February 3, 2025 • 19 mins
Watch what happens when viewing public art becomes a fun game for the young and old! The Collection Connection is a new program to encourage residents of all ages to explore what "Artlife West Palm Beach" has to offer and the role the Mandell Public Library plays in making this new program a success. Learn how you and your family can have fun with "The Collection Connection!"
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(14:57:40):
Welcome to the City Center Podcast. I'm
Jerry Marcello. Part of a city's soul and
personality comes from the public art it
chooses to display. The city of West
Palm Beach is no exception with a
thriving public art program with
installations spread across the entire
community. But putting both local and
national arts to work is one thing.
(14:58:00):
Getting residents to fully enjoy public
art is another. Today we're going to talk
about a new program to encourage
residents both young and old to explore
what art life West Palm Beach has to
offer and what role the Mandel Public
Library plays in making this new program
a success. That's next on the City Center
Podcast from West Palm Beach.
(14:58:29):
And joining us this afternoon is Sibile
Guntal, the Director of Arts, Culture and
Community Building for the City of West
Palm Beach. Sibile,
welcome. Hi Jerry. You
know a lot of people don't know just how
active the City of West Palm Beach is as
far as public arts are concerned. Can you
give us some background? How did it
all get started? Oh sure. So in 2014 an
(14:58:51):
ordinance was implemented and then the
sexier stuff came in. We had a five-year
master plan and I came in and I started
really developing the program. I started
off with temporary projects, big scale
ones. I don't know if you were around but
there were big ones that
happened in the Great Lawn and they were
(14:59:13):
an introduction to the possibilities of
what public art can be. Fast forward
another five years and we really started
doing public-private partnerships,
getting the private sector more involved,
collaborating with communities,
collaborating with neighborhoods,
collaborating with all the other entities
that exist within the city and
(14:59:33):
the program really started to take off.
The last five years we've seen over 55
projects, permanent artworks, temporary
projects throughout the city. So you can
see the growth that has happened. So in
during those five years that included
obviously the pandemic years. How did the
(14:59:53):
pandemic really affect what we were
doing as far as public art? I'm glad you
asked that. So even
though COVID you know it was a
global crisis, what occurred during that
time, what manifested was that the
virtual and physical worlds of the public
realm is where the safety net was.
That's where people felt they were safe,
(15:00:15):
they could gather, they could discuss,
they could experience and so the public
realm became an integral component of
like I don't know I guess as a community
getting better and public art
we realized right there was an important
aspect of how to continue to build upon
(15:00:36):
a city's growth because everybody had
stalled. So yeah I mean everyone
realized where the public realm was just
absolutely important. Sure and so you're
saying that during the five years though
you there were 55 different
projects or even around that number are
they all still in place or do they rotate
(15:00:57):
out after a while? So there's the
permanent pieces that obviously are
permanent but there's a lot of temporary
pieces that we work on and especially
with the local artists we do we try to do
initiatives and we try to you know
take more risks when you do temporary
pieces you don't have to have every
little nut and bolt put into place like
(15:01:19):
you would a permanent piece that has to
like withhold all sorts of things not
just nature and that way you can play
around and also you have an opportunity
to introduce the public to something
that hadn't maybe considered and the
artists themselves gets to play around a
little more from their studio practice
into the public art practice. And I would
(15:01:41):
think that with the idea of temporary art
that would be there just for a short
period of time that's more reason for
folks to go back out again. It's not like
you've seen everything you don't have to
go back out for another couple years
there's always something new coming out.
The exhibits keep rotating it's exactly
it it's like a rotating public art
experience all the time. Now what sort of
(15:02:03):
artists do you bring to the city are they
all are they around the country or
the local what are you looking for? It's
a mix it's a mix pack so we have
international superstars we have national
we have regional and we have
our local artists that are defined by
being Palm Beach County artists. And so
it's a mixed bag and that's where really
(15:02:23):
the richness of the program lies because
you have artists of all different
backgrounds in different you know levels
of their art experience their art
professions and you mix that all up with
you know something like a Fred Eversea
portals and you mix it in with a couple
(15:02:45):
the local mural artists and you and in
between all that you have other layers
of artists in different places in their
in their careers. And so I think that's
the richness of this program is a little
bit of everything. How do the residents
who live nearby the yard how do they
react to it? Oh they love it you know the
(15:03:07):
best part is when you go especially when
you go into neighborhoods they get
really involved. We just finished one at
Echo Lake Park and all those the
neighborhood surrounding neighborhoods
were very involved from inception into
the final installation. And they loved
the whole process and they learned a
tremendous amount. And the best you know
my idea of success there's many ideas of
(15:03:29):
success but one of them is when you hear
back like that's oh that's our artwork.
