Description

Madison Square Park Conservancy (MSPC) seeks funding for “Transforming Public Art,” its eighth annual symposium addressing critical issues in the public art field. The fifth of these symposiums funded by the Luce Foundation, the 2023 event will foreground the artists  Shahzia Sikander (b. Lahore, Pakistan 1969) and Sheila Pepe (b. Morristown, NJ 1959), whose commissions are transforming concepts and materials of what public art can achieve.  The AAP’s support for the MSPC annual symposium on public art remains the most productive way for the Foundation to support its current neighbor and a leading venue for significant sight specific installations by major artists. The funding fully aligns with the AAP’s central aim to advance art-centered dialogues that enhance and improve the lives of diverse audiences. The symposium will again be offered free of charge at the 400-seat theater of the School of Visual Arts. MSPC will also provide a complete video download of the event on its website. HLF is recognized as the lead funder of these annual events which are widely considered as central to the national conversation about public art.
Additional funding provided by this grant would support a forthcoming publication which will mark the 20th anniversary of the Madison Square Park Conservancy’s field-leading public art program.  Why Public Art: Lessons from New York’s Madison Square Park,  will offer a critical, retrospective consideration of the projects executed for the park by 50 contemporary artists over the course of the past 20 years. The AAP plans an additional, larger grant to MSPC in 2023 to support the planned, anniversary-year installation projects.