Public art programs combine collection building, artist commissions, capital funding, conservation, and community participation. The figures below show how those responsibilities are measured in cities and states, with dates and reporting periods kept explicit.
Contents
- Collections and inventories
- Commissions and new work
- Funding and program investment
- Conservation and maintenance
- Artists, rosters, and representation
- Reach, sites, and engagement
Collections and inventories
Public art inventories range from portable collections to large, geographically distributed state collections. Their totals also change through accessions, relocations, additions, and decommissions, so a collection count is meaningful only alongside its measurement period.
Philadelphia’s public art collection numbered over 1,000 pieces in its FY2017 plan, with some works dating to the early 1800s. The city’s City and Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority Percent for Art programs had commissioned over 650 artworks through 2019. These are different measures: the first describes the collection, while the second describes program output over time. Philadelphia, Five Year Financial and Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2017–2021; Philadelphia, “The City of Philadelphia Celebrates 60 Years of Percent for Art”.
Seattle’s Portable Works Collection contained over 3,200 artworks in all media at the source’s current access. In its 2025 review, Seattle reported 106 accessions to the Civic Art Collection: 90 portable works and 16 publicly sited works. The same review reported 13 publicly sited additions in 2024. Seattle, “Portable Works”; Seattle, “2025 Year in Review”; Seattle, “2024: A Year in Arts & Culture”.
San Francisco accessioned 200 whole artworks into its Civic Art Collection in FY2024. It also documented and relocated 159 artworks from its portable and sited collections during that fiscal year. Clark County’s public-art maintenance inventory reached 483 artworks by April 9, 2024, after six decommissions and 12 additions during FY2024. San Francisco, Public Art Program and Civic Art Collection FY 2024; Clark County, Aku Aku by Eli Hedley.
Commissions and new work
Program totals can differ depending on whether a report counts completed projects, projects in progress, individual artworks, or commissions and purchases. New York City’s Percent for Art program illustrates that distinction. The city reported nearly 300 completed projects and more than 70 artist commissions in progress in a 2025 program description. A 2024 Public Design Commission annual report instead reported more than 450 projects since the program began and more than 100 commissions ongoing in 2024. The figures use different reporting documents and should not be treated as a single reconciled series. New York City, “About Percent for Art”; New York City Public Design Commission, Annual Report 2024.
San Francisco completed 51 artworks through commissions and purchases in FY2024. Those new commissions and purchases involved 18 artists, with artist commissions totaling $508,582.05. San Antonio delivered seven new public-art projects by nine artists in FY2024, producing 18 new individual pieces of artwork. The different ratios show why project counts and artwork counts should be reported separately. San Francisco, Public Art Program and Civic Art Collection FY 2024; San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture, FY2024 Annual Report.
| Program and period | Reported output | Unit counted |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, FY2024 | 51 | artworks through commissions and purchases |
| San Antonio, FY2024 | 7 | new public-art projects |
| San Antonio, FY2024 | 18 | individual pieces of artwork |
| Seattle, 2025 | 16 | publicly sited accessions |
Funding and program investment
Several major programs use a percentage-of-construction model. New York City’s Percent for Art law requires 1% of eligible City-funded construction budgets to be spent on artwork for City facilities. Philadelphia’s City Percent for Art ordinance requires 1% of the total dollar amount of any City-funded construction project for original site-specific public art. Seattle’s 1% for Art ordinance allocates 1% of the total cost of eligible capital construction projects to public art. These percentages describe funding rules, not the final value of every artwork. New York City, “About Percent for Art”; Philadelphia, “The City of Philadelphia Celebrates 60 Years of Percent for Art”; Seattle, “2025 Year in Review”.
Seattle estimated approximately $3.6 million in 2026 Municipal Art Fund revenue from capital departments for its 1% for Art program. This is a proposed estimate for 2026, not a reported final expenditure. Seattle, Art and Design Funding for City Capital Projects – 1% for Art Program.
San Francisco’s FY2024 direct public-art investments totaled $1,596,867, while direct collections investments totaled $910,224. Including staff, the city reported total program investment of $4,447,444. Within new commissions and purchases, artist commissions were $508,582.05. Clark County budgeted $50,000 for annual maintenance of Seven Magic Mountains in FY2024. San Francisco, Public Art Program and Civic Art Collection FY 2024; Clark County, Aku Aku by Eli Hedley.
