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New cultural arts staff outlines galleries, public-art plans and goal for monthly programming
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Summary
Dana Degnan, the newest member of O'Fallon's tourism and festivals staff, presented Feb. 10 on cultural arts offerings — three city galleries, O'Fallon Theater Works, a rotating public-art program and a goal to run two arts programs every month by 2027 — and previewed OTW renovations awaiting council review.
Dana Degnan, the newest member of O'Fallon tourism and festivals' cultural arts team, presented a detailed overview of the city's cultural-arts operations at the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting on Feb. 10.
Degnan said the cultural-arts program comprises five areas: three rotating galleries across City Hall, Renaud Center and the Krekel Civic Center; O'Fallon Theater Works (OTW); public art (including the Shape of Community rotating sculpture series and a growing permanent owned collection); programming and the Fall Into the Arts Festival. She said gallery exhibits rotate in four-month cycles and that the city introduced an artist honorarium of $200 per exhibit this year.
On OTW, Degnan said the master plan for renovations has been completed and the next step is council review; the project will proceed to bidding only after council consideration. Degnan said OTW will stage one final pre-renovation production (OTW in Concert) with auditions scheduled in mid-February and performances planned for April.
Degnan described the Shape of Community rotating sculpture program and roundabout art installations and said the city now owns several permanent sculptures, listing Learning Curve as the most recently installed. She said the public-art process involves partner commissions and selection work with the Cultural Arts Commission and other stakeholders.
On programming, Degnan said her goal is to have two regular cultural-arts programs running each month by 2027; she said she has been in the role about six months and is working to expand classes and hands-on events that complement the Fall Into the Arts Festival. She also noted efforts to promote the Autocast guided-tour app, which lists public-art locations and can serve as a self-guided tour for residents and visitors.
Board members asked for clarification on several items, including whether gallery works are for sale (Degnan said most works are for sale and artists are sometimes paid an honorarium), locations of artists and the status of traffic-box artwork; staff said traffic-box sponsorship and application information is routed through city engineering and that the city has worked with MoDOT to expand eligible boxes.
Degnan offered to return next month with additional factual details on traffic-box sponsorship and other public-art logistics. "My goal is to have 2 programs running every month by 2027," she told the board.
