Art and culture is such an important part of Columbia’s identity, and I think that differentiates us from other similar-sized communities. Unique sculptures seem strategically placed all around downtown. Original paintings — often available for purchase on the spot — adorn the walls in countless restaurants and businesses. Murals color our city on buildings all over town.
As the April issue of COMO Business Times features the theme “Art and Culture,” it bears repeating that art is not an afterthought or a random addition to our city’s fun landscape. In fact, art really is a part of Columbia’s DNA. It’s easy to take our public art and the bustling art hubs here for granted, so here’s a reminder to rekindle our gratitude.
Back in the mid-90s, then-City Manager Ray Beck and Mayor Darwin Hindman came away from a national conference in Phoenix with an idea to make public art a strategic part of economic and cultural development. In one of the scores of ways he left his fingerprints on Columbia, Beck shepherded the city’s Percent for Art program and the creation of the Office of Cultural Affairs.
The Percent for Art, established by the Columbia City Council in 1997, allows for 1 percent of the cost of any new city construction or renovation project to be used for site-specific public art. Any above-ground capital improvement project with a budget of $1 million or more must include public art as part of the project.
Where can you find these Percent for Art creations? The better question is — where can you NOT find them? If you’ve entered City Hall at Eighth and Broadway, you saw or walked through the “Keys to the City” sculpture that commemorates Columbia’s history. That’s a Percent for Art project.
Going to swim or workout at the Activity and Recreation Center (ARC)? “Taking the Plunge” is a twelve-foot-tall sculpture in the atrium. Head downtown to the Wabash Station and you’ll find David Spear’s four-painting series that features local folks. Those are Percent for Art creations. (And, by the way, that’s David Spear on the cover of this month’s CBT.)
Some other examples: the city’s new fieldhouse at Perry Philips Park features three Percent for Art sculptures by David Spear. Travelers passing through the new terminal at Columbia Regional Airport can’t miss the colorful murals and paintings there. The parking garage on Walnut and Fire Station No. 8 at Nifong Boulevard and Bearfield Road feature Percent for Art commissioned work.
And coming soon: Even our new overpasses and highway connectors under MoDOT’s Improve I-70 project are going to be dressed up to reflect the community’s character – and funding for those touches is coming from a private-public partnership of Columbia businesses and leaders. A new urban park is under development downtown as part of the thriving and growing North Village Arts District.
We also have amazing festivals and events that bring up and coming and world-renowned film directors and producers, musicians, authors, and artists to Columbia. Our city’s art and culture talent and passion are the envy of even larger cities.
This issue of COMO Business Times and COMO Magazine tells some of these stories and invites us all to refresh our gratitude for the incredibly diverse and multi-faceted art scene that makes Columbia a great place to live, work, learn, and play.
