FAQ
General FAQ
General FAQ ---------------------------------------------------------
Why is Poetry Paths in the City of Lancaster?
Poetry Paths is designed to promote the literary and visual arts as an opportunity for civic engagement. Poetry Paths will amplify a diverse chorus of voices in the city by enticing the citizenry to fully participate in a project designed to broaden the public perception of what constitutes “art.” To establish and produce Poetry Paths, we will welcome as many new local voices to join the conversation as is feasible. We anticipate that, for many, this may be the first opportunity they have had to help select public art, to experience the power and art of poetry, and to impact the vibrant Lancaster arts scene publicly. We also expect the project to create numerous art-making opportunities for Pennsylvania artists and writers.
The arts in Lancaster have also proven to be good business. Some of the country’s most notable smaller cities have gained national reputations—and bolstered their economic coffers—by foregrounding their commitment to public art and promoting themselves as centers for the arts. Lancaster already has realized some positive economic impact of the city’s arts and culture industry: According to Arts and Economic Prosperity III: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences in the City of Lancaster, PA (Americans for the Arts, 2007), “nonprofit arts and culture are a significant industry in the City of Lancaster—one that generates $27.86 million in local economic activity. This spending–$9.82 million by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and an additional $18.04 million in event-related spending by their audiences—supports 796 full-time equivalent jobs, generates $13.61 million in household income to local residents, and delivers $2.47 million in local and state government revenue.” The total economic impact of Lancaster’s nonprofit arts and culture industry (as reflected by total expenditures and related full-time equivalent jobs) is more than three times greater than the median economic impact observed in study regions considered to be similar to Lancaster.
What was the inspiration for this project?
Readers of poetry who love Walt Whitman know the joyfully uncanny sensation one gets reading his words on the page. It is as though Whitman himself is speaking the lines into the reader’s ear; the words and music conjure him. As Whitman says in a well-known passage of “Leaves of Grass:”
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.
Our project was inspired originally by the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail in Middlebury, Vermont, a woodland trail through the woods that is punctuated by podiums on which are written Frost’s best known poems. In the words of one visitor to the Frost trail, who, standing beside a running stream, had just read Frost’s poem about a brook:
“I imagined the pearls and knives beneath the ice's surface, then realized that this thought would not have come to me if not for Frost's words on the marker at my side. I did not mind, though, that these images had been suggested to me. Frost was making for a pleasant walking companion--one whose own views expanded rather than hindered my own.”
Poetry Paths aims to create a similar experience in an urban setting, featuring engaging visual art and a diversity of poems. But we take as our inspiration all of the poetry and art we experience as being “filter and fibre” for our blood—the kind of art that, once we encounter it, changes the way we live in the world.
Are there other projects like this one in other cities?
In addition to the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail, models for the project include the Iowa City Iowa Avenue Literary Walk (http://www.icgov.org/default/?id=1585), the New York Public Library’s Library Walk (http://www.lefevrestudios.com/), and the Wellington Writers Walk in New Zealand (http://www.wellingtonnz.com/sights_activities/wellington_writers_walk.)
What will Poetry Paths look like when it’s done? Will all of the art be under our feet?
While the designs for the specific sites on the Paths have not yet been determined, we anticipate that Poetry Paths will include some stonework and pavement inserts. The completed Paths will also include three-dimensional sculpture, murals and other works.
Where will the sites on the paths be located?
We hope to install 35 sites on the Poetry Paths. As of December 2009, we are in conversation with the following institutions and individuals about establishing Poetry Paths sites on their properties:
The City of Lancaster
Franklin & Marshall College
Opening Day Partners (Owners of the Barnstormers at Clipper Magazine Stadium)
The Lancaster Amtrak Station
Pennsylvania College of Art & Design
If you would like your property to be included on the Paths, please contact us so that we can meet and discuss the possibilities.
When will the art be installed?
From 2010 through 2012.
How much will Poetry Paths cost, and who is paying for it?
