The city of Phoenix approved the 2020 Public Art Plan budget at over $10.3 million, nearly $600,000 more than 2019.
This year’s budget is the fourth-highest recorded amount within the last ten years, with 2010 being the highest at almost $18.3 million.
At the formal City Council meeting Wednesday, the council approved the outlined 33 projects to be worked on over the next five years, two of them brand new. Mayor Kate Gallego said at the meeting that she is excited to support the projects as well as the city.
“We are going to have some great shaded corridors and maintaining some of our most popular art programs,” Gallego said.
Major multi-year projects include renovations at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, citywide enhancements in safety and appearance at community wells & bus stops, and improvements in Phoenix water systems, waste management and recycling programs.
The most expensive project on the agenda is the continued construction of the pedestrian bridge over Loop 202, designed by artist Jody Pinto. The bridge will cost the city approximately $1.8 million.
In 2019, Phoenix’s most expensive undertaking was the Tres Rios Wetlands Project, listed at over $1.7 million.
This project is still an ongoing effort, also included in the 2020 Public Art Plan, located at the merging of the Salt and Gila Rivers in southwestern Phoenix. The city is working to “create significant environmental recreation and education opportunities at Tres Rios.”
Although only two new projects have been added this year’s plan, Edward Lebow, Public Art Program Director for Phoenix, said the pandemic had little-to-no effect on the number of projects they issued this year.
“These 33 projects represent works throughout this 500-plus square-mile city that are going to improve many areas,” Lebow said. “The safety aspects that have come along with COVID-19, wearing masks, physically distancing from people, and being able to remain safe and carry out the work, have been completely integrated into the work we do.”
Many of the public art community meetings, usually held in public places like schools or community centers before the pandemic hit, Lebow said, have seen a larger turnout since the switch to an online format.
“It’s been a very interesting process to see this shift to Zoom meetings to accomplish similar tasks, particularly in design,” Lebow said. “But all of the problems have continued to be solved without skipping a beat.”
The city estimates that over half of the 31 ongoing projects will contract Arizona artists and teams. Some projects will also work with local schools to increase community engagement and conversation.
Lebow said these projects are exciting to a lot of people in the public art scene because many of them change the function and the purpose of places which benefit countless neighborhoods around the city.
“We are accustomed to artwork that can decorate a wall and ones that are beautiful, but artwork can also change how we use spaces,” Lebow said. “For the last 30-plus years, Phoenix has been building these kinds of major projects, and that’s what’s, I think, helped to improve the quality of life here.”
Contact the reporter at mphammel@asu.edu
"The Flexible Journalist" -
Hammel is a fourth-year student studying broadcast journalism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite college in an accelerated bachelor's-master's program. She is currently the Executive Editor for The Downtown Devil - a publication that covers hyperlocal news in the downtown Phoenix area - and is always looking for ways to improve her reporting and news writing skills—behind the camera and in front of it.
Hammel is also a certified yoga instructor at the Sun Devil Fitness Complex; she is flexible physically as well as in a way that allows her to be able to cover any news story that will educate the public, encourage civil discourse and impact communities.
