NORTHBOROUGH – Northborough residents and visitors may see additional public art in town.
Members of the Northborough Cultural Council (NCC) and Northborough Arts Council (NAC) went before the Select Board on Sept. 9, seeking $34,833 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to help fund their Love Northborough public art campaign.
“We’re trying to get the support to finish [the public art campaign]. I think it will really have an impact on how the downtown looks and the whole goal of placemaking in Northborough,” said NAC Vice President and Treasurer Suzanne Cox.
NAC was established a year ago as a nonprofit and acts as the funding arm and provides program management assistance for the public art programs, similar to the Friends of the Northborough Free Library. According to the NAC, half of their members previously volunteered with the Cultural Council as there is a limit to the number of terms volunteers can serve on the NCC.
The Arts Council and Cultural Council are working together to refine and continue the Love Northborough public arts campaign that was created by the NCC five years ago to support the Master Plan.
“This public art campaign strives to be a force for placemaking in Northborough, a way to create connections between people and places that are important to our community,” the campaign reads.
There are three types of public art described in the campaign — permanent installations, temporary projects and engagement. The campaign kicked off with the first Go Out Doors installation in 2022.
“It was a really big success. It was very modestly funded. We barely paid the artists because we had very few funds as a Cultural Council, but it went really well,” said Cox.
In addition to Go Out Doors installations in 2023 and 2024, the campaign has also included the mural near the Town Common and the Flowerful Chairs.
There were three permanent art installations described that were under consideration for funding.
“Seasons of Northborough” would be panels painted by artists showing the town through the year. “Apples Around Town” would be individually painted three-dimensional half apples that would be installed on public and private buildings in the greater downtown. The third project would be to create a large sculpture to reflect the theme of love for Northborough, similar to the Boston ducklings.
“I think with our temporary ones and the mural, we’ve shown that collaboratively the people in these two organizations can really make an impact,” said Cox.
The goal is to have the installations completed in the next two years.
