City of Lansing Announces 2023 Arts Impact Project
$75,000 Public Art Installation Funds Awarded to Local Artist Tamara Brown
Mayor Andy Schor recently announced the 2023 City of Lansing Arts Impact Project awardee. This is the seventh Arts Impact Project to be installed in the city and is a component of the City of Lansing Arts and Culture Grant Program, which will grant more than $150,000 to individual artists and arts and cultural organizations this year.
“Arts and culture, especially public part, is a key part of the growth of Lansing. I am proud to continue to support artists and efforts that make our city more vibrant and exciting to those that live here and visit our city,” said Mayor Schor. “I am proud to support arts and cultural projects such as the concert venues in downtown, the beautification of several of our corridors, and installing more public art through efforts like the Arts Impact Project.” Schor said. “The installation of this exhibit featuring women at the newly renamed Debbie Stabenow Park is a great example of Lansing’s diversity, inclusion, and pride in those that have made our city the great place that it is. I can’t wait to see this project completed.”
This year’s Arts Impact Project artist is Lansing resident Tamara (Tea) Brown. Brown is a painter and muralist whose artwork “Be the Light” was featured in ArtPrize in 2017. In 2018, she was awarded Artpath’s 2018 People’s Choice award for her “Break Free” mural, a popular selfie spot under Lansing’s Shiawassee Street Bridge. In 2019, Brown also worked closely with the Clinton County Arts Council to create and execute the Artist Passage in St. Johns, Michigan. Her 2023 Arts Impact Project will be an installation of nine pop-art style portraits of women who have made a difference and who have been inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. The project will be installed in south Lansing at the newly renamed Debbie Stabenow Park, formerly Washington Park, located on South Washington Ave.
“My ‘Michigan Women Walls of Fame Project’ is important because it graciously and artistically highlights select women from the Michigan Women Hall of Fame that many people don’t even know exists,” said Brown. “I believe that showcasing these women in this way will not only inspire people, but prove that hard work for the greater good really can pay off. We are the Capital City, and paying tribute to these women who changed history and impacted our lives in ways we never knew until now, is something I am honored to create,” Brown said.
The City of Lansing Arts Projects Grants and the Arts Impact Project are facilitated by the Arts Council Greater Lansing who put out the call to artists and host the annual City of Lansing Arts Impact Project Pitch event. They also host a “Perfect Your Pitch” workshop prior to the pitch event, which is designed to help interested applicants learn pitching basics. The project pitch event is open to anyone who wants to present a thoughtful permanent art project to the panel.
“We have so much anticipation around this project every year, as it offers residents in our community the opportunity to think creatively and artistically about what they would like to see come alive in our city,” said Arts Council executive director, Meghan Martin. “It is of note as well that this year’s project by Tea Brown is woman-centered, and Brown is the second female artist to receive an Arts Impact Project grant. We really want to see the diversity of the artists and presenters for this project, and others, to grow and reflect the voices of our entire community,” Martin said. Brown’s installation will follow the 2022 Hunter Park Sculpture Project and Alexandra Leonard’s Shiawassee Street Mosaic Project, which was unveiled last October.
The City of Lansing Arts Impact Projects include “Mother Tree” sculpture in Hunter Park; “Shiawassee Street Mosaic Tile Project;” 10 murals from “Below the Stacks Mural Festival;” “Encompass Lansing,” the Southwest Lansing Town Square Sculpture Project; a projection mapping installation, “Terra Forms;” and the Museum Drive sculpture, “Portrait of a Dreamer.” For more information about this project and other arts projects grants and opportunities, contact Arts Council membership and program manager, Taylor Haslett at taylor@www.lansingarts.org.