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The art trail will transform a series of underused spaces into public amenities, including a major new sculpture park, where a city sidewalk illuminates from within at night and is heavily imbedded with audio and new media content contributed by residents of all backgrounds. Photo rendering courtesy Bayer Associates
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Rochester, New York, is the third largest city in the state, with a population of about 220,000 and a metropolitan area topping one million. Located in Western New York, it sits on the shore of Lake Ontario and is home to corporations such as Eastman Kodak and Bausch & Lomb.
In an effort to connect cultural destinations and serve as a cultural hub for the region, the City of Rochester (partnering with many private and public organizations) created ARTWalk, an interactive urban art trail, with public artworks and artfully designed park benches and bus stops. The trail -- which connects the arts centers and public spaces within the Neighborhood of the Arts -- helped spur many new restaurants, shops, galleries, and artist studios and lofts, as well as reducing rates of crime in the area. The City of Rochester is using its MICD25 grant to enhance the trail, commissioning additional public art pieces along ARTWalk, including creating Centennial Sculpture Park, a two-acre park at the University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery. As part of the trail will be Poet's Walk, which will identify historically significant poets with local ties, and Story Walk, a sidewalk that will wind through Centennial Sculpture Park and involve multimedia interaction, such as embedded audio performances.
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