Developing Civic Engagement in Urban Public Art Programs

Jessica DeShazo teaches Arts and Cultural Management at California State University, Los Angeles in the graduate program in public administration. Zachary Smith is a Regents’ Professor at Northern Arizona University where he has taught Arts Management for several years. He is the author of more than 20 books and dozens of articles dealing with local government and environmental matters

• PrefacePart One: The Nature of Public Art and Its Role in SocietyChapter One: “Responding to Site” by Anita Glesta, Artist, New York City.Chapter Two: “Public Art in the Hands of the Public Realm” by K.M. Williamson, Director, Public Art in Public Places ProjectPart Two: Building Public Art that Unites and Defines CommunitiesChapter Three: “Building Civic Engagement Through Urban Public Art” by Donna Isaac, Director, Scottsdale Public Art, Scottsdale, ArizonaChapter Four: “City of Austin Art in Public Places Program” by Jean Graham, Carrie Brown, Susan Lambe, and Meghan Wells, Art in Public Places Coordinator: City of Austin, TexasChapter Five: “Art & Civic Engagement: Collaboration is Key” by Robyn Vegas. Cultural Arts Coordinator, City of Pembroke Pines, Florida.Chapter Six: “The Intersection of Business and Public Art: How to Engage Businesses and Citizens in Public Art” by Mary Allman-Koernig, Public Art Coordinator, City of Aurora, ColoradoChapter Seven: “Civic Engagement as Part of Evaluating and Adopting Adaptive Public Art Policy” by Sherri Brueggemann, Cultural Services, City of Albuquerque.Chapter Eight: “A Community of Narrators and Translators” by Dee Hibbert-Jones, University of California Santa CruzChapter Nine: “Grandmother’s Kitchen/Grandfather’s Garden” by Nigel Brookes, Arts Management Specialist, City of San DiegoChapter Ten: “Secrets of a Public Art Administrator: How to Help Your City Thrive through the Magic of Public Art”, by Felicia Filer, Director, Public Art Division, City of Loa AngelesIndexAbout the Editors and Contributors

DeShazo & Smith carefully selected eight U.S. cities to demonstrate the breadth and innovation in municipal public art programs today, from vegetable gardens to performance spaces and temporary site-specific installations. But the real value in these case studies lies not in the final products, but in underlining the public engagement process before and afterwards. They teach us that indifference is bad: a sign of low civic interest where people are disconnected, and stress the importance of critique and allowing the public to both adopt and adapt the works/spaces to their own communities to find an organic and long-lasting relevance.