Background

The City of Santa Rosa Public Art Program issued a Request for Qualifications seeking an artist or team of artists to design, fabricate, and install site-specific public art at the north end of Old Courthouse Square in Downtown Santa Rosa. The deadline to submit qualifications was in January 2020.

The Goal

The goal of this completed project is to provide the entire Santa Rosa community with a prominent artistic symbol that reflects the uniquely Santa Rosa values of innovation and cultural inclusivity. This art installation should inspire people living in, and visiting, our city to reflect on what is special about our community and encourage them to gather downtown to experience it first-hand.

Selection Process

A selection panel was formed representing arts professionals, downtown business and property owners, downtown residents, and the Art in Public Places Committee (APPC). After narrowing down from 140 submissions from artists across the country to 5 finalists, Blessing Hancock of Tucson, Arizona’s sculpture Unum was selected as the winner.

Words and Languages to be Included:

At the meeting of the APPC on January 10, 2022, the words in 17 languages on the Unum sculpture were recommended and adopted. This list was selected based on census data that identified the most commonly spoken household languages in the community, and added Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok as suggested by the advisory board.

Languages originally approved for the sculpture at the January 10 APPC meeting included:

1. English
2. Spanish
3. Chinese
4. Tagalog
5. Ilocano, Samoan, Hawaiian
6. Vietnamese
7. Thai
8. Khmer
9. Amharic, Somali
10. French
11. Swahili
12. German
13. Korean
14. Italian
15. Persian
16. Southern Pomo
17. Coast Miwok

Outcry Over Hebrew and Japanese Languages Omission

The omission of Japanese and Hebrew in list of languages triggered an outcry from the Jewish and Japanese communities. See Press Democrat article on January 21, 2022.

The different languages are meant to represent the diversity in the community. There is roomfor more languages and adding a few additional languages will not displace any of thelanguages already approved. It will only add to the diversity.

Phyllis Tajii of Sonoma County JACL (Japanese American Citizens League) and a core member our AAPI Coalition of the North Bay, alerted us to the omission. She wrote, “While JACL is grateful that many different Asian languages are included (as too often distinctions are not made between the different Asian ethnic groups), there seemed to bean omission of the Japanese American population who have been in Santa Rosa since the 1800’s, and the same with the Jewish community (as represented by the Hebrew language).

“It is admirable that the APP Committee recognized the different populations that are so often overlooked, but if languages are meant to represent the diversity of the community, JACL would like them to go a step further and look at populations who speak English in the household and do not need translation assistance but who still identify with a specific ethnic group and have had a long history in the area.”

Several community organizations have already expressed support to re-examine the languages to be used. They include Sonoma County Interfaith Council, United in Kindness, the Jewish community. A request to add Hebrew and Arabic were also voiced.

APPC Meeting Decision Nullified

Public outcry over the omission of Japanese and Hebrew from the languages to be featured on the sculpture prompted inquiries by the Santa Rosa’s Economic Development Director about how the public could appeal the committee’s decision. At subsequent meetings with the city attorney and clerk’s office determined that the three affirmative votes cast on Jan. 10 were insufficient to pass the motion.

A press release was issued on February 1 that the City will revisit languages for the Unum sculpture which stated “Given this new information, the item will again be placed on an upcoming agenda for consideration…

“As the original motion for this item was invalid, there is also the opportunity to provide as lightly modified staff recommendation. After careful consideration of then process through which the original languages were identified, it is now recommended that the list from which the original 15 languages were identified be expanded to include the top 30 languages spoken in Santa Rosa, based on US Census Bureau data. This allows for more inclusivity while respecting the original process recommended by the community advisory group. The recommendation will incorporate the original selection of words as previously included.”

Words to be considered include the following out of 400 total responses from public engagement processes:

1. Unity
2. Community
3. People
4. Diversity
5. Kindness
6. Neighborhood
7. City
8. Safety
9. Respect
10. Love
11. Peace
12. Care
13. Resilience
14. Family
15. Equality
16. Equity
17. Belonging
18. Friendship

Recommended Languages now expand to the 30 most commonly spoken languages in Santa Rosa, plus Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok to acknowledge and respect he Southern Pomo and Miwok land and existing communities in Santa Rosa:

1. English
2. Spanish
3. Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)
4. Tagalog (incl. Filipino)
5. Ilocano, Samoan, Hawaiian
6. Vietnamese
7. Thai
8. Khmer
9. Amharic, Somali
10. French
11. Swahili
12. German
13. Korean
14. Italian
15. Persian (incl. Farsi, Dari)
16. Laotian
17. Cambodian
18. Russian
19. Swedish
20. Japanese
21. Portuguese
22. Gujarati
23. Hungarian
24. Hindi
25. Miao, Hmong
26. Arabic
27. Tigrinya
28. Hebrew
29. Polish
30. Greek
31. Southern Pomo
32. Coast Miwok

The new recommendations were considered and adopted at the Art in Public Places Committee on Tuesday, February 22, 2022.