Seattle Arts Commission Meeting Materials

Series — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 7400-03

Scope and Contents note

Minutes from Commission meetings, including reports from subcommittees on public art, budgets, education, public information, neighborhood arts, and other issues. Minutes address various programs undertaken by the Commission as well as some developed by other groups that were of interest to the Commission. Also included in these records are the minutes from the Public Arts Advisory Committee. They include art proposals for public art, budgets, and Municipal Art Plans. This subcommittee of SAC focuses on the selection, creation, and deaccessioning of public art pieces. Some notable art installations and issues include the Thornton Creek installation, many firehouse art pieces, and the controversial Second Ave Bench art piece in Belltown. Paper records cover 1972-2013, while digital files cover 2022-2024. There is a gap from 2014 to 2021.

Dates

Creation: 1972-2024

Creator

Seattle Arts Commission (1971-2002) (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access note

Records are open to the public.

Historical Note

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In 1971, a city ordinance established the Seattle Arts Commission (SAC) to promote development of and public interest in the arts, as well as to advise the city on cultural and artistic development. The fifteen-member body replaced a predecessor agency, the Municipal Arts Commission, and staff support was originally provided by the Seattle Center. The Commission was given cabinet-level status in the city government in 1976.

In 2002, a reorganization abolished the existing SAC, created a new Seattle Arts Commission made up of volunteers and a new city Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs (OACA), and divided the functions of the old SAC between the two new organizations. The current commission is comprised of 16 citizen volunteers appointed by the Mayor and City Council. OACA was brought into the Executive Department in 2013 and its name was changed to the Office of Arts and Culture.

The department supports arts groups, community festivals, and neighborhood arts councils; funds and promotes public art, and promotes Seattle as a cultural destination. It also oversees the One Percent for Art program (one of the nation’s first), where one percent of Seattle’s capital improvement project funds are reserved for public art. Since the program began in 1973, it has acquired nearly 3,000 artworks.