Erica Mott named 11th Ward Artist for 2017 Year of Public Art

In a kick-off event at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen on Thursday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel named Erica Mott as one of the awardees of the 50×50 Neighborhood Arts Project. From nearly 270 applicants citywide, Erica was selected to collaborate with 11th Ward Alderman Patrick Daley Thompson to create a neighborhood public performance spectacle at Palmisano Park in Bridgeport. Utilizing the park’s unique landscape and history as a former quarry and landfill in the flight path of Midway Airport, the event will incorporate walking tours, large-scale video projection, site-specific dance theater, remote control helicopters, kite flying, paper lantern lighting and stargazing. Created in close collaboration with community groups from Bridgeport and Canaryville, ELEMENTAL will premiere as part of the fifth annual Bridgeport Air and Water Show.

50×50 Neighborhood Arts Project is a new citywide program that pairs fifty Chicago-based artists with the fifty wards to bring more art into the public spaces of neighborhoods throughout Chicago. 50×50 is part of the Year of Public Art, a broader initiative guided by the Chicago Cultural Plan involving DCASE, the Department of Transportation, Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Library, Chicago Transit Authority and other departments. The program, which honors the 50th anniversary of the Picasso sculpture at Daley Plaza, aims to make Chicago a destination for public art.

Awardees of the 50×50 Neighborhood Arts Project

“The Year of Public Art is a celebration of the lasting contributions the arts make to communities across Chicago” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “In every neighborhood in Chicago there are talented artists, working across all mediums, who can add to the cultural fabric of their communities. The 50×50 Neighborhood Arts Project is a $1 million investment in Chicago’s neighborhoods, building on Chicago’s legacy of public art and enabling local artists to share their work with the world.”

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