Winners

Bloomberg Philanthropies announced eight winning cities for the third Public Art Challenge that will receive grants of up to $1 million each for temporary public art projects that address an urgent civic issue.

Selected cities are focusing on challenges related to food insecurity, homelessness, public health, revitalization, and more. Along with the Public Art Challenge grant, each city will receive technical support from Bloomberg Philanthropies to execute their projects over the next two years.

 

Winners of the third Public Art Challenge:

Atlanta, GA – Thriving Together:
Thriving Together Atlanta is dedicated to addressing inequality in healthcare through free events and activities, including murals by Atlanta artists, mobile art experiences, an arts and cultural festival, and more.

Baltimore, MD – Inviting Light:
Inviting Light is a Derrick Adams-led project to revitalize Station North, the City’s Arts District, with light installations and programming at five sites. The project grows out of extensive research and community consultation, which identified lighting as a central way of projecting safety and respect for residents and local businesses in a neighborhood that has suffered from petty crime and neglect. 

Honolulu, HI – Wahi Pana (Storied Places):
Wahi Pana (Storied Places) proposes installations in a dozen key cultural destinations to share their little-known indigenous history.

Houston, TX – HueMan: Shelter:
HueMan: Shelter will address perceptions of homelessness by developing nine installations along a main corridor in the Midtown Cultural Arts District through collaborations between professional artists and unsheltered individuals.

Orlando, FL – Art Pollination:
Art Pollination, led by artist Juan William Chavez, will engage artists and farmers to develop art installations that raise awareness about the lack of access to healthy food.

Philadelphia, PA – Healing Verse Germantown:
Healing Verse Germantown will invite neighborhood residents – from seniors to teenagers – to write poems through a series of workshops, which will then be incorporated into installations through broad partnerships with local businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations.

Phoenix, AZ – ¡Sombra! (Shade):
¡Sombra! (Shade) will commission nine artists to create shading and cooling installations in response to extreme urban heat.

Salt Lake City, UT – Wake the Great Salt Lake:
Wake the Great Salt Lake will commission public art installations in each of the seven city council districts, and installations on the border of the Lake, responding to the persistent drought that threatens to dry out the Lake in the next decade.

 

Previous Winners:

Anchorage, AK – SEED Community

Camden, NJ – A New View

Coral Springs, FL – The Power of Art

Jackson, MS – Improving Access to Healthy Food

Tulsa, OK – Greenwood Art Project

Albany, Schenectady, and Troy, NY – Breathing Lights

Gary, IN – ArtHouse: A Social Kitchen

Los Angeles, CA – CURRENT: LA Water

Spartanburg, SC – Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light