The Austin City Council last week during a work session agreed to spend $10,000 for participation in a public art and placemaking project for small to mid-sized cities, if accepted into the program.

Five cities in Southern Minnesota will be chosen for the project led by Forecast Public Art, with funding by the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Forecast, said planning and zoning administrator Holly Wallace, would not only lend its expertise in planning projects, “we would have the chance to work with professionals who we would otherwise never bring here for $5,000.”

Forecast has already secured three-fourths of the funding; cities chosen must commit $5,000 a year for two years. In Austin, $5,000 would come from the city’s contingency fund and the additional $5,000 would be budgeted in the city’s capital improvement plan for planning in 2018.

The city can make application until March.

There are many benefits, Wallace said. In addition to being able to collaborate with other participating cities, there is professional development potential for staff, assistance with demonstration projects, and participation in regional planning summit on the arts, among others.

Public art, according to Forecast materials, “offers opportunities for community collaboration, for ideas to shape our environment, and to influence change. The definition is always expanding — performance art, interventions, and land art are just come examples — and artists are redefining public art everyday.”

“It’s pretty well perfect for us,” said Mayo Tom Stiehm. “It definitely aligns with plans by the downtown committee.” He added that the city would not lose any funding if it was not chosen as one of the five cities.

All council members approved the request, except for councilwoman Laura Helle, who abstained from voting. She is the executive director of the Austin Area Commission for the Arts and felt it would be a conflict of interest to show any bias.

But she did say, “I see really good value for taxpayer money” in the plan.

The item will move now to formal City Council discussion.