The primary goal of the Foundation’s Art in Public Places Program is to increase awareness regarding the benefits and importance of public art, and to encourage cities, agencies, and developers to include public art in their projects. TAFOC supports Art in Public Places as elements which can enrich and enliven communities, contributing to more meaningful, unique environments. Annually, TAFOC convenes a jury of five, art and design professionals, to discuss public art in Orange County and nominate excellent public art endeavors, ultimately selecting worthy recipients for recognition.

Previous years’ recipients of the Art in Public Places Award include:

• Henry Segerstrom for Isamu Noguchi’s California Scenario in Costa Mesa
• The Anaheim Redevelopment Agency for public art at Koll Anaheim Center
• Richard Turner, Ann Preston and Michael Davis for their work on Anamorph at Anaheim Pond
• Tony Delap for Floating Lady at The Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach
• Terry Schoonhoven for The Poet’s Table at the Huntington Beach Pier Plaza
• John Valadez for We the People: Summer Festivals of Orange County, a mural installed at the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana
• Meg Cranston, the City of Brea, and the CIM Group for Orange Grove Fountain in Brea
• The Cal State Fullerton Outdoor Sculpture Garden

Toward the goal of encouraging more outstanding public art in Orange County, The Architecture Foundation is launching a pro-active program, the Public Art Project, which will stimulate discussion of public art in Orange County. Artists, educators, design professionals, architects, and agency representatives will collaborate to compile Art-in-Public-Places resources that will focus on making the public art process more understandable, manageable and feasible. Resource documents and advisors will be made available to involved parties interested in knowing more about a wide variety of public art topics, including: percent-for-art programs; early inclusion of artists in public and private projects; involvement of art program consultants; processes for public art incorporation; maintenance and legal issues; integration of art with site and/or architecture; examples of successful public art and public art processes; funding and implementation opportunities; community guideline opportunities; public/private collaboration, and community input processes.

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