LEAP Announces $30,000 public art grant program

Posted: February 11, 2013 - 5:00 PM

LANSING, MI – Today, the regional economic development organization, Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) announced their Public Art for Communities RFP second round of funding. In 2012, the regional economic development organization granted two communities, DeWitt Township and the City of Mason, $10,000 each for the placement of public art within their communities. In 2013, the funding was increased to allow grants for three communities.

The most successful applicant will identify a key, central, public location that is highly visible or recognizable to a significant and regular flow of foot and car traffic. The location of the piece must greatly enhance the image of the specific, strategic place within the community, making it more likely to retain and attract business and talent to that area.

This program comes out of the LEAP Placemaking workgroup headed up by Steve Curran, President and Creative Director for Harvest Creative Services and Julie Pingston, Senior Vice President of the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau. Steve and Julie worked with a team of public and private sector individuals as well as artists to develop an RFP and policy template for regions to adopt.

In order to participate, each region must first adopt a version of the public art policy. The policy helps a community identify things to consider when investing in public art; maintenance, installation, insurance, etc.  After adoption, the community will submit their proposal for funding to place a piece of art in the public right-of-way. The LEAP Placemaking committee will consider each application and three communities will be chosen for $10,000 grants. If selected, the community will then go on to identify an artist that can bring their visions to life. The policy guideline template and the RFP can both be found at www.purelansing.com/publicart. 

Awards will be given out in April at a dedication ceremony with the expectation of the installations being complete by spring 2014.

“This project is designed to strengthen economic development efforts in our region by enhancing the sense of place for residents, businesses and visitors through public art.  We are looking forward to reviewing the responses to the RFP and making the awards to the communities later this fall,” said Julie Pingston, Placemaking workgroup co-chair.

“Public art and placemaking is very important to building a region that retains and attracts good paying jobs,” said Bob Trezise, President and CEO of LEAP. “This definitely translates to the private sector more strongly considering investment and job creation.”

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