The city's lack of public art policy will be up for discussion when Tauranga Art Gallery hosts a public art forum tonight.

At 5pm the gallery on Willow Street will host an evening to discuss public art around the city. It will include a visual presentation from Associate Professor Tyler – director of the Gus Fisher Gallery and curator of the University of Auckland's art collection.

A public art policy forum is being held at Tauranga Art Gallery tonight.

The forum comes as the first piece in the city council approved project for 15 Renaissance murals on city walls is put on hold.

Street artist Owen Dippie was due to start work on the mural of Michelangelo's Medici brothers on the city owned warehouse on Dive Crescent this month. However, recent discussions have led to issues over the appropriateness of a Renaissance piece at the waterfront location.

Tauranga is one of the only cities in New Zealand that does not have a city council public art policy to guide the direction of art works. It instead decides on a case by case basis.

Tauranga Art Gallery director Penny Jackson says there are incumbent dangers in not having a clear cut policy on public art.

'We need to think about how our city looks, and we want that look to evolve over time. With a well-structured policy you can have a measure of control over the city's look. Good public art invites interaction and excitement.”

Penny hopes the forum will drive a community consulted public art policy before council.

'A policy doesn't prescribe what the art will actually look like, but rather put in place the process.”

Ideally Penny would like to see a panel including urban planners, architects, iwi, gallery professionals and artists who use a set of criteria to select and manage long term projects.

'Geographically we are surrounded by the sea and our landscape is one of variety, so any public art has to work within that context. Diversity is about all kinds of art and all kinds of subject matter.”
Mayor Stuart Crosby personally supports a public art policy.

'There is currently an ad-hoc system. The danger in this is it can be every narrow and I think the public want more variety in public art.”

He says the recent issues over the Dive Crescent mural show the need for a policy.

'The issues would have been managed sooner with a policy.”

In 2010 TCC resolved not to develop a public art policy and the issue of public art has not been back before council since then, says Stuart.

He believes there is now enough momentum in the community to bring a policy back into council at the next policy and strategy submissions process in September.

'It (the forum) is definitely a good start.”

There are hopes city council will look towards a policy that ties into Western Bay of Plenty District Council's public art policy that aims to encourage artworks relevant to the site, celebrates the landscape and cultural identity of people and places around the district.

WBOPDC Mayor Ross Paterson says the policy, which has been in place since 2009, is due to be renewed in 2013/2014.

He says council will be looking to simplify it so it can meet the future needs of the district.

'Having this broad framework in place has been useful for Council and those interested in public art.”

Some examples of when the policy has been applied include the historical markers and Pou at Maketu and the sculpture in the Gerald Crapp Reserve in Omokoroa.