Salina Arts & Humanities Executive Director Brad Anderson Corrects Statements Made at Sept. 16 Meeting
Salina Arts & Humanities Executive Director Brad Anderson has corrected statements he made during the Sept. 16 Arts and Humanities Commission meeting regarding the City’s public art records.
During the meeting, Anderson said an open records request “specifically said that the department was not to create new information or update current records.”
Anderson now says that statement was incorrect.
“After reviewing the multiple KORA requests from you (Salina311) and Jon Blanchard I see that the reference to not creating new documents was only related to the KORA requests for the River Festival,” Anderson told Salina311.
The clarification followed a Sept. 19 email from Salina311 asking Anderson to review his statements from the meeting. The email also noted that eight follow-up questions regarding the public art collection had been forwarded to Anderson on Sept. 14, two days before the meeting.
Anderson initially responded Sept. 19 that he was “not aware of any follow-up communication” from Sept. 14 and said he would speak with staff Monday.
After reviewing the correspondence, Anderson acknowledged Monday that the email had reached him.
“My statement to the Arts Commission was incorrect,” Anderson said. “Apparently, I received the communication from Nikki that you referenced on September 14, but didn’t see it. I may have inadvertently clicked on it with my phone, and it didn’t show up in my desktop inbox as unread.”
Anderson said he was not aware of the contents of the questions until Salina311 contacted him again Sept. 19.
“I apologize that my comments last Wednesday were not accurate,” Anderson said.
He said he will send a clarification to both the Community Art & Design Committee and the Arts and Humanities Commission.
Arts & Humanities staff are also updating the public art inventory to clarify the status of works discussed during the Sept. 16 meeting. Anderson said the updated inventory and responses to the eight follow-up questions are expected by the end of Tuesday, Sept. 22.
 | Arts Department Responds to Report on 34 Missing Public Art PiecesThe 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 … |
 | 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 … |