That's like ownership and they're they
become the stewards that to me it's like
did the job. So one of the challenges I
think you would face is that you may
have a neighbor who a neighborhood where
just down the block there is a beautiful
(15:03:50):
piece of art. But how do you manage to
get people from blocks away or maybe
miles away different different districts
come to see all the art that's been
created? So we're working a couple
different things. We're working on an
ongoing art map. We have it on the GIS
you can find it on the city's website
(15:04:10):
and you can find the GIS map. It's
actually more user-friendly on your phone
than it is on the city on like a desktop.
So when you're on your phone what
happens is okay so you're let's say at
Jose Marti Park and you look and you're
like oh I didn't know you know on the
(15:04:32):
rise was here and then you go and look
for it and it gives you all the
information and then it pinpoints all
the other different artworks that are
nearby that you can walk to. So on the
phone it's you really user-friendly. Yeah
we're working on the
move and you're at it
you have an opportunity to walk to the
next piece and you can actually find
(15:04:53):
your way using the map on your phone. Now
again that that map lives at the city
website WPB.org. Yeah probably search for
artlife map. Yeah I think it's called
the art life map and you can find it
right on your you don't have to download
an app on your phone. That's key right.
(15:05:14):
Everybody loves that so you just look it
up and then you'll find it. You can
Google it find it and
you're like oh there it
is. So but that's a work in progress as
is the the web pages for the art life
page where you can see all the art and
see what's coming and it'll tell you
coming soon ongoing temper it's about to
(15:05:35):
go. So you know all these are work in
progress. So you would you would
recommend it if people want to keep up
with what's going on the program you they
can get a lot of information right
from the city website. Mm-hmm. Okay
that's great. So and I
think you're about to
launch a new project that is going to be
really really exciting in 2025. Tell us a
little bit about that. So one one of many
(15:05:56):
new projects. But this new one is called
Collection Connection and it is in
partnership with the Mandel Public
Library. They are big partners of the art
life program. You
know the library's books
are you know we go together right? Right.
We're good cousins. We have been working
on this on this project where the idea is
(15:06:18):
that oh and I brought little samples.
Sure. So I'm gonna give you the kids
version. So this is the kids version.
This way. And Collection Connection and
the adult version. So what they are is
they're passports that you go to the
library to and you pick them up there.
And it gives you the opportunity to then
(15:06:39):
you I'm just gonna random. I'm gonna be
random. You pick any artwork any artwork
doesn't matter. Okay.
And you go to it and
for this one you know it says today I
visited the place where I saw give us a
noun. It was blank size and the color.
And so you know you
(15:06:59):
fill it out. You can you
can go into another one. You know if this
if I made this art artwork I would call
it. If I licked it it would taste like
this is the kids version. No well that's
really neat because it really gets the
gets the kid into thinking about the art
(15:07:21):
and sort of becoming involved in being
creative with the art. Very
involved. And so you could
pick one of these up at the third floor
children's library.
Third floor library at
Mandel Public Library right here next to
the kids zone. For the
kids one. Right. And you
when you come when you've done a few of
them you come back you get a stamp and
if you get enough stamps you get enameled
(15:07:43):
pens. And then if you get enough
enameled pens after a quarter like we
have it it's a year-long project then
you come back and you get raffled off for
some big prizes. Now you said that
they can come back after they've done a
few. Is there a number they have to do
or just you want to do? There is. So the
way on the children's have less than the
adults. Okay fair enough. Right right.
(15:08:06):
Well continue talking about it. So what
you do is here's the adult version.
There's the QR code to scan the art
map that we just talked about on the
phone. Right. So you
scan it. And what I'm
just gonna pick out something random. You
go to any page you don't have to do this
in order. I mean you can do it in order
but you can be nonlinear if you want. And
(15:08:28):
this one that says what did you notice
that was not apparent upon first glance?
