The Art in Public Places program offers an opportunity for neighborhoods to contribute to their community identity and vitality. Nominate your future public infrastructure project now to find out if it is eligible for City assistance with a public art component. The application deadline is Feb. 16 at 4:30 p.m. The program boasts successes such as Seitu Jones' environmental, cultural and social-themed designs in Heritage Park. These images recall the natural life of the area, the history of the old Sumner Field homes and the text of the Hollman Consent Decree. Another public art project worked with artists Andrea Myklebust and Stanton Sears to bring a graceful large sculptural torch and seating to West River Commons, a mixed-use development in Longfellow neighborhood.

Art in Public Places began with neighborhood gateways, and has now commissioned 15 of them throughout Minneapolis. The Marcy-Holmes NRP approached the City to work public art into a street repaving project along Sixth Avenue and Main Street. The community and the City sought an artist who could a create a work of art that would capture the unique character of the community, encourage gathering and conversation among local residents and visitors and connect the historic neighborhood with the Stone Arch Bridge and the Mississippi River. After selecting artist Aldo Moroni, Marcy-Holmes residents worked closely with local author Penny Petersen and her publication, Hiding in Plain Sight, to choose the 23 landmarks included in the project.

The program has since expanded to incorporate public art into city capital projects and has commissioned artists to pilot this work by creating designs for Heritage Park, Midtown Greenway bridges, West River Commons and the Jeremiah Program.

For more information, please contact Mary Altman at 612-673-3006 or mary.altman@ci.minneapolis.mn.us. To obtain an Arts in Public Places application, please visit www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/dca/artinpublicplaces.asp.

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