SALT LAKE CITY — Public art installations will soon be another avenue to help save the Great Salt Lake, as Salt Lake City was selected to receive a $1 million grant to use art projects to address civic concerns.
It received this grant as part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge, and is one of eight winning cities nationwide.
The winning submission is the Salt Lake City Arts Council’s proposed project, “Wake: the Great Salt Lake” which will address how climate change and human factors are contributing to the shrinking of the Great Salt Lake.
Several temporary public artworks by local, regional, and internationally recognized artists will be installed around the city that highlight this looming crisis.
“Public art holds a unique power of activating change and optimism in our communities,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said.
“I look forward to seeing the creative vision of this work come to life.”
A goal of the public art projects is to inspire and educate people about how to find solutions at both the local and national level.
“This is the single largest grant ever awarded to our Salt Lake City Arts Council,” said Executive Director Felicia Baca.
“Our project, entitled ‘Wake: the Great Salt Lake,’ embraces many definitions of the word ‘wake.’ A wake is a time for reflecting on loss; to wake means regaining consciousness after a period of rest; and a wake is the turbulence created when one moves through water.
"This project will employ the diverse languages of artistic expression to create ripples of consciousness through our community.”
