TUCSON — On Monday, March 23, 2026, the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona learned that the bronze sculpture of César Chávez (2020), created by artist Luis Mena and located at the Five Points intersection, was removed from the site by the City of Tucson at the direction of the City Manager, in consultation with the mayor, for public safety reasons. The removal followed vandalism that occurred after the New York Times reported abuse allegations against César Chávez.
The sculpture was installed at a prominent southern gateway to Downtown Tucson, where Sixth Avenue, Stone Avenue, and 18th Street meet. Funded by a percent-for-art program within a capital improvement project, it was part of a broader initiative to enhance the Five Points area with public art and pedestrian improvements. The City of Tucson, in partnership with Barrio Viejo, Barrio Santa Rosa, Barrio Santa Rita, Armory Park, and the Arts Foundation, aimed to mark the entrance to Downtown and celebrate the cultural heritage of the surrounding communities.
The City of Tucson released a statement regarding the removal, which said, “the decision to have staff remove the statue as soon as possible [was] due to the vandalism and potential safety issues that the statue could present. The statue will be stored for now, and there will be a formal deaccession process as it is a part of the City’s public art collection.”
Deaccessioning is a careful and intentional process. All deaccessioning meetings are open to the public and include opportunities for comment. The Arts Foundation is committed to facilitating open dialogue in a safe space as decisions are made regarding the installation, relocation, or removal of public artworks in Tucson. The City’s policies and procedures are available for public review. While we understand the community’s desire for swift action to remove references to Chávez, meaningful change requires collective engagement and input.
Just as the installation of the César Chávez sculpture required careful consensus-building among the city and surrounding neighborhoods, its official removal, or deaccession, from the City’s Public Art Collection will follow a similarly deliberate and transparent process.
As Tucson’s local arts agency and stewards of public art, the Arts Foundation remains deeply responsive to the needs of our communities. Guided by collective action, we support artists and organizations throughout the region and prioritize community impact. This monument to César Chávez, like all monuments, is not immune to iconoclasm and the reality that even the most enduring symbols may, in time, expire in meaning. As our collective perspective on Chávez evolves and his legacy is reexamined, we are called to uphold our values, even when it means acknowledging that a monument’s significance no longer resonates with our community.
Timeline:
- March 23: Bronze sculpture of César Chávez (2020) was removed. Artist: Luis Mena. Artwork Location: Five Points intersection.
- April 6: The Arts Foundation – Public Art Team met with the artist, Josh Sarantitis, to discuss suggested alterations for the artwork.
- April 7: Mayor Regina Romero and the City Council requested that the City Manager’s Office decommission city assets with César Chávez’s name.
- Tucson Mayor and City Council Meetings, April 7, 2026
- April 14: The community learned that elements of the César Chávez artwork on the South 6th Avenue Bridge were removed by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) staff. The Arts Foundation and the City Manager’s office are working with the artist, Josh Sarantitis, to identify options for restoring and altering the work.
- May 13: Public Art & Community Design Committee public meeting – Agenda item: Letter requesting artwork deaccession will be introduced to the PACDC at the next public meeting.
Learn more about Public Art Collection updates: https://artsfoundtucson.org/about/public-art-collection-updates/
What is a deaccession process, and how does it work?
Deaccessioning is the process of removing artwork from a collection. This is a major decision for any public art program and should be made only after a detailed review process. When carried out thoughtfully and appropriately, deaccession is an integral part of responsible collections management.
While such actions are rare, they are sometimes necessary. In these instances, the Arts Foundation staff and Public Art and Community Design committee follow a thorough process to ensure the integrity of the artwork and respect the interests of artists and the public. Requests for relocation or deaccession are made with careful consideration of public opinion, professional judgment, and legal counsel.
The City of Tucson has a deaccession policy outlined in the Administrative Directives 7.01-7. Since 1984, the City of Tucson has partnered with the Arts Foundation, the local arts agency, to administer the public art review process and steward more than 300 artworks in the City’s public art collection. As part of this stewardship, the Arts Foundation established a standing committee, Public Art and Community Design (PACDC), to ensure a publicly accessible and transparent process.
All requests for relocation and deaccession of artworks are reviewed by a subcommittee of the PACDC in accordance with the City’s Administrative Directives for the Public Art Program.
All findings and recommendations from the PACDC and its subcommittees are reported to the Arts Foundation Board of Directors for review and approval. Upon review, the Board forwardstheir recommendation in the form of a concurrence to the appropriate City Departments, City Ward Office, and to the City Manager who will make the final determination.
About the Public Art and Community Design Committee (PACDC)
The Public Art and Community Design Committee is a standing committee of the Arts Foundation. The PACDC consists of twenty-one (21) voting members who participate in the development and implementation of the City’s Public Art Plan and the promotion of the City’s Public Art Program. In this role, the committee vets the selection process for commissioned public artists, reviews and votes on recommendations for the Public Artist Roster, donations, and relocation and deaccessions. Members include the Mayor, Council, and City Manager appointees; five Pima County Board of Supervisors appointees, one designee of the County Administrator, and seven appointees of the Arts Foundation.
The PACDC reports to and operates under the authority and power delegated by the Board of Directors and the Arts Foundation Bylaws. As a registered advisory committee with the City of Tucson Clerk’s Office, the PACDC follows and complies with all the provisions of the Open Public Meeting Law, in accordance with the City of Tucson’s Boards, Committees, and Commissions (BCC).
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About the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona:
The Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and funding agency with a mission to advance the artistic expression, civic participation, and equitable economic growth of our diverse communities. Through forward-thinking, accountable leadership, the Arts Foundation works to affect systemic change that fosters an accessible, diverse, inclusive, and equitable local arts community.
As the designated local arts agency, the Arts Foundation provides arts and cultural development across Southern Arizona for individual working artists, artist collectives, ensembles, and nonprofit organizations through grant programs, professional development opportunities, and public art management for the City of Tucson.
The work of the Arts Foundation is made possible through generous support from the City of Tucson, Pima County, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mellon Foundation, the Arizona Community Foundation, and individual donors. Our service area includes all counties and native sovereign nations South of the Gila River, including 372 miles along the US-Mexico international border in the South and along the 590-mile stretch of the Gila River, which flows west from the New Mexico border to the Colorado River. Learn more at https://artsfoundtucson.org
