Arts Intranet

My assignment - to present 50 projects from the last 50 years for 50 minutes at lunch on Sunday at the Convention - has been a fascinating way to put my own career and observations about public art in perspective. I entered the field making flags for the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, visiting Art on the Beach and working for the Public Art Fund while Agnes Denes was planting wheat in the Battery Park landfill. When I started at NYC Percent for Art in 1983, Tilted Arch was recently installed downtown and the selections of artists for the Battery Park City design teams were just getting off the ground in a trailer onsite.  Now there are fabulous books and websites that document the accomplishments of programs throughout the country.

Glad to hear the selections for Year in Review are going swimmingly. Curiuous to see what you and Fred come up with!........I have been  thinking about your comments and I too agree that public art is alive and vital–simultanesouly, at this time our industry is currently in an  important transition.

I believe that the audience and viewer engagement, participation with “public art” is shifting to one of where ideas, contemporary frameworks and conceptual experimentation is ripe for a  new public engagement, yes - I am utopic in spirit,.... however there has been a   move in attitude - I wonder if others would agree?....and it is time and many are ready for contemporary innovation and the impact of the artist to become more expressive. Without artists, there is no art in the public realm. Does there need to be a divide between studio aesthetics and great art in the public realm? How is a good concept judged "good"?

It has been ten years since the Public Art Network came under the umbrella of Americans for the Arts and what a decade it’s been! To celebrate PAN’s 10th anniversary we are going back to the Public Art Preconference format just this year with this year’s Redefining the Public Paradigm, June 23-25, 2010 in Baltimore prior to the annual Americans for the Arts convention.

The Preconference is organized with keynote presentations as well as roundtable workshops categorized under the themes of Technical Assistance and Envisioning Possibilities. Each roundtable workshop will be facilitated by topic experts with discussion among all participants. The goal is to engage emerging and established artists and administrators to discuss the topic issue, share opinions, strategies, tactics, and develop responses and solutions to the issue. Outcomes of the roundtable workshops will generate recommendations for best practices, legislative priorities, areas in need of further exploration, and articulating the needs of the field in the next few years.

Technical Assistance sessions include: Conservation; Collections Management; Contracts and Copyright; Developing an Artist Training Program; Public Engagement and Evaluation Methodologies; and, Public Art-Private Development Ordinances.

Envisioning Possibilities sessions include:  Innovative Project Management; Social Practice and Community Participation; Technology-New Media-Maintenance; Unhinged-New Considerations in Public Art; International Models; and Temporary Public Art.

by Kristin Symes

The James Joyce Pub, just a short walk from the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront.

Wondering what the food is going to be like in Baltimore this summer when you come to visit during the Annual Convention? It should come as no surprise that a city generating so much buzz about its recent growth and downtown development also boasts some of the greatest chefs and cuisine to match. It's as if Baltimore has experienced a gastronomic renaissance. The locally grown culinary scene has sprouted a new crop of extraordinary restaurants for you to harvest.

Baltimore has an emerging culinary scene and is quickly becoming a hot spot for foodies from around the globe. With culinary accolades appearing in Gourmet, Food & Wine, and Bon Appétit, and with two Baltimore chefs recently featured on The Food Network’s hit show, Top Chef, it’s clear that Baltimore is finally gaining the culinary recognition it deserves.

Local restaurants feature sophisticated and original menus that embrace the farm-to-table concept. No longer is Baltimore thought of as only the home of the crab cake (although we do have the best!). The city's progressive compilation of cutting-edge eateries pedaling fresh, funky-fusion recipes like crispy Thai string beans, lobster mac and artisan beers has put Baltimore on the map as an up-and-coming culinary city not to be missed.

I attended this year’s AFTA convention for the first time as an emerging artist leader thanks to the Queens Council on the Arts (QCA) and a grant from the NEA. When QCA’s Executive Director, Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer, invited me to the convention (the NEA grant allows QCA to bring an individual artist every year), I was so thrilled, yet didn’t really know what to expect.