NACC Review Process for Public Art
The Newburgh Arts & Cultural Commission has engaged with community members of the City of Newburgh to develop a process for those wishing to create public art in Newburgh. The objective is two-fold: to offer artists resources AND to create a recommended best practices guideline that emphasizes the values the Newburgh community champions. These values include: paying artists, involving local artists, considering historic and preservation guidelines and providing programming around art that may be provocative, triggering or socially divisive.
The Newburgh Arts and Cultural Commission has approved the NACC Review Process for Public Art in the City of Newburgh and the NACC Best Practices Process for Public Art in the City of Newburgh. We welcome you to review them below and to submit your projects so that we may better support you.
Review Process for Public Art in the City of Newburgh
We believe that art has economic, social, and community value.
We are thrilled that you want to do public art in Newburgh. We ask that you consider our goals for art in public spaces. We’re here to answer your questions, provide resources, and offer advice. To that end, we’d like to gather information about your project so we can have a conversation together.
Our goals for public art in Newburgh are:
To connect and/or empower the city’s diverse communities
To be a point of entry for learning + listening
To be a platform for participation and community dialogue
What is Public Art?
Publicly displayed works of art have become a part of Newburgh’s cultural fabric, providing our community with the opportunity to engage with art on a daily basis. Publicly displayed art is defined as:
Artwork that is displayed in a manner that engages with the general public including any work of art that is displayed on the exterior of a commercial or residential building containing more than one residential unit, or on sidewalks and roads, or city-owned property.
Displaying art via the public way differs from other methods of exhibition, dispelling financial or cultural barriers and interweaving art into everyday life. Due to the highly visible nature of public art, the Newburgh Arts & Cultural Commission has developed a Best Practices Process and Review Process for Public Art in the City of Newburgh.
Why is this review process encouraged?
The Newburgh Arts & Cultural Commission acts as an advisory board to the Community and the City Council of Newburgh, NY. In that capacity, this review process serves to ensure that the Best Practices Process is considered in planning and implementation of public arts projects by individuals, groups, or corporations. The Best Practices Process was designed with community input to ensure that the best interests of local organizations, artists, our community, and the City of Newburgh are served in all public art projects, and to provide assistance and resources to individuals and groups wishing to create public art in the City of Newburgh.
How do I engage with the review process?
Submit information about your project to the Newburgh Arts & Cultural Commission prior to implementation of any public arts projects in the City of Newburgh. Ideally, your submission is a few months beforehand so, if helpful, we can have several conversations. If submitted by the 15th of the month, all submitted projects will be reviewed and recommendations will be offered to the applicant at the next NACC meeting (first Monday of the month).