it is a legacy, my first time ever and it's exciting.

- What in your personal opinion is the benefit, or what should people, if they do feel like, we've got other needs we could be addressing or taking care of?

What do you say to the critic who may be watching and going, "I mean this is great "but we've got these other bigger fish to fry," if you will.

- Yeah, well one thing I will say about the arts in general, and I would say that folks should think about the arts really expansively, so yes, like paintings and sculpture, that's all a part of art, but it's also socially engaged projects that are kind of immersive design projects.

It's also music, it's also dance.

And the impact of the arts really actually positively touches so many other sectors.

It touches health and wellness.

It touches education.

It touches, again, civic discourse.

So you think you know what the arts are and it's this thing and it's an object and you can touch it but it's so much more than that, and so I guess what I would say is, the studies show the arts have this enormous impact.

- And so that's a really good point because I'd like to know, and maybe Holly or James, you can give an answer to this, how do we measure the impact of our, what is the metric that we should be using to determine its benefit for our community?

- Did we stop, did we look, did we sit and stop and look?

Did we pause?

Did we come back to that?

Something like when people kind of have a favorite piece in a museum, for example, they kind of go back to that gallery and look at it again, or look, look again.

What makes them realize this is a space they want to be in.

It feels comfortable, it feels enlivening, it feels kind of those emotion words that are attached to just walking by something.

- And so I wonder then if, because James, it's not as always clear cut in terms of the financial impact of something or whatever those metrics or measurements are that we would want to use, is there a case to be made that, just as a quality of life sort of component, there is benefit and that that impact is perhaps immeasurable?

- Yeah, well I would add to Holly's description that we can actually measure the impact.

There are economic impact studies that are done pretty regularly.

In fact, ArtsKC is involved in one right now.

So we can do that.

It's just as important to realize that the arts can impact things like quality of life, whether you love your neighborhood or not.

So yeah, all of those kind of soft benefits need to be valued as much as the economic impact benefits in my estimation.

- I have one more.

- Yeah, jump right in, yeah.

- Talking about art from an architectural standpoint and a new building standpoint, art actually has a lead certification point option.

So that's something that adding art to a new building actually can get you those certifications.

- Which is a really interesting point too because it also raises a sort of a question in my mind of, we've put so much money into this particular year because of the airport and 1% of a huge project like that, I wonder then, for you Amy, is there increased pressure to try to fill the void as that number comes back down to, I don't know what that level will be, but it'll be significantly less.

- Yeah, I mean, I guess the thing I would say for artists, and I'm an artist too, so kind of speaking from that perspective also, communities like Kansas City that have a lot of different ways to support artists, you think about how artists are getting by.

Most of them have day jobs.

Most of them are teaching or doing some other kind of work.

Like they're engaging in the community in some way to offset the cost of their life, because to be honest, the art is not paying for it.

But you know, you get big projects like the airport, you get big public projects, opportunities like the Charlotte Street Awards where it's a $10,000 grant.

Those things do make it possible for artists to spend more of their time making the work and engaging with the work and it makes it more attractive to them to stay in a place that can continue to support that practice.

So that's what it is for artists, actually.

It's not so much about like, give me all the money.

It's really about give me some time to do this work because any time that they're spending trying to survive is not spent on making art.

- Is is what Amy just described, sort of reflective of your experience, that is oftentimes just trying to survive so you can create.

- That is exactly, is giving the time the opportunity and the space to make art.

As an artist, that's all I need is the time.

But luckily the Metropolitan Community College awarded me a sabbatical last semester.

So that released me of my full-time teaching and also being the gallery director to allow my full focus on creating and building my artwork in a totally different material than I've ever worked in, 'cause I do ceramics, but transferring my ceramic images into a plexiglass, it was a whole new 3D to 2D and working with fabricators.

It's time, money, and opportunity.

- I think that step-by-step process, and sometimes people feel like, well I've got the art and I just show up, or that kind of thing, but there's a whole other business side of this.

- That's what I'm sharing with my students, how to be a business because yeah I can make the art but I could never of even applied or have the opportunity without becoming a business.

And they brought them in way before even the application process.

They said, here's Nina.

- Nia Richardson at KC Bizcare.

- And so she was basically a consultant for you, kind of shepherding you through the process.

- From the very beginning, and Samuel, Samuel held my hand and said, "Okay, here's the tax people.

"Okay, now here's the vendor people "and then here's how you do it and on call."

- Now, anybody can apply, right?

- All you have to have, you've got the images to show us, that's how you apply.

- So that's like step one, getting foot in the door.

