A More Modern Approach to City-Owned Art

Visualizing Better Management of L.A.'s Art Collection

L.A. Controller Ron Galperin

City of Art

Art plays a central role in making Los Angeles a vibrant and culturally rich City by educating local residents, enhancing the economy, and creating memorable landscapes in public places and spaces. The City owns thousands of pieces of art, some of which were commissioned and others were donated by artists, patrons or local organizations. There are three categories of City-owned art: Public Art, Proprietary Department Art (owned by the Airport, Port and Dept. of Water and Power) and the City Art Collection.

The City's Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) is charged with ensuring that Los Angeles retains its stature as an arts hub. DCA is responsible for running art centers and public historic sites, oversees the City's Percent for Arts Programs and the Citywide Mural Program, and acts as caretaker of the City Art Collection. Examining how DCA can do a better job managing, tracking and maintaining the City Art Collection is the focus of  Controller Galperin's latest report , which uncovered these shortcomings:

  • No regular inventory process for City art.
  • No regular condition assessment to determine conservation needs.
  • No effective loan enforcement, including the length of time artworks are out on loan and how they are displayed and stored.
  • No ability to release or donate artworks that no longer add value to the collection or are damaged beyond repair.

Scroll below to learn more about City-owned art and Galperin's recommendations for change.

Public Art

The City's Public Art is cataloged in DCA's Public Art database, which tracks public art installations commissioned by the City. This database contains more than 200 sculptures, installations, murals and photos that exist inside and outside buildings, at parks and elsewhere throughout Los Angeles.

The database currently is not accessible to the public on DCA's website, nor is it complete. In addition, it does not include public art commissioned prior to the 1990s, and therefore cannot be considered a comprehensive database of all the City's public art.

With this map, Controller Galperin makes the Public Art database available to the public for the first time. Click on a pin to see the name of the artwork, its location, the name of the artist(s) and what type of art it is.

To view the underlying data,  click here .

City Art Centers

DCA also operates 21 art centers from the San Fernando Valley to East Los Angeles to San Pedro. Some are historically significant, like the Barnsdall Arts Center and the McGroarty Arts Center, and others are newer buildings where community and professional performances are held.

Click on a pin to see the name of the art center, its address and a link to its website.

To view the underlying data,  click here .

How well is L.A. managing its art?

With all of the art administered by the City of Los Angeles, perhaps the most overlooked is the City Art Collection, which consists of 2,500+ works of art managed by DCA. These works have been approved for display on City property, or acquired by donation or gift and approved by the Cultural Affairs Commission. DCA keeps the collection's database separate from the Public Art database, but like it, the City Art Collection database not available on DCA's website, contains incomplete descriptions of the art in it, and utilizes badly outdated technology.

As part of this report, Controller Galperin is making the City Art Collection database accessible to the public.  View it here . Read on to learn more about the issues surrounding the collection.

What we found

Due to budget constraints, DCA no longer actively monitors the City Art Collection. This severely limits the department's ability to serve as an effective steward of City-owned art. The Controller's report identified these specific issues with the City Art Collection:

    18% of the collection is missing: 444 artworks are unaccounted for.

    25% of the City's art is in poor condition: Out of 867 artworks with condition data, 646 are in excellent, good or fair condition, and 221 are damaged.

    16 to 18 years since any City art was appraised: Worse yet, 100 appraisals happened 40+ years ago.

    41% of the collection lacks identifying photographs: The collection database has no photos for 1,030 artworks.

Improving City Art Collection management

The City of Los Angeles needs to fully account for, take better care of and make more accessible the artworks in its collection. The following recommendations from Controller Galperin's report will help DCA connect taxpayers and the public at large with the City's art and cultural history.

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  • Develop a comprehensive inventory of City-owned art

    • Include the City Art Collection, Public Art and art that belongs to the Port, Airport and DWP. Updated conservation needs and appraisal information should be incorporated as well.

    Implement a new collection management system

    Use technology to track the location, loan history and condition of all City-owned artwork.

    Develop an online catalog and map of City-owned artworks

    Allow people to learn about artworks and where they are displayed to increase transparency and accessibility.

    Allow the City to release art when it's damaged or expensive to maintain

    Let DCA to remove artwork from the collection that is damaged, no longer adds value or is too costly to maintain. Donating released items to an organization should be an option.

    Establish a program to monitor City art

    DCA should certify on an ongoing basis that artworks on loan are accounted for and properly maintained.

    Use local expertise to improve collection management

    Leverage local arts organizations, academic institutions and other experts while working to inventory, evaluate and showcase City-owned art.

    Additional resources

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