Does your opinion of the work change? You
know it just prompts and there's a
little prompts. Start at the artwork
without glancing away from it for any
extended period of time. At least a
minute or more if you can. That's the
(15:08:48):
prompt. Right right. Because you when you
when you first approach a piece of work
you have obviously a very visual
response. Yeah but if you look at it if
you stick with it long enough longer
let's say longer.
Mm-hmm. Five minutes, ten
minutes, twenty minutes. It changes. You
start walking around. You start picking
(15:09:09):
up nuances. Things that you didn't see
before. And that's the idea is like okay
take a moment. Look at it. Now look at it
again and give it a whole
minutes attention. Which you believe it
or not is a lot for in our technology
world. Right. In our social media capital
(15:09:29):
world. And then I guarantee you your
thoughts will have changed. And and so
that's kind of like the idea is like
making that connection with the art, your
thoughts, going back to the library.
The same thing go back to the library. We
have a visitor stamp visitation. So you
(15:09:50):
get your little stamps enamel pin. The
same thing. But it's about making that
connection of looking at the art in more
depth. Sure. Going back to the library.
The library is a wealth of information.
So you find something and maybe that
triggers something. And then you can ask
like you know I'd really like to find a
book about color theory. Or I really I
(15:10:11):
didn't know about this artist. Can I get
a book about Yinka Shannabari? You know
and so we and we go from there. And so
it's just sort of like this back and
forth while giving the tool. Yeah. What I
really like about it especially in the
adult version is that you have to make a
commitment to go to this art. You're not
(15:10:32):
going to spend 15 seconds and swipe
your way away from it. You're gonna take
some time and breathe it in and really
think about it. Which pays homage to the
to the art and the artist. But it also
sort of rewards you by taking a moment
and really breathing in what's happening
with the art. And really opening up a new
kind of moment of absorbing and
(15:10:56):
thinking about something rather than just
simply swiping it away and
scrolling through it. Which is sort of
where we are in things in our life and
in our culture. Yes we're very Instagram
I like boom. Yeah.
Right. Yeah. So this one
makes you slow down a bit. That's really.
And then hopefully you'll have you'll
you'll find surprises. Mm-hmm. You know
because it's it's not we're not telling
(15:11:18):
you you got to go to this this. We're
just saying just pick out any artwork in
the public realm. Yeah. Just start
choosing some. Right. And you can go
anywhere in the city and choose them. Now
is this something that's just going to
be taking place for a month or a couple
months. How long does
this last? This is a
year. Oh it's a full year. It's a full
year. So we're gonna launch Tuesday
February 12th at the Urban Living Room 4
(15:11:41):
p.m. So come to the party and basically
we're gonna go the librarians are gonna
walk you through this is you know this
is how you get your passport. This is the
anticipation. This is how it'll go. And
it'll be a year long because as we spoke
earlier the landscape keeps changing in
the arts. Right. So I'll be introducing
(15:12:02):
as this launches we anticipate by March
having five new pieces. Mm-hmm. And then
by the following month we'll probably
have another one. And you know it just
keeps evolving. So there's no reason to
like cut it off. Sure. It's an
evolutionary thing. Well
that jumps right into my next
question for you. Obviously 2025 is gonna
be an exciting period of time for you.
(15:12:24):
Tell us a little bit about what's going
on what you have planned. So we have
Collection Connection. Yeah that's
fantastic. We have the Commons Project
which is five artists five spaces. So
these are this is a local artist
initiative that started during COVID. And
what we do is when I say we it's the
(15:12:44):
Public Art Committee. We put out a call
for all Palm Beach County artists. They
selected through a competitive process
five artists who are either emerging or
not, but they're new to the public art
field. So they could be you it could be
you you have 30 years you've never been
in the public realm. And you could be
that person who for the first time goes
(15:13:06):
out into the and creates a piece
specific to a public space. That's really
different from being in the studio. So
that's one of them. I'm excited about
that one. Then we have coming up a lot in
the private development sector.
Especially in the downtown area Forte
(15:13:27):
Residencies will open up in spring. We'll
have three new works there by three
prominent women artists. Very exciting
for that one. Mr. C's Residencies is
developing something as is the Berkeley
811 South Dixie. I'm working with on a
public-private partnership with that one.
And that's on the south end of the city.
The entrance to the city from the south
(15:13:49):
part. Working on a new piece there. We
have the Northwood Village. I'm always
working with the CRA. They're a great
partner also. Library's a great partner.
