Brookings Public Arts Commission

Brookings Public Arts Commission is a Board within the City of Brookings.

Public art enhances the built environment of a city and enriches the lives of its citizens. A dedicated funding source for an established program of public art enhances the reputation of a city and serves as a vehicle for attracting new businesses and citizens. A public art program encourages a community's artists and citizens to engage in creative activities and artistic development. A public arts commission can develop and implement a unified public art strategy for a community.

The role of the Brookings Public Arts Commission is as follows:

  1. To develop a unified public art strategy for the City of Brookings;

  2. To advise the City Council and other community groups and agencies who are initiating a public art project concerning the proposed site, selection of a professional artist and commissioning of a public artwork;

  3. To oversee the Public Art Fund;

  4. To guide and monitor design development process through reviews at various stages to ensure artistic and design quality, integration with the site and relevance to the community;

  5. To approve the final design prior to fabrication; and

  6. To approve the final artwork, installation procedures, and maintenance plan prior to installation.

Completed Projects by the Brookings Public Arts Commission:

Common Thread is an informal art installation made to engage visitors in play, entertainment, leisure, and learning through several site-specific appearances around the city of Brookings. This giant thread was created to visualize our community in an extraordinary way. Nearly twenty-four hundred balls, each representing 10 members of the Brookings community will weave its way around town stopping at our favorite places and events. The project recognizes our neighbor’s diversity and individuality while celebrating the community network to which we all belong.

Throughout its citywide appearances, Common Thread may become a:
playground, monument, pile, labyrinth, performance space, fence, hideaway, fort, or a maze.

PUBLIC ART AT THE CITY OF BROOKINGS ADMINISTRATION BUILDING

The Light Of A New Day On The South Dakota Plains. parallelogram-style stained glass mosaic. Purchased by the Brookings Public Arts Commission in partnership with the City of Brookings, SD for the city government center.

PUBLIC ART THROUGHOUT BROOKINGS

Tangle Town, an installation by artist Patrick Dougherty was constructed in May 2017 on the outdoor prairie of the Children's Museum of South Dakota. Along with museum staff, seventy-seven volunteers, ranging in age from 14 to 82 and traveling from as far away as Colorado, Texas, and California, contributed more than 600 hours to complete this project. The six tons of saplings, predominantly willow, were gathered from six nearby sites and transported to the museum where they were woven together to create nine silo-like structures.

Articles about Tangle Town: https://prairieplay.org/seize-the-play/innovation-learning-lab/

https://prairieplay.org/seize-the-play/community-art-project-promotes-outdoor-play/

The Brookings Arts Commission is not part of the Brookings Arts Council.