Amherst To Participate In Public Art Training

Source: amherstma.gov

Amherst was recently selected as one of eight municipalities in Massachusetts to participate in Making it Public, a free training designed to equip administrators to strengthen local capacity to support, create, and promote public art. At the conclusion of the training, participants will have the tools needed to create their own Call for Temporary Public Art and will be eligible to receive a $10,000 grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA).  

In 2020, the Town was the second municipality in the state, after Cambridge, to pass a Percent for Art bylaw. The bylaw calls for one-half of one percent of the budget of all new capital projects in Town over $1 million to be applied to an on-site work of visual art. “The Town’s goal is to accelerate its efforts at promoting public art in Amherst by helping train staff and establish a template for best-practices as we move forward with our Percent for Art Program,” stated Town Planner Maureen Pollock. 

The two Town representatives who will participate in the program are William Kaizen, Chair of the Public Art Commission, and Pollock. The program will culminate by conducting a Call for Temporary Public Art, with funding from NEFA and additional technical assistance support. 

“The opportunity to participate in Making it Public will contribute greatly to bringing more public art to Amherst,” Kaizen said. “It will provide additional professional development for members of the Public Art Commission and the Planning Department. And best of all, at the end, we get to put our new training to use because the program includes a $10K grant to bring a new public art project to town.” 

Town Manager Paul Bockelman added, “Amherst is a beacon for the arts in Western Massachusetts. We celebrate the famous artists who have lived here, including Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost, as we continue to work with contemporary artists such as Judith Ingleses and Benjamin Cowdan. Amherst is the home of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and Yiddish Book Center – both on the campus of Hampshire College, the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, and numerous cultural facilities at the University of Massachusetts. Participating in the Making it Public program will bolster our existing efforts to bring art to Amherst by allowing us to produce our public art projects more professionally and equitably.” 

Making it Public in MA is a dual-track professional development series, designed and facilitated by Forecast Public Art, to foster more equitable opportunities for public artmaking while also preparing more artists to respond to calls for public art across Massachusetts.