Today, downtown East Lansing gets a little brighter with the addition of six artistic bike racks designed by local artists. At 11:00 am the racks will de dedicated and the public will have the opportunity to meet the artists and view them together before they are distributed across town. The racks will include designs such as “Bicycle Yoga,” “Peace Tree,” “Circle Back,” and more.
Thanks to a $10,000 LEAP Public Art for Communities grant (and collaboration from the East Lansing Art Commission and the DDA), these racks will, according to Ami Van Antwerp, Communications Coordinator with the City of East Lansing “Make the downtown a more fun and attractive place to be and visit.”
The racks came from a need for more bike racks downtown and the opportunity to add more art. Other cities have done it and been successful. “It’s functional art,” says Van Antwerp. They are the first of their kind to be installed in the area but hopefully not the last. If it’s successful there will be additional, similar installations. “It’s things like this that get people excited about the community,” says Van Antwerp. This, combined with everything else happening downtown, makes it an area that attracts people and businesses. And, eventually, they would like to spread out from the downtown area.
Source: Ami Van Antwerp, City of East Lansing
Author: Allison Monroe, Innovation News Editor
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