El Paso Public Art Master Plan
El Paso’s public art program, based on a percent for art model, helped the city manage a large influx of projects as the city simultaneously passed several bond issues totaling more than $4 billion in new capital investments. The plan provided guidance for how to approach new projects and identified gaps that might be addressed through pooled funding.
Date | 2014
Client | City of El Paso, Museums and Cultural Affairs
Collaborators | Meridith McKinley, Via Partnership
The City of El Paso’s public art program has quietly built a collection of distinction, especially strong in cultivating local artists and bringing them into public art practice. In 2014, the city commissioned a public art master plan to help guide its anticipated rapid growth; because El Paso allocates two percent of its capital funds for public art, major bond issues for parks, transportation, and downtown facilities were expected to generate an infusion of $13 million in project funds.
The master plan helped establish a new vision for the program, set priorities, and identify a range of projects for the program to take on. The resulting plan aligned the program’s priorities with the city’s emerging urban patterns, included strategies for new projects that focus on neighborhood placemaking and on city-wide transportation systems, and outlined continued strategies for local artists and community engagement. The plan’s recommendations were followed in the 2014 and 2015 work plans.
