Public Art

The Boston Art Commission

The Boston Art Commission established in 1890, exercises legal authority to approve and site new public art on property owned by the City of Boston. Site-specific artworks, both permanent and temporary, woven through the urban landscape identify Boston as a place with long history and a great capacity for innovation. These artworks range from traditional and new media public art pieces to municipal design elements, such as wayfinding systems and artistic lighting. In addition, the Art Commission has care and custody of all paintings, murals, statues, bas-reliefs, sculptures, monuments, fountains, arches and other permanent structures intended for ornament or commemoration on City property. It is the conviction of the Boston Art Commission that, in order to engender and support a thriving artistic consciousness within the city, community involvement shall extend beyond everyday appreciation to meaningful engagement in the creation, evolving interpretation and ongoing care of artworks throughout Boston’s neighborhoods.

The Art Commission is appointed by the Mayor and consists of five Boston residents, nominated by a Boston cultural institution.  Art Commission meetings are held on the first Monday afternoon of each month.

If you question whether your project qualifies as public art, please contact Karin Goodfellow, Staff Director of the Boston Art Commission at Karin.Goodfellow@cityofboston.gov.
Please visit www.publicartboston.com for more information on the Boston Art Commission and public art in Boston.

The Role of the Boston Art Commission

  • Advise the community group or agency initiating a public art project (the proponent) on issues concerning the site, selection of a professional artist, and commission of a public artwork.

  • Guide and monitor the design development process through reviews at various stages to ensure artistic and design quality, integration with the site, and relevance to the community.

  • Approve the final design prior to fabrication.

  • Approve the final artwork, installation procedures, and maintenance plan prior to installation.

  • Serve as an advisor to the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund, a City trust that supports public amenities.

  • Administer contracts for the fabrication, installation, and maintenance of public art projects.

Public Art Guidelines

Temporary Public Art Guidelines

Guidelines for Permanent Public Art

Summary of Public Art Guidelines

PaintBox

PaintBox, organized by the Boston Art Commission and funded by Boston Shines/Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services as well as a number of local businesses, is geared towards the recognition and celebration of local artists. Once professionally painted, these utility boxes will be resistant to graffiti and will contribute to the vitality and attractiveness of the urban streetscape.

Adopt-a-Statue Program

This unique public/private partnership was developed to maintain and conserve our valuable monuments which convey so much of Boston's rich heritage. The program raises funds that establish a permanent endowment for the annual maintenance of public art in the City.

Funding Sources

Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund
In 1892, Edward Ingersoll Browne, a successful Boston trust attorney with a strong sense of civic pride and public spirit, wrote his will directing that one-third of his estate be set aside in a special open space improvement fund for the City of Boston, which includes the installation of new permanent public works of art. The Art Commission has representation on this board and assists in determining that all proposals submitted comply with the terms of Mr. Browne's will.
Browne Fund Application

Fund for the Arts
Fund for the Arts (FFA) is an endowed fund at the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). The Fund supports projects that pair artists and non-profit community organizations to create public artworks that engage audiences and encourage participation in the arts. Fund for the Arts seeks to advance and provide visibility for the arts in Greater Boston by placing artists and creative endeavors at the heart of community and civic life.
Download Application

Henderson Fund
Grants are made by the George B. Henderson Foundation in accordance with the Indenture of Trust by Mr. Henderson dated 21 May 1964.  This instrument directs that Foundation funds shall be devoted solely to the enhancement of the physical appearance of the City of Boston including projects concerning parks, city streets, buildings, monuments, and architectural and sculptural works.  Each project shall be visible by the public, preferably from a public way.  If funds are expended for work on building interiors, the building shall be open to the public a reasonable number of days in each year.
Hendersen Fund Application

Members of Boston Art Commission

Carol Burns, chair

Carol Burns, architect and principal of Taylor & Burns Architects, engages continuously in professional practice, research, and teaching.   With her firm, Taylor and Burns Architects, Carol designs award-winning buildings, spaces, and theoretical projects that embody the research discovery process of design.  Carol maintains the position that architecture rises from—and must be understood as embedded within— physical/spatial contexts as well as social, economic, and political conditions.  She has advanced this position in three edited anthologies: Site Matters, Thinking the Present, and Perspecta 21.  Carol, with others at the Boston Society of Architects, pioneered the founding of the BSA Research Grants program in 2003 which, in conjunction with national programs that followed, have provided more than a half million dollars to fund research in architecture.   Educated at Bryn Mawr and Yale Colleges and Yale University School of Architecture, Carol has exhibited her designs widely and received numerous design awards.   Her works on architecture have been published extensively.  In addition to giving lectures at many prestigious gatherings and centers of learning, Carol has also taught at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, the Harvard Institute of Affordable Housing Faculty Member, Yale, MIT, University of Virginia, Roger Williams University, NJIT, and RISD.   Above and beyond her professional affiliations, Carol has also maintained involvement in the following boards and organizations:  US GSA Commissioner's National Register of Peer Professionals; Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Affordable Housing Competition, Advisor; Association of Yale Alumni, Board of Governors; Boston Society of Architects, Executive Board (3 terms); Housing Fellow, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies; Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development; Designer Selection Board (2 terms); Journal of Architectural Education, Editorial Board; City of Boston, Mayor’s Task Force, Boston 400 Comprehensive Plan.

