Yakima Arts Commission drops trash-can color palette, delays final wrap selections pending funding

The Yakima Arts Commission voted on March 19 to remove a specific color palette from its current call to artists for trash-can wraps and agreed to postpone final selections for trash-can and utility-box art until after the submission deadline and city budget clarification.

The moves came during a lengthy discussion about two concurrent public-art efforts: a paid stipend for 16 trash-can wraps and an unpaid utility-box wrapping program. Commissioners and community-member artists debated whether to require a uniform color palette, how to treat unpaid student work, and whether the commission had the budget to cover advertised stipends.

The commission’s chair, Santiago Ituarte, opened the agenda item and said the call to artists remains open through March 31. Commissioners and members of the public pressed for clarity about stipends and technical requirements for submissions, especially how artwork must be digitized and prepared for wrap templates.

Why it matters: the trash-can wraps carry advertised stipends and are intended to be paid public commissions; the utility-box project currently has no stipend attached. Commissioners said mixing paid and unpaid opportunities without clear…