Thanks Pax! 

 

I apologize for so many communications on this topic.  I’m just excited.  I’ll try to make this one the last one. 

 

It did take a lot of time, but it was worth it.  I’m the only person on our Public Art staff.  I think if my manager initially knew how much time I spent sending all of those e-mails, I’d be in big trouble.  But now, even these e-mail discussions make it all worth it.  I can show others how important it is to be inclusive. 

 

Here’s why “I” did it…. (Please forgive the “I” – I know my job is made possible by the will and funding of the citizens).

 

I attended my first Americans for the Arts Conference in Boston on a scholarship.   That’s when the Americans for the Arts unveiled their Statement on Cultural Equity.  I was so inspired!

 

I don’t know if you went to that conference.  I hope you did.  They had a concert called “Inclusive by Design.”  During they concert they had performers with all kinds of abilities.  I’m still not sure how to say everything (like do you use the term “disabled” artist).

 

I had never attended anything like that.  It made me realize how much we are missing by not being inclusive.  I pledged to myself to come back to Grand Prairie and do everything I can to make sure all of our projects were as inclusive as possible, even if other didn’t understand. 

 

When I think of that Inclusive by Design concert I could still cry.  I went up to one of the performers after the concert to thank her.  She had interpreted via sign language a jazz piano performance by a blind musician.  When I saw that she was going to do that, I was like, “How on earth can someone do sign language to jazz music?”  Oh my goodness.  She was sooooo amazing!  I “saw” the music in new ways.  I have never enjoyed a concert more in my life.  When I went to thank her, I learned that she was deaf.  She hadn’t even “heard” the music the same way I had.  I was already moved, but that moved me even more.  I committed right then to make sure all of our art projects are as inclusive as possible. 

 

I also attended a workshop where they had youth speak who had been mentored by Arts professionals.  One of the youth said, “We have to change the narrative.”  I was like, “What does that mean?”  So, I asked.

 

The 18-year-old student went on to share so eloquently about what that meant.  She said, for example, that history books portray a narrative about history that’s written from the perspective of the writers.  She said that often leaves out history from the perspective of others, such as minorities.  I’m thinking now too, of people with disabilities who’s perspective of history might not have ever been told.  I don’t know.  Anyway, she said art allows people to share their narrative of history so that others can see it and learn from it.  Oh my gosh!  My eyes were opened!    I know a lot of you know all of that already, but I’m just learning. 

 

When I returned from that conference, I shared what I learned with our City Manager.  He “got it” about the need to be diverse, equitable and inclusive with our projects.  I’m thankful he got it.

 

Our Public Art Program is relatively new.  We’ve had a Percent for Art Program for years, but it hasn’t been intentionally inclusive.  It’s just been.  We don’t have any art galleries (yet) or museums, and no public transportation for people to get to other communities with more public art.  With the bulk of our public art all being at municipal facilities, we felt this Traffic Signal Box Public Art Project would help us to put art out in the community more.  So, that’s also part of our effort to be inclusive – to include neighborhoods that have zero art.  I think it gives people hope and I think people want it and I think that’s why we had 190,000 views on our video about this project.

 

Thank you for “listening.”  J

 

 

 

Wow.  Tammy, well done.  You do go BIG in Texas!  I love this check list of what you did to increase diversity, equity and inclusiveness in your call for artists.  It must have taken you an enormous number of staff hours to accomplish everything on the list.  Fantastic work!

 

Best,

Pax

 

Pax Bobrow

Greater Augusta Arts Council

Project Manager

706.826.4702

 

www.augustaarts.com

Arts Weekly Podcast | Arts Calendar | Calls for Artists

Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival

 

 

 

 

Preface:  If you’re copied on this e-mail, I have a “Thank You!” for you below. 

 

Michael,

 

The City of Grand Prairie Public Art Program recently hosted our first Traffic Signal Box (TSB) Public Art Project.  As part of this project, we endeavored to be as inclusive as possible.  These are the steps we took…

 

-          We simplified our TSB Public Art Project Call to Artists so that emerging artists could participate.   By that I mean, we didn’t require a resume or CV, we only required a brief statement of their art experience.

-          We had Spanish communications available as requested.

-          We sought out all Junior College art programs in Texas, personally e-mailing the staffs of all the departments.

-          We invited VSA Texas – The State Organization on Arts and Disability to forward the call to artists to all of their participating artists.

