Senator’s proposal
uses art funds to buy
library books
The state should temporarily reallocate the thousands of dollars it spends each year for public sculptures, paintings and murals to a different kind of art: literary works to fill the state's public libraries, a state lawmaker says.
Shifting money from art to books is part of a reorganization plan for the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts that Sen. Fred Hemmings has been pitching to state art officials and plans to take to the next legislative session.
Hemmings also proposes the Bishop Museum and the Honolulu Symphony, among other art-related projects, be put under the umbrella of the foundation, which has an annual budget of about $5 million.
Ronald Yamakawa, the foundation's executive director, said halting the state's public art program could considerably lessen the priority of the arts in Hawaii and negatively affect the state's artists.
"It's detrimental when you start pitting one art form against the other," Yamakawa said. "People generally feel that the arts are a frill. These arts are critical to the development of people."
Hemmings (R, Lanikai-Waimanalo) said he will push for legislation that would stop the foundation from buying new art for at least two years, citing a surplus of art that is in storage and the state's tough financial situation.
The art purchasing funds would ideally be reallocated to the state's public library system, whose budget has been consistently cut over the past four years, he said.
The Senate minority leader points to a Honolulu warehouse that holds 1,200 pieces of the foundation's art, some of which are surplus, as proof that the agency's resources could be better used.
But Yamakawa said only a small percentage of the pieces in the warehouse were bought and never displayed.
"It's not anything that we can't explain," said Yamakawa, adding that he has talked with Hemmings about the proposed changes and "is patient and tolerant about that kind of action."
Yamakawa said most of the pieces are being temporarily stored at the warehouse because of building renovations or until they are relocated to more publicly accessible areas. New pieces stored at the site may be awaiting placement after a three- to six-month cataloging process, he said.
Other stored pieces are items that were donated to the foundation and are not meant for public display, such as the 650 pieces donated by a University of Hawaii professor, of which only 35 could be displayed.
Yamakawa, in response to Hemmings' suggestions, said he will review the law that created the agency and explore new ways of thinking about the agency's goals.
The foundation was established by the Legislature in 1965. Two years later the agency's art purchasing fund was formed.
The fund receives 1 percent of all new state construction and renovation costs. This year's total amounted to about $300,000, while next year's is estimated to be half of that because of a drop in new projects, Yamakawa said.
Hawaii, one of 26 states that allocates a percentage of its construction costs to public art, was the first state to adopt such a law, Yamakawa said.
Hemmings said he does not "impugn the hard work" of the foundation, but adds that even $10 is too much to spend on art when there is a surplus.
"They realize that the state is in dire financial need," he said, and that it is "unconscionable that we're buying art" when human services are not being fully funded.
Maui artist Shige Yamada, 70, who created the "Gift of Water" sculpture in front of the Hawai'i Convention Center for a $300,000 commission from the foundation, said the agency has been instrumental in getting him and other Hawaii artists noticed.
"People like me would never had the opportunity to explore art" without the foundation, he said. "I dread the thought of anyone trying to do away with that."
Yamada said that after buying the materials needed for the sculpture, which took three years to create, only about $60,000 was left for his artist fees.