Make Great Places, Artfully
Todd W. Bressi leads an innovative design practice that explores the intersection of public art and placemaking, cultural planning and city design.
OUR VISION
What Would a City Be Like if Artists Designed it?
This was the question that animated the founders of Phoenix’s public art program nearly 40 years ago.
Cities and the practice of public art have changed dramatically since then, but this is still the question that we ask every day.
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Our projects focus on how public art can transform individuals, neighborhoods and the even way that a city operates — whether it serves as a gateway, a point of community pride, an expression of the stories that shape a place, a way of connecting with citizens, or a catalyst for economic or social change.
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Public art should connect people to an understanding of what a place is all about. It can reveal the cultures and the histories embedded in a place; the environmental character and socioeconomic processes that underpin places; and deepest aspirations people have for a place – always in ways that are fresh, unexpected and deeply meaningful.
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The greatest purpose of placemaking is to connect people to places – as stewards, as visitors, as visionaries, as communities – to ensure that places are authentic, sustainable and equitable. We approach placemaking as a living, ongoing process; every action is not only a tactical activation but also a long-term investment in a community’s capacity to shape its own future.
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Plans for the arts, cultural and creative sector, and the processes through which they are shaped, can also fundamentally shape the well-being of the broader community. They can heighten social and cultural awareness, strengthen community connections, give voice to marginalized communities, and build a path to constructive civic participation.
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Arts, cultural and creative experiences can provide people with insights and understandings that they might not otherwise have — helping to enrich us as individuals, sharpen our creative voice, broaden our outlook on the world, and help us participate more fully as members of our communities.
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The most powerful plans come from the inspiration of the people we meet. Public art projects, and the processes by which they are created, can heighten social and cultural awareness, strengthen community bonds, give voice to marginalized communities, and build a path to constructive civic participation.
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Artists can be catalyst for helping people see themselves and the world anew, for fostering connection, for inspiring people to find thei voice. Our mission is to develop projects that challenge and empower artists in their engagement with the public realm and community life, and to support the conditions and commitments that make this type of artistic practice viable.
What We Can Do For You
Our core services include planning (public art plans, arts and culture plans, placemaking plans, organizational strategic plans), project development
(curating, artist selection, project management), program support and program evaluation.
If you are interested in launching a public art program; creating a vision and plan for your program; developing policies, procedures and guidelines to manage your program; organizing a curatorial strategy, initiative or project; or evaluating the work you’ve done, you’re in the right place.
If you’re a public agency, an arts organization, community organization or private developer interested in aligningpublic art, placemaking and cultural policy with your organizational mission and priorities, we can bring direct and deep experience to support your work.
We work with local governments and public agencies, arts organizations and artists, and community groups and developers who are committed to working with public art and placemaking as a way of creating lively, engaging public realms.
At the core of this work are the people we collaborate with — through these relationships, ideas take shape and places come to life.