-          We researched minority art groups in our region and sent e-mails directly to every single artist on the webpages. 

-          We sent e-mails to every single visual artist on the on the RAW lists for all cities in Texas.

-          We sent Instagram messages to those RAW artists who did not include an e-mail on their listing.

-          We sent e-mails to all artist registries we could find in Texas.

-          We communicated about our Call to Artists via all avenues of social media in which the city participates. 

-          We created a video inviting all residents to apply to “become a Traffic Signal Box artist.”  That video was a big hit (for us) garnering more than 190K views and more than 2,350 shares and more than 800 positive comments – The most ever for any City post of any kind.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJOWRlGsOHI

 

All of those individual outreach efforts took about four hours a day for a week and a half.  We were hoping to get at least 40 entries, but were very excited to get 161 entries!

 

We also endeavored to be inclusive when developing our TSB Art Selection Committee for this project.  We invited local and regional artists, intentionally inviting minority artists and local artists to serve on the art selection committee.  There were 7 artists on the committee and only one of whom had ever participated in a Public Art Project.  Thus we hosted the Art Selection process as a training event to help them get a better understanding of the public art process as it related to this particular project. 

 

We also invited residents who live near each of the 20 TSBs that are in Phase 1, as well as representatives of businesses to serve along with key staff and two Council Members on the TSB Art Selection Committee.  All totaled 36 people were invited to serve on the TSB Public Art Selection Committee.  Twenty two people actually came.  It was great!  With each of the 161 artists submitting 3 sample art pieces, their proposals and the required paperwork (3 pages each), the committee ended up reviewing more than 720 powerpoint slides and scanning more than 5,000 double sided  documents as a group.  We did it somehow. 

 

Our TSB Public Art Selection Committee was comprised of:

-          5 people over 60 years old

-          6 African Americans

-          3 Hispanics

-          13 Whites

 

Here’s a photo from the judging.  A couple of people had stepped out when this photo was taken.

 

 

We had to have an auditor review our scoring forms for accuracy.  In the end, the committee selected the winning artists, which included:

 

-          9 male artists

-          11 female artists

-          14 White artists

-          5 Hispanic artists

-          1 Asian artist

-          1 disabled artist

-          An 81 year old photographer

-          A 13-year old student from the Grand Prairie ISD Fine Arts Academy

-          14 artists who have never before received a Public Art Commission

 

Our community is excited about this project and we look forward to seeing the art on the Traffic Signal Boxes this spring. 

 

It was a lot of work to be intentionally inclusive, but it was worth every ounce of effort!

 

I’ve attached our Call to Artists in case you would like to see it.  I wish to thank the following people for helping by sharing their knowledge and experience with us in response to an earlier list server inquiry.  Your help has been invaluable!...

 

Brianna McLean – Public Art Coordinator - Arts Missoula, MT

Kathi Olson – Berkshire Hathaway – Missoula, MT

John Coraor, Ph.D.  – Director of Cultural Affairs, Huntington, NY

Julia Muney Moore – Director of Public Art, Arts Council of Indianapolis, IN

Pax Bobrow – Project Manager, Greater Augusta Arts Council

Haley Carlson – Atlanta, GA

Deborah Clickman – City of Palm Desert, CA

Amara Geffen – Professor of Art, Allegheny College

Lauren Greenfield – Longmont, CO

Carrie Geraci – Director, Jackson Hole Public Art

Debra Alleyne, Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator, City of Dubuque, IA

Patricia Walsh – Americans for the Arts Staff

Elia Quiles – Up Art Studio, Houston

Sarah Green – Public Art Coordinator, North Richland Hills, TX

Sarah Dresser – Program Specialist – Office of Cultural Affairs – City of Columbia, MO

Catherine Campbell – Project Lead, Outside the Box StreetARToronto (StART)

 

 

 

Greetings Public Art Community –

 

                The public art policy group for Denver’s Commission on Cultural Affairs is interested in learning about and exploring efforts to increase diversity, equity and inclusiveness for the city’s public art process. If you have any examples to share, stories to relate, or advice to give on public art efforts you’ve undertaken in your communities to increase participation by traditionally under-represented populations, we’d love to learn more, and are happy to share what we gather. Thank you in advance!

 

We in Denver are looking forward to sharing our city with all of you at the convention in June!  

 

Best -

Michael Mowry

Cultural Affairs Commissioner

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