A legal battle has broken out in Oakland, California, over whether construction companies should be forced to pay for public art in building projects. An alliance of firms in Oakland is suing the city over laws that came into effect in February forcing them to spend between 0.5% and 1% of any project’s budget on public art. There are more than 200 such public art ordinances across the United States and construction bosses will be closely monitoring the outcome of the lawsuit. Artists in Oakland, meanwhile, are fearful that a victory for the firms will be a defeat for culture...
