New App Created By ArtsFairfax Lets Residents Upload Public Art Images

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — ArtsFairfax has created a new interactive app that lets residents and visitors discover and explore public art across the county and share any public art they come across.

The Public Art Locator, the first of its kind in Fairfax County, gives users the ability to upload images and provide written descriptions of public art and lets user filter public art by category and supervisor district in the county.

Public art is defined as art in public places visible and accessible by the general community, such as sculpture, murals, and installations in public spaces, including public furniture, walls, street and bridge enhancements, earthworks, and light-based or multimedia works.

ArtsFairfax said it worked with the Fairfax County Department of Information Technology's GIS & Mapping Services Division to use Fairfax County aerial imagery and other data “to put the power of arts engagement in the hands of every resident.”

ArtsFairfax has created a video to help the public use the new public art app.

“By crowd-sourcing public art in our community, we can better measure how public art and creative placemaking drives public engagement and transforms a space into a place,” ArtsFairfax said.

The public art inventory also will help ArtsFairfax and county officials identify areas of the county that lack public art. So far, most of the public art identified through the locator is in the northern part of the county, with dozens of public artworks in the McLean, Reston and Herndon areas.

The Public Art Locator is moderated by ArtsFairfax staff to verify tagged art and fact check. ArtsFairfax is a nonprofit group designated as Fairfax County’s local arts agency funded in part by Fairfax County, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as corporations, foundations and individuals.