Florida Association of Public Art Professionals to conference in Sarasota

With more than 80 pieces on display throughout the city, Sarasota’s public art will be in the spotlight next week when the Florida Association of Public Art Professionals annual conference comes to town. The statewide conference for public art professionals will be held April 27-29 at the Art Ovation Hotel in downtown.

The gathering comes as the city is in the process of developing a public art master plan, which will provide guidance for procuring and installing art funded by a fee paid by developers of projects of $1 million or more. Currently, pieces are requested and vetted by the city’s Public Arts Committee, the finalists for specific projects presented to the City Commission for final selection.

The conference will include three sessions that will be open to the public: 

• “Nuts & Bolts: Foundations for Success in the World of Public Art”: 9-10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 27. Artists and professionals are invited to a “town hall” moderated panel setting with working professionals from around Florida.
• Year in Review: 9-10:15 a.m. Thursday, April 28. A virtual tour of diverse public art installations completed in 2021 throughout Florida, plus some of the public art projects that received the Americans for the Arts 2021 Year in Review Award.
• Keynote speaker Jane Golden: 10:30 a.m. to noon Thursday, April 28. Golden has been the driving force of Mural Arts Philadelphia since its inception, overseeing its growth from a small city agency into the nation’s largest public art program.

All three public sessions will be at Art Ovation Hotel, 1255 N. Palm Ave. Participants can register online for any of the free sessions.

During the three-day conference, registered attendees may participate in additional discussions about current trends, best practices and issues involving public art. City staff will participate in a panel discussion about art in roundabouts and make a presentation on the City’s Public Art Master Plan.

In conjunction with the conference, the city has also produced a capsule audio tour highlighting the art and artists of Sarasota’s public art collection. The audio tour is available for free to the public can be accessed anytime by downloading the Otocast app, available for Apple and Android.

For information, visit FloridaPublicArt.org/conference.