SALISBURY, Md.- The Salisbury Public Art Committee voted Wednesday to add a more robust process of removing or changing public art across the city.
Susan Holt, Chair of the Salisbury Public Art Committee says decisions around changing or removing art should be led by the community and not one individual.
"The Director of the Arts, Business and Culture Department would be involved, the Public Art Committee would be involved, the public would be involved,” said Susan Holt. “This is not something that can happen because one person may not like something."
The vote to include these changes into the city’s art code comes on the heels of Mayor Randy Taylor’s decision to paint over the Pride Crosswalks in downtown Salisbury.
The new initiative, ‘Crosswalk Canvas’, will give $3,000 to an artist to come up with a design and execute the painting. Taylor says the decision reflect the city's responsibility "to ensure that government property remains neutral and does not promote any particular movement or cause."
Holt says this announcement by the mayor certainly pushed the code changes forward, these changes were necessary even before the mayor’s announcement.
More information on the Salisbury Public Art Committee can be found here.
The changes to the city’s art code will be voted on by the Salisbury City Council.