THE CITY OF KENT AND KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
KENT PUBLIC ART PLAN
A plan produced by LAND studio, a public space and public art nonprofit organization.
“I do like some of the artwork in Kent, but most of it is very static. I wish there was more art...and a greater variety! It should be the type of art that is approachable and activates, creates, or enhances public space.� - Dan Saunders, former KSU student
A JOINT LETTER FROM THE CITY OF KENT & KENT STATE UNIVERSITY A visit to Kent, Ohio, reveals a destination where small-town life thrives within a larger urban fabric. We are a community that respects its history, embraces its future, and celebrates the creative spirit of the city and university. Central to the vitality of Kent is the relationship between the City of Kent and Kent State University. Inextricably linked for more than 100 years, downtown Kent and KSU only recently became physically connected with the installation of the Great Lawn and the extension of the Lester A. Lefton Esplanade. The “town and gown” relationship has blossomed and has fostered a strong commitment toward continuous mutual improvement. Encouraged by the successes of the university’s art walk, the City of Kent and KSU commissioned the creation of this Kent Public Art Plan. Both entities see great potential in establishing a framework to develop a public art program that can cultivate a more vibrant and exciting sense of place. The Kent Public Art Plan is intended to provoke, inspire, and engage residents, students, and visitors in ways that encourage personal reflection, creative expression, and social interaction. The goals of the Kent Public Art Plan are to:
• Establish a framework for integrating and highlighting public art into public spaces in downtown
Kent and on the KSU campus;
• Enrich Kent and KSU’s distinctiveness; and • Encourage the use of art and creativity to further catalyze development, energize the public
realm, and create a unique and vibrant place that is attractive to residents, students, faculty, and visitors. Both the City of Kent and KSU have recognized that public art is a way of expressing a community’s values and character. Inspired by a national movement toward creative placemaking, we see public art and arts-related programming as ways to provide meaningful work for artists, fabricators, musicians, actors, and other creative professionals, while enhancing the experience of public spaces throughout the community. Public art, whether in the form of large-scale permanent sculptures, temporary interventions, or functional items such as street furniture, works together with established landmarks to create meaningful public places. It enhances the living and learning environment, creating a sense of community and encouraging local economic development. Recognizing significant developments in downtown Kent and the expanding enrollment and facilities on the campus, as well as the importance of creating authentic, interesting places for people to live and work, the city and university engaged LAND studio to develop this plan. It encourages imaginative, yet practical, ways of enhancing the experience of Kent for residents, students, employees, and visitors in a place that is unlike any other in Northeast Ohio.
Dave Ruller, City Manager, City of Kent
Tom Euclide, P.E., Associate VP, Facilities Planning and Operations, Kent State University
Image sources: LAND studio (top), Kent State University (bottom)
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION................1
RECOMMENDATIONS.......74
Who created this plan?.................................................2 2
Recommended strategies.............................................76
Why a public art plan?..................................................4 4
Near-term recommendations.....................................80
Kent overview..................................................................10
PRECEDENT RESEARCH...12
TOOLS................................84 Funding matrix................................................................88
Highlighted places.......................................................... 18
Navigating the public art process.............................90
University public art collections................................22
Precedent places data................................................... 95
Highlighted projects.......................................................24
Image information and sources................................ 100
PLANNING......................... 36
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....105
Kent in context................................................................38 Regional context.............................................................40 Downtown and university overview map............ 42 Existing artwork and major corridors.....................44
KENT PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITIES.............. 46 Public art opportunities map..................................... 50 The Esplanade corridor, including Erie Street.... 52 Erie Street vista...............................................................54 College of Architecture and Environmental ter and Design lawn......................................................................56 School of Art building renovation............................58 Lester A. Lefton Esplanade between the Student Center and Kiva Auditorium.....................60 Cuyahoga River in downtown Kent........................62 Star of the West and its neighbors........................... 64 Hometown Plaza stage.................................................66 Activating storefronts and streetscapes.................68 Kent alleys.........................................................................70 Artist residency...............................................................72
INTRODUCTION
WHO CREATED THIS PLAN? Meet LAND studio LAND studio is a private, nonprofit organization in Cleveland, Ohio. Its mission is to create places and connect people through public art, sustainable building and design, collaborative planning, and dynamic programming. LAND studio’s staff of professionals includes urban planners, urban designers, graphic designers, and visual artists.
Process The geographic scope of LAND studio’s work in this report includes a portion of the Kent State University campus and downtown Kent. These two centers of gravity are connected by the Lester A. Lefton Esplanade, a pedestrian path and bikeway that traverses the center of campus and merges with Erie Street in downtown. LAND studio was eager to explore Kent and learn about its history and its vision for the future. After meeting with Kent City Manager Dave Ruller and Tom Euclide, P.E., Associate Vice President, Facilities Planning and Operations, for Kent State University, the project team spent many hours over the course of several visits walking around Kent State University and downtown Kent, taking pictures, talking to people, and experiencing the place. The project team gathered information from Kent and KSU’s recent planning work, including resident and student surveys; the KSU Esplanade, downtown, and bicentennial planning documents; and bike trail maps. Understanding the context for this work was important to ensuring that this public art plan is a valuable tool for the community to achieve multiple goals. Aerial photography and GIS base-map data was also gathered from the university, Portage County GIS, and other sources. With a comprehensive understanding of the existing conditions in Kent, the team researched precedent places for examples of communities that have relevance to Kent and KSU’s vision. Universities with distinguished public art programs were also researched. In order to ensure that this report’s recommendations included input from local artists, residents, KSU students, and faculty, LAND studio developed
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a public engagement plan that included phone interviews, in-person conversations, and a stakeholder meeting that engaged a broad range of community members. A follow-up survey was distributed to participants at the stakeholder meeting. The synthesis of these experiences and materials informs the recommendations found in this report. Because Kent already has many creative assets, this plan is designed to tie them together, not build something from scratch. Many components of a successful public art program are already in place in the city and at the university. As such, this plan outlines various strategies to unify existing and future works and elevate their presence in the community. We encourage those who read this plan to use it as a visioning guide, while remembering that practical realities and priorities change over time and that the work of building and enhancing cities can never be considered finished.
Pages 2-5: Photos of various LAND studio projects. Visit land-studio.org for more projects, photos, and information.
INTRODUCTION
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WHY A PUBLIC ART PLAN? Public art and what it can do Public art is different from other art forms in that it usually exists in the public realm and is thus continuously accessible to anyone. It can consist of a freestanding artwork or come in the form of an artist-designed or artistenhanced element, such as a bench, bike rack, or utility cabinet that serves an additional practical function. It can be temporary or permanent, formally commissioned or generated casually. It can emerge from a public artist residency or an appointed committee of citizens. The roles of public art are many and vary from place to place. Public art can beautify, provide comfort, promote a neighborhood, set forth a challenge, or alter a perspective. In a new suburban community which may appear indistinguishable from other similar places, public art can begin to create an identity for that community as a specific place, or, in a place degraded by disinvestment, war, or natural disaster, provide a sign of commitment to the future or hope for renewed vitality. In a place like Kent, it can tell the community’s long and interesting story and elucidate its aspirations and promise—as a place of economic opportunity to many and a place open to new ways of thinking, free expression, experimentation, discourse, and differing opinions. The arts in general are important to Kent, both because of the presence of regionally significant arts institutions and because of the notable community of artists found in and around the city. Public art is just one part of the arts infrastructure of Kent but an important one. Because both the city and university have existing public art collections, planning for public art in Kent is not oriented to introducing something new to the community. Instead, it is oriented to expansion of the collections and perhaps the introduction of new forms of public art. Public art in Kent is most effective when it is reflective of the city or university (or both) and their physical, historical, and aspirational contexts. This plan enumerates a few opportunities for major public art installations, which would involve significant budgets and require months or years of preparation, and also encourages smaller-scale projects, whether temporary or permanent, that could be undertaken with limited budgets or within the scope of other capital projects, such as streetscape improvements. The plan also seeks to encourage informal public art installations on the part of citizens and students.
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The context for public art in Kent When driving into the City of Kent through one of the newer suburban cities it neighbors, it becomes apparent that the fabric of Kent is older than and different from the postwar development pattern that now predominates in Northeast Ohio. Learning the story of Kent differentiates it further. Kent is a small city now known primarily as the home of Kent State University. Less well known is that it predates its university by more than 100 years and that some of its present-day industries predate the 20th century. Kent had established itself before the vast and populous urban region it is now a part of grew into its current form. Established as a freestanding community in an economically promising wilderness, Kent has a history of its own and a place in history. Kent’s past is marked by ambition and strategy, dating to its founding on the Cuyahoga River, its growth surges during the canal and early railroad eras, and its success in attracting a state teacher’s college, which would grow into the Kent State of today. During the last century, the city functioned as both a manufacturing center and college town, achieved prominence in the world of folk music, and became well known as a center of the upheaval surrounding the Vietnam War, a story now told compellingly by the recently opened May 4 Visitors Center on campus. Today, both the city and university are undergoing transformation. Downtown Kent appears to have doubled in size in the past decade, and the university has undertaken numerous capital improvements and rearranged itself for a new pedestrian- and bike-friendly era. Within the past year, the university and downtown were physically and visually connected by an extension of the Lester A. Lefton Esplanade. A new home for Kent State’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design, the region’s only school of architecture, will be located on the campus’s western edge, where it will have a dramatic visual effect on both the campus and downtown, and two other Kent State institutions, the School of Art and the Wick Poetry Center, will soon move into new homes, both of which will be oriented to the Esplanade. The fashion-oriented University Museum faces Main Street in a prominent location now more accessible to downtown, and an expandable Sculpture Walk has emerged along the Esplanade and beyond.
INTRODUCTION
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The future of public art in Kent This plan is careful not to be overly prescriptive in either its recommendations for an approach to public art in Kent or in its recommendations related to specific public art opportunities. Public art in Kent can reflect what the city and university have to offer and their relationship to each other—a relationship of long standing that is now rapidly evolving. It can reflect what is and what could be. Artworks on the streets and byways of Kent and Kent State have the potential to animate and bring personality to the built environment’s ongoing transformation. Kent stands out in many ways, including in its built form as a viable urban center and its educational and arts-related resources. Public art can enhance these assets, both by calling attention to them and by adding to them. Kent’s image as a free-spirited college town with a recognized music scene can be expanded to include its importance as a center of art and design and as a place where just about anyone can fit in and feel at home. Though a small city on its own, Kent is within a few hours’ drive of four million people, some of who may want to visit to hear a lecture on a controversial or arcane subject and some of who may want to relax and just listen to some music. The public art collections of Kent and Kent State can serve many purposes but can also serve as attractions on their own. Some elements of what could come to be considered distinguished collections are already in place.
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If Kent was to adopt an anthem, Give Up The Funk, would be it. It’s improvisational, unexpected twists and turns, with a driving hip-shaking backbone beat sums up Kent. It’s how Kent rolls. -Dave Ruller, Kent City Manager image and quote from Dave Ruller’s “Kent’s Got That Funk” blog post on kent360.com INTRODUCTION
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Long Modified Bench, Art Basel, 2009 Jeppe Hein’s Long Modified Bench series “turns the function of street furniture upside down and invites visitors to stop and linger in modified positions and situations.” Image and information from: regionale12.at INTRODUCTION
KENT OVERVIEW Kent’s Character Kent is a unique and distinct place within Northeast Ohio. It is the largest college town in the region, offering intellectualism, creativity, and individualism. If these characteristics are fostered and marketed authentically, the city can attract people to the area whether or not they are directly connected to the university. By advancing creativity and public art, Kent can position itself as a destination for visitors and residents who are interested in the life that a college town offers. Kent stands out from its neighboring communities as being a truly independent and free-spirited place. When meeting with residents of the city, many were best able to describe Kent as what it is not: It is not “cookie cutter,” and it will not always do what is expected. Understanding the attitudes of Kent’s residents has helped uncover a wide range of artwork and performances that could best capture this spirit and further distinguish Kent from its neighbors, while enhancing the public’s perception of the community’s creative and cultural mindset. Among stakeholders and community leaders, there was universal excitement and interest in seeing the vision from this process brought to life. This plan could serve as a wonderful opportunity to capitalize on this enthusiasm.
