In the summer of 2018, against a backdrop of national immigration policy restrictions, Mural Arts had the opportunity to work with Chiléan artist Artes Ekeko (Ian Pierce). The pieces fell into place as we worked quickly to create something meaningful: North Philadelphia’s Providence Center joined us as a partner; members of our Restorative Justice Guild program were available to assist; and local artist Cesar Viveros signed on to help make this mural possible. A 900-square-foot wall was available in the Fairhill neighborhood, a predominantly Hispanic and Latinx community, and so we got to work. Ekeko and Viveros created a bright, textured design in line with Philadelphia’s longstanding status as a sanctuary city, representing a family making their way to a new home. Over a few short weeks, the mural went up on the wall, invoking conversation around community, empathy, and home. 

Nashville is a city known for the way we engage our community; we’re famous for our southern hospitality, our musical roots, our booming art scene, and enough decent restaurants to satisfy anyone. However, we also are a swiftly growing city with a deep cultural history that is often overshadowed by the more recent trends of rideshare scooters, bachelorette parties, and changing neighborhoods. With the city growing rapidly and the historical narrative of Nashville’s communities in jeopardy, we’ve had to reevaluate our responsibility to our communities’ past, present, and future through the lens of our public art program. In 2017 Metro Arts released a Public Art Community Investment Plan to alter our overall approach to public art in the city of Nashville. The plan emphasizes the importance of community centered public art and offers a number of recommendations and best practices to implement. One recommendation challenged us to shake up the way we engage with our community by hosting a curated temporary public art exhibition.

Community-based artworks in general require an ability to remain organic and observant. Every person is an important participant, and though we each come to projects with different sets of skills, needs, and motivations, most importantly we are reliant on each other. I’m speaking of the agencies and organizations here, but similarly, the female inmates at Malibu Conservation Camp 13, who helped each other through our creative process. When institutions and communities come together to organize a project, in a sense, hierarchies are put aside for a moment, because no one around the table holds all the answers. Each person knows this, and each moves forward toward a worthy goal. In this case, the common goal was understood to be the development of valises as a teaching tool to educate people about fire abatement, wildfires, and our role in nature.

Public art directly influences how people see and connect with a place, providing access to aesthetics that support its identity and making residents feel appreciated and valued. Considering what positive impact public art can have on communities, in this year’s Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review blog salon we asked our authors to consider: How did their project enhance the community? In what ways was the community engaged, either during the development of the artworks or after? What positive impact did the project have on the community? This week, we will hear from several artists and administrators whose selected projects for the 2019 PAN Year in Review engaged or impacted the community for whom the project was created.

There is a growing interest in public art from across the country. In the Public Art Programs Fiscal Year 2001 report, Americans for the Arts estimated 350 public art programs across the U.S. The 2017 Survey of Public Art Programs identified more than twice as many. With this growth it is important to understand the various ways public art is planned for and implemented in different communities. In this post, we provide an overview of three papers published by Americans for the Arts that speak to the diverse needs of public art programs across the country, and how local institutions are approaching the topic in innovative ways. With a focus on planning for public art from a municipal perspective, growing public art programs in small to mid-sized cities, and recognizing grassroots and folk art in rural communities, these papers show that successful public art values local context and the public art programs are as unique as each community.

Annually, the Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review recognizes outstanding public art projects that represent the most compelling work for the year from across the country and beyond. The projects are selected and presented by a jury of three professionals who represent different aspects of the public art field, including artists, administrators, and other public art allies. New this year, the PAN Advisory Council curated the selected 49 selected projects for 2018 under five unique themes to broaden the exposure of the selected works on ARTSblog and social media, and to provide context to the works through national trends and themes that are impacting the field today.

Many of 2018’s selected public art projects addressed issues at the forefront of current political discourse — particularly, how history and culture has not represented race, gender, sexuality, and class with fairness. Politically and socially, the issues are playing out through the incoming U.S. House of Representatives and the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, among others. The arts and culture field is not exempt from addressing these national challenges, as demonstrated in recent museum exhibitions focused on decolonization, through the debate on memorials and monuments, and with temporary and permanent public artworks. Of the 2018 selected PAN Year in Review projects, six uniquely addressed the issue of underrepresented histories.