CRA is a great partner. The
community. So what you know
we're I gotta tell you it's all over the
city. It's all over the
city. There's a lot of
(15:14:11):
energy happening here. This program that
we're describing here sounds like a
great place to start especially
introducing young
people. Absolutely. To art.
And really thinking about what they're
looking at rather than just swiping left
and being gone. You know it's really nice
to see that. It's very exciting. We're
really excited about this. And it'll be
fun just to you know people don't take
(15:14:34):
the time to just sit and like really
think about the art that they're seeing
sometimes. I mean there are people who do
but I think this is the opportunity to
do it. So and I hope they and it's a
perfect size. You don't have to write a
lot. Just throw it in your back pocket.
All the efforts upstairs. Take a look at
interpret the art. So we've talked a
(15:14:56):
little bit about how you know the
library is involved. And we want to give
love back to the website because it's
gonna be a place where a lot people are
gonna be getting a lot of information. So
wpb.org. Go ahead and look for Art Life
West Palm Beach. And you'll find
information there about this program as
well as everything else you're doing.
Yes. Which is tremendous. And the other
(15:15:17):
can I just throw this
in too for this one too.
Don't forget to look under the library
too for this project. That's right.
Collection connection. Of course. So as
well so really you can find out
information about the program on the
library's web pages. Step by step. Very
good. So really how it's done is gonna be
living at the
library. Excellent. So go to
(15:15:38):
the library pages of the city website.
You'll find out a lot more about this
particular project and how to get
involved. That's very cool.
Sibili, thank you so much for your time.
What you're doing for the city is so
important. It's part of our profile. It's
part of our personality. Thank you. Thank
you for having me. Thank you for giving
me the time to... Collection Connection!
(15:15:58):
I really appreciate your time. Thank you.
And thank you for joining us. We hope
you'll take part in the Collection
Connection and enjoy all the art our
city has to offer. The City Center
podcast is a production of the City of
West Palm Beach Communications
Department. I'm Jerry Marcello. We'll see
you next time. Collection Connection is a
(15:16:21):
joint project between the Mandel Public
Library and ArtLife West Palm Beach that
encourages participants to explore the
city, connect with art, and related to
other aspects of
their lives. Please visit
www.pb.org front slash Collection
Connection to learn more.
Welcome to the City Center Podcast. I'm
Jerry Marcello. Part of a city's soul and
personality comes from the public art it
chooses to display. The city of West
Palm Beach is no exception with a
thriving public art program with
installations spread across the entire
community. But putting both local and
national arts to work is one thing.
(14:58:00):
Getting residents to fully enjoy public
art is another. Today we're going to talk
about a new program to encourage
residents both young and old to explore
what art life West Palm Beach has to
offer and what role the Mandel Public
Library plays in making this new program
a success. That's next on the City Center
Podcast from West Palm Beach.
(14:58:29):
And joining us this afternoon is Sibile
Guntal, the Director of Arts, Culture and
Community Building for the City of West
Palm Beach. Sibile,
welcome. Hi Jerry. You
know a lot of people don't know just how
active the City of West Palm Beach is as
far as public arts are concerned. Can you
give us some background? How did it
all get started? Oh sure. So in 2014 an
(14:58:51):
ordinance was implemented and then the
sexier stuff came in. We had a five-year
master plan and I came in and I started
really developing the program. I started
off with temporary projects, big scale
ones. I don't know if you were around but
there were big ones that
happened in the Great Lawn and they were
(14:59:13):
an introduction to the possibilities of
what public art can be. Fast forward
another five years and we really started
doing public-private partnerships,
getting the private sector more involved,
collaborating with communities,
collaborating with neighborhoods,
collaborating with all the other entities
that exist within the city and
(14:59:33):
the program really started to take off.
The last five years we've seen over 55
projects, permanent artworks, temporary
projects throughout the city. So you can
see the growth that has happened. So in
during those five years that included
obviously the pandemic years. How did the
(14:59:53):
pandemic really affect what we were
doing as far as public art? I'm glad you
asked that. So even
though COVID you know it was a
global crisis, what occurred during that
time, what manifested was that the
virtual and physical worlds of the public
realm is where the safety net was.