Creative Assets Kent has a strong foundation of existing creative assets that include art galleries, nonprofits, locally owned businesses, community festivals and events, existing artworks, and beloved icons. These assets, along with engaged students, faculty, civic leaders, and local artists, provide a framework and engine for enhanced placemaking efforts and the drive to catalyze community development.
Aspirations Art has been part of people’s lives since the beginning of human existence. Today, there is a common misconception that art is for society’s elite. While cultural institutions like museums preserve and showcase art, public art reverses the paradigm by making art something that is part of everyday life. Kent desires to bring art to everyone by creating opportunities both for non-artists to indulge in their own creativity and professional artists to have works in the city’s or university’s art collections.
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Challenges Communities across the country have successfully created rich experiences for people by enhancing public spaces where normal living takes place. These types of experiences, which can include hearing a folk band during a lunch hour, reading poetry etched into the sidewalk, viewing a collection of murals on the side of a building, or watching artisans at work through storefront windows, establish the public realm as a place where interesting things are happening and fosters a bond between people and the places they live and work. These types of experiences do not need to be expensive, but they should be authentic. In a place like Kent, with a broad population comprised of professional and working people and students, it is important that public art and programming be diverse in their offerings and provide quality content. Providing access to different types of artwork or an assortment of musical performances, for example, appeals to specific audiences rather than the whole space. Good art, as commonly described, is not always universally liked, but always prompts reactions. To advance public art that will help create a unique and vibrant place that is attractive to residents, students, and visitors, the following challenges should be acknowledged:
• There is not a framework or process within which the city and
university can work together to engage artists and work with businesses and residents to generate and showcase both permanent and temporary public art that is authentic to Kent;
• No organized leadership in the arena of public art exists at this
time; and
• Kent lacks a dedicated funding source for public art and
placemaking.
Pages 8-11: Photos taken in Kent on various downtown and campus site visits.
INTRODUCTION
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TOOLS
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PRECEDENT RESEARCH
PRECEDENT RESEARCH As Kent considers ways to advance public art in the community, there are several places and projects from which Kent can draw inspiration, ideas, and reassurance. Each place is unique and, of course, there is no place exactly like Kent. However, a scan of the ways other communities approach creating and managing public art is an efficient way to understand options and help guide decision-making in regard to developing a public art program in a way that is unique to Kent. For the purposes of this report, LAND studio studied Ithaca, New York; Ann Arbor, Michigan; the Collinwood, Detroit Shoreway, and Tremont neighborhoods of Cleveland; the Coventry, Cedar Lee, and Cedar Fairmount neighborhoods of Cleveland Heights; Toledo; Dublin, Ohio; and Buffalo, New York. Universities with active public art programs were also researched. In addition, many unique projects from all over the world are offered as further inspiration. While these places vary greatly in size, each example illustrates deliberate ways in which cities, neighborhoods, businesses, and universities have used the arts to increase vibrancy, reach economic development goals, and enhance the visibility of artist communities. Whether through the creation of an arts council, a special improvement district, a percent-for-art program, a neighborhood grants program, or a combination of these approaches, each of these communities has successfully integrated the arts into its long-term strategies.
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Image sources can be found in Tools section, starting on page 100.
HIGHLIGHTED PLACES
Ithaca, New York Ithaca is similar to Kent in its city population (c. 30,000) and in the number of students attending college there (c. 27,000), but Kent is situated in a much more populous region. The City of Ithaca’s Public Arts Commission has an unusual approach to fostering public art, in that rather than merely oversee a formal public art program, the commission acts as a resource to citizens with public art ideas of their own. The nonprofit Community Arts Partnership, which is funded in part by a hotel tax imposed by Tompkins County, provides a stable source of funding and technical assistance to local arts organizations. New organizations seeking funding are required to participate in training programs designed to foster good business practices.
Image credits: streetartutopia.com/?p=11351 (top), ci.ithaca.ny.us/boardscommittees/ pac/index.cfm (bottom) 18
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Dublin, Ohio Dublin, a city in a rapidly growing suburban area of Columbus, has one of the most well-developed municipal public art programs in Ohio. While the city has a very different character and is more populous than Kent, it is an interesting model for funding public art projects. Making use of a nonprofit agency that receives some funding from a municipal bed tax, the city has built a distinguished public art collection.
Image credit: larryhamillphotography.com (top), flickr.com/photos/dania_h (bottom) PRECEDENT RESEARCH
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HIGHLIGHTED PLACES Cleveland Heights Neighborhoods A few of Cleveland Heights’ commercial districts are relevant to Kent, both in terms of their demeanor and the resources they have at their disposal. Coventry, for example, plays a college-town role for nearby universities and colleges, and has been able to maintain its vitality in the face of numerous challenges. The city’s “big three” commercial districts—Coventry, Cedar Lee, and Cedar Fairmount—all make use of special improvement districts (SIDs), which produce funding that can be used for district-specific purposes, including public art and streetscaping. The districts also benefit from Heights Arts, a nonprofit based in Cedar Lee.
Cleveland Neighborhoods Many Cleveland neighborhoods— some of them prosperous and all of them facing challenges of one kind or another—employ the arts as tools of identity and revitalization. Some neighborhoods have succeeded in becoming centers of the visual or performing arts, but the arts are beneficial to all neighborhoods. Tremont’s monthly art walks, when they began a generation ago, took advantage of a growing number of art galleries and drew attention Image credits: heightsarts.org (top) stakeonthelake.wordpress.com (bottom) 20
KENT PUBLIC ART PLAN
to the neighborhood. The number of galleries has ebbed in Tremont, but the neighborhood has taken off in other ways. New public art installations illustrate how the arts have become established as a part of Tremont’s character. Gordon Square has emerged as a center of the performing arts and cinema, with the continued growth of the experimental Cleveland Public Theatre, a new home for the community-oriented Near West Theatre, and the renovation and reopening of the long-dormant Capitol, a neighborhood movie house. Ohio City has embraced the artisanal part of the arts spectrum, and the Buckeye and Shaker Square neighborhoods have used artistdesigned elements to animate public places. Collinwood is known for the Beachland Ballroom, a popular music venue, and Slavic Village, a Cleveland neighborhood that was hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, has made significant investments in the arts, in the form of large iconic murals and public art pieces that have become recognized throughout the region. An important characteristic of wellconceived public art is its positive return on investment.
Image credits: cleveland.com (top), discover.gordonsquare.org (bottom) PRECEDENT RESEARCH
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UNIVERSITY PUBLIC ART COLLECTIONS Almost all university and college campuses are home to at least a few pieces of artwork, and some university public art collections in the United States have achieved renown in the public art world. With notable artworks in place, an established university-operated art museum on campus, a recently opened sculpture walk, and the presence of its unique cultural institutions, Kent State University is on its way to having a distinguished public art collection. The recent strengthening of pedestrian connections between the university and downtown Kent has made an intermingling of the city’s and university’s public art collections newly possible. The universities with notable public art collections have made use of varying approaches to building and managing their collections, resulting in a body of experience-based information that Kent State can draw from and contribute to. A few of these universities are mentioned in any discussion of collegiate public art collections. The Stuart Collection at UC San Diego is dedicated to enriching the campus and city through the building and maintaining of artworks by leading artists of the present. The collection Image credits: annarborchronicle.com (top), public-art.umich.edu (middle), triartgallery. com (bottom) 22
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was established in 1983 and is managed by an entity affiliated with the university. Wichita State University’s Ulrich Museum manages the Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection, which consists of 76 works distributed across campus. Like UCSD’s, Wichita State’s public art collection is of relatively recent vintage, with the Ulrich Museum dating only to 1974. Western Washington University, in Bellingham, has a history somewhat similar to Kent’s and an outdoor sculpture collection that dates to 1959. Among the works in its collection is Isamu Noguchi’s compelling Skyviewing Sculpture (1969). Other universities with well-known public art collections include the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, Arizona State University, the University of South Florida, Texas Tech, Pratt Institute, Iowa State University, the University of Minnesota, and Johnson County (Kansas) Community College.
Image credits: stuartcollection.ucsd.edu (top), messersmith.name (bottom) PRECEDENT RESEARCH
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HIGHLIGHTED PROJECTS The Iconic Signage Project: New Orleans, Louisiana The Iconic Signage Project employed local artists to create four new, iconic neon signs for local businesses on Broad Street in New Orleans. The arts-based economic development project, supported by a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, aims to use the arts to tell the stories of the local businesses and develop an identity for the Broad Street corridor. The images to the left show Candy Chang’s design for F&F Botanica and Candle Shop, a family-run business and landmark store.
Information: broadcommunityconnections. org, Image credit: candychang.com/ffstorefront-sign 24
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C/Loud Project: Brooklyn, New York, and Paris, France Benjamin Løzninger, an artist interested in digital storytelling, created a series of giant murals of blue skies filled with white clouds, hoping to “provoke a smile, breath, or, at a minimum, a moment’s pause in the viewer’s day.” The digital prints were temporary summer installations in Brooklyn and Paris.
Information: thestreetartcurator.com/ cloud-project-by-benjamin-lozninger/ Images and artist website: stasolab.com PRECEDENT RESEARCH
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HIGHLIGHTED PROJECTS Whoopdeedoo ramps: Vancouver, Canada During Vancouver’s Bike to Work Week, Canadian designer Greg Papover turned regular bike lanes into playful interactive infrastructure. A series of fun ramps with flags and colorful signs helped turn ordinary bike lanes into mini cyclists’ playgrounds.
Information and images from: popupcity. net/turning-an-ordinary-bike-lane-intosomething-playful/ 26
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Parklet Program: San Francisco A parklet is a small public space with amenities and/or green space for people on a street. Typically, a parklet occupies a space previously used to park cars. The first official parklet was built in 2010 as an initiative of the “Pavement to Parks” program, funded by the San Francisco Planning Department. Parklets are now a common part of street life in San Francisco, and the program is being emulated in other cities around the world. The San Francisco Planning Department published a parklet manual in February 2013 that could serve as a resource for Kent. There are many ways to initiate, fund, and maintain a parklet program. For example, while San Francisco’s parklets are largely regulated and funded by the Pavement to Parks program, Los Angeles’s new parklet program will primarily be initiated by local businesses. The city will provide subsequent permitting, maintenance, and monitoring.
San Francisco’s Parklet Manual (2013): sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/docs/ SF_P2P_Parklet_Manual_1.0_FULL.pdf Information from: sfpavementtoparks. sfplanning.org and archpaper.com/news/ articles.asp?id=5721 Image from: archpaper.com/news/articles. asp?id=5721 PRECEDENT RESEARCH
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HIGHLIGHTED PROJECTS The Off-Ground project: Copenhagen, Denmark Amsterdam-based artists and designers Jair Straschnow and Gitte Nygaard embrace play elements in the public realm for all ages. According to the designers, “Play is essential to our well-being. Why is play most commonly associated with children? Why do all seating facilities in public space sum up to rigid benches?� As a result, the duo built an interactive installation of movable swinging red hammocks made of old fire hoses in Copenhagen.
Top image and information from: thiscitylife. tumblr.com/post/63019647521/swingingin-the-city. Bottom image: installationmag. com Project website: off-ground.com 28
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20ft WIDE: Austin, Texas Austin–based architects Dan Cheetham and Michelle Tarsney encouraged people to reconsider how alleyways function in their city. Their 20-foot-wide scale is very comfortable to pedestrians, who have long used alleys as walkways throughout cities, yet they have traditionally been considered the back doors to city life. This project instead turns the focus onto the alleyways themselves, encouraging creativity in these often-ignored spaces.
