Promoting Excellence in Placemaking, Public Art, and Design

For more than three decades UrbanArts has contributed significantly to the built environment in Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and communities throughout the country, as well as internationally. From the art on the MBTA's Red and Orange lines in its early days to much of the public art at Logan Airport, from community projects on Dorchester Avenue to more recent work in Austin, Knoxville, Richmond, and Berlin, Germany, UrbanArts has facilitated many important contemporary public art and placemaking initiatives in Boston and beyond.

The Urban Arts Institute notes its contributions to the college community: chief among these are the international artist registry, the only public artist registry in the region with more than 2,200 artists represented, library and archive accumulated over 30 years, as well as its publications, and the ongoing academic classes, workshops, and symposia. It is worth noting the symposia in particular. These include Traveling Without a Map: Real and Imagined Obstacles for Public Art in Boston and Massachusetts (2000); Envisioning Opportunities for Public Art for the New Central Artery Land (2002); Digital Art and Public Space: Expanding Definitions of Public Art (2003); Celebrating Architecture: The Pritzker Prize and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2006); Sustainable Design: At the Crossroads of Art, Policy and Science (2008); and Design Excellence in Public Places (2009), a daylong symposium as part of Build Boston.

More than thirty years in Massachusetts. Twelve years at MassArt. The legacy of excellence is clear. Through its alliance with the Massachusetts College of  Art and Design, success in the coming decades will build on the commitment to improve the built environment through public art and placemaking for the residents of Boston, the citizens of Massachusetts and the world.