THE rollout of public art in Bathurst will be slow and require careful consideration, councillor Jacqui Rudge has said.
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Her statement comes after businessman Peter Rogers acquired a mural design for the front of Bathurst Library from a French artist he had brought to the city.
He had shown the design to Bathurst Regional Council, but the idea was effectively rejected.
Cr Rudge said the fact that public art is even being discussed is quite an achievement given that when she joined council there was no Public Art Policy.
In May, 2018, she was championing the policy and since then council has adopted the document and appointed a public art committee.
"I would like to make note these things simply don't happen overnight, however, it's important to recognise how far we have come since May 2018," she said.
The committee's job is to provide oversight of proposed public art programs, opportunities and concepts, while the Public Art Technical Review Panel has been established to review all relevant technical aspects of proposed public art projects such as risk assessment, engineering certification requirements, and asset management.
Cr Rudge said that it's important to select art that suits Bathurst and to introduce it slowly, saying "you have to ease your way into it so the community can get on board".
"It's a new thing for Bathurst. We will be very careful with what we do," she said.
"It'll be small steps, because not everyone is in favour of public art or certain kinds of public art."
If people do have ideas for public art, they are invited to put them forward.
"Send them to me, I'm happy to take them to the committee," Cr Rudge said.
"I'm not going to stifle people. I'm more than happy for people to come to me and I can take it to the committee, but I can't guarantee they will be taken up.
"But I think it will be interesting to see what people come up with."