That's where people felt they were safe,
(15:00:15):
they could gather, they could discuss,
they could experience and so the public
realm became an integral component of
like I don't know I guess as a community
getting better and public art
we realized right there was an important
aspect of how to continue to build upon
(15:00:36):
a city's growth because everybody had
stalled. So yeah I mean everyone
realized where the public realm was just
absolutely important. Sure and so you're
saying that during the five years though
you there were 55 different
projects or even around that number are
they all still in place or do they rotate
(15:00:57):
out after a while? So there's the
permanent pieces that obviously are
permanent but there's a lot of temporary
pieces that we work on and especially
with the local artists we do we try to do
initiatives and we try to you know
take more risks when you do temporary
pieces you don't have to have every
little nut and bolt put into place like
(15:01:19):
you would a permanent piece that has to
like withhold all sorts of things not
just nature and that way you can play
around and also you have an opportunity
to introduce the public to something
that hadn't maybe considered and the
artists themselves gets to play around a
little more from their studio practice
into the public art practice. And I would
(15:01:41):
think that with the idea of temporary art
that would be there just for a short
period of time that's more reason for
folks to go back out again. It's not like
you've seen everything you don't have to
go back out for another couple years
there's always something new coming out.
The exhibits keep rotating it's exactly
it it's like a rotating public art
experience all the time. Now what sort of
(15:02:03):
artists do you bring to the city are they
all are they around the country or
the local what are you looking for? It's
a mix it's a mix pack so we have
international superstars we have national
we have regional and we have
our local artists that are defined by
being Palm Beach County artists. And so
it's a mixed bag and that's where really
(15:02:23):
the richness of the program lies because
you have artists of all different
backgrounds in different you know levels
of their art experience their art
professions and you mix that all up with
you know something like a Fred Eversea
portals and you mix it in with a couple
(15:02:45):
the local mural artists and you and in
between all that you have other layers
of artists in different places in their
in their careers. And so I think that's
the richness of this program is a little
bit of everything. How do the residents
who live nearby the yard how do they
react to it? Oh they love it you know the
(15:03:07):
best part is when you go especially when
you go into neighborhoods they get
really involved. We just finished one at
Echo Lake Park and all those the
neighborhood surrounding neighborhoods
were very involved from inception into
the final installation. And they loved
the whole process and they learned a
tremendous amount. And the best you know
my idea of success there's many ideas of
(15:03:29):
success but one of them is when you hear
back like that's oh that's our artwork.
That's like ownership and they're they
become the stewards that to me it's like
did the job. So one of the challenges I
think you would face is that you may
have a neighbor who a neighborhood where
just down the block there is a beautiful
(15:03:50):
piece of art. But how do you manage to
get people from blocks away or maybe
miles away different different districts
come to see all the art that's been
created? So we're working a couple
different things. We're working on an
ongoing art map. We have it on the GIS
you can find it on the city's website
(15:04:10):
and you can find the GIS map. It's
actually more user-friendly on your phone
than it is on the city on like a desktop.
So when you're on your phone what
happens is okay so you're let's say at
Jose Marti Park and you look and you're
like oh I didn't know you know on the
(15:04:32):
rise was here and then you go and look
for it and it gives you all the
information and then it pinpoints all
the other different artworks that are
nearby that you can walk to. So on the
phone it's you really user-friendly. Yeah
we're working on the
move and you're at it
you have an opportunity to walk to the
next piece and you can actually find
(15:04:53):
your way using the map on your phone. Now
again that that map lives at the city
website WPB.org. Yeah probably search for
artlife map. Yeah I think it's called
the art life map and you can find it
right on your you don't have to download
an app on your phone. That's key right.
(15:05:14):
Everybody loves that so you just look it
up and then you'll find it. You can
Google it find it and
you're like oh there it
is. So but that's a work in progress as
is the the web pages for the art life
page where you can see all the art and
see what's coming and it'll tell you
coming soon ongoing temper it's about to
(15:05:35):
go. So you know all these are work in
progress. So you would you would
recommend it if people want to keep up
with what's going on the program you they
can get a lot of information right
from the city website. Mm-hmm. Okay
that's great. So and I
think you're about to
launch a new project that is going to be
really really exciting in 2025. Tell us a
little bit about that. So one one of many
(15:05:56):
new projects. But this new one is called
Collection Connection and it is in
partnership with the Mandel Public
Library. They are big partners of the art
life program. You
know the library's books
are you know we go together right? Right.
