One month after the dedication of Greenbelt Station Central Park, the Greenbelt Recreation arts program hosted a community visioning meeting to invite Greenbelt resident participation in public arts planning for this new city greenspace. Delegate Alonzo Washington, Mayor Emmett Jordan, Councilmember Judith Davis and representatives of the Greenbelt Arts Advisory Board joined a group of mostly Greenbelt Station residents at a lively July 9 discussion at the Springhill Lake Recreation Center. The Greenbelt Station developer, CRM Mid-Atlantic Properties, LLC., contributed $10,000 to the city for public art programming at the site as negotiated by the city’s Department of Planning and Community Development. Depending on the type of project preferred by city residents, supplemental funding could potentially be allocated from the city’s nascent public art fund and pursued from outside sources.
Nicole DeWald, Greenbelt Recreation arts supervisor, imparted a broad perspective on what public art is and what forms it can take. Citing Greenbelt’s Public Art policy, which was developed with the Arts Advisory Board and adopted by council in September 2018, she noted that public art can be created in any medium. It may involve objects or structures, or it may be performance or media-based. It may be temporary or enduring, purely aesthetic or functional.
For more of this story, see the July 18 News Review.