Information and images from: blog. archpaper.com/wordpressarchives/74622 PRECEDENT RESEARCH
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Sidewalk trampolines: Copenhagen, Denmark The City of Copenhagen has installed a series of mini trampolines in the sidewalks, including the city’s main corridors, neighborhood centers, andwaterfront. Image from panoramio.com. PRECEDENT RESEARCH
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HIGHLIGHTED PROJECTS REgeneration Art Project: New York City A collection of movable recycled plastic snails were part of the REgeneration Art Project. They were created by Cracking Art Group consisting of six international artists whose intention is to change art history through both a strong social and environmental commitment, and an innovative use of different recyclable plastic materials.
Images and information from: collabcubed. com/2013/12/12/the-snails-are-comingthe-snails-are-coming 32
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The Fairy Doors: Ann Arbor, Michigan The Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor are a series of small door installations. Children and adults alike are encouraged to visit the doors, which are hosted by local businesses around town, and leave gifts for the fairies, such as pennies, nickels, drawings, and shiny rocks. They have been created throughout the city, and each door offers a new discovery.
Images from: olyblog.net (top), michigan.org (bottom) PRECEDENT RESEARCH
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HIGHLIGHTED PROJECTS Happy Signs: New York City British artist Killy Kilford challenges the negativity of many cityissued street signs. This project, Happy Signs, is composed of upbeat messages that are aimed at eliciting smiles from passersby. Over 200 signs have been installed around New York City.
Images and information from: collabcubed. com/2013/11/15/killy-kilford-happy-signs/ 34
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Columbus Never… Columbus, Ohio A temporary and interactive artwork, “Columbus Never,” encouraged a dialogue between artist and community. The first five words of this sentence were written by artist Janet Zweig and installed in three parts over two weeks on Broad Street in Columbus. Afterward, a writing contest solicited three to five word entries from the residents of Columbus to continue the sentence. The winning entries were installed every two weeks during the city’s bicentennial year.
Images and information from: janetzweig. com/public/Columbus%20never.html PRECEDENT RESEARCH
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PLANNING
KENT IN CONTEXT Kent is a city which has been generating its own rhythm and history for two centuries, but it does not stand alone. If one of public art’s roles in Kent is to tell the story of the place, it is important to consider how regional forces act upon Kent and how Kent contributes to the region. The regional context also helps to illustrate how Kent compares to other places with public art strategies and experiences it may draw from. Kent, with a population of 28,904 in 2010, is an urban outpost on the edge of an urbanized region that stretches from Canton to Cleveland. The population of this conurbation remained almost static between the last two censuses at 2.8 million but added nearly 160 square miles to the land it occupies. Most of this urbanized region is postwar suburban in character, as is evident in Kent’s immediate environs, where many neighboring communities have developed almost entirely in the postwar era. Kent has generated some of these suburban areas on its own, but most have been generated by the larger cities of Akron and Cleveland. In a region dominated by sprawl without growth, Kent is equipped to provide a model for growth without sprawl. Kent’s location on the Cuyahoga River is noteworthy. The river’s availability as an energy source gave rise to the city in the first place, and the river is the central natural feature of both Kent and the larger region. Kent is downstream of Lake Rockwell, a dammed portion of the Cuyahoga dating to 1915 that serves as Akron’s main water source, and upstream of the 33,000-acre Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is easily accessible to Kent, including by way of the Portage and Summit County Hike and Bike Trails. Farther downstream is Cleveland, where the river’s character is much different. That is, while Akron’s use of the pristine waters of the upper Cuyahoga as a water source affects its flow through Kent, most Clevelanders could not imagine drinking the river’s waters. In downtown Kent, the riverfront offers a juxtaposition of experiences. Franklin Mills Riveredge Park on the river’s left bank is woodsy—almost bucolic—while a partially removed dam structure south of the Main Street Bridge hints at past uses of the river. Across the Cuyahoga from the park, active rail lines coexist with long-established industries and downtown Kent. The connection from the river to Kent State University is now direct.
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Image and map sources for this section can be found in Tools section, starting on page 100.
PLANNING
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0
5
10
20 Miles
REGIONAL CONTEXT Population within a one-hour drive of downtown Kent* Miles Time Population 10 mi. 15 min. 413,403
K E L A
20 mi. 30 min. 1,057,769
I E E R
30 mi. 45 min. 2,521,157 40 mi. 60 min. 3,590,658 Various centers of the visual and performing arts and cinema in Kent and the regions around it: 1. Kent a. Kent Stage b. University Museum
9. Playhouse Square, Cleveland a. Playhouse Square theaters
2. Downtown Akron
b. Cleveland Play House c. Great Lakes Theater
a.
Akron Art Museum
10. University Circle, Cleveland
b
Akron Civic Theatre
c.
E.J. Thomas Hall
a. Cleveland Museum of Art b. Severance Hall: Cleveland Orchestra
d.
Greystone Hall: Actors’ Summit
3. Weathervane Playhouse, Akron 4. Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Cleveland Orchestra 5. Canton Museum of Art, Canton 6. Youngstown a. Butler Institute of American Art b. John J. McDonough Museum of Art 7. Beck Center for the Arts, Lakewood 8. Gordon Square, Cleveland
Lorain
Elyria
14
Oberlin
c. MOCA Cleveland d. CIA Cinematheque 11. Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland 12. Cleveland Heights a. Cedar Lee Theatre b. Dobama Theatre
Medina
c. Cain Park theaters d. The Grog Shop 13. Fine Arts Association, Willoughby 14. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin
a. Cleveland Public Theatre b. Near West Theatre c. 78th Street Studios d. Capitol Theatre *Distances are as the crow flies and are based on the estimated population of the census tracts wholly or partially included in circles centered on the Main Street Bridge and drawn with the radii listed above. Population estimates are drawn from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, American Community Survey, and are for the year 2012. 40
KENT PUBLIC ART PLAN
Municipal borders Urbanized areas Water Cuyahoga Valley National Park 5 miles
Wooster
Painesville Mentor
13
5 11 7
9
10
This map illustrates Kent’s position within the network of places and regions it is a part of or related to. Portage County’s boundaries are shown to stimulate thinking about whether an arts funding mechanism at the county level would be something to consider. Within the county’s somewhat artificial boundaries is an interesting variety of urban, suburban, exurban, and rural places, each of which could benefit from and contribute to a countywide arts initiative.
i. m in. 40 0 m 6
12
8 CLEVELAND
i. m in. 0 m 3 5 4
Beachwood
i. m in. 20 0 m 3
Independence Aurora Hiram
Cuyahoga Valley NP
i. m in. 10 5 m 1
Streetsboro
4
1
3
Warren
Ravenna
KENT
6 P O RTAG E C OU NTY
2 AKRON
Youngstown
5
Canton
PLANNING
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DOWNTOWN KENT AND KENT STATE UNIVERSITY Star of the West
Building
Kent Stage
Parking lot Street
RS VE HAYMAKER PKWY
1/8 mile 42
KENT PUBLIC ART PLAN
FRA
NKL
Esplanade
RI
Cuyahoga River
PARTA Central Gateway ERIE ST.
T.
Franklin Mills Park
D OW NTOW N DEPEYSTER ST.
Kent Free Library
WATER ST.
Campus sidewalk
MAIN ST.
Hometown Plaza
IN A VE.
Railroad
Wick Poetry Center University Museum
new portion of Esplanade connecting campus and downtown
May 4 Visitors Center
CAMP US proposed building for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design proposed building alternations and renovations for School of Art
Gym
MACC Student Center Risman Plaza Library
PLANNING
EXISTING ARTWORK AND MAJOR CORRIDORS Kent State University’s Sculpture Walk and the exuberant under-bridge mural that marks the location of downtown’s Haymaker Market provide examples of artworks already in place at the university and downtown. The existing works provide a framework for what could become a more distinguished collection. This report identifies some of the public artworks that exist downtown and at KSU and calls attention to the corridors one might traverse to experience public art or other arts-related activities in Kent. Many of these experiential corridors are not officially established and most are not strictly linear. These corridors offer guidance in determining the best places for additions to the public art collections or, from an organic perspective, where new artworks are likely to emerge. Kent State’s Lester A. Lefton Esplanade is now directly connected to Erie Street in downtown Kent by way of an extension that was completed in 2013. This town-gown corridor, which connects downtown to the university both practically and visually, is the unifying and most extensive corridor, and the Esplanade and Erie Street each also provide experiences on their own. The pedestrian-oriented Esplanade, which replaced a standard roadway, altered the way the campus is organized and experienced. Erie is the street that most dramatically exhibits the blending of old and new in the ongoing transformation of downtown. Though only one is named such, both South Water and East Main Streets vie for the status of Kent’s traditional main street, and each has an interesting set of branch passages. North Water, though easily accessible to the main part of downtown, has an off-downtown feel that, by virtue of being less central, allows for land uses that would not be appropriate in the center and gives the impression of openness to experimentation. West Main is the connector to the left bank, where downtown is experienced from a different perspective. On the downtown side, Franklin brings you closest to the river. On campus, though the Esplanade is pleasant and offers changing scenery, one must venture away from it to experience all of the university’s artworks. Many of the corridors on campus are not oriented to named streets but instead to the university’s sidewalk system. Despite being more interwoven than ever, downtown and the Kent State campus remain different places, whose interaction with each other makes both more interesting.
For both maps: Cuyahoga River Franklin Mills Park Building Parking lot Street Railroad Campus sidewalk 1/8 mile
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KENT PUBLIC ART PLAN
EXISTING ARTWORK Existing permanent artworks
0
0.125
0.25
0.5 Miles
MAJOR CORRIDORS Cuyahoga River Franklin Mills Park Main Street Franklin Ave. North Water Street South Water Street Esplanade/Erie St. Corridor Lester A. Lefton Espanade Erie Street
0
0.125
0.25
0.5 Miles
PLANNING
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KENT PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITIES
KENT PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITIES This section outlines 11 public art opportunities and suggests implementing an artist residency program. The opportunities discussed are intended to prompt discussion and do not constitute an exhaustive list of public art possibilities in Kent. Examples are given of the kinds of artwork that may succeed in various locations on campus and in the city. The report, however, avoids prescribing what specific form the public artworks should take. Some of the opportunities, such as the Erie Street vista, could lead to permanent, iconic artworks that could be viewed from different distances and perspectives and which could draw viewers from elsewhere in the region and beyond. This kind of work would require a planning process of several months or years and a significant fundraising effort. An artwork of this kind could enhance Kent’s public realm and would be worth pursuing, but there are also many less time- and cost-intensive public artworks that could create lasting impact. Both permanent and temporary public artwork opportunities are discussed, and some of the opportunities call for programming of space, perhaps as an enhancement to a public art installation or as an artistic production in itself. Most of the locations identified are publicly owned, though some, such as the Hometown Plaza in downtown Kent and the Star of the West Milling Co., are merely accessible to the public, either physically or visually. New buildings both downtown and on campus are almost always candidates for enhancement through public art, and some are mentioned among the opportunities in this report, including new facilities for the College of Architecture and Design, the School of Art, and the Wick Poetry Center on campus, and the Portage Area Regional Transit Authority’s new Central Gateway complex in downtown. Public art associated with any of these facilities could underscore the mission of the building occupant or take advantage of the site-specific opportunities resulting from a building’s shape or a site layout.
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Certain structures and natural features already inadvertently play some of the roles of public art and can be ideal as hosts for new public artworks or for enhancements that call attention to the structures or natural features themselves. The Cuyahoga River, Kent’s preeminent natural feature, is perhaps the best example. Rivers, partly because they are already visual and sonic attractions on their own, often host artworks on their banks or, less frequently, on their waters, and the Cuyahoga provides many hosting opportunities. Another example is the Star of the West complex. Just upstream of downtown, it exudes sculptural drama whether it is being viewed from across the river or from North Water Street, which it fronts. Though the Star of the West could host artworks, it may be more suitable as a candidate for enhancement of its existing visual characteristics. For each of the opportunities identified, possible project collaborators are listed, and rough budget estimates are provided.
Image source: kent360.com Unlisted image sources in this section can be found starting on page 100 in Tools section.
PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITIES
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PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITIES Site of opportunity Downtown corridor opportunity Lester A. Lefton Esplanade
I Activating storefronts & streetscapes (along all downtown corridors)
G Star of the West and its neighbors H Hometown Plaza
LIST OF OPPORTUNITIES A. Esplanade corridor, including Erie Street B.
Erie Street vista
C. KSU KSU School College of Architecture of Architecture and and Environmental Environmental Design Design Lawnlawn D. KSU School of Art E. KSU Lester Esplanade A. Lefton between Esplanade Student between Center Student and KivaCenter Auditorium and Kiva Auditorium F.
Cuyahoga River in downtown Kent
G. Star of the West and its neighbors
F Cuyahoga River in downtown Kent
H. Hometown Plaza stage I.
Activating storefronts and streetscapes
J.
Alleys
K. Artist residency (not identified on map)
Building Parking lot Street Railroad Campus sidewalk Franklin Mills Park Cuyahoga River
1/8 mile 50
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B Erie Street vista
J Alleys (throughout downtown)
A Esplanade corridor, including Erie Street
C KSU College of Architecture and Environmental Design Lawn
D KSU Art Building
E KSU Esplanade between Student Center and Kiva Auditorium
ESPLANADE CORRIDOR, INCLUDING ERIE STREET “A” on the opportunity map (page 50) The Lester A. Lefton Esplanade corridor is meandering and offers many vistas. Many existing public artworks are alongside it or nearby. Two of the university’s cultural institutions, the University Museum and the Wick Poetry Center, both possible public art collaborators, are along this corridor. The Wick Poetry Center will soon be located along the Esplanade in a new Poetry Park, where the center will occupy the relocated May Prentice house, once the home of Kent State’s first female faculty member. The new homes of the College of Architecture and Design and the School of Art will also front on the Esplanade.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS:
Places that could host public artworks include the Central Gateway tower, which is visually imposing but could benefit from added artistic enhancements, and the western meeting point of the Esplanade and Hilltop Drive. The Esplanade’s continuity seems disrupted at this point, though it actually is not, and there is no connection to the museum, which is visible across a parking lot.
$10,000 to $200,000
City of Kent KSU University Institutions: - University Museum - Wick Poetry Center - May 4 Visitors Center PARTA BUDGET:
The tower could play host to three-dimensional artworks or variations on typical two-dimensional installations, such as enlarged versions of paintings lighted from behind. The Esplanade-Hilltop intersection could host works providing visual continuity to the pathway or connecting it to the museum. One relatively low-cost installation that could be added to all or part of this corridor is a story or long poem etched into the walkways. This could be done incrementally as a unified work or a collection of separate installations. PROCESS Numerous processes could be employed in producing art along this corridor. This is an area in which a public art committee could develop a plan to integrate various artworks. The Wick Poetry Center could guide a literary installation, with input from artists and designers. OUTCOME Artwork along the Esplanade corridor could enhance the already pleasant experience it offers frequent travelers and help to orient occasional or firsttime visitors. Artwork along the corridor is essential to building Kent’s public art collection into a destination in itself.
existing conditions 52
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ERIE STREET VISTA “B” on the opportunity map (page 50) Looking west, the Erie Street vista terminates in Franklin Mills Riveredge Park in what looks like a forested hilltop. Located across the river, opposite downtown, this location could host a vista-oriented artwork that celebrates the importance of the river in the community. An artwork viewable primarily to park users already exists there. Just south of where Erie Street would land if it crossed the river is a bas-relief mural on the 172-year-old building that currently hosts the Silk Mill Apartments. The Erie Street Vista artwork could take many forms. It could be an iconic piece always viewable from downtown, or it could be subtle, viewable only during certain times of the year or only against certain sky colors. These characteristics could be specified or left to the artists.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS: City of Kent Kent State University Local Foundations and Corporations BUDGET: A budget range for a project like this would be $100,000 to $500,000, including all project-related costs.
PROCESS A project of this magnitude could attract artists from around the nation or globe. A request for qualifications (RFQ) could prompt prospective artists to provide images of their past work and a brief explanation of how they would approach this project and why it interests them. An advisory committee could invite three of the artists to develop proposals and then select a proposal to implement from among the three. The advisory committee should include representatives of the city and university, the arts community, park users, and at least one person familiar with issues surrounding large-scale public art installations. OUTCOME An artwork terminating the Erie Street vista could visually extend the continuous corridor that is formed by the Esplanade and Erie Street. The artwork could call attention to Kent’s natural and built attributes and be a signature element of a recognized public art collection.
exisiting conditions view to vista from Esplanade / Erie St. 54
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COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE & ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN “C” on the opportunity map (page 50) The lawn outside of the new College of Architecture building could serve as an energetic and animated connection point between the city and the campus, and other outdoor or publicly accessible indoor spaces associated with the new building could host public artworks. Even the building’s green rooftops could host a subtle work of art or two. Because of the prominence of the building’s architect and its eye-catching design, travelers are likely to veer into Kent just to see it. PROCESS In addition to funds generated by the State of Ohio’s Percent for Art Program through the construction of the College of Architecture building, funding could be sought from alumni and other private sources that wish to support the enhancement of the physical connection between the KSU campus and downtown Kent. An RFQ process could be conducted in which a national call for entries is issued to interested artists, landscape architects, or teams comprised of multiple disciplines to create designs for this space.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS: City of Kent College of Architecture KSU Alumni BUDGET: $150,000 to $200,000. This amount is above what the OAC contribution to the project could be through its Percent for Art Program. However, given its prominent location connecting town and gown, this project could be a great impetus to engage the philanthropic community, including local foundations and alumni of KSU.
OUTCOME Creating a signature public space that invites people onto the KSU campus and connects with downtown Kent is a physical representation of the community’s desire for a seamless interaction between city and university.
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Conceptual renderings of the proposed architecture building and lawn can be found at weissmanfredi.com
SCHOOL OF ART “D” on the opportunity map (page 50) The combining of Van Deusen Hall and the Art Annex into a new home for the School of Art provides an opportunity for KSU’s art students to showcase their work on campus. Because KSU draws many students, both undergraduate and graduate, to its art programs, the city as a whole benefits from their creativity and talents. The planned expansion and renovation will connect two separate buildings and create a new wall of windows that pedestrians on the Esplanade will be able to see through, inviting viewers to experience the work being created by students and faculty. Both the new connection between the buildings and the viewers’ invitation to experience the work inside of them create opportunities for artists to impact the campus. Process The lawn space outside of the new Art Building, as well as the corridor of windows that will connect the two older buildings, provide great canvases for exhibiting student work. The hallway of windows could serve as a rotating gallery of student artwork. The artwork could change as frequently as staff or students are willing to coordinate and could vary by department. The management of this gallery could provide a meaningful opportunity for students to learn about curation, installation, and other logistics related to artwork exhibition, potentially even becoming a work-study position.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS: Alumni network, particularly practicing artists College of Art faculty College of Art students BUDGET: The interior gallery space could be curated for the minimal cost of hanging materials if students and faculty are able to work on a volunteer basis. A permanent exterior piece could cost $50,000 - $80,000. A rotating exterior space could have a budget of $1,000 - $5,000 per installation.
Outside on the lawn along the Esplanade, a prominent space for artwork would be a great legacy as part of this renovation project. Since the Art Buildings are near the center of the KSU Sculpture Walk and because these buildings house the soul of the campus’s art community, there could be either a permanent artwork installed here or it could become a rotating exterior exhibit space for student, faculty, or community artwork. Again, this rotating space would provide a learning experience for students interested in artsbased project management and curation. Outcome By bringing the creative work taking place inside the art buildings into the eyes of KSU’s non-art student and faculty, the art department and its programs can have a higher level of prominence among current and potential students. It also elevates the importance of the artists who make up KSU’s student and faculty art community and raises the profile of the program overall.
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Renderings of art building renovation can be found at kent.edu/art/facilities (by Payto Architects)
ESPLANADE PASSAGE THROUGH THE STUDENT CENTER “E� on the opportunity map (page 50) The openness of the Esplanade constricts and becomes focused at the point where it passes under the connector between the main portion of the Student Center and Kiva Auditorium. Approaching from the west, one may feel visually drawn to the passage under the connector, partly because the walkway leads to it, but also partly because of the enclosure provided by the building walls, the grand stairways on either side of the approach to the passage, and the imposing presence of the library rising to the east. The passage reads somewhat like a proscenium and stage, but, because it is part of an essential pedestrian route, it does not function as such, except in the Shakespearean sense, with various players, in the form of students, faculty, staff, and visitors making their exits and their entrances throughout the day. The multiple surface planes collecting at this place, resulting from the staircases and walls and the narrowed pedestrian path itself, make it a specific and recognizable, though unnamed, location and provide numerous backdrops for artwork, as well as multiple opportunities for interpretation and thinking about built space and its effect on us. PROCESS An advisory committee of students and faculty could oversee the programming of this unusual and interesting place. A first step would be to set the parameters within which the creative use of the space could take form. OUTCOME Artwork at this location, which would probably (but, of course, not necessarily) be temporary in nature, could take numerous forms. It could include grand pieces making full use of the surrounding architectural elements and being observable from a distance, or it could consist of smaller works that could decorate a wall for the benefit of those passing close-by. The artwork could be purely artistic, abstract or representational, or could function more practically by calling attention to events or notable points in time. In some circumstances, several artworks could be present at one time.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS: Downtown Businesses KSU Facilities and Planning KSU Schools of Art, Fashion, Music, Theater, and Dance Main Street Kent BUDGET: These projects range from from several hundreds of dollars to several thousands of dollars. Each component is relatively inexpensive, but it is the bundling that creates energy. These interventions could be implemented incrementally as funding allows or all together for a greater impact. overhead color or light installation temporary artwork community art or message board commissioned or studentdesigned mural temporary window public art installation areas for temporary student public art temporary colorful wayfinding graphics
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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2 1 3
4
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6 7
CUYAHOGA RIVER IN DOWNTOWN KENT “F” on the opportunity map (page 50) Kent’s preeminent natural feature, the Cuyahoga River and its banks, could host public art in many forms. Conversely, artwork could be positioned as a backdrop to the river. The river is viewable from both its right and left banks, but due to the railroad tracks on the right bank, the river is best viewed from Franklin Mills Riveredge Park, opposite downtown. Despite the obstructions they impose, the tracks evoke Kent’s history and continuing viability as an industrial center. On the left bank, the ease of access to the river, visually and physically, is remarkable, and the reworked dam structure draws viewers into the middle of the river’s path. The retaining walls on the downtown side of the river are artworks on their own, calling attention to the enduring and ever-changing city above and river below. Though the active railroad tracks present a challenge, the retaining wall is an ideal backdrop. Artwork would not have to cover the entire wall and could be temporary.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS: CSX Friends of the Crooked River Local arts organizations OEPA US Army Corps of Engineers Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway BUDGET: The budget for these types of projects could vary widely, from several thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s best to select a budget, then hire an artist to work within that framework.