We're good cousins. We have been working
on this on this project where the idea is
(15:06:18):
that oh and I brought little samples.
Sure. So I'm gonna give you the kids
version. So this is the kids version.
This way. And Collection Connection and
the adult version. So what they are is
they're passports that you go to the
library to and you pick them up there.
And it gives you the opportunity to then
(15:06:39):
you I'm just gonna random. I'm gonna be
random. You pick any artwork any artwork
doesn't matter. Okay.
And you go to it and
for this one you know it says today I
visited the place where I saw give us a
noun. It was blank size and the color.
And so you know you
(15:06:59):
fill it out. You can you
can go into another one. You know if this
if I made this art artwork I would call
it. If I licked it it would taste like
this is the kids version. No well that's
really neat because it really gets the
gets the kid into thinking about the art
(15:07:21):
and sort of becoming involved in being
creative with the art. Very
involved. And so you could
pick one of these up at the third floor
children's library.
Third floor library at
Mandel Public Library right here next to
the kids zone. For the
kids one. Right. And you
when you come when you've done a few of
them you come back you get a stamp and
if you get enough stamps you get enameled
(15:07:43):
pens. And then if you get enough
enameled pens after a quarter like we
have it it's a year-long project then
you come back and you get raffled off for
some big prizes. Now you said that
they can come back after they've done a
few. Is there a number they have to do
or just you want to do? There is. So the
way on the children's have less than the
adults. Okay fair enough. Right right.
(15:08:06):
Well continue talking about it. So what
you do is here's the adult version.
There's the QR code to scan the art
map that we just talked about on the
phone. Right. So you
scan it. And what I'm
just gonna pick out something random. You
go to any page you don't have to do this
in order. I mean you can do it in order
but you can be nonlinear if you want. And
(15:08:28):
this one that says what did you notice
that was not apparent upon first glance?
Does your opinion of the work change? You
know it just prompts and there's a
little prompts. Start at the artwork
without glancing away from it for any
extended period of time. At least a
minute or more if you can. That's the
(15:08:48):
prompt. Right right. Because you when you
when you first approach a piece of work
you have obviously a very visual
response. Yeah but if you look at it if
you stick with it long enough longer
let's say longer.
Mm-hmm. Five minutes, ten
minutes, twenty minutes. It changes. You
start walking around. You start picking
(15:09:09):
up nuances. Things that you didn't see
before. And that's the idea is like okay
take a moment. Look at it. Now look at it
again and give it a whole
minutes attention. Which you believe it
or not is a lot for in our technology
world. Right. In our social media capital
(15:09:29):
world. And then I guarantee you your
thoughts will have changed. And and so
that's kind of like the idea is like
making that connection with the art, your
thoughts, going back to the library.
The same thing go back to the library. We
have a visitor stamp visitation. So you
(15:09:50):
get your little stamps enamel pin. The
same thing. But it's about making that
connection of looking at the art in more
depth. Sure. Going back to the library.
The library is a wealth of information.
So you find something and maybe that
triggers something. And then you can ask
like you know I'd really like to find a
book about color theory. Or I really I
(15:10:11):
didn't know about this artist. Can I get
a book about Yinka Shannabari? You know
and so we and we go from there. And so
it's just sort of like this back and
forth while giving the tool. Yeah. What I
really like about it especially in the
adult version is that you have to make a
commitment to go to this art. You're not
(15:10:32):
going to spend 15 seconds and swipe
your way away from it. You're gonna take
some time and breathe it in and really
think about it. Which pays homage to the
to the art and the artist. But it also
sort of rewards you by taking a moment
and really breathing in what's happening
with the art. And really opening up a new
kind of moment of absorbing and
(15:10:56):
thinking about something rather than just
simply swiping it away and
scrolling through it. Which is sort of
where we are in things in our life and
in our culture. Yes we're very Instagram
I like boom. Yeah.
Right. Yeah. So this one
makes you slow down a bit. That's really.
