CITY OF Las Vegas
PUBLIC ART MASTER PLAN | 2024
“Radial Symmetry by Las Vegas artist Luis Varela Rico, 2018. (Ward 3) Photo: City of Last Vegas
“The city of las vegas illuminates arts and culture and celebrates the bold, dynamic and diverse community through providing access withing city spaces and outdoors in the public realm.”
Client: City of Las Vegas
In 2023, the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, under advisement of the Las Vegas Arts Commission, invited Art Builds Community to revisit the city’s Public Art and Gallery Program and provide updated recommendations for the future through a new Public Art Master Plan.
Art Builds Community’s assignments beginning in 2023 was broken into five key areas:
Provide updates in response to progress made since the 2013 Public Art Master Plan.
Invite residents, business owners, workers, community leaders, and city staff to share and explore ideas for a new plan.
Gather input through interactive art engagement activities, surveys, meetings, and events.
Create an updated Public Art Master Plan that includes a vision, mission statement, goals, and recommendations.
In response to the recommendations, provide implementation strategies and policies to guide the development and enhancement of the Public Art and Gallery Program.
The City of Las Vegas Public Art Master Plan was approved in April 2024. This plan reimagines the 2023 Public Art Master Plan recommendations in response to those that were realized, those that remain relevant, and those that do not coincide with the future goals for the public art and exhibit programs.
Collaborating with community
Fawn Douglas and selected members of the Nuwu Art Collective created coloring pages of images that drew from various Native American, African American, and Indigenous Latin American traditions, ways of life, and wildlife. More specifically, these coloring pages highlighted Mexica/Meshika culture – including the Aztec calendar, African and African American culture, like Okra and the “Black Cowboy” aesthetic, and pictures including plants and animals found in the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas Valley. Some pages included words in Nahuatl, Spanish, and the Southern Paiute language, which promoted