The retaining wall provides only one of many public art opportunities in the realm of the river and riverfront. River-oriented or river-proximate artwork could have myriad themes. Among them are the river’s importance to Kent, its role as a connector between people or to other parts of the region, humankind’s sometimes forgotten place in nature, or water’s crucial and fragile place in all known ecosystems. Themes that have no connection to the river could also be appropriate. Inspiration could be drawn from many places including Providence’s WaterFire and from floodplain installations at the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s 100 Acres. PROCESS Process would depend on the kind of work being considered, but the river and its environs provide the opportunity for a disparate group of partners, which could include visual and performing artists, environmentalists, outdoor enthusiasts, and riverfront business interests. OUTCOME Artworks oriented to or situated near the Cuyahoga River in downtown Kent could achieve many ends, including drawing attention to the river as an asset, making Kent more pleasant for residents and visitors, or framing a challenging topic for viewers’ consideration. exisiting conditions 62
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STAR OF THE WEST AND ITS NEIGHBORS “G” on the opportunity map (page 50) The 200-foot-tall grain elevator that dominates the Star of the West Milling Co. complex on North Water Street is interesting from many angles. It was not designed as a public artwork and yet in some ways functions as one. Calling attention to the montage of buildings centered on the grain elevator would be one way to distinguish Kent from the suburban communities that encroach on it from the north and west. Collectively, these buildings evoke Kent’s long history as a center of industry and transportation. Because the complex is still in use, it calls attention to the continuing importance of industry and transportation to the city. The buildings create a great number of planes or two-dimensional surfaces. The planes that compose this vista are quite beautiful in their present state and, while it may not be advisable to distract viewers with the installation of permanent artworks on this complex, attention could be subtly called to the view by the use of colors, simple patterning, or lighting. A complementary project could involve lighting the structures at night in a way that would bring out their structural details and possibly allow for color changes to mark different seasons or notable events. The structures would not have to be brightly illuminated for lighting to have a dramatic effect. PROCESS The process for carrying out a color or light treatment of the Star of the West elevator tower and its neighbors would be different from a typical public art process in that the structures are privately owned and in daily use.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS: Since the buildings involved are all privately owned, it is essential that the buildings’ owners are involved. Because the benefit of this type of project extends beyond the owners of the building, it is possible to raise funds from broad sources. However, it should be noted that private funds are likely to be required because many public sources of funds are very limited in ways in which they can be used on privately owned properties. BUDGET: At the low end, lighting this complex could include a minimal action that could effectively draw attention to the building to something much more elaborate. This budget could range from $15,000-$20,000 for a very simple treatment to over $50,000 for something much more grandiose.
Because artists with specialties that would be applicable to any variation of this project are limited in number, directly commissioning one to three artists to develop a proposal would be a logical approach, rather than conducting a regional or national call. OUTCOME The main accomplishment of using colors or lights to enhance the sculptural impact of the Star of the West complex would be to call attention to and enhance an existing asset while creating an artistic landmark.
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HOMETOWN PLAZA STAGE “H” on the opportunity map (page 50) Hometown Plaza has all of the infrastructure necessary for developing a vibrant and active downtown park and outdoor performance venue. However, because the stage is often vacant, the space feels empty even when there is activity in the park. Inexpensive programmatic opportunities, like installing a moveable “urban swing” on the stage or engaging outdoor food carts or small musical or performing arts groups, or holding student fashion shows can enliven the area to make it a destination for weekday or weekend lunch breaks or evening events. PROCESS Creating and administering a community calendar in which performers can book use of the stage would allow for this location to become selfprogramming. A band shell was designed for this purpose in a San Francisco park, encouraging both scheduled and impromptu performances. A playground area in this space could be developed to encourage use by families. Something like this could be implemented for approximately $40,000. OUTCOME If the calendar was shared in community newsletters, online, on campus, at the Kent Free Library, and other places where Kent residents and visitors access this type of information, it could become a lively focal point within downtown Kent. Additionally, nonprofit organizations, student performing groups, or local bands could build new audiences by sharing their performances with the community. This type of open-door policy would encourage people to view Kent as a place where arts, culture, and community come together in an open and democratic way.
POTENTIAL PARTNERS: City of Kent Recreation Department Kent Free Library Hometown Bank Kent Public Schools Kent Stage KSU School of Art KSU School of Fashion Design and Merchandising KSU School of Music KSU School of Theatre and Dance KSU student groups Main Street Kent Standing Rock Cultural Arts WKSU BUDGET: Seed funding, ranging from $3,000 to $7,000,could support this initiative. Some of this money could be allocated toward the creation of a performance calendar and the rest could support performing artist honorariums.
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ACTIVATING STOREFRONTS AND STREETSCAPES “I” on the opportunity map (page 50) When people imagine public art, many envision the bronze sculptures that represent prominent historic figures or, more recently, Cloud Gate (the bean) in Chicago’s Millennium Park. However, most public art being created today is smaller in its scope and more fun in its execution. Some small, personalized artistic elements such as decorated storefront windows with a holiday theme, a collection of “Squirrel Nests” that could mirror Ann Arbor’s Fairy Doors (see page 33), and temporary artwork located on the sidewalks of a business district can be inexpensive interventions that business owners or artists can pursue to enhance the sense of place within downtown Kent. These small interventions work best with consistent thematic programming that inspires creativity at two levels: around a shared community theme (the black squirrel) and around an agreed-upon theme for a year or a season, for example. PROCESS
POTENTIAL PARTNERS: The City of Kent and KSU Building and Business Owners Kent Public Art Task Force KSU College of Architecture KSU College of Art Main Street Kent Private developers BUDGET: An artist-designed storefront display could cost $500 to $1,500 per storefront. “Squirrel Nests” should cost less than $50 each to paint, draw, or build within existing businesses.
Partnering artists with local businesses is a great way to initiate a storefront enhancement program. If five artists are matched with five storefronts, they could, for instance, create a winter-themed window display with lights that will create a sense of welcome during the darker, winter months. These could also be used to activate empty storefronts. Concurrently, local businesses might consider creating a Squirrel Nest program, on the interior and exterior of their facilities. This intervention may take some time to catch on, but working with social media outlets to share discoveries online can be a way to promote this idea. It is also a great opportunity to connect with children, who are not typically given many chances to participate in public art processes.
“The Bean” in Chicago
OUTCOME These artistic elements create broad participation opportunities, are cost effective, reinforce Kent’s character, and develop community pride while underscoring Kent’s warmth and sense of welcome. This informal approach to aesthetic enhancements can challenge people to think more broadly not only about art itself, but public space.
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ALLEYS “K” on the opportunity map (page 50) Many alleys in Kent serve as walkways as well as service entrances. Currently, these alleys feel like the backdoors to businesses, because they are. However, recognizing that they are used by many pedestrians, there is an opportunity to legitimatize these connections between downtown destinations. PROCESS Enlivening these alleys with lights, color, and strategically placed artwork can create lasting impact. Working with building and business owners to identify ways to condense the number of garbage bins and to buffer utility connections will create a better pedestrian experience in these snug spaces. In this instance, the City of Kent could hire an artist or urban designer through a Request for Qualifications process to recommend a wall treatment, lighting, or movable street furniture to transform Kent’s alleys into practical and attractive spaces. OUTCOME Making these walkways more inviting will encourage safety in the evening, while adding visual interest during the day through color and increased cleanliness.
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POTENTIAL PARTNERS: City of Kent KSU Cleveland Urban Desgin Collaborative Main Street Kent Neighboring building and business owners Trash Collection Utility providers BUDGET: $10,000 to $15,000 per alleyway, not including walls preparation, if needed.
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3
5
4
2
1
overhead lighting or colorful art installation
2
street art or commissioned murals
3
flower boxes and greenery
4
easily stored outdoor public seating
5
storefront displays and programming
exisiting conditions
PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITIES
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ARTIST RESIDENCY (No specific location identified) An artist-in-residence for Kent could provide an opportunity for the government to collaborate with an artist on community engagement, neighborhood-based art projects, and other creative outreach efforts. An artist-in-residence could participate in shaping a municipal art program, share best practices with city officials and nonprofit partners, consider opportunities for artist housing, design functional elements for a streetscape, develop a series of outdoor programming, and perform many other artsfocused responsibilities. Process Typically, artists compete for placement in artist-in-residence programs. A notice of the opening should be shared among artist and professional networks in the same way that a job opening is communicated. Interested artists should provide a resume, work samples, and a letter of interest in the position. These residencies can vary in length, from a few months to several years or more. A good starting point for Kent could be one year, which would give an artist time to get to know the area and advance some projects. After an initial residency, program managers should evaluate the process and make adjustments as necessary for the future. Outcome Hosting an artist-in-residence would signal to residents, business owners, and regional visitors that the City of Kent is making the arts a priority in its strategy for growth and development. It provides city employees the chance to learn new things about how to integrate the arts into their work. A program of this sort could also become a source of pride among Kent residents, particularly within its arts community.
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POTENTIAL PARTNERS: City of Kent KSU Alumni Network Mainstreet Kent BUDGET: The artist-in-residence should be paid either a salary or a stipend for his or her work. Housing could be donated or subsidized by the university.
RECOMMENDATIONS
RECOMMENDED STRATEGIES As discussed earlier in this report, Kent already has many of the components of a vibrant place. What is missing is a strategy for linking these together, not only in the physical environment, but through policies and organizational capacity as well. Implementation of these art projects and public programs or performances will be easier if the city and university spend time developing an efficient and streamlined public art process. This would allow students at the university to engage with downtown public spaces in a meaningful way and neighborhood groups to think creatively about how they could improve the community around them. Interviews with stakeholders revealed that ideas come from all places, so curating a culture that allows for innovation and creativity to come from expected and unexpected places would further enhance Kent’s image as a place that encourages innovative thinking. The recommendations that follow suggest implementable strategies for elevating the importance of public art as a tool for community vitality. While many people within the art community would like to consider art an end in itself, more and more public entities are increasingly expected to demonstrate that the arts are earning a return on investment.
Create a Local Arts Committee The City of Kent and KSU should consider forming a joint public art committee to guide the development of a public art collection. This ambitious goal could begin in small ways, such as by:
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Gathering a group of interested people from the city, KSU, and the local business and art communities to review and discuss this report and its recommendations.
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Developing a project inspired by this report to gain an understanding of the public art process, including writing grants, facilitating a call for artists, selecting an artist, overseeing the design and installation of an artwork, and managing community engagement.
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Working together to amplify public art in existing community events and festivals.
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Typically, art committees are made up of representatives of the art, design, community development, and other fields. For specific projects, the committee membership is complemented with one or two individuals who are directly connected with the project, for example, affected residents, a supportive business owner, or an expert in a specific profession, such as green building, if the project addresses green infrastructure. The task force could be asked to identify strong candidates for the committee, discuss community priorities, recommend how to prioritize projects that are under consideration, develop a mission, promote the importance of public art, and begin to engage potential private-sector funders for program implementation. Later, this group could determine the potential for creating a more formal art commission that could be appointed by public officials and University representatives to oversee the creation and execution of public art programs and policies. Alternately, the city and university could each create and maintain their own committees to take on the tasks noted above, but focused on their jurisdiction. It is recommended that these two groups work closely together to advance a cohesive public art collection.
Make It Somebody’s Job One thing the precedent places outlines in this report benefit from are people and organizations working to catalyze public art in their community. This work includes seeking and writing grants, organizing festivals and other gatherings, and developing relationships with local and regional artists. For a public art program to be successful in Kent, someone should be hired to manage the creation, development, and execution of projects and events. While volunteer-based groups are helpful, a public art administrator, employed by the city, the university, or both could investigate potential funding support and provide long-term project management. Short of a full- or part-time person, a partnership of organizations that each defined job duties for existing personnel could also lead the effort in the near term.
Image sources for pages 76-81 can be found starting on page 100 of the Tools section.
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Find and communicate Kent’s unique voice or point of view A public art collection and program offerings should speak to the personality of the place. Because every place has its own character, economy, geography, and identity within its broader regional context, it is important that public artwork and programming be created and curated by people who have an understanding of the local culture and history, or who are inspired by the place itself. Additionally, it is important for anyone who is considering developing a public art program to understand that just because something works in one city, it should not necessarily be replicated in another. Studying precedent projects, places, and policies is a great way to explore public artwork and to identify what types of initiatives could work in Kent. However, it is just as important to spend time developing a plan that will demonstrate success in this particular place.
Consider a variety of public art investments While there is a place for large-scale projects, their impact is strongest if there are just one or two in a community. Larger projects are worth the investment when their locations are deliberately sought out and when they further the broader goals of a community, such as highlighting the end of a vista or creating an important landmark within the city. For these reasons, Kent will be best served in the long term if it focuses on one or two larger artistic endeavors and several smaller ones that are oriented toward community engagement. Taken together, the city will be able to foster a stronger identity and sense of place using artwork that is strategically placed rather than undertaking too many projects at once. On the Kent State University campus, there are a number of existing artworks. These range in style and location, but many are near the Esplanade. Many places are now using their art dollars to create artistic spaces within the vastness of a university campus rather than simply installing large pieces of art. For example, the Brinsley Tyrrell artwork is a beautiful example of a public artwork that also creates a gathering space for students and university employees to congregate. When considering new investments in artwork on campus, limited artwork funds can be stretched to not only create a piece of art, but also to enhance the character of KSU’s gathering spaces.
