INSIGHTS FROM THE FIELD: Driving for Equitable Change in Public Art
Advancing Policy for Monuments & Memorials San Francisco, California Read the final report
In 2020, the nationwide reckoning with racism and police brutality, sparked by George Floyd's killing, prompted protests across the country and a push to reexamine the legacy of racial injustice and Indigenous genocide in the United States. Monuments were destroyed, removed or replaced in the weeks and months that followed, officially or forcefully by protesters. In response, some cities began to reexamine their public art policies with regards to who is and is not represented in their collections of monuments and memorials, how to listen to communities, and heal these past and current divisions.
Lotta's Fountain surveyed as one of the top 5 most liked monuments/memorials in the San Francisco Civic Art Collection. Photo by Victor Solanoy CC-by-2.0
Do we tear down all the offensive monuments and memorials? What do we need to remember? How much do we contextualize?
—Mary Chou, Director, Public Art and Collections, San Francisco
In San Francisco, which has one of the longest-standing public art programs in the country, three sculptures were taken down by demonstrators in Golden Gate Park. As a response to the removal of these statues, Mayor London Breed asked the City’s Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee to review its collection “from a stance of racial equity,” says Mary Chou, Director, Public Art and Collections, San Francisco Arts Commission.
The program hired Forecast’s team to facilitate the process and create the requested deliverables, Chou explains, because of the organization’s “expertise in listening to diverse voices, managing stakeholder groups, and recommending policy changes based on community input.” Allison Cummings, Senior Registrar, Civic Art Collection, San Francisco Arts Commission, in collaboration with Sandra Panopio, Senior Racial Equity & Policy Analyst, and Coma Te, Director of Communications, managed the project with Chou. With support from the Mellon Foundation’s The Monument Project, and in collaboration with representation from throughout the city, participants engaged in “nuanced conversations looking at history from different points of view,” Chou explains. “Do we tear down all of the offensive monuments and memorials? What do we need to remember? How much do we contextualize? Each piece in the collection raised new questions. Community participants gave voice to divergent aspects important in our city and to how we want to see ourselves now and in the future.”
There are approximately 98 Monuments & Memorials in the Civic Art Collection, defined for the purposes of the San Francisco Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee's review as artworks that were created with the intent of honoring either a person or an event. The entire working list with photos can be found on San Francisco Arts Commission’s website.
“Comfort Women’s” Column of Strength surveyed as one of the top 5 most liked monuments/memorials in the San Francisco Civic Art Collection. Photo by Wayne Hsieh, CC-by-NA-2.
Forecast’s work included acknowledging public harm caused by monuments glorifying violent and traumatic events and figures, facilitating an advisory committee and public feedback sessions, and making recommendations for amending policies and guidelines. The deliverables include updated policies, an action plan for analyzing memorials and monuments case by case, and a final report.
As this spirit of healing pervades this next phase of monuments and memorial work around the country, Chou says, “the community has so much knowledge to share, and we will continue to reflect on our collection with their help in order to demonstrate San Francisco’s national leadership in this much-needed process.”
The flyer Forecast used as part of community engagement with the San Francisco Monuments & Memorials Advisory Committee.
The community has so much knowledge to share, and we will continue to reflect on our collection with their help in order to demonstrate San Francisco’s national leadership in this much-needed process.
—Mary Chou, Director, Public Art and Collections, San Francisco Arts Commission
The Holocaust memorial surveyed as one of the top 5 most liked monuments/memorials in the San Francisco Civic Art Collection. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith.