Public Art Network Award Recipient The Lay of the Land: Public Art, Politics, and the Environment The Public Art Preconference June 9–10, 2005 Austin, TX

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Public Art Fund
2005 Recipient of the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Award

The Public Art Fund is New York's leading presenter of artists' projects, new commissions, and exhibitions in public spaces. For over 25 years, the Public Art Fund has been committed to working with emerging and established artists to produce innovative exhibitions of contemporary art for neighborhoods throughout New York City. By bringing artworks outside the traditional context of museums and galleries, the Public Art Fund provides increased access to the art of our time—dismantling any barriers to the accessibility of contemporary art—and provides artists with a unique opportunity to expand their artistic practice.

Projects and Programs
Public Art Fund's ongoing program encompass three categories: (1) major initiatives with established artists; (2) In the Public Realm, a program to realize projects by emerging New York artists; and (3) additional outreach efforts, including Tuesday Night Talks, a publication series, and InProcess, Public Art Fund's newsletter.

1. Major Initiatives with Established Artists
   Working with established artists, the Public Art Fund commissions new projects and curates exhibitions of existing artworks previously not seen in New York City. The Public Art Fund also collaborates with New York City museums to expand the reach of their exhibitions beyond their gallery space. For example, as with the Whitney Biennial in Central Park, 2002, and Francis Al˙s's The Modern Procession, 2002, the Public Art Fund worked with the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, respectively, to bring monumental art projects into the public realm and introduce a broad public to the work of these major contemporary artists.
2. In the Public Realm
   In the Public Realm was created in 1995 to foster innovation and experimentation among emerging artists and to provide them with the opportunity to create art projects for public spaces throughout New York City, while simultaneously expanding the audience for contemporary art. Each year an open call brochure is mailed to over 4,000 artists throughout New York state and yields approximately 400 applications. A panel of artists, curators, and art critics is assembled to select ten artists who are commissioned to submit proposals for art projects. The Public Art Fund then works with these artists to develop their proposals, and subsequently presents three projects in the course of the following year.
3. Additional Outreach
   Tuesday Night Talks is a popular lecture series offering discussions and presentations by some of today's most influential artists and curators. With three lectures organized each spring and fall, Tuesday Night Talks provides opportunities for informal dialogue between artists, art critics, curators, students of contemporary art, and the general public.

InProcess, Public Art Fund's newsletter, is a benefit of membership and provides an overview of our diverse activities to supporters of the Public Art Fund, artists, and the general public. InProcess documents our contemporary art projects commissioned for sites throughout New York City, and serves as a reference for academics, students of contemporary art, and members of the press.

History
Doris C. Freedman created the Public Art Fund in 1977, consolidating two organizations: City Walls (founded by Joan K. Davidson in 1969, and of which Freedman became president in 1971) and Public Arts Council (which Freedman founded in 1971). A champion of public art for many years, Freedman served as New York City's first director of cultural affairs during the Lindsay Administration, president of the Municipal Art Society, and was a tireless supporter of New York City's Percent for Art legislation.

City Walls and Public Arts Council were each independently formed when public art programs were in the earliest stages of development and they quickly mastered the mechanisms for placing works of art in public places, setting a course many other arts organizations have since followed. Under Freedman's leadership, City Walls and the Public Arts Council sponsored a number of projects aimed at cultivating and expanding the role of the artist and the public. Projects like Tony Rosenthal's The Alamo and Richard Haas's Arcade are prevailing examples of the high quality art supported by both of these organizations. An ever-increasing volume of public art inquiries and proposals prompted Freedman to create the Public Art Fund and merge the efforts of both organizations.

Today, the Public Art Fund continues to bring artists' ideas to the forefront while establishing contemporary art as a vital component of New York City's unique urban landscape.