‘Art’ of Community-Building is Focus of Mayor @ Your Service

From the City of Vienna: With formation of the Vienna Public Art Commission and anticipated installation of its first commissioned piece later this year, the Town of Vienna is poised to paint its own story through creative, community-enhancing public art initiatives. As the Town considers how best to navigate this new adventure, Mayor Laurie DiRocco has invited public art professionals from four nearby communities to share success stories, inspiration, and lessons learned as part of the next Mayor @ Your Service event at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 27, at Town Hall, 127 Center Street S.

The panel will discuss how public art, both permanent and temporary installations, can create new energy in public spaces, new connections to the landscape, and new bonds within the community. Public art examples from the four communities represented have included murals, sculptures, and paintings as well as traffic control box wraps, bridges, ground murals made of tiles, a statue made of twigs and sticks, and an installation composed of LED lights and plastic bottles in a traffic island.

Mayor @ Your Service panelists are:

• Elizabeth Carriger, public art project manager with Arlington Cultural Affairs
• Anne Delaney, executive director with Initiative for Public Art Reston
• Lisa Mariam, grants director and master arts plan coordinator with Arts Council of Fairfax County
• Diane Ruggiero, deputy director in the Office of the Arts in Alexandria.

“Public art has the potential to enhance our sense of place and our quality of life in ways that may be profound or fun,” says Mayor Laurie DiRocco. “I’m looking forward to hearing more about what other communities are doing in this area and imagining how Vienna can embrace public art.” Mayor @ Your Service is a free event and open to the public.

Image via Pixabay