Staten Island’s waterfront, home to hundreds of artists and arts organizations in the Naturally Occurring Cultural District of St. George, Tompkinsville, and Stapleton, hosts multiple development projects currently underway. This diverse downtown community faces difficult challenges in planning for cohesive, quality public space.

The Design Trust for Public Space, in partnership with Staten Island Arts, is creating a cultural plan to enhance equitable neighborhood development and will test design and programming strategies through public art pilots slated for Summer 2018. We collaborate with the local community, including artists, cultural producers, civic activists, and small business owners, on a vision for the waterfront. We will share the resulting design, planning, and policy recommendations with key public officials and private stakeholders. Staten Island's cultural organizations, civic groups, landowners, developers, businesses, and public agencies will use this plan to strengthen the cultural community, activate the North Shore, and interconnect its neighborhoods and the waterfront to the rest of Staten Island and New York City.

background

In 2014, we conducted an open Request for Proposals called The Energetic City to give life to the city by connecting people through design informed by the needs and aspirations of community users. An independent jury selected a proposal by Staten Island Arts to partner with the Design Trust in creating a replicable model of inclusive development using public art to link the cultural assets of Staten Island's North Shore neighborhoods. 

process

We examine how art and cultural activities can enrich the public- and privately-controlled open space of Staten Island’s North Shore. This effort will culminate in a final plan that will include tested strategies for equitable neighborhood development, ensuring the social, ethnic, and economic diversity of the community for years to come.

In February 2016, the Design Trust, in partnership with the Alice Austen House and Staten Island Arts, held a jury to select a Photo Urbanism Fellow to document North Shore's cultural community.

In August 2016, we announced an additional team of Fellows with expertise in participatory art, urban design, policy, and graphic design. Together we conducted brainstorming and feedback sessions with the local community, elected officials and developers to create a plan for connecting and activating public space along Staten Island’s North Shore waterfront.

In December 2016, we started publishing the Future Culture Newspaper in English, Spanish, Bengali, Sinhala, Tamil, and Urdu, to apprise the St. George, Tompkinsville, and Stapleton communities and policy makers with our activities and elicit their input. 

The Design Trust and Staten Island Arts released the Future Culture Initial Recommendations for design and programming on March 28, 2017, and announced two public art pilots, Sonic Gates and Court Yard Fridays, to test those recommendations on July 13, 2017.

For Sonic Gates, a team led by Staten Island-based composer, touring performer and media artist Volker Goetze will construct a series of sound sculptures at various sites along the waterfront, on Bay Street, and in Tappen Park, from St. George to Stapleton.

For Court Yard Fridays, Kevin Washington, a Staten Island native, retired NYC Firefighter, and community organizer; Homer Jackson, Director of the Philadelphia Jazz Project; and graphic designer Lynn Washington will host a series of weekend concerts in the courtyard between Borough Hall and the old Supreme Court building featuring world-class performers with connections to Staten Island alongside local arts groups.

These public art pilots, planned for Summer 2018, will advance Future Culture’s recommendations to promote exploration of the Staten Island North Shore, and re-imagine and activate underused public spaces. We will soon announce the details of this summer program.