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City and county present 2024 Public Art Census: 11,364 works catalogued across Bernalillo County
Summary
The Arts and Culture Department and partners released a point-in-time audit identifying 11,364 public artworks in Bernalillo County and proposed actions to address ‘public art deserts.’
The City of Albuquerque’s Arts and Culture Department presented findings from the 2024 Albuquerque–Bernalillo County Public Art Census on June 2, reporting 11,364 works of public art catalogued across the county and identifying areas with little or no public art.
The study, led by the city and county percent-for-art programs with research partner Brook, treated public art census work like a point-in-time inventory similar to the U.S. Census. “Local canvassers then went out and photographed works in our public right of way,” Madeline (Mandolin) Sanchez, outreach coordinator, told the council; the canvass excluded works inside buildings and covered the county’s public right-of-way, she said.
Why it matters: The census is intended to guide future public-art investment and outreach. The department reported that many works were in “excellent to very good condition,” but that the county includes “public art deserts” where residents have limited everyday exposure to public artwork. The census paired artwork locations with spatial data on crime, housing, walkability and transit to inform placement decisions.
Key figures and next steps: The census canvassed roughly 20,000 linear miles of public right-of-way, the presenters said. The city’s official 1.5% for art program accounted for 342 works captured by the study; the department reported that more than $11 million has been invested through the city program over 46 years. The presentation also described action items to prioritize community-informed placement of artworks in underserved areas and to develop valuation methods for privately created or informal public art such as murals on garage doors and little libraries.
Council questions focused on implementation: Vice President Pena asked for the list of identified art deserts and requested that staff share that information with council. The department agreed to provide additional detail on how the census will guide future site selection and outreach and noted that valuation of informal and privately funded pieces remains a work in progress.
Ending: The Arts and Culture Department said it will distribute the full census report and work with council offices to translate the data into outreach and investment plans for areas lacking visible public art.
