Arts Commission releases Shaping Legacy monuments audit and opens temporary public‑art RFP

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Arts Commission on June 2 released a public audit of the city's 105 monuments and memorials and launched a national request for proposals for five temporary public art projects as part of its Shaping Legacy initiative.

Angela Carrier, senior program manager for Shaping Legacy, summarized the three‑year, Mellon Foundation‑funded project and reported that the project has completed an inventory and research audit and is moving into community activations and temporary commissions. "We engaged HR&A Advisors as audit consultants and the Shaping Legacy audit is now publicly available on our website," Carrier said, describing the research appendix that documents historical background, public responses and contemporary context for each object.

The audit includes methodology, data analysis and a 447‑page research appendix with a tear sheet for each of the 105 monuments and memorials. High‑level recommendations in the audit advise the Arts Commission to pursue a more representative commemorative landscape, to commission temporary works in addition to permanent monuments and to make monument data and processes more transparent and accessible to the public.

As a next step, the commission released a nationwide RFP to select five temporary public projects that will run from April to October 2026. Carrier said the RFP seeks a range of formats including sculpture, performance and multimedia proposals and that selected works "will represent a variety of art forms around different sites in the city." The RFP deadline is June 30, 2025.

Separately, the commission highlighted the Artist Circle community collaborators — four community institutions selected to host workshops, screenings and public programs tied to the audit — and noted continuing case‑study work on particular monuments including Christopher Columbus, Padre Junipero Serra, General Ulysses S. Grant, Francis Scott Key and the Dewey Monument.

Carrier said the Shaping Legacy audit and associated community programs aim to expand how the city documents and plans monuments and memorials and to surface diverse local perspectives ahead of any permanent commissions. She told the commission that temporary public artworks generated by the RFP process could help inform future permanent projects while permanent work would require separate, dedicated funding.

Commissioners asked how the commission would resource future permanent projects; Commissioner Beltran asked whether the commission could prioritize resources for new monuments using existing public art funding streams. Carrier and commissioners said that further resourcing and citywide identity questions would be part of longer‑range planning and the commission's strategic work.

Carrier said that programming by the Artist Circle collaborators will continue through September 2025 and that she will return in the fall to present finalists from the RFP process. The Shaping Legacy audit report and RFP materials are posted on the commission's website.