Conservation and maintenance
Conservation is a continuing cost rather than a one-time project expense. San Francisco estimated approximately $2.0 million in annual Civic Art Collection care needs using a 10-year cost-modeling period. The city also estimated the cumulative effect of pandemic-related budget shortfalls at negative $2,340,506 through FY2024. In FY2024, it spent $625,306.69 on conservation, relocation, and assessment, compared with $4,778.25 on Civic Art Collection maintenance. San Francisco, Public Art Program and Civic Art Collection FY 2024.
San Francisco’s FY2024 category-level spending also included $80,807.95 for vandalism abatement, $57,505.23 for art handling, and $141,825.52 for Civic Art Collection storage. The city completed 42 vandalism-abatement treatment projects during the same fiscal year. These categories separate physical treatment, movement, storage, and damage response rather than treating maintenance as one undifferentiated expense. San Francisco, Public Art Program and Civic Art Collection FY 2024.
Philadelphia recorded nine public-art conservation projects in FY2015, with six year-to-date in FY2016 and two targeted for FY2017. Those figures are historical plan measures and are not presented as a current inventory. Clark County had eight active public-art conservation projects across seven districts in FY2024. Philadelphia, Five Year Financial and Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2017–2021; Clark County, Aku Aku by Eli Hedley.
Washington State’s Art in Public Places collection exceeded 5,000 artworks in 1,300 facilities by 2024. During the first year of a temporary conservation technician program, the technician maintained and repaired 120 artworks at 23 campuses and facilities across eight counties. Washington State completed 73% of its annual public-art conservation goal in FY2024, compared with a 20% average over the prior five years. Washington State Arts Commission, “Protect the state’s $50 million investment in public art”.
Artists, rosters, and representation
Artist rosters provide another way to measure program capacity. Seattle’s Public Art Artist Roster grew from 110 artists to 411 in 2024. Its combined Public Artist Roster included over 560 local and national artists at the source’s current listing. Oakland’s 2024 public-art prequalified roster contained 260 artists, classified as 48.8% experienced and 51.2% emerging. Seattle, “2024: A Year in Arts & Culture”; Seattle, “Public Artist Roster”; Oakland, Fiscal Year 2025–2027 Public Art Plan.
San Francisco’s 18 FY2024 new-commission artists included 11 female artists, or 61%; four male artists, or 22%; two non-binary artists, or 11%; and one female/non-binary artist, or 6%. Black/African American or African artists accounted for nine of the 18 artists, or 50%. The same group included four San Francisco artists, representing 22%; seven Bay Area artists, representing 39%; and six national artists, representing 33%. These are distributions for that fiscal year’s new-commission artists, not the composition of the whole collection or roster. San Francisco, Public Art Program and Civic Art Collection FY 2024.
Reach, sites, and engagement
Public art reaches audiences through permanent installations, civic facilities, parks, campuses, and temporary or future projects. New York City’s 2024 Percent for Art interactive map highlighted 40 permanent public-art projects: 34 installed works and six future-installation previews. The program places works across the city’s five boroughs. New York City Public Design Commission, Annual Report 2024; New York City, “About Percent for Art”.
Seattle’s 2025 Waterfront Park opening included nine site-specific artwork projects and two fountain re-installations as public-art work. San Antonio completed more than 600 community surveys for public art in FY2024, adding a direct participation measure to its project and artwork counts. Seattle, “2025 Year in Review”; San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture, FY2024 Annual Report.
The state-level figures show the scale of distributed access. Washington State’s Art in Public Places collection exceeded 5,000 artworks in 1,300 facilities by 2024, while the first-year conservation technician worked across 23 campuses and facilities in eight counties. Alongside the 120 artworks maintained and repaired in that first year, the program completed 73% of its FY2024 conservation goal, compared with a 20% average over the previous five years. Washington State Arts Commission, “Protect the state’s $50 million investment in public art”.
Together, these measures describe public art as an operating system as much as a collection: percentage-based capital funding supports new work, rosters expand the pool of artists, inventories track what exists, and conservation programs determine how long that work remains accessible across public sites.