West Palm Beach highlights public art growth, new digital guide and 5-year plan
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Summary
The citys director of Arts, Culture and Community Building reported Jan. 12 that West Palm Beach completed 23 commissions last year, advanced permanent and temporary works across the city, will join Bloomberg Connects with a free digital guide, and will bring a five-year public art master plan and ordinance to the commission.
Sibile Kontel, director of Arts, Culture and Community Building, presented the annual public art report at the Jan. 12 West Palm Beach work session, summarizing the programs activities, partnerships and upcoming initiatives.
Kontel said the citys Art in Public Places program (percent-for-art initiative) commissioned both permanent and temporary works by internationally and locally recognized artists and partnered with private and public entities to expand the citys cultural identity. She listed recent and upcoming works, named participating artists and noted neighborhood-specific public-art efforts, including an eight-story mural in Northwood by Renee Phillips and large public installations at City Place and North Flagler.
By the numbers, Kontel said the program ran 11 temporary projects and installed eight permanent artworks over the year, completed 23 commissions with six more in production, and cited an independent economic-impact estimate prepared for the city by Americans for the Arts. She described community-based projects including a JR portrait installation that exceeded its initial target (the project aimed for 500 portraits and collected more than 800) and artist residencies and programs that brought artwork into libraries, parks and neighborhood corridors.
Kontel described local development of initiatives such as The Commons (a local-artist initiative), TreeFall (a five-woman collective in Northwood), and art programming in partnership with the library that included educational components for youth and adults. She highlighted greater social-media engagement and national coverage in outlets such as Art in America and Artforum.
Looking ahead, Kontel told commissioners the public art staff will present a five-year public art master plan and a public art ordinance to the City Commission; she also said West Palm Beach will co-host the Florida Public Art Professionals annual conference in April and will participate in Bloomberg Connects with a free digital guide offering multilingual walking tours and a map.
Commissioners praised the programs community reach and visibility; Commissioner Ward said public artworks had helped draw residents and visitors closer to public spaces. Kontel closed by encouraging commissioners and residents to use the new digital resources once they launch. No formal action or vote was taken during the presentation.