Lynne Kortenhaus

Lynne Kortenhaus is president and CEO of Kortenhaus Communications, Boston’s leading luxury lifestyle public relations firm for twenty-five years.  In this capacity, Ms. Kortenhaus works with a number of real estate developers, retailers and hospitality leaders to design signature programs to launch and build brands in Boston.  Prior to establishing her firm, Ms. Kortenhaus was a corporate art consultant, appraiser and New England Director of Phillips International Fine Art Auctioneers.  Educated in the visual arts at Rhode Island School of Design, Ms. Kortenhaus has both a BFA and MFA in printmaking which she continues to practice today.  Through this work, Ms. Kortenhaus has advised clients on art installations, both new acquisitions and curating existing collections.  She has been the fine arts curator for The Ritz-Carlton Hotels from 1984 to present.    Ms. Kortenhaus is co-chair of the board of The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, a director of the Citi Performing Arts Center, and a director of the Back Bay Association.  She is a Director’s Circle member of the ICA.  She lives in Charlestown in a historic c. 1853 Greek Revival mansion built by William Caban and once the home of Eugene L. Norton, a one-time state senator and the 10th Mayor of Charlestown during the late 1860’s.

Prataap Patrose

Prataap Patrose has been with the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) for 23 years and, for the last 5 years, has been the BRA’s Director for Urban Design. The BRA is Boston’s planning and development agency, where he is responsible for coordinating the design review of projects of all scales and sizes in the city of Boston and providing the urban design framework for a wide variety of large scale urban planning initiatives downtown and in the neighborhoods.  He has been a guest critic and speaker on urban design at MIT, Harvard University, Roger Williams College RI, and Boston Architectural Center. He serves on the Board of the Boston Center for the Arts. He was recipient of the BRA’s award for excellence in 1986. Prataap has organized major public art installations for First Night Boston, BCA, and MIT. His op-ed pieces on urban design and planning issues have been extensively published in The Gloucester Daily Times, Boston Globe, The Herald Tribune, The China Daily, The Financial Times of London, and The Guardian of London.  He received his Masters in Environmental Design from MIT in 1984, after receiving a Bachelors of Architecture from School of Planning and Architecture in India., magna cum laude.

Edward Saywell

Edward Saywell is the Chair of Contemporary Art and MFA Programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In this capacity, Edward oversees the contemporary art, film, concert and lecture and course programs at the Museum. He joined the MFA in September, 2006 as Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings and became in September, 2007 Director of the West Wing. Under this new initiative, he began overseeing the transformation of the now-named Linde Family Wing into a vibrant space for the contemporary arts at the MFA and the dedication of the Wing’s entrance to school and community groups. A year following this appointment, he became Chair of the new department of Contemporary Art and MFA Programs with the express aim to explore exciting opportunities for creative and cross-disciplinary planning within the MFA, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum’s many external programming partners. Educated at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, Harvard and the University of London, he worked for nine years in the Department of Drawings at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard where besides curating six exhibitions and publishing a number of catalogues and articles, he played an active role in teaching students from throughout the New England area. An exhibition that he organized for the Nielsen Gallery, Boston, was awarded by the International Association of Art Critics first place for the best exhibition in 2004 in a United States commercial gallery.

Julie Burns, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events, ex officio

In April 2006, Mayor Thomas M. Menino appointed Julie Burns to become the director of his office of Arts, Tourism & Special Events (MOATSE).  The mission of the department is to serve residents and visitors along with the City’s cultural community and visitor industry by providing advocacy, promotion, technical assistance and funding.  MOATSE also produces over 150 public concerts, events and celebrations throughout the year.  In addition to serving on the Boston Art Commission, Burns oversees the Boston Cultural Commission, and the Mural Crew and the Strand Theatre, a performing arts venue in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.  She also serves as the president of the Fund for Boston Neighborhoods, a non-profit entity associated with the Mayor’s Office.  Ms. Burns serves on the following boards: the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau; the Bostonian Society; the Freedom Trail Foundation and the Programming Committee for the Rose Kennedy Greenway.  As Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Thomas M. Menino from 1998 to 2003, Burns directed all operations for the Mayor’s Office including scheduling, advance, security, planning and constituent services.  During her tenure, Ms. Burns helped organize some of Boston’s most influential international events, including Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, SailBoston 2000, First Night 2000 and the First Presidential Debate of 2000.  Burns also served as point person for all Mayoral interaction and coordination with the Democratic National Convention in 2000 and 2004.  Burns grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts.  She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in 1991.  She lives in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood.


Staff

Karin Goodfellow, Staff Director of the Boston Art Commission

Contact

For more information on any of the above, please contact: Staff Director of the Boston Art Commission, Karin Goodfellow at Karin.Goodfellow@cityofboston.gov

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