Carolyn Speranza

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  • Social Sculpture & Community Engagement. Large-scale Media Installation & Public Art. Partner-based Project Development.

  • Projects

    • All Eyes on Art | PGH4ART
    • Down the River . . .
    • Requiem for the Netmakers
    • Water Themed Projects
    • Sight of Stillness: What do you see when you meditate?
    • Earth Breathing
    • Urban Aquarium
    • End of the Line: Building Bridges with Pittsburgh’s Busways
    • Invisible Clock
    • It Makes My Bread Taste Sweeter
    • Literacy Windows
    • Art in Residency
    • Hole Poem
    • Site Specific Installations
    • Neon Art & Sculpture
  • In the Press

    • Creating Artistic Context feature in Shady Ave Mag
    • PGH4ART: Animating Democracy
    • PGH4ART: Candidates for mayor should support public art
    • PGH4ART: Percent for Art Schemes Fail
    • Too Shallow for Diving essay by Elaine A. King in ARTES Magazine
    • Too Shallow for Diving in the Post Gazette
    • Too Shallow for Diving reviewed by Kurt Shaw in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review
    • Too Shallow for Diving reviewed by Robert Raczka in Pittsburgh City Paper
    • Weight of Water: Hoeting Interview
    • Weight of Water: Numediacy & McCombs
    • Weight of Water: Review

“All Eyes on Art” and the PGH4ART Campaign

October 24, 2013 — Carolyn Speranza
With the slogan, All Eyes on Art, the PGH4ART team, an artist-led group of students, organizers, and activists called on city lawmakers to enforce Pittsburgh’s Percent for Art Law, which requires 1% of publicly-funded construction and renovation projects to be set aside for the creation of public art. It hasn’t been enforced since its inception in 1977.  This letter to the editor at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette lays out the issue and its context in detail. All Eyes on Art, Katz Plaza, Pittsburgh Pa, May 17, 2013 photographed by Tom Jefferson
All Eyes on Art, Katz Plaza, Pittsburgh Pa, May 17, 2013 photographed by Jenny Jean Crawford In every election cycle we publicly debate on what is and is not working about our government. With candidates vying for our votes, we discuss the performance and methods of elected officials. The PGH4ART Team is using Pittsburgh’s mayoral election as a social space in which we can effectively bring All Eyes to a city law that has lain dormant since 1977. The Team is working with the Hill District Consensus Group, Fight Back Pittsburgh, and students from CAPA High School in support of the campaign. At the May 2013 demonstration at Katz Plaza, our street team collected signatures for the petition while our online organizers got the word out via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

“Art as part of the social landscape has a profound impact on communities,” said Shannon Pultz, the head of CAPA High School’s visual art department. “Study after study shows that the amount of art equals the amount of vibrancy of city life,” and sure enough mayoral candidate Bill Peduto and city council candidate, Dan Gilman, were in attendance at Katz Plaza. The All Eyes on Art event was discussed in a political rather than an art context in both the Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh City Paper. Heading into the November election, candidates for Pittsburgh Mayor and City Council answered in-depth questions about enforcement and implementation of the 1977 law. They have been published by the City Paper. Bill Peduto and Dan Gillman at All Eyes on Art, Katz Plaza, Pittsburgh Pa, May 17, 2013 photographed by Erin Gil Ninehouser
All Eyes SlideShow

Thank you .@MoveOn for the campaign grant & acknowledging our leadership on the #pghpercent4artlaw. It started here: http://t.co/fqwSpJ294D
— PGH4ART (@PGH4ART) November 4, 2013

Thanks @ReadyForHillary & @AdamParkhomenko for the follow! We are proud and pleased to have your attention.

— PGH4ART (@PGH4ART) January 23, 2014

Acknowledged in @FightBackPGH‘s 2013 report as early campaign endorser! It IS a new kind of union. Read all about it http://t.co/dKNR3BYFIj

— PGH4ART (@PGH4ART) February 5, 2014

From LA to Pittsburgh, cities across America have been ignoring their public art laws http://t.co/19EqNWEiUX @PGH4ART #aftacon

— Rachel Corbett (@RachelNCorbett) June 13, 2014

Posted in Artists Collaborating, Civic Engagement, PGH4ART Campaign, Public Art, Social Media Campaigns, Social Practice. Tags: Bill Peduto, Facebook, Fight Back Pittsburgh, Hilary Clinton, MoveOn.org, Percent for Art, pittsburgh, Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, public art, YouTube. Comments Off on “All Eyes on Art” and the PGH4ART Campaign
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