Council Meeting: June 14, 2005 Santa Monica, California

TO: Mayor and City Council

FROM: City Staff

SUBJECT: Award of Contract for Conservation and Installation of Stanton MacDonald Wright Mural Series at the Santa Monica Main Public Library

INTRODUCTION

This report recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a contract with ConservArt Associates for the conservation and installation of the Stanton MacDonald-Wright Mural Series, entitled, “Technical and Imaginative Pursuits of Early Man” at the new Santa Monica Main Public Library in the amount of $267,708 including a contingency of $24,337.

BACKGROUND

In 2001, the City Council directed staff to work with the Smithsonian Institution to arrange for the Stanton Macdonald-Wright mural series to be returned to Santa Monica, conserved and installed in the new Main Public Library. Since that time, City staff and consultants have been working with the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) to realize the project. In July 2004, the City retained ConservArt Associates (Dr. Duane Chartier and Ms. Susanne Friend) and Dr. Ilene Susan Fort, a curator from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with expertise in Stanton Macdonald-Wright’s work, to prepare a condition assessment of the 38 panels and outline conservation steps for each mural panel. In April 2005, the mural panels were transported from Washington, DC to Los Angeles to ready them for conservation and installation. At its meeting on May 18, 2005, the Board of the State of California Cultural and Historical Endowment gave final approval of a matching grant of $113,241 to the City for the conservation of the mural series.

ConservArt was originally selected to prepare the assessment and conservation recommendations through a competitive process after reviewing qualifications from two other conservators. Their conservation and installation recommendations have been approved by SAAM and therefore staff recommends that they be hired to complete the conservation and installation work. Furthermore, they are able to complete the work in a compressed timeframe in order for the mural series to be installed to coincide with the opening of the New Main Public Library in December 2005.

CEQA STATUS

The project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under General Exemption 15061B3, given that the nature of the work is to conserve and install the Stanton Macdonald-Wright mural series in Santa Monica’s Main Public Library.

BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT

Funds for the conservation and installation of the Stanton Macdonald-Wright mural series are available in the following accounts:

C200450.589000: $113,241

C040491.589000: $ 154,467

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a contract with ConservArt in the amount of $243,371 plus a contingency of $24,337 for the conservation and installation of the Stanton Macdonald Wright murals in the New Main Public Library.

Prepared by: Barbara Stinchfield, Director

Karen Ginsberg, Assistant Director

Department of Community and Cultural Services