Butler Trail Arts and Culture Plan
Austin’s Trail Foundation, steward of the Butler Trail around Lady Bird Lake, sought a plan for formalizing an an arts and culture program rooted in this highly used and beloved natural and recreational resource.
Date | 2021-2023
Client | Charlotte Tonsor, Capital Projects Manager, TTC
Collaborators | Public City, Stacy Levy, Ellen Ryan
The Ann and Roy Buter Hike-and-Bike Trail, along with the landscape it passes through and the lake it surrounds, was born of civic imagination more than a half-century ago and has become one of Austin’s most cherished public spaces. People value the experience of nature in the city, and enjoy the opportunities it offers for outdoor activities like jogging and biking, as well as watching and being on the water. There are nearly five million visits each year to the ten-mile trail.
This first-ever arts and culture plan for the Trail was commissioned by The Trail Conservancy to guide its work as it expands its role in managing, improving, and programming the Trail.
The planning process surfaced and navigated the widely differing perspectives, needs and values of different trail users; deep historical scars about inequities in development and environmental policy in communities the trail passed through; and contested ideas about the role of art in place that seemed like a natural respite but almost always bore the hand of human intervention. The resulting plan strengthened the Trail Foundation’s working relationship with key City parks and arts agencies who are ultimately responsible for the trail.
The plan envisions arts and culture activities as an integral part of the reconnection and regeneration that are occurring along the Trail; an essential component to the process of engaging the complex past, present, and future of this place; and an opportunity to explore collaborations with the full range of Austin’s creative spirit.
The plan includes:
• a Vision and Values for the program, a range of arts and culture project and activity types that TTC should focus on, and guidance on locations for arts and culture activities.
• a Three-Year Workplan that details specific projects that TTC can take on over the next three years, a period to test the project ideas and process recommendations in this plan, and a time to build capacity and networks.
• a Collection Management Policy that details protocols and processes for how TTC will make decisions about arts and culture projects, and about how TTC would be involved in other City public art processes.
