Public Art Foundation says $200,000 city investment helped leverage $5 million for 15 new installations including airport works

The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation told the Des Moines City Council on Oct. 12 that the city’s $200,000 annual appropriation helped the nonprofit leverage roughly $5 million in public-art projects, producing 15 planned installations to be completed by 2027.

"With that annual investment, we have been able to leverage over the course of the last year and a half about $5,000,000 worth of new public art projects or 15 new installations that will be in place throughout the course of the next 3 years," said Dr. Alexa McCarthy, executive director of the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation.

The foundation framed the funding as seed money used to attract corporate and private donors and to underwrite projects across the city. The most substantial effort described was a multi-artist program tied to the new Des Moines International Airport terminal: the foundation said five exterior or non-secure-side sites — plus one work that crosses secure and non-secure areas — were selected and will be installed when the new terminal opens. The foundation said the airport effort raised more than $4 million from corporate and individual donors.

Foundation staff listed the five selected teams for the airport sites as Anne Lindbergh (site 1), Adam Frank (site 2), Gordon Huther (site 3), Alterance Gumby (site 4) and RDG Art Studio (site 5). The foundation said the airport installations are intended to support educational programming and to be visible to travelers; the presentation estimated the works will reach roughly 5 million travelers, and the foundation did not provide a clear timeline in the meeting materials for that passenger estimate.

McCarthy also described a mural strategy that will pair internationally known artists with locally focused opportunities. The foundation said it will install a Leon Keer mural at 901 Grand in collaboration with Principal Insurance and launch an augmented-reality mobile app that will animate some murals. The foundation said it plans to encourage at least one mural in each council ward and to use high-profile commissions ‘‘as stimulus for projects throughout the city that will serve as opportunities for local and regional artists.’'

Educational outreach and conservation were recurring themes. The foundation said it ran school programs at East High School, Lincoln High School and Waukee Northwest High School; held an artist residency with Ballet Des Moines; partnered on the Des Moines Arts Festival student exhibition; and participated in Bravo’s Passport to Culture. It said all new projects include a conservation and maintenance budget and that it used Midwest Center for Conservation for recent cleaning work.

The foundation reported a clean financial audit for 2023 and 2024 and said its 2023 net assets were about $811,000. McCarthy noted that projects outside the city of Des Moines are funded by the municipalities that host them; she cited a Bondurant library mural and said Bondurant is funding that work. The foundation said it has not received operating support from other government entities beyond grants routed through programs such as Bravo.

Council members asked clarifying questions about the augmented-reality app and the Franklin Library youth-theme project (the foundation said Franklin’s call focused on a Percy Jackson and the Olympians theme for teen-area sculptural work). Linda Westergaard, a council-appointed foundation board member, thanked McCarthy and the board for their work during brief remarks; no council direction or formal action was taken during the work session presentation.

The foundation emphasized that its projects are intended to be free and publicly accessible, and that the organization aims to ‘‘establish a world class destination for public art’’ within Greater Des Moines. McCarthy closed the presentation by offering to answer questions from council members and staff.