An overwhelming majority of Normalites say they're all in for public art.
Results of a survey distributed in May indicated 85% of people who live, work or play in Normal support public dollars going toward public art. The town council heard the survey's key findings during a work session at Monday’s meeting.
Of those supporting tax dollars going toward art, 42% said a main benefit was creating attractive community spaces. Forty percent said the main benefit was promoting art and local artists, and more than half were interested in more performing arts opportunities.
“[Performing arts] are a big part of what we already do in the Cultural Arts Department,” said department director Beth Whisman. “Maybe it means people don’t know about our performing arts, or don’t perceive what we’re doing as performing arts. We want to communicate that more. Do they want more? Or do they need to know more?”
Whisman sits on a 20-person public art working group appointed by Mayor Chris Koos. The working group also presented two pilot projects to be carried out over several years.
Sculpture garden
Normal's budget allocates $150,000 in fiscal year 2024 toward a new sculpture garden in One Normal Plaza that will surround the existing Circle of Friends sculpture honoring the former Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School [ISSCS]. The site was chosen, in part, for its historical significance and proximity to a new roadside attraction built off Route 66.
“It’s next to Heartland Theatre, which naturally has some synergy with people who are interested in cultural arts,” said Whisman. “It’s by a playground. It’s by a field where people are sometimes passively engaged watching sports and want to see something else in between.”
The plan includes 8-10 pieces, with a mixture of leased, purchased and commissioned sculptures. The town will issue a request for quote [RFQ] to identify sculptors, which may be a mix of local and non-local artists.
“It gave us a unique space where we could do something that was very, very defined by the footprint,” Whisman said.
The working group also consulted representatives from the ISSCS community to gain input on placing additional pieces with the existing statue. They requested it not be moved from its current location.
“That’s where the flagpole was,” Whisman said. “That’s where [they] gathered every morning. But [they] liked the idea of other art sprouting up around it to add to the value of that experience."
Uptown underpass mural
Normal also has applied for a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help fund the Underpass mural, which would not begin until construction is complete. If received in November, the council must match the grant, writing an additional $100,000 into next year’s budget. Funds from an NEA grant would be released in summer 2024.
“The mural is all about the transportation project,” Whisman said. “It’s a bunch of concrete that presents itself as an opportunity.”
Occasionally, grants beget more grants. So, an NEA grant could be combined with other funding sources supporting transportation, for example. But Whisman said the project will go ahead with or without a grant.
“The timeline doesn’t change,” she said. “We are tied to the construction of the underpass. It comes down to, what does the town want to invest regardless of a grant opportunity?”
In that event, the scope of the proposal could be narrowed — with the mural covering one concrete wall and not both. Or the town could commit the full amount in the original proposal.
“This is a once-in-a-generation project for something very meaningful in the middle of the town,” Whisman said.
The $205,000 price tag covers materials and artist fees, education and outreach programming and paid local apprenticeships.
Public input
Of those survey respondents supporting public investment in art, nearly half want to see colorful, whimsical pieces; half desire opportunities for interaction. That aligns with the working group’s desire to commission abstract, modern pieces over bronze statues of historical figures, for example — which do not always withstand the test of time.
“This initiative is trying to get people to think broader about what art is and how we use it to celebrate our identity and our community,” Whisman said, “but also to beautify it.”
Whisman added the 15% of survey respondents who said they did not support the initiative weren’t necessarily against public art; rather, they prefer it come from private funding sources. Private and corporate investment have been key drivers of public art in the Twin Cities to date. Whisman notes Normal’s Special Olympics Memorial and the 410 Sculpture Park in Bloomington’s warehouse district as key examples.
Private art in public spaces is not without complications. Thus, the working group, comprised of city and county stakeholders, artists, patrons and a few engaged high schoolers, will not limit decisions to themselves. The anonymous public input provided from the survey will be used to inform future decisions such as the types and locations public art may be placed. The working group is designed to be intentional and transparent throughout each project.
Bloomington approved the formation of its own public art commission in 2020. Requests on Tuesday for an update on the status of that committee were not returned.
