The city of Columbus and the Columbus Area Arts Council are now in agreement regarding some previously contentious public art contracts.
The controversy was in response to three sculptures in the Arts Council-commissioned Sculpture Biennial that were to be displayed on city property. Mayor Kristin Brown wanted to amend the contracts so that the city would have the ability to move the sculptures to another location if a problem were to arise.
The sculptures in the Biennial are large and expensive to move, and many of the artists didn't want to give the city carte blanche to move them without their permission.
Columbus Area Arts Council Executive Director Karen Shrode and city officials have agreed the city will be allowed to move the sculptures, but it needs to clear everything with the artists and the Arts Council first.
"We would negotiate first of all whether the work should be moved how it should be moved and where they would be moved to," she explains.
Shrode says the sculptors, though, are still the ones who ultimately decide whether to sign the contracts under the new terms.
"If any of the artists do not approve of this revised contract, then all bets are off," she says.
There are still two sculptures that have yet to be installed in the biennial.