ESC Panel

The Entertainment & Sports Center (ESC) Public Art Panel of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission met on Monday, March 30, at City Hall, which was officially closed for Cesar Chavez Day.

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Shelly Willis, executive director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, moderated the panel discussion. The March 30 agenda included updates on the installation of the Jeff Koons sculpture, the selection process for regional artists, and priorities for the art plan for the new downtown arena.

Panel member Rachel Teagle (right) discusses possible locations for work by regional artists. Teagle is director of the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.

Shelly Willis, executive director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, moderates the panel discussion. The March 30 agenda included updates on the installation of the Jeff Koons sculpture, the selection process for regional artists, and priorities for the art plan for the new downtown arena.

Carlin Naify, president of the board for the Verge Center for the Arts, is flanked by artists including William Ishmael (left), Jose Di Gregorio and Micah Crandall-Bear. A total of 55 observers signed in for the meeting.

Panel member Annabeth Rosen, an artist and professor of art at UC Davis, lists her priorities for the ESC art plan.

Panel member Cheryl Holden (left), chair of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, discusses the ESC art plan with SMAC Executive Director Shelly Willis. tion…

Panel member Marcy Friedman, a philanthropist and arts advocate who donated $1 million to boost the budget for regional art to $1.5 million, clarifies a point before a packed audience of observers.

Marcy Friedman confers with Annabeth Rosen during the March 30 meeting of the Entertainment and Sports Complex Public Art Panel at City Hall. More than 50 observers – mostly local artists – attended the meeting during which panel members discussed next steps for the installation of the controversial $8-million Jeff Koons sculpture and debated priorities for $1.5 million in regional art. Philanthropist and arts advocate Friedman contributed $1 million, with the City of Sacramento and the Sacramento Kings adding $250,000 each, for public art projects by regional artists. (Photo by Joan Cusick)

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Panel member Lial Jones of the Crocker Art Museum listens to Dr. Paul Jacobs, Executive Chairman of QualComm and part of the Kings ownership team, discuss arena plans by phone during hte March 30 meeting of the Entertainment & Sports Complex Public Art Panel. Also participating by conference call were Rene de Guzman, senior curator at the Oakland Museum of California, and AECOM Design Principal Rob Rothblatt.