Arts Department Responds to Report on 34 Missing Public Art Pieces
The City of Salina Arts and Humanities department addressed a recent report about missing pieces from its public art collection during the Arts and Humanities Commission's September 16, 2026 meeting.
Director Brad Anderson read a prepared statement responding to a Salina311 article that reported 34 missing pieces from the collection. He said the article was "an incomplete summary of the department's management of the collection" and noted that the open records request that produced the report "specifically said that the department was not to create new information or update current records."
According to the statement, the collection contains more than 350 works, some purchased and others donated. "Of the 34 reported missing, approximately 15 to 20 have a known status that was not documented at the time of the request," he said, adding that those include works known to have been stolen, damaged, or destroyed but not updated in the inventory. "That's our bad," he said, noting that some records date back more than a decade before he began working there.
He said the department is "in the early stages of developing a formal collection management policy to help guide best practices in collection management, care and preservation." He also disclosed that three of the missing pieces were his own, which he said had been damaged or lost and disposed of rather than returned. The department indicated it would be updating the records in the days ahead.
 | City Records List 34 Festival-Purchased Artworks as Missing as Salina Plans to Add to Collection in 2027The Smoky Hill River Festival is preparing to purchase additional artwork for the City of Salina's permanent public art collection in 2027, while City records identify 34 works previously acquired through the Festival Purchase Award program as missing. The Festival … |