Thus far we have raised $250,000 from the Lancaster County Community Foundation. Additional funds have come from the Philadelphia Alumni Writers House at Franklin & Marshall College and other sources. Many of the administrative costs of the project will be covered by in-kind support from Franklin & Marshall College. We will seek additional funds in grants and donations between 2010 and 2012.
I am a visual artist who would like to design a piece of visual art for the project. How do I do that?
Beginning in January 2010, Poetry Paths periodically will issue Requests for Qualifications and Requests for Proposals for pieces of public art as specific sites are identified and secured. Check our website and look for announcements through the local media, on Facebook, and on arts-related websites for these calls for submissions.
Who will pick the art and poems?
Following the guidelines recommended by Americans for the Arts in their Issue Paper on Methods of Artist Selection (March 2004), most of the art and all of the poems will be selected on a project-by-project basis by a series of committees comprised of the following: Lancaster community members who are neighbors of the specific site, arts professionals, and site owners and representatives. The Advisory Committee for Poetry Paths will help insure that both these committees and the art and poems they select represent the diversity and interests of Lancaster’s residents.
How may I submit my poetry to Poetry Paths for inclusion in the project?
Also beginning in January 2010, Poetry Paths periodically will issue Requests for Qualifications and Requests for Poems inviting writers to submit poems that address themes Lancaster residents have identified as being significant in our City. Check our website and look for announcements through the local media, on Facebook, and on arts-related websites for these calls for submissions of poems.
Will all of the poems be in English?
We will solicit and accept poems in English, Spanish and other languages used by residents of the City of Lancaster.
Which schools will Poetry Paths visit? Could my local school participate?
In 2009-2010, our Poet in the Schools will visit five schools in a wide range of neighborhoods in the City, including Buchanan Elementary School, Ross Elementary School, Fulton Elementary School, and two other public City schools. We haven’t yet determined which schools Poetry Paths will visit in 2010-2011, but again, we will try to visit schools in all four quadrants of the City. Please contact us if you’d like your school to be considered.
How can I get involved?
Contact us! We’d love to get your input and talk about how you might participate. poetrypaths@fandm.edu
Amtrak Project FAQ -----------------------------------------------
Do you already have any specific ideas of the artwork for the Amtrak project?
No, we do not, and we will not until after the selection committee has chosen three finalists who will then submit proposals for this project. We have received qualifications from numerous artists showing us their previous work, but this project is unique and presents its own set of conditions. The selection committee will be completely open to the finalists' ideas.
Is the budget sufficient for what is being required?
We consulted with a handful of public arts folks in other cities and several artists in New York who have completed projects like this one, and the consensus was that the budget could yield something durable that has visual impact. We're still gathering budget information for similar projects nationally to help us support the finalists when we get to that stage.
While the RFQ doesn't specify that only artists and designers with a record of public art projects need apply, given the list of criteria to be used by the selection committee as outlined in the RFQ, artists and designers who can present such a record probably will have an advantage. We'll be issuing at least one RFQ or RFP for another piece of the project that will include an explicit call for artists and/or urban designers. But for the project at Amtrak, an artist partner who has done public art would likely add heft to your application.
What guidelines will be followed by the selection committee?
We have developed the selection criteria in conjunction with the Lancaster County Transportation Authority, with guidance from Leslie Fordham, Public Art Manager for the City of Lancaster, and recommendations from Americans for the Arts regarding best practices for public art selection processes. The RFQ outlines the criteria for both the selection committee itself and the criteria its members will use in making their decisions.
The poet may include up to 10 written samples of his/her work, just as the artist includes 10 visual samples. The poet should also include 7 copies of his/her resume, in addition to that of the artist.
I am a poet who would like to apply on my own. Would you be able to match me up with a visual artist who has applied?
For this project, we are seeking qualifications specifically from artists and artist teams who can take the project from design to installation. For this reason, we are not accepting any submissions from poets who do not have visual artist partners.
If your team includes a poet or you have a record of using poetry or text in your work, please include that information in your submission. You do not have to do so to be considered at this stage.