- But that whole thing about the logistics of getting it done, I mean, just to confirm what a big need that is.

We just did like a big artist assembly where we were doing, it's almost like a giant focus group with artists in the community and one of the categories was public art and the needs conversation really centered around transparency and communication around the logistics and how to make those things work because they are hurdles for, I mean, there's a lot to do with working with the city that's hard for people and particularly for artists when it's not something you're normally doing.

So I think all of that.

- Or when you just wanna focus on your art and you don't wanna deal with all that other stuff, but then if you don't take care of your business then you can't- - It's a full skill.

I had four inches of notebook paper of just business paper to make sure that I had everything signed, everything's stamped, and then James also is like, "Okay," and then Holly's like, "Wait a second, we forgot the period.

"We forgot the date," this signed.

- Maybe not quite that.

- Well and for artists to know too, I mean, the fee that you got, that didn't go all to you, right?

- No, there's taxes.

- It sounds like x amount of dollars to artists, which it is, but it's also, you gotta think about your fabricators, you gotta think about, and that's important for artists to know.

- Yeah, that budgeting and building that process in is not as easy as just show up and here's my, and one of the things I have to say I really love about Charlotte Street Foundation, especially Rocket Grants, is that it's so intended to make the arts accessible, which is what I love about the airport project, because all the people- - Everybody's gonna see it.

- Exactly, and taking different things away no matter who you are or where you come from.

And so I, again, I just think it's such an important conversation.

So I don't know who all we've got lined up already but I would love it if we could talk about some of those dynamics for artists that I know will probably be tuning in.

Was there an effort to identify or to work with artists who maybe aren't sort of the usual suspects?

They maybe don't have the following but they have the talent or they're lesser known.

How does that factor into any of this as well?

- Well, part of what I've tried to make explicit in these calls for artists that went out is that artists can collaborate if they don't have experience in public art.

That had always been implicit.

But one of the things that I tried to put in place as I began the job was to make that more explicit.

Just to remind people that they can collaborate if they don't have experience in public art.

And in Bernadette's case, her collaboration was with the fabricators, who, they were hired by her, paid by her, et cetera.

But still they provided that expertise.

- The One Percent For Art Program has a process already outlined and it's a open call for artists that has parameters of exactly what we're looking for.

So one of the calls would've been around large scale ceramics.

One of them would've been sculptural pieces.

One of them would've been wall hanging artwork.

So the artist got to choose which one they thought best fit their practice and apply for that.

So then when we went through that process and there's the whole selection panel with people, all of this is sort of outlined in this One Percent Program that we follow along.

- There was like a juried process of judges and it was a very competitive process.

- So we did something a little different than normal calls for artists.

They typically just have one panel that would look at all of the applications.

Total we had over 1900 applications.

There's no way one group of five people could have done that.

So we had multiple selection panels for each location and they got to look at two or 300 at a time and that's really how they could put their focus and their energy into looking at each application and saying, "These artists really want this."

- I can only imagine what it must be like for you when somebody comes up to you and says, "Oh, I saw your piece (laughs) in the airport."

- It started off with a couple Instagram shots.

- [D.] Kind of tagging you in there.

- Yeah, yeah.

A tag and a tag here and a tag there.

And I was like, (gasps) because as the artist we delivered the artwork, but it was professionally installed without us being there.

And so allowing that release and knowing that Holly and James and everybody had our back and giving us encouragement like, "Okay, how do I feel?"

It's pretty exciting and for all my fellow artists, it's like we are in a class, our class, and we are all going through the same but different things with our artwork.

But it was really nice that we weren't the only ones.

- We couldn't have done this project without all of us working together as a team and I'm so grateful for the team I got to work with.

And like Bernadette said, we all know, this is a legacy project for artists in Kansas City.

- Fantastic, and that's where we wrap up today's conversation for this episode of "Flatland in Focus."

You've been hearing from artist, Bernadette Esperanza Torres, James Martin, Public Art Administrator for the city of Kansas City, Holly Hayden, consulting artist for PMG and KCI, and Amy Kligman, artistic director for Charlotte Street Foundation.

You can find (jazz music) additional reporting on public art in Kansas City and the featured artists at the new KCI terminal flatlandkc.org.

Please join us on Instagram @flatland-_kc for our flatland follow up, an open discussion where we invite anyone to come join us as we talk more about this issue.

This has been "Flatland," I'm D. Rashaan Gilmore and as always, thank you for the pleasure of your time.

- [Announcer] Flatland is brought to you in part through the generous support of AARP, the Health Forward Foundation and RSM.

(jazz music continues)