Citing survey report blunder, committee fighting for Tubman statue asks mayor to remove arts officials from selection process

An advocacy group that fought for an open-call process for artists to design a statue of Harriet Tubman has asked Mayor Jim Kenney to reassign the two public arts officials managing the selection process.

“There is no longer any public trust in [chief cultural officer] Kelly Lee and [public art director] Marguerite Anglin in Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy; we only get betrayals from them and poor leadership,“ a statement from the Celebrating the Legacy of Nana Harriet Tubman Committee said.

“We want both of them removed from any oversight of the statue,” Maisha Sullivan-Ongoza said. The OACCE is also known as Creative Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: City’s public input survey shows most area residents want a Harriet Tubman statue

Sullivan-Ongoza said that the statement — with the heading “Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy: ENOUGH!!!” — was emailed to Kenney and City Council members over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The Tubman committee also called for a moratorium on the artist application process because the current timeline extends from Nov. 30 through Jan. 26, 2023, over the Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s holidays.

Kenney’s spokesperson released a statement Monday evening confirming the mayor’s continued support for Lee and Anglin.

“We continue to have the utmost confidence in OACCE, the Call for Artist process, and the opportunities that are planned for the public to continue participating in the development of a permanent Harriet Tubman statue,” the statement said.

“We hope that the Celebrating the Legacy of Nana Harriet Tubman Committee, who are so passionate about Harriet Tubman, will stay engaged and share the open Call for Artists with artists who they feel will be interested. We look forward to commissioning a sculpture that will bring a deep sense of pride to our residents and to all who visit Philadelphia.”

The advocacy group issued its draft statement Friday, four days after the arts office released results of a public survey of residents’ hopes for a statue of an African American historic figure.

Tubman’s name was cited 260 times out of a total of 1,041 suggestions from 515 respondents. Marian Anderson’s name received the second-highest number with 38 mentions.

» READ MORE: Harriet Tubman deserves a permanent statue in Philly. Few others are worthy.

Each person who answered the survey was able to list up to three names. The city published the survey results online last Monday.

However, the Creative Philadelphia survey report was inaccurate when it was first published by undercounting the public’s support for a Tubman statue by more than half.

The report initially said nearly 25% of respondents supported a statue of Tubman, when actually almost 51% of the people responding to the survey named Tubman.

After The Inquirer raised questions, Creative Philadelphia amended the report to say that 25% of the 1,041 responses favored Tubman.

The report then added: “The majority of the 515 survey respondents, almost 51%, want a statue of Harriet Tubman.”

Sullivan-Ongoza called the error a “misrepresentation.”

“OACCE’s misinterpretation of the data, and the lack of transparency in their decision and actions minimize the importance of community engagement in Public Art acquisition,” the statement said.

» READ MORE: Philly ‘walking artist’ arrives in St. Catharines, Ontario, where Harriet Tubman once lived

Lee, who is also Creative Philadelphia’s executive director, responded in a statement:

“The initial survey results were not inaccurate; they needed further clarity to more adequately explain the number of ‘responses’ vs the number of ‘respondents’ because each person responding to the survey had the option to list multiple responses. The survey results were updated on the website to include both sets of data, indicating strong support for a Harriet Tubman statue.”

The controversy over the statue began after Wesley Wofford’s traveling statue, Harriet Tubman: Journey to Freedom, was temporarily displayed outside City Hall in January.

Sullivan-Ongoza, an artist and member of the Sankofa Artisans Guild, first saw the Wofford statue because the Guild had an exhibit of quilts honoring Tubman on display inside City Hall at the same time the statue was outside.

Philadelphia was the first city Tubman escaped to from enslavement in Maryland in 1849. The abolitionist, Civil War hero, and Underground Railroad leader made about 19 trips to the South to help lead hundreds of formerly enslaved people to freedom.

In March, the city announced plans to award a $500,000 commission for a permanent statue of Tubman to Wofford, a North Carolina artist.

» READ MORE: City’s plan for $500K Harriet Tubman monument comes under fire for not being open to Black artists

In June, the Tubman legacy group began to petition Kenney and City Council to demand an open-call process to see designs from Black artists.

By August, Creative Philadelphia reversed its position. It announced it would issue an open call for artists. But this time, it was a call to celebrate Tubman “or another African American’s contribution to our nation’s history.”

Thus, the new survey, asking for names of historic figures, was posted online from Oct. 3 to Oct. 24. “It’s been obstruction after obstruction, " Sullivan-Ongoza said.

The Tubman legacy group has been asking for an open-call process to choose an artist to design a statue of her since February. Now, however, the group has asked Kenney to temporarily suspend the process.

“We DEMAND a moratorium on the current statue commission Open Call until new, competent, transparent, and accountable oversight is created,” its statement said.

Creative Philadelphia’s website outlines: The call for artists’ application period opens Nov. 30; an artist information meeting is on Dec. 14, and the application deadline is Jan. 26.

“All of a sudden, everything is time sensitive, but they were going to give Wofford all the time that was needed,” Sullivan-Ongoza said. “They are rushing the artists over this holiday season.

“All the artists I know, they earn their money during this time of year making things for the holidays. … I want people to be able to create their best designs. What’s the rush now?”

Lee replied: “The City’s Call for Artist process has always been a two-part competition. Part 1 is the Submission of Qualifications phase where interested artists are invited to submit their background information, prior experience, images of relevant artwork, and other information. Part 1 is due January 26, 2023. Proposals or statue designs are not due in January.

“Part 2, which includes additional public input, is the Proposal phase. In Part 2, five semi-finalists (who will be selected from the artists who respond to the qualifications request in Part 1), will submit design proposals for the Harriet Tubman statue. Part 2 is due in June 2023.”