In June 2022, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to create and install a commemorative artwork recognizing the lives of those who perished in the 2017 wildfire complex. Creative Sonoma, a division of the Economic Development Board, will facilitate the project on the County’s behalf.
FIRE MEMORIAL WORK PLAN
An approved Work Plan will provide guidance to all involved with the project. It describes the entities that are involved in the process, what their roles will be, how decisions will be made, and a budget and timeline. Some aspects of the project may be determined later in the process, at which point this Work Plan will be updated.
- Read the Sonoma County Fire Memorial Public Art Work Plan (October 2022 version) HERE.
The goals for the Memorial will be finalized through a process that will be led by Creative Sonoma and will include input from a Memorial Task Force. Preliminary goals for the memorial include:
- Create a place for acknowledgement, remembrance, gathering, and reflection
- Create opportunities for community healing that acknowledge the community’s individual and collective grief and sense of loss
- Recognize that people have experienced and are processing grief and trauma in individual ways, and accommodate those differing paths as much as possible
The process will be designed with significant flexibility for artists to conceptualize many types of memorial artworks, based on feedback gathered through community engagement activities. Proposed memorial artworks might include physical sculptures, gardens, mosaics, story collections and kiosks, and other process-oriented works.
Finally, because the threat of wildfire continues in Sonoma County, it should be noted that this memorial project is not intended to be a “capstone” on the impact of fires in our community.
FIRE MEMORIAL TASK FORCE – NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS (opened February 6, 2023)
Responsibilities
The Memorial Task Force will:
- finalize the work plan, including project goals and themes;
- ensure that appropriate artists are invited to participate in the RFQ/RFP process;
- support and participate in community engagement processes designed by the Task Force, staff and artist;
- selecting finalists and a subsequent artist or artist team to receive the commission;
- support the development of the project concept including reviewing design development as appropriate;
- advocate for the project as it is being developed and when it is completed.
Memorial Task Force Selection Process
Creative Sonoma will solicit recommendations and self-nominations of individuals to serve on the Memorial Task Force. Creative Sonoma will establish a small ad hoc committee, including representatives from Districts 1, 3 and 4, and the Creative Sonoma Advisory Board, to review the pool of applications and recommend who the Memorial Task Force members should be. As part of the review process, Creative Sonoma will interview potential Memorial Task Force members as needed. The recommendations for the Memorial Task Force will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for its consideration and approval.
- Learn more and apply HERE.
Memorial Task Force Composition
The Memorial Task Force of approximately 7 members will consist of a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including representatives of families who lost loved ones in the fires, first responders, artists, and arts workers.
For further questions about the Fire Memorial Public Art Project, please email CreativeSonoma@sonoma-county.org or call 707-565-6121.