And then hopefully you'll have you'll
you'll find surprises. Mm-hmm. You know
because it's it's not we're not telling
(15:11:18):
you you got to go to this this. We're
just saying just pick out any artwork in
the public realm. Yeah. Just start
choosing some. Right. And you can go
anywhere in the city and choose them. Now
is this something that's just going to
be taking place for a month or a couple
months. How long does
this last? This is a
year. Oh it's a full year. It's a full
year. So we're gonna launch Tuesday
February 12th at the Urban Living Room 4
(15:11:41):
p.m. So come to the party and basically
we're gonna go the librarians are gonna
walk you through this is you know this
is how you get your passport. This is the
anticipation. This is how it'll go. And
it'll be a year long because as we spoke
earlier the landscape keeps changing in
the arts. Right. So I'll be introducing
(15:12:02):
as this launches we anticipate by March
having five new pieces. Mm-hmm. And then
by the following month we'll probably
have another one. And you know it just
keeps evolving. So there's no reason to
like cut it off. Sure. It's an
evolutionary thing. Well
that jumps right into my next
question for you. Obviously 2025 is gonna
be an exciting period of time for you.
(15:12:24):
Tell us a little bit about what's going
on what you have planned. So we have
Collection Connection. Yeah that's
fantastic. We have the Commons Project
which is five artists five spaces. So
these are this is a local artist
initiative that started during COVID. And
what we do is when I say we it's the
(15:12:44):
Public Art Committee. We put out a call
for all Palm Beach County artists. They
selected through a competitive process
five artists who are either emerging or
not, but they're new to the public art
field. So they could be you it could be
you you have 30 years you've never been
in the public realm. And you could be
that person who for the first time goes
(15:13:06):
out into the and creates a piece
specific to a public space. That's really
different from being in the studio. So
that's one of them. I'm excited about
that one. Then we have coming up a lot in
the private development sector.
Especially in the downtown area Forte
(15:13:27):
Residencies will open up in spring. We'll
have three new works there by three
prominent women artists. Very exciting
for that one. Mr. C's Residencies is
developing something as is the Berkeley
811 South Dixie. I'm working with on a
public-private partnership with that one.
And that's on the south end of the city.
The entrance to the city from the south
(15:13:49):
part. Working on a new piece there. We
have the Northwood Village. I'm always
working with the CRA. They're a great
partner also. Library's a great partner.
CRA is a great partner. The
community. So what you know
we're I gotta tell you it's all over the
city. It's all over the
city. There's a lot of
(15:14:11):
energy happening here. This program that
we're describing here sounds like a
great place to start especially
introducing young
people. Absolutely. To art.
And really thinking about what they're
looking at rather than just swiping left
and being gone. You know it's really nice
to see that. It's very exciting. We're
really excited about this. And it'll be
fun just to you know people don't take
(15:14:34):
the time to just sit and like really
think about the art that they're seeing
sometimes. I mean there are people who do
but I think this is the opportunity to
do it. So and I hope they and it's a
perfect size. You don't have to write a
lot. Just throw it in your back pocket.
All the efforts upstairs. Take a look at
interpret the art. So we've talked a
(15:14:56):
little bit about how you know the
library is involved. And we want to give
love back to the website because it's
gonna be a place where a lot people are
gonna be getting a lot of information. So
wpb.org. Go ahead and look for Art Life
West Palm Beach. And you'll find
information there about this program as
well as everything else you're doing.
Yes. Which is tremendous. And the other
(15:15:17):
can I just throw this
in too for this one too.
Don't forget to look under the library
too for this project. That's right.
Collection connection. Of course. So as
well so really you can find out
information about the program on the
library's web pages. Step by step. Very
good. So really how it's done is gonna be
living at the
library. Excellent. So go to
(15:15:38):
the library pages of the city website.
You'll find out a lot more about this
particular project and how to get
involved. That's very cool.
Sibili, thank you so much for your time.
What you're doing for the city is so
important. It's part of our profile. It's
part of our personality. Thank you. Thank
you for having me. Thank you for giving
me the time to... Collection Connection!
(15:15:58):
I really appreciate your time. Thank you.
And thank you for joining us. We hope
you'll take part in the Collection
Connection and enjoy all the art our
city has to offer. The City Center
podcast is a production of the City of
West Palm Beach Communications
Department. I'm Jerry Marcello. We'll see
you next time. Collection Connection is a
(15:16:21):
joint project between the Mandel Public
Library and ArtLife West Palm Beach that
encourages participants to explore the
city, connect with art, and related to
other aspects of
their lives. Please visit
www.pb.org front slash Collection
Connection to learn more.
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