---
title: "Public art program"
description: "The standing municipal or institutional structure (staff, policy, budget) through which public art is commissioned, maintained, and managed."
glossary: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary"
source: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/public-art-program"
---

# Public art program

> The standing municipal or institutional structure (staff, policy, budget) through which public art is commissioned, maintained, and managed.

Glossary: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary  
Source: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/public-art-program

The usual anatomy: a public art officer or administrator inside a cultural
affairs or planning department, an advisory committee or arts commission for
selection and policy, a funding mechanism (often percent-for-art), and, in
the mature programs, a maintenance budget with the collection's name on it.

The program is what persists between projects. Individual commissions come
and go, but the records, the artist relationships, the selection precedents,
and the maintenance schedule are the actual asset. Cities without a program
can still end up with plenty of art; what they can't end up with is a
collection anyone is accountable for.

Related terms: [Percent for art](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/percent-for-art), [Public art master plan](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/public-art-master-plan), [Collection management](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/collection-management)

## Mentioned in

- [From Open Data to a Living Guide](https://www.civiccollection.com/blog/from-open-data-to-a-living-guide)
- [How to Inventory a Public Art Collection](https://www.civiccollection.com/blog/how-to-inventory-a-public-art-collection)