Public Art Conference Archive–2001

Study Session: Beyond the Edge: Participatory Programs/Public Art Projects

Presenters: Charles Moleski, Fairmount Park Art Association, Philadelphia, PA, Janet Zweig, Artist, Brooklyn, NY, and John Stone, Artist, Philadelphia, PA
Notetaker: Janet Echelman

Summary
The Fairmount Park Art Association's NewLandMarks program works with artists and communities to create works of public art in conjunction with ongoing community development initiatives. In this program, communities have been the inspiration for public art proposals, and community members have been intimately involved in the public art planning process. Several artists have even sought to deepen a community's experience by incorporating participatory programs within public art projects. Sculptor John Stone, with writer Lorene Cary and photographer Lonnie Graham, included an intergenerational oral history program as part of their proposed Church Lot. Conversations between the community's youth and elders will be documented and excerpts will be inscribed in the site to link its personal/social history to its physical past. Janet Zweig proposed an Open-Air Library and Farmer's Market Plaza. When the project is completed, the community will operate the nontraditional library, helping it to become a tool for civic discourse within the community.