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Everyone can create In Kent, where there is a large continuum of professional artists, students, and amateur artists who simply like to create in their free time, there should be opportunities within the public spaces in this community for the visual voices of artists to be seen. These can be provided in a variety of formats, ranging from a community chalkboard where people are encouraged to freely write or draw to a small-grants program for artists of any background to develop projects within the city limits. Allowing for the artistic culture of Kent to be part of both the university and the city will further characterize Kent as a distinctive place.
Streetscapes Integrating artistic design into streetscapes or other capital improvements downtown can give civic projects distinction. Opportunities could include developing a design for the street pavers in a crosswalk area, a custom bicycle rack or other piece of street furniture, a lighting installation, or special planters in the commercial district or on campus. When considering a new streetscape, working with an artist at the very beginning of a project can be a way to pay a relatively small design fee upfront for ideas that will ultimately contribute to a lively and interesting street realm. This foresight allows for a small added investment to the money usually budgeted for these items to be leveraged to create a place with both artistic impact and functionality.
Create a venue for art production If a suitable building could be identified, ideally in or near downtown Kent, establishment of a complex of artist studios, in which artists could both create and sell their works, is an idea worth considering. The studio complex could add to Kent’s prominence as a center of the arts and bring additional activity to the city. Models include the nearly 40-year-old Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Va., perhaps the oldest and largest of this kind of enterprise. A more recently established and smaller variant is found locally in Cleveland’s 78th Street Studios. Existing nonprofit organizations could be potential partners in establishing a venture of this kind in Kent.
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NEAR-TERM RECOMMENDATIONS for the City of Kent: • Find ways to advance public art within the work of each city department, and encourage existing community organizations to advance public art in their work.
• Explore ways that infrastructure investments could be leveraged to create functional art.
• Explore ways to use the city’s sign code as a way to work with business owners to express creativity.
• Work with property owners to explore the establishment of special improvement districts (sometimes called business improvement districts) under the terms of ORC 1710, which could be used to fund district improvements, including public art.
• Investigate the establishment of a percent-for-art program, or include funds for public art in the city’s budget.
• Create and fund a small grants program to incentivize private investment in art.
• As progress is made on public art in downtown Kent, explore ways to incorporate art into neighborhoods.
• Consider policies in city government that allow for public art projects to be implemented efficiently. This could include creating a permitting process for temporary and permanent public artworks, proactively addressing insurance issues, or designing a “public art laboratory” where art is continually changing in the city.
• Explore a partnership with PARTA. Across Ohio and in cities across the US, many transit authorities have arts-in-transit programs that dedicate funds toward artwork.
• Address mural regulations in the city’s sign code. 
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for Kent State University: • Add a public art class or curriculum, such as the community arts program at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
• Evaluate the possibility of a percent-for-art allocation to KSU’s contribution to its capital projects to augment the Ohio Arts Council funds.
• Develop a policy for managing temporary art created by students in public spaces throughout the campus.
• Designate one or more locations to be “public art laboratories” where art is continually changing, allowing students the opportunity to learn about public art in an interactive way.
• Encourage music and theater schools to establish a schedule of outdoor mini-performances for students to enjoy as they meander through campus.
• Create a streamlined permitting process for temporary public artworks. • Encourage music and theater schools to perform downtown. • Over time, re-orient the buildings along the Esplanade toward the Esplanade to reinforce this pathway’s importance.
Left side: images from downtown Kent. Right side: images from KSU campus.
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Image source: evrd.net KENT PUBLIC ART PLAN
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TOOLS
RECOMMENDATIONS
TOOLS There are many established processes and tools available to Kent to guide the implementation of the project ideas encouraged by this public art plan. Most important, perhaps, is the vision and the drive to see a project through from beginning to end. Executing strong public art projects requires collaboration among artists, engineers, fabricators, governmental entities, commissioning agencies, property owners, and open dialogue with the broad community. A project will go most smoothly if there is a clear vision among a variety of potential stakeholders from the beginning of the project, clearly stated goals, and a willingness on the part of the project managers to troubleshoot effectively throughout the planning and installation stages of a project. To address practical concerns, LAND studio has, on the following pages, provided potential funding sources, a step-by-step public art process guide, options for organizing property and business owners and nonprofit entities, and local government, and background stories of precedent places.
Funding Once a community is committed to making public art a priority, identifying sources of funding to implement a project can feel daunting. In addition to the suggestions noted in the funding matrix on pages 86-87, The City of Kent and Kent State University might pursue private donations made by individuals or the corporate community, funding within capital improvement budgets, or a variety of sources. Many grant programs require matching funds, either in the form of cash or in-kind services, to demonstrate local support of a project. Additionally, sometimes designs for projects can be created before funds for implementation have been identified. In this scenario, the designs are often used as fundraising tools themselves, inspiring donors to support the project. For several of the national funding sources identified in the matrix, the creation of this public art plan is a compelling reason to fund projects that are identified therein. Many national funding sources and local foundations do not like to fund “one-off� public art projects, preferring instead to fund projects that are part of a larger context, with a sound plan supporting their impact. Using this plan as a tool for fundraising will allow potential funders to understand the groundwork that has been laid and that will support their investment in the City of Kent and KSU projects.
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The combination of a passionate group of people working to infuse Kent with public art and creativity and funding opportunities will create excitement around the implementation of some quick wins and, long-term, a community known for embracing the arts. As noted in the recommendations section, fostering conversations with interested people as a first step can spur the creation of a local arts task force. After initial conversations to explore a point of view or a voice for public artwork in Kent and the choice of a potential project, the next step is to explore the funding resources offered in this report. There is nothing like the completion of a project to create the momentum for continued efforts.
“A Fence of Mirrors Reflects the Changing Landscape� from colossal.com
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GRANT OPPORTUNITIES Funder
Description
ArtPlace
Initiatives involving arts organizations, artists and designers working in partnership with local and national partners to create community vibrancy.
National Endowment for the Arts: Our Town / NEA
Creative placemaking projects that contribute to the livability of communities and place the arts at their core.
National Endowment for the Arts: Art Works
Supporting works of art, artists and arts professionals, and audiences.
Knight Foundation
The foundation seeks innovative ways to reach, engage, and increase audiences for the arts, including through the use of technology.
The Kresge Foundation
Building strong, healthy cities by promoting the integration of arts and culture in community revitalization.
Ohio Arts Council Percent for Art
For works of art for new or renovated public buildings with capital appropriations of more than $4 million, one percent of the total cost is allocated for art.
Ohio Arts Council Project Support Creative Economy
Supporting projects that create jobs and income, revitalize communities or downtowns, and draw cultural tourists.
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Criteria & Proposal Needs
Funding Levels
Project components should showcase or elevate: - art making or artists at the heart of the initiative; - the distinctiveness of its place; and - evidence of market demand.
$50,000 to $500,000
Projects may include; arts engagement, cultural planning and design activities. Two partners required, $25,000 to $200,000 a non-profit organization and a local government entity. One of the two must be an arts organization. Project should achieve: Creation: The creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence; Engagement: Public engagement with diverse and excellent art; Learning: Lifelong learning in the arts; and Livability: The strengthening of communities through the arts.
$10,000 to $100,000
www.artplaceamerica.org
arts.gov/grants-organizations/ our-town
arts.gov/grantsorganizations/art-works
Seeking grant opportunities in Akron that create transformational and sustainable change through artistic excellence and collective cultural experiences.
www.knightfoundation.org/whatwe-fund/fostering-arts
Consider activities that integrate arts and culture in public green and civic spaces and transitoriented development projects in traditionally disinvested communities within cities.
kresge.org/programs/artsculture
Evaluation categories include: - Artistic / Educational / Cultural Value - Community Participation and Accessibility - Planning and Evaluation - Organizational and Financial Management
$5,000 for planning $20,000 for implementation
www.oac.state.us/ grantsprogs/percentforart. asp
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NAVIGATING THE PUBLIC ART PROCESS Many public art projects begin with a call for artists. Though they may be called by different names, the types of calls for artists described below are representative of the selection processes an artist is likely to encounter.
Calls for Artists The types of calls for artists discussed here are:
• • • •
open competition, limited competition, invitational competition, and direct selection
Open competitions are the least restrictive of all calls for artists and are generally open to all interested artists. Limited competitions are more restrictive and may mandate that artists live in a certain geographic area or work in a certain medium in order to apply. In an invitational competition, several artists known to have a particular set of skills or interests are invited to submit proposals. Direct selection, in which art is purchased or commissioned directly from an artist without a competitive process, is a method that is most often used when there is a tight timeline or the type of artwork needed is very specific.
Submission process Calls for artists are usually in the form of a request for proposals (RFP) or a request for qualifications (RFQ). An RFP seeks a preliminary proposal or concept for the public art project in question, while an RFQ seeks information about an artist’s qualifications and interests before seeking the artist’s concept for the specific project. Among public art program administrators and public artists, RFQs are recognized as the best practice for seeking interested artists, because they do not require artists to produce unpaid work.
Submission requirements Most calls for artists are specific in their initial submission requirements, and almost every call for artists will require that an artist supply examples of past work. In recent years, it has become increasingly common for public art selection processes to require images of past work in a digital format. In
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addition to images of past work, artists may be required to submit a letter of interest in which they address their interest in the particular project and discuss how they would approach the project if given the opportunity to submit a full proposal.
Selection panel review and design development Most public art selection processes involve a selection panel, which may also be referred to as a jury or advisory committee. The selection panel is charged with choosing an artist from among the various submissions for a project. An initial group of submissions is likely to be narrowed down to a small group of finalists who will then be asked to advance to a next step. This next step is the design development phase of the project, in which artists are expected to produce more advanced project-specific proposals. In many instances, finalists are paid a stipend or design fee to develop their final proposals. Selection panels typically include people who are familiar with public art as well as some who are not. For example, a resident of a community where public art will be installed, often someone who may not think about art often, but who probably has some impressions or opinions about it, will often be on a selection panel. Once finalists have developed design proposals for a public art project, the selection panel will select one of the finalists’ proposals for fabrication and installation. In most cases, the selection panel will make a recommendation to a body that has final decision-making authority for a public art project. This body may be a city or town council or the governing body of a private commissioning organization, such as a museum or hospital.
Fabrication and installation Once the artist has been selected, the next steps are fabrication and installation of the artwork. An artist will usually undertake the work of fabrication completely or partly on his or her own. However, an independent fabricator could be selected by the artist to construct the artwork to the artist’s specifications. Artists are advised to be aware of insurance requirements for the particular project, and should also determine, before work begins, if permits or additional approvals, such as from a planning or zoning board or a design review board, are needed for the project.
Image sources for pages 90-99 can be found starting on page 100.
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Provisions for ongoing maintenance In most situations, the commissioning organization will require the artist to provide a detailed maintenance plan for the public artwork. The details of this plan should indicate clearly who will be responsible for the artwork’s maintenance over time, as well as estimated costs. If budgets allow, an amount of 5-10% of the total project budget should be set aside in a fund designated for future maintenance needs of a project. Typically, the commissioning agency should cover the costs associated with maintenance, which should include washing, checking for rust, cracks, and other signs of deterioration. Contracts with artists should allow for a one-year period in which the artist will guarantee the artwork against problems related to craftsmanship.
Deaccessioning policies Sometimes, a work of art must be removed. Reasons for this could include, but are not limited to, changes in the built environment around the artwork, maintenance concerns, or vandalism. When possible, it is advised that the public agency that owns the artwork inform the artist. If the artwork can be moved to another location, the artist could be given an opportunity to identify an alternate location for the work. If the artwork will need to be removed permanently, explaining the reasons for removal to the artist in a straightforward way is the best way to communicate. In some circumstances, offering the artwork back to the artist is a viable option. It is never recommended to make changes to public artwork without first communicating with the artist. For additional information, please review the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.
Donation policies Sometimes, a municipality or university may be offered an artwork as a donation. It is recommended to comprise an Arts Commission or other similar body that can evaluate the potential donation and determine its fit within the broader art collection. This type of commission can remove the personal nature that sometimes accompanies donations, such as not wanting to accept a piece of art for fear of offending the donor. The commission creates an arms-length, neutral body that can help ensure that the overall character of the art collection is maintained. Along with the costs required to prepare a site and install the gift comes the long term cost of owning and thus maintaining the gift. It is recommended 92
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that gift policies include a requirement that public art donors provide a maintenance endowment that is managed by the agency. That sum could be a small percentage of the established or estimated value of the work. This gift policy is helpful for two reasons: 1) it provides funds for maintenance and 2) it helps deter gifts that agencies do not want to accept.
Percent-for-Art programs
Many municipalities across the country fund public art investments through a percent-for-art program. These programs are legislated by an ordinance or policy specifying that a percentage of a city’s capital improvement project funds are set aside for the commission, purchase, fabrication, and installation of public artwork. Percent-for-art ordinances typically designate from 1 to 1.5% of the total construction or renovation budget. Percent-for-art projects are typically commissioned for a city-owned site such as a civic center, library, plaza, park, or other publicly accessible location. Some cities, including Toledo, base their annual percent-for-art budget on their total budget for capital improvements and create a fund where money can be pooled and spent on projects anywhere in the city. Rather than mandating that public art projects complement the city’s capital improvements, these projects can be implemented independently and according to a city-wide public art plan. Most cities that implement a percent-for-art program establish a public art committee or municipal arts commission (these names are interchangeable), whose role is to review project opportunities, select artists, and ensure that the program is operating efficiently. Typically, a public art committee has 7-9 members, representing a combination of city employees and members of the community, such as artists, design professionals, or architects. Often, 1-2 adhoc members are included in this committee on a per-project basis, and they could be neighbors, partners, or community representatives. These members should be approved by the city council, mayor, or city manager.
Community Development Corporations Community development corporations (CDCs) have existed formally for decades. CDCs came into prominence in the wake of the civil-rights era and functioned as advocates for residents in a geographically defined area, addressing issues such as affordable housing, crime prevention, and neighborhood beautification. Today, CDCs assume many different shapes and forms. Some hold true to grass-roots origins, while others have shifted focus to economic development, city planning, and other pursuits. TOOLS
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A way in which a CDC could be useful in Kent would be to harness existing community pride and participation. Kent is an amalgamation of mom-andpop stores and regionally recognized businesses. A CDC in Kent could bridge the gap between the business community and the residents, addressing concerns ranging from design principles, to trash removal, and street lighting. Traditionally functioning as nonprofit organizations, CDCs become rallying points for development and community engagement. In the instance of Kent, the arts could be a central pillar from which the CDC would function. It could help to acquire funds, grants, and other revenue streams to install and maintain works of public art both on campus and around the city.
Special Improvement Districts Special Improvement Districts, commonly referred to as SIDs, are permitted in Ohio under the terms of Chapter 1710 of the Ohio Revised Code. SIDs allow owners of contiguous properties in a neighborhood or commercial district to impose an added tax on themselves to pay for services or improvements beyond those already being provided. In Ohio, a petition requesting formation of a SID and signed by owners of properties constituting at least 60 percent of the front footage in the district or 75 percent of the area of all real property in the district must be presented to the municipality’s executive and its legislative authority, which, in Kent’s case, would be the City Council. Other materials, such as the articles of incorporation of the nonprofit organization that will manage the SID and a plan detailing how the funding generated by the SID will be used, must also be submitted. The local government has 60 days in which to render a decision establishing the SID or not. SIDs can cover large areas—a SID covers almost all of downtown Cleveland, for example—or smaller ones. The three Cleveland Heights commercial districts referred to in this report—Coventry, Cedar Lee, and Cedar Fairmount—each has a SID in place. Funding generated by a special improvement district can pay for services, compensation, and capital improvements. For example, the Coventry and Cedar Fairmount SIDs have used funds toward district-specific street signage, and the Cedar Lee SID will make a significant financial contribution toward streetscape improvements planned for the neighborhood. SID funding can also be used to pay for public art, which could include either discrete artworks designed to beautify or identify the neighborhood or artist-designed street furniture, such as benches, bike racks, or kiosks. The
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cost of arts-oriented festivals and activities, as well as temporary public art installations, are also eligible uses of SID funding.
PRECEDENT PLACES DATA Ithaca, New York Ithaca’s Cornell University and smaller Ithaca College have a combined enrollment comparable to Kent State’s, and the cities are nearly identical in population. After decades of struggle, both cities’ downtowns have seen much new development and both places could be described as atypical. Ithaca offers many examples of ways to foster public art. Its Public Art Commission meets monthly to “…advise individuals involved in public art projects within the city limits, as well as assisting with the overall process.” The commission is an active promoter of public art in the city, rather than strictly an administrator of a formal program. The Community Arts Partnership (CAP), a nonprofit providing technical assistance, grants, and professional services to artists and arts organizations, has distributed more than $2.5 million in grants since 1990. Its funding sources include the New York State Council on the Arts and the bed taxfunded Tompkins County Tourism Program, for which it administers the Arts and Cultural Organization Development Program. This program funds both emerging and established artists and arts organizations. It requires lessestablished organizations to participate in programs designed to help them achieve stability and effectiveness. The CAP employs three staff members. Ithaca’s public art collection ranges from the relatively simple 21 Boxes project, which involved multiple artists in turning utilitarian electrical boxes into artworks, to the well-known Sagan Planet Walk, a to-scale sculptural representation of the solar system extending from the center of the Ithaca Commons to the Sciencenter, three-quarters of a mile away.
Cleveland neighborhoods: Collinwood – Detroit Shoreway – Tremont Work to promote public art and creativity in three neighborhoods in Cleveland provides insights that Kent could find useful. For example, Collinwood has found creative ways to repurpose vacant buildings. Kent, like Detroit Shoreway, has capitalized on its waterfront access, and the scale and architectural diversity of Tremont and Kent are strikingly similar.
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Collinwood Neighborhood Snapshot: Located on the east side of Cleveland, Collinwood is a blue-collar neighborhood with a population of approximately 34,000. Home to a historically Slovenian community, this neighborhood has based its economic development, of late, around the arts and creative placemaking. Collinwood has been able to leverage its existing assets, such as the Beachland Ballroom, Waterloo Arts, Blue Arrow Records, Music Saves, and others, to bring in both local and international mural artists through its Zoetic Walls project. Art in Collinwood: The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) is a nonprofit service organization dedicated to strengthening, unifying, and connecting Greater Cleveland’s arts and culture sector. The Northeast Shores Development Corporation in the Collinwood neighborhood successfully raised $500,000 from CPAC to establish an Artists in Residence program. The initiative seeks to increase artists’ access to affordable space within Cleveland and to develop a replicable model for increasing artists’ participation in the revitalization of neighborhoods and industrial cities. The program will ensure that artists can afford to make Collinwood their permanent home. Northeast Shores applied for and received an ArtPlace Grant in 2012 for the Collinwood neighborhood entitled “Collinwood Rising.” This effort aims to engage neighborhood residents by encouraging them to think creatively about urban vacancy in their community. Tremont Neighborhood Snapshot: The Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland lies along the Cuyahoga River, immediately south and west of downtown. It is one of the oldest parts of Cleveland with a current population of just under 7,000 people. It is one of Cleveland’s first artist enclaves and today is home to many restaurants and art galleries. The Tremont West Development Corporation works to promote inclusivity for individuals, families, and visitors by connecting culture, creativity, and community. Art in Tremont: Since the mid 1980s Tremont has played host to the Tremont Art Walk, on the second Friday of every month. This event brings together gallery owners, collectors, artists, and visitors from all over the region to take in and celebrate the rich artistic treasure that is Tremont. There are special Arts in August events, the Tremont Arts & Cultural Festival, and the Arts Renaissance Tremont programs, all organized and promoted by Tremont West. In addition, Tremont is home to around a dozen art galleries.
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Detroit Shoreway Neighborhood Snapshot: The Detroit Shoreway neighborhood is situated just west of downtown Cleveland and is home to 17,000 residents. It is one of the only neighborhoods in Cleveland with direct access to Lake Erie, which it has through its connections to Edgewater Park. Over the past decade, work by the Detroit Shoreway Development Community Development Organization and the Gordon Square Arts District has transformed the neighborhood into a destination by marketing it as a vibrant arts district. These organizations have also worked with entrepreneurs to create great places for residents and visitors to grab a drink, eat delicious, sometimes locally sourced food, catch a movie, and attend live theater and musical performances. Art in Detroit Shoreway: Detroit Shoreway is home to many creative enterprises, including the Gordon Square Art District, Capitol Theater, Cleveland Public Theater, and Near West Theatre. DSCDO organizes “Third Friday” tours of the 78th Street Studios, which has been called “Northeast Ohio’s eclectic arts maze.” The Gordon Square Arts District organizes festivals that are inviting and attract people from all over the region. The neighborhood celebrates Dyngus Day, a nearly thousand-year-old Polish tradition marking the end of the often restrictive observance of lent and the joy of Easter. Similarly, Weapons of Mass Creation, a music, design, and dance festival, uses multiple pop-up locations throughout the neighborhood to activate the street with discussions of design, marketing, and branding, while theaters and underused spaces host bands that attract visitors from all over the region. Characteristics of Art in Cleveland Neighborhoods: Each neighborhood has at least one organization whose mission includes using art and creativity to attract resources (interested people and funding) for the arts and organize events to draw visitors. Examples include:
• • • • •
Northeast Shores Development Corporation Waterloo Arts Tremont West Development Corporation Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization Gordon Square Arts District
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Each neighborhood builds on its existing assets, such as:
• • • • •
Historic Character Theaters Access to natural places, waterfronts, and trails Viewing vacant spaces as opportunities Unique interests and passions of people involved
Cleveland Heights neighborhoods Like Kent, Cleveland Heights is home to many artists and holds the arts as integral to its identity. Unlike Kent, it has never been a free-standing city. It has no single downtown area, but does have several commercial districts relevant to Downtown Kent, most notably Coventry, Cedar Lee, and Cedar Fairmount. Each of these has established a special improvement district, or SID, as authorized by Chapter 1710 of the Ohio Revised Code. SIDs are funded by fees assessed against properties within their boundaries, with funds generated being usable toward district-specific services and capital improvements, including public art. Cleveland Heights contains no colleges or universities, but plays a collegetown role for institutions in Cleveland’s University Circle and other adjoining communities. Like Kent, it is not especially large in size, but has an immense regional population to both draw upon and compete with. For years, Cleveland Heights commercial districts, especially Coventry, set the standard for vibrant urban districts within Greater Cleveland, a phenomenon that somewhat parallels Kent’s position in Greater Akron today. Now, resurgent Cleveland neighborhoods have challenged Cleveland Heights to upgrade its commercial areas and public realm or risk becoming regionally irrelevant. The City of Cleveland Heights has no formal public art program, but a respected nonprofit, Heights Arts, is well established and has influenced the city’s public realm, having commissioned both permanent and temporary installations therein. It also operates a gallery focused on local artists. Another nonprofit, Future Heights, advocates for citizen participation and sustainable neighborhood development.
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IMAGE SOURCES Page 16-17: (images listed left to right, top to bottom) public art in Itaca from streetartutopia.com, Blue Cloud installation in NYC from usedyorkcity.com, mural in downtown Phoenix from phxdp.blogspot.com, yarn bombing from streetartutopia. com, umbrella installation in the Balkans from csmonitor.com, A mini-stair park in Hong Kong, China from thisbigcity.net, mural (unknown source), “Clever Bits of Instagram Nonsense” by Brock Davis from thisiscolossal.com, Origami street art in Angers, France by Mademoiselle Maurice from thisiscolossal.com, temporary colossal baobab tree made from Recycled fabric in Central London from inhabitat.com, giant eyeball public art by Tony Tasset from laweekly.com, Color Jam in Chicago by Jessica Stockholder from loopchicago.com, temporary work by Christian Nagel in London from artnaz.com, street art by Damien Mitchell from artnaz.com, Do Ho Suh’s Fallen Star installation from stuartcollection.ucsd.edu Pages 38-38: en.wikipedia.org (top left and right, bottom left), kent360.com (bottom right) Pages 40-43, 48 (maps) use data from: Portage County GIS, Kent State University, U.S. Bureau of the Census, National Park Service, Great Lakes Information Network, Geauga County GIS, Summit County Fiscal Office, bCuyahoga County GIS Pages 52-53: Existing conditions photo from kent.edu, The penguin sculptures by Italian-based Cracking Art Group, which specializes in placing unusual plastic sculptures in public spaces from penguinplacepost.wordpress.com, pavement text (top) from sfgate.com, pavement text (bottom) in Downtown Cleveland from land-studio.org. Page 54: Existing condition photo from LAND Studio Page 55: (top) Angel of the North, designed by Antony Gormley from peace.maripo. com, (bottom left) Lighting Layers and Reflections’ installation by Autumn de Wilde from autumndewilde.tumblr.com, “abandonded Yugoslavia-Era monuments” from beautifuldecay.com Page 57: (top left) Electro-Snowglobes found on suzannewexler.com, (top right) Disused Car Park Turns Into A Temporary Mini Golf Course by NL Architects and Zwirt from popupcity.net, (mid left) Picnurbia, The Yellow Picnic Wave, by Loose Affiliates, from looseaffiliates.com, (bottom left) Green wave field at University of Michigan “Groundswell” by Maya Lin from laviedesbricoles.wordpress.com, (bottom right) Superkilen by BIG, Topotek1 and Superflex found on dezeen.com Page 57: (top left) from murau.riskommunal.net, (top right) Joseph Koshut, installation view 2013, courtesy Galerie Sprüth Magers, Berlin, from artfridge.de, (bottom) “Big Rabbits” was made by Cracking Art Group from recycled old plastic water bottles collected from landfills, photo from ecofriend.com Page 60-61: Existing conditions photo and renderings by LAND Studio Page 62: Existing condition photo from LAND Studio,
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Page 63: (top)Bubblegum on the Water found on popupcity.net, (middle left) Rubber Duck sculptures designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman from archinect. com, (middle right)Walk Water Balls Lake Alster in Hamburg, Germany found on northjersey.com, (bottom left) Horse in Grand Rapids by Richard Morse found on artprize.org, (bottom right) Light Drift-an interactive river of lights found on flavorwire. com Page 64: Existing condition photo by LAND Studio Page 65: (top left) Rendering by LAND Studio, (top right) mural art by El Tono in Warsaw from urbanartcore.eu, (bottom left) Rendering by LAND Studio, (bottom right) Healing an industrial past- Landschaftspark by Latz + Partner from suite73.org Page 66: Existing condition photo by LAND Studio Page 67: (top left) Swing Park by Patrick McDonnell from kaboom.org, (top right) 21 Balançoires by Daily tous les jours from flickr.com/photos/art_inthecity, (mid left) Brigade Coffee Co. food truck from theatlanticcities.com, (mid right) Walnut Wednesday from tastycleveland.com, (bottom left) Market Square Park from LAND Studio, (bottom right) Takino Hillside Park, Japan from neatorama.com Page 69: (top left) “Eating in Public” by Gaye Chan and Nandita Sharma from http://bit.ly/1jZXmE9, (top right) Old Industrial Pipes into urban planters found on renewpurpose.com, (bottom) University of Minnesota design students find canvasses in Uptown Minneapolis storefronts “Heartbreaker” from mndaily.com Page 71: (top) Rendering by LAND Studio, (bottom) Existing Conditions photo LAND Studio Page 73: (top left) This bench offers a “Little Free Library” designed by Chat Travieso photo from trendhunter.com, (top right) “BADGAST” Shipping container was constructed and designed by Refunc for Satellietgroep, the contemporary live-in shipping container studio residence invites artists, designers, scientists and architects to live and work inside for four week terms, (bottom) “Career path” in Turku, Finland by Candy Chang from www.mrkate.com Page 76: (from top and descending) “This would be a nice place for a tree” by Candy Chang from candychang.com, The street art project “Spielplatz“ by artist collective Démocratie Créative, transforms the street into a playground-photo from designyoutrust.com, “Rotaflora” The 35-foot-tall flower sculpture composed of steel, bicycle wheels, and LED lighting, beautifies and brings attention to Morgana Traildesigned by artist Jake Beckman photo from LAND Studio, The unique sundeck fence is composed of recycled shipping container panels designed, fabricated, and installed by artists Mike Moritz and Stephen Manka- photo from LAND Studio
“You are beautiful” Street art campaign by Matthew Hoffman. Images: thisiscolossal.com. More information: you-are-beautiful.com
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IMAGE SOURCES (CONTINUED) Page 77: (from top and descending) “The Verdant Walk” designed by Peter and Alissa North to refer to Cleveland’s relationship to industry, craftsmanship, and innovationphoto from LAND Studio, Konstantin Dimopoulos’ environmental installation “The Blue Trees” located in Seattle, Washington-photo from cnn.com, “Éclats De Verre” light and video interactive installation presented at Park Emilie-Gamelin in Montreal, Canada by Atomic 3, “The Hear Heres” by Studio Weave found on dezeen.com Page 78: (from top and descending) “Color Pencil Tree” by Dave Rittinger from designboom.com, Guerilla crochet on tree by B-Arbeiten in Velbert from streetartutopia.com, Germany, “Clothespin” by Mehmet Ali Uysal in Chaudfontaine Park, Belgium from freshhome.com, “Flying Swarms of Everyday Objects” by Thomas Jackson from bangstyle.com Page 79: (from top and descending) Cumulus and Futago submitted this proposal for Sydney’s Laneway Art and City Spaces- photo from urbanfunscape.tumblr.com, Jan Vormann’s “Dispatch” uses plastic construction pieces to repair and fill holes in broken walls- photo from arteref.com, “Water Tower” by Tom Fruin in Brooklyn, NY from tomfruin.com/watertower, Oliver Show’s “Street Furniture,” guerilla public seating made from wrapping yellow drainage pipes around Hamburg’s urban infrastructure from architizer.com Pages 90-91: “Rainborough” made of tape by artist Aakash Nihalani- photo from aakashnihalani.com Page 92: (from top and descending) “CLOUD” is an interactive installation made from 1,000 working and 5,000 burnt out light bulbs by artist Caitlind r.c. Brownphoto from thisiscolossal.com, “Voyage”: A Fleet of 300 Illuminated Boats in Canary Wharf by Aether & Hemera rainbows multiples London light installation color boats, found on thisiscolossal.com, “The Obliteration Room”: Yayoi Kusama constructed a large domestic environment, painting every wall, chair, table, piano, and household decoration a brilliant white, effectively serving as a giant white canvas for kids with thousands of stickers- photo from thisiscolossal.com, Thread Installations by Sébastien Preschoux from thisiscolossal.com Page 93: (from top and descending) Haus in Schwarz (House in Black) was a 2008 public art piece by artists Erik Sturm und Simon Jung on a house that was condemned to be demolished- photo from thisiscolossal.com, Geometric projection by Felice Varini on Grand Palais in Paris France- photo from thisiscolossal.com, fos (light) designed by fos on the facade to this vegan restaurant at Lope de Vega street in Madrid- photo from urdesign.it, Suspended Bouncy Ball Installation by Nike Savvas from thisiscolossal. com
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Page 94: (from top and descending) Car barrier made from bike by Lloyd Alter from serendipolis.com, Zander Olsen’s “Tree Line” wraps trees in white material to construct relationship with horizon line- photo from zanderolsen.com, “Monster on the road” by OaKoAk from oakoak.canalblog.com, Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima’s ‘a-art house’, a transparent, walk through pavilion with vibrant pink, red, and yellow floral motifs from designboom.com Page 95: (from top and descending) “You are my sunshine” by OaKoAk from oakoak. canalblog.com, Doma created COLOSO a giant robot-shaped electrical tower in Villa Martelli, Argentina- photo from laughingsquid.com, Rue du Mail, Paris from whavaforum.com, Misaki Kawai’s “Big Bubble” installation at Malmo Konsthall Pages 96-97: “Baji Lives!” by Peter Brock from bajilives.com Page 98: “See-through Church” in Limburg, Belgium by Gijs Van Vaerenbergh, “Bonjour les Coquelicots” by Felice Varini from varini.org, Südliche Lohmühleninsel reformed land into a park designed by Rehwaldt Landscape Architects located in FriedrichshainKreuzberg, Berlin- photo from landezine.com, Carr, Lynch, and Sandell Inc. designed canopies for central square and streetscape improvements for Cambridge, MA- photo from carrlynchsandell.com, Created by architects utopiad and designed by Berry and Linné, and built by Hensel Phelps, the 40 foot by 60 foot parklets are located in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles- photo from blog.archpaper.com , Letras Voladoras: ARTE VERDE yarn bombing / guerrilla crochet / knitting hacker- photo from letrasvoladoras.com, HOT TEA geometric yarn typography by HOT TEA from flickr.com/photos/hotandtea, “LightRails” by Bill FitzGibbons brings an Abandoned Underpass to life with thousands of LED Lights from thecreatorsproject.vice.com, The ISIL Institute completed in 2013 in Lima, Peru by HENSE, “The Grass Blades” designed by r-b-f Architecture as public art for the city of Seattle from art-nerd.com, “The Pool” designed by Jen Lewin is an environment of giant, concentric circles created from interactive circular pads- photo from collabcubed.com, “Stair Squares” by Mark Reigelman from markreigelman.com Page 97: (from top and descending) Passage, “Paper Lights” located at the Museum of Contemporary Art designed by Ivan Juarez fromx-studio.tvm, “Manifest Destiny!” by Mark Reigelman from markreigelman.com, David Byrne bike racks from bam. org, Shade structure for Main Plaza in San Antonio, TX designed by Rios Clementi Hale Studios, Debra J. Dockery, and Duende Design Architects- photo from chism. masterlink.com
“You are beautiful” (continued from previous page) Street art campaign by Matthew Hoffman. Images: thisiscolossal.com. More information: you-arebeautiful.com
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Interviews Anderson Turner, KSU Director of Galleries, School of Art Dan Saunders, former KSU student David Hassler, KSU, Wick Poetry Center Denise Seachrist, KSU, School of Music Diane Davis-Sikora, RA, Associate Professor, KSU CAED Frederick John Kluth, Artist, Gallery Owner Jim Blum, Kent folk music icon Nate Bailey and Neil Luketic, recent graduates of CAED Roger Boggs, Artist Terry Schwarz, CUDC of Kent State Univeristy Stakeholder Meeting Participants Anne Marie LeBlanc, KSU, Visual Communication & Design Anne Schheirhorn, KSU, Journalism Christine Havice, KSU Art Dave Ruller, Kent City Manager Heather Malarick, Main Street Kent Jeff Ingram, Standing Rock Cultural Arts Joel Liedtke, 4 Cats Arts Studio Leslie Sickle, Main Street Kent Lori Wernhoff, Kent Chamber Michelle Sahr, Main Street Kent, Off The Wagon Patty Bujorian, KSU, Institutional Advancement Planning and Operations Steve Jordan, TANK Tom Euclide, KSU Facilities Tom Hatch, Kent Historical Society
Thanks go to: Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative Franklin Square Deli KSU College of Architecture and Design PARTA Portage County Regional Planning Commission Studio Graphique LAND studio Project Team Gregory Peckham Tiffany Graham Vince Reddy Erin Guido Carol Thaler Sarah Siebert Christian Roadman Dan Brown Austin Boxler Maureen Doyle Conner Karakul