A new non profit, created by a large anonymous donation, will be drafting a master plan for public arts in Reston. In the original 1960 master plan, public art was included, but was largely ignored.
The new organization seeks to join the efforts of Reston Association, RCC, Reston Town Center Association, GRACE, and more. The Reston Times even quotes Ann Rodriguez president of Initiative for Public Arts in Reston, as seeing this project as having national impact:
[They] will work on creating a master plan for the initiative, which may serve as a national model for other communities, according arts council President Ann Rodriguez. The effort has even attracted the attention of the national organization, Americans for the Arts.
“They have indicated they’re going to be watching the process in Reston with wide eyes,” Rodriguez said.
IPAR will initially have a small board including representatives from existing organizations and local organizations. Many details have not been released, but one of their first projects will be implementing public art in and around the two new metro stations.
In other news ArtWorks, a studio along Sunset Hills Road hopes to see an “artists row” along the street. The studio, which is run by Brenda Belfield created a group called Max-21, a collection of local artists. The group helped get artists off the ground and find studio space, but most of these artists moved on to Washington, DC. Now she hopes to start bringing artists to the area around her studio.
Brenda Belfield is no stranger large art projects, she was instrumental in setting up the Lake Anne gallery. 2008 will be the start of several good years for arts in Reston.
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