Since 2017, city staff have worked with the community to design new features on Barrio streets to help slow down traffic, enhance walkability and provide a better balance in the roadway for all modes of travel. The traffic circle at the intersection of Pine Avenue and Harding Street is one of five planned, along with other traffic calming measures. 

Carlsbad Municipal Code 2.18.110 requires that a minimum of 1% of the cost of certain construction projects be dedicated to public art. For this project, City Council designated funding for public art for street or streetscape improvements at one traffic circle. This funding comes from General Fund revenues.The total budget for this public art is not to exceed $110,000.

The city involved the community at the earliest stages of the project’s development to gather feedback about how the new permanent public art could best reflect the Barrio’s neighborhood identity and cultural and historic heritage. 

Phase 1 public input report

This input is reflected in the Call for Artists qualifications. 

At a glance

• Call for artists qualifications released April 26, 2024
• Submission deadline June 24, 5 p.m.
• Budget not to exceed $110,000

The community will be invited to provide input at future stages of the process as well. Sign up to get notified. 

Village and Barrio Master Plan

The Village and Barrio Master Plan includes recommendations for public spaces and street design to support the creation of more walkable and livable streets that provide a better balance for all modes of travel. Chapter 4.3.7 of the master plan describes how incorporating arts and culture into the streetscape can help create livable streets in the Village and Barrio. This includes:

• Arts and culture will help enhance the cohesive and dynamic visual character of the Village and Barrio. They can promote and engage the pedestrian experience and in turn contribute to a dynamic pedestrian environment. 
• Arts and culture placemaking has become a major strategy for helping communities achieve their goals for creating public spaces that reflect the identity of the community, activate spaces in dynamic ways and make great environments that are appealing to both residents and visitors. 
• These placemaking strategies include a wide range of options such as public art, pop-ups, murals, sidewalk mosaic art, sculptures, live-music, temporary installations and a variety of community-initiated programming and events.
• Livable streets require the design of environments that are pedestrian oriented, visually dynamic, aesthetically pleasing and programmatically vibrant. Public art can change the way people see and experience the Village and Barrio.  
• Carlsbad residents have expressed the desire for core areas of the Barrio to be activated by dynamic and rotating programming that includes music, events, rotating visual art, and opportunities to see and buy local art. Promoting and encouraging arts and culture in the streetscape, alleys and public spaces will help beautify the Village and Barrio and create great streets. 
• Playing a significant role in defining the character of a community while contributing to the aesthetic quality of public spaces, art can help make great streets, and connect the community.
• On a large scale, public art has the ability to unify the Village and the Barrio, identify a neighborhood gateway, and act as a focal point in a park or plaza, and preserve and celebrate the cultural heritage of the Village and Barrio.
• Consideration for how public artwork appears from day to night, incorporates lighting elements, as well as how it responds to its environmental context, are important criteria. 

Art in Public Places Program

The city’s Art in Public Places Program began in 1985 and was the first public art program established in San Diego County.

The Art in Public Places Program specifies that artworks may include all forms of original creations of visual art which may be portable as well as permanent. The various media and materials which can be used by contemporary artists for this project could include but are not limited to the following:

1. Sculpture: Free standing, wall supported or suspended; kinetic, electronic, etc., in any material or combination of durable materials.
2. Architectural elements designed and executed by visual artists in collaboration with an architect or landscape architect, which may be incorporated into, upon or adjacent to publicly funded structures or projects such as streetscapes and other development efforts.
3. Design elements incorporated into a Capital Improvement Project that are designed by an artist for fabrication and execution by the project contractor.

Not allowed under the program are:

1. Directional elements such as supergraphics, signage or color coding except where these elements are integral parts of the original work of art.
2. “Art objects” which are mass produced as a standard design such as playground equipment, fountains or statuary objects.
3. Reproductions, by mechanical or other means of original works of art, except in cases of film, video, photography, printmaking or other media arts, specifically commissioned by the city.
4. Decorative, ornamental or functional elements which are designed by the building architect as opposed to an artist commissioned for this purpose.
5. Landscape architecture and landscape gardening except where these elements are designed by an artist and/or are an integral part of the work of art by an artist.
6. Services or utilities necessary to operate or maintain the artwork over time.
7. Existing works of art offered for sale or donation to the city which do not have an established and recognized significance as public art among art professionals and art appraisers.
8. Works of art which are not publicly accessible.
9. Works of art which cannot reasonably be maintained within the resources allocated by the residents of Carlsbad.

Additional parameters defined by the Cultural Arts Office in the Call for Artists document include that the final artwork created should:

• Reflect guidance from the Village and Barrio Master Plan for neighborhood identity artwork, which is defined in the plan as permanent artwork located in neighborhood centers, key pedestrian corridors and parks where people congregate, interact, and engage in social activities. Guidance in the plan states such artwork augments a sense of neighborhood identity, gives homage to the cultural and historic heritage of the area, defines a neighborhood and fosters creativity and talent.
• Be fabricated from durable, low maintenance material that can withstand the outdoor elements and requires minimal maintenance
• Illumination of a light-based sculpture must not intrude on neighboring homes
• The artwork must not create a disorienting situation or cause a distraction for drivers, bikers, pedestrians (i.e. highly reflective material discouraged)
• The artwork must improve and not detract from the safety of the site
• The artwork must allow for visibility to oncoming traffic and pedestrians
• The artwork should be designed “in the round” and be equally intriguing from all angles
• The artwork should be scaled to the attention of approaching drivers, but should not be so detailed that it requires up-close or extended inspection for appreciation
• Interactive artwork is discouraged, and sculptures must not create a desire for pedestrian activity (i.e. selfies). The traffic circle is not intended to be a gathering spot, which would cause pedestrians to cross traffic
• Incorporate input from the Carlsbad community.