The city is giving $250K to artists to make public art in a Roxbury playground

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, in collaboration with the Boston Art Commission, issued earlier this month a Call for Artists for a piece of permanent public artwork that will complement a $1.8MM renovation of Dewitt Playground, located at the corner of Ruggles St. and Dewitt Dr., adjacent to the Madison Park High School Athletic Field Complex in Roxbury.

“This is an exciting opportunity to beautify an area that is so active and heavily utilized by community members of all ages. I’m eager to see how visitors will be able to interact with this new piece of art in a way that generates more community engagement and conversations.”

—Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

The renovation is part of a larger project called the Whittier Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan, and the Call to Artists is for the Percent for Art project the City of Boston is commissioning as part of the construction project. The budget for the project is $250,000, and there’s several potential locations for the artwork, as identified by the City of Boston:

• Basketball courts
• Barrier and fencing between full and half courts
• Fencing along Dewitt Street
• Walkways and other surfaces throughout the park

The Call to Artists is open to all artists, artisans, architects, landscape architects, or teams with experience in public art, site responsive design, project management, and construction administration.There will be an Artist Selection Committee for this project, comprised of representatives from the Boston Art Commission, stakeholder groups, community members, and local arts professionals will review applications and determine the final artist or team of artists.

The applications deadline for this project will be next week’s Thursday, May 30th 2019, and can be submitted here. Those artists who are interested in knowing more about the project in detail and want to submit questions must do so until Wednesday, May 22nd 2019 via email.