This summer the art in
Downtown Lansing isn’t just going to accessible, it’s going to be interactive.
After collaborating with other organizations on past outdoor projects, the
Lansing Art Gallery is holding its first ever independent Downtown exhibit with some exciting twists — all thanks to $25,000 in grant funds from the
Lansing Economic Development Corporation with assistance from
The Arts Council of Greater Lansing.
The result will be 75-100 works of 2D and 3D art scattered throughout the streets of Downtown Lansing for four months.
"I’m very excited about it," says Catherine A. Babcock, Lansing Art
Gallery's executive director and curator of the forthcoming City Streets
exhibition. "These will all be Michigan artists, and with the exception
of safety and weatherproofing requirements, there will be no
restrictions on the art."
Though the pieces themselves will be a sight to see, the LEDC grant required the Lansing Art Gallery to use the funds to make art accessible to the public, and that got the event planners thinking even more creatively.
"We’ll have a City Streets website and each artist will be represented there," explains Babcock. "There will be a phone number [where each] artist will have a recorded explanation of the art, in their own voice."
The phone numbers, provided by
ACD.net, will also appear alongside the outdoor art, so visitors to Downtown can learn about each piece as they view it. They will also be able to text in their vote for the "People’s Choice Award," to be given to the most popular work.
The City Streets Exhibition will open with a reception at the Lansing Art Gallery’s new location at 119 N. Washington Sq. Ste. 101 on Thursday, May 19 and will continue through September 6. The deadline for artist entries is February 15.
Source: Catherine A. Babcock, Lansing Art Gallery
Writer: Natalie Burg, Interim News Editor
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