by Garth Meyer
A plan for placemaking art on Artesia Boulevard took another step forward Tuesday as Redondo Beach hired an L.A.-based art consultant to oversee the project.
$405,000 is allocated for the yet-to-be-determined artwork, with the potential to fund more of what would be a scalable project to beautify and further identify the North Redondo Beach corridor.
The scope is the stretch from the train crossing east of Inglewood Avenue to the border of Manhattan Beach.
“To make this not just a transit corridor, but one that you would get out of the car; you would stop, you would visit,” said Jack Meyer, city cultural arts manager.
Last year, the city council designated $450,000 to do this, coming from its John Parsons Public Art Fund. The vote also included the recommendation to hire an art consultant, not to exceed $45,000.
City staff later sent out a request for proposals and received nine submissions for the job.
The Redondo Beach Cultural Arts Commission reviewed the applicants and, last November, three finalists were interviewed.
Lebasse Projects of Los Angeles was named the city staff’s choice, and the council concurred May 13.
Task one for Lebasse now is to assess existing conditions; task two is visioning and engagement (a collaborative process with Artesia Blvd. business owners, neighbors, and a community review panel); task three is artist selection; and task four installation.
Task two, Meyer said, is to “avoid somebody else telling someone what they’re going to have in their neighborhood.”
The city council Tuesday approved a three-year contract for Lebasse, with a minimum of three art installations.
“We only focus on larger scale public art projects; some temporary,” said Beau Basse, Lebasse creative director, who appeared at the May 13 council meeting, with Kim Luangraj, Lebasse vice president of operations.
Basse showed images of the company’s work; from a current $3.5 million project in Glendale roadway medians, a temporary 10-year wall in Beverly Hills, sculptural benches and wrapped city buses for West Hollywood – even a job in Abha, Saudi Arabia.
“We want artworks that are landmarks, and also (smaller) pieces,” Basse said.
Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr., asked him about the “very-narrow sidewalks and not a lot of open space” on Artesia Blvd.
“We have not gotten into a full, strategic deep dive yet,” Basse said. “… I would imagine murals, benches, a large gateway at each end.”
Obagi also asked about adding to the $450,000 budget.
City Manager Mike Witzansky said that hopefully more money can be drawn from the Parsons fund as it gets replenished.
“I do believe in the future we’ll have that opportunity,” he said.
Basse noted that the Artesia project will be designed so that the first stage could be followed by more.
“It’s like designing a landscape for a neighborhood, or architecture for a campus,” he said.
As for a timeline, Basse estimated three to four months for task one, then two months for task two, as part of what is expected to be a three-year span between now and art installation.
Lebasse Projects acts as producers once the artists are hired.
The consultants will report back to the city council on proposed locations for the art, which the council needs to approve.
The council’s “Artesia and Aviation Corridor Area Plan” began in 2020, naming public art as a way to increase pedestrian presence and cultural vitality.
Money for the Parsons Public Art Fund comes from one percent of all Redondo Beach capital improvement and private development projects. ER
I am sure Labasse Projects will do a good job.
I am concerned with how much money from the John Parsons Public Art Fund is being spent on non-art expenses.
$45,000 for a consultant for Artesia Blvd
$35,000 for traffic mitigation for an already over budgeted mural on the Public Works building on North Catalina Avenue.
Who knows how many thousands for site improvements and relocation of access to utilities for the Gate Wave sculpture at Gateway Parkette.
Redondo electeds must re-examine the role and responsibilities of the Cultural Arts Commission because all these costs should have been mitigated.