Developing Civic Engagement in Urban Public Art Programs

Edited by Jessica L. DeShazo, Zachary Smith

Not available to order

Publication date:

19 November 2015

Length of book:

170 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442257290

What can public art do for a community? How can city governments and others that create public art develop projects that build community and engage civil society?

Creating Civic Engagement in Urban Public Art addresses these and other critical questions. It demonstrates how public art can build community unity, identity and cohesiveness.

The focus of this original work is how cities engage their citizens through public art. What has been successful and what has failed? Through case studies of cities that have public art programs - some successful at citizen engagement others less so – the reader will learn how to design public art programs that build community.

Preface

Part One: The Nature of Public Art and Its Role in Society
Chapter One: “Responding to Site” by Anita Glesta, Artist, New York City.
Chapter Two: “Public Art in the Hands of the Public Realm” by K.M. Williamson, Director, Public Art in Public Places Project

Part Two: Building Public Art that Unites and Defines Communities
Chapter Three: “Building Civic Engagement Through Urban Public Art” by Donna Isaac, Director, Scottsdale Public Art, Scottsdale, Arizona
Chapter Four: “City of Austin Art in Public Places Program” by Jean Graham, Carrie Brown, Susan Lambe, and Meghan Wells, Art in Public Places Coordinator: City of Austin, Texas
Chapter Five: “Art & Civic Engagement: Collaboration is Key” by Robyn Vegas. Cultural Arts Coordinator, City of Pembroke Pines, Florida.
Chapter Six: “The Intersection of Business and Public Art: How to Engage Businesses and Citizens in Public Art” by Mary Allman-Koernig, Public Art Coordinator, City of Aurora, Colorado
Chapter Seven: “Civic Engagement as Part of Evaluating and Adopting Adaptive Public Art Policy” by Sherri Brueggemann, Cultural Services, City of Albuquerque.
Chapter Eight: “A Community of Narrators and Translators” by Dee Hibbert-Jones, University of California Santa Cruz
Chapter Nine: “Grandmother’s Kitchen/Grandfather’s Garden” by Nigel Brookes, Arts Management Specialist, City of San Diego
Chapter Ten: “Secrets of a Public Art Administrator: How to Help Your City Thrive through the Magic of Public Art”, by Felicia Filer, Director, Public Art Division, City of Loa Angeles

Index
About the Editors and Contributors

DeShazo & Smith carefully selected eight U.S. cities to demonstrate the breadth and innovation in municipal public art programs today, from vegetable gardens to performance spaces and temporary site-specific installations. But the real value in these case studies lies not in the final products, but in underlining the public engagement process before and afterwards. They teach us that indifference is bad: a sign of low civic interest where people are disconnected, and stress the importance of critique and allowing the public to both adopt and adapt the works/spaces to their own communities to find an organic and long-lasting relevance.