Public Buildings with a Side of Art

"The program, launched in December 2004, brings L.A. County up to date with other local governments, said Julie Silliman, civic art director with the Public Arts Commission."

"Civic art is 'something that's becoming more and more expected and more of a common factor in all public buildings across the country,' she said. 'The county is rather late in a sense.'"

"The oldest public art program in the Southland is Los Angeles' Community Redevelopment Agency, which traces its roots to the late 1960s, according to Susan Gray, the agency's cultural arts planner."

"One of the oldest such programs in the nation has been transforming Seattle's public landscape since 1973. Today, the city has 400 permanently sited works and 2,800 portable works."