Abstract:

In 2014 the City of Boulder, Colorado adopted its Community Cultural Plan which paved the way for “reinventing its public art program.” Since then the City has commissioned 16 temporary projects, embarked on the commissioning process of six permanent projects, nearly two dozen murals. Additionally the city has adopted a public art policy in 2016, and passed a percent-for-art rule in 2018. But none of this would have been possible without a little bit of turmoil to serve as the springboard.

Using one of Boulder’s most notorious and unrealized public art projects as a case study in public art commissioning and community engagement, this talk will touch on various funding mechanisms, community engagement processes, and types of commissions from temporary and ephemeral to permanent and integrated.  

Biography:

Mandy Vink oversees the Public Art Program for the city of Boulder, Colorado and is working to support the Community Cultural Plan’s charge to “reinvent Boulder’s public art program” through the creation of new policy, processes, and most importantly expectations of public art project experiences. She currently holds an elected position on the Americans for the Arts (AFTA) Public Art Network Council, and regularly contributes to field discourse. She is chair of the Contemporary Alliance Board of Directors, a board which supports the modern and contemporary collection of the Denver Art Museum.

With over ten years of experience in the field, she has also managed public art projects for the City of Denver, including Denver International Airport’s Hotel and Transit Center’s $6.3 million public art investment. Vink works to support projects of diverse experience in media, duration, content, artists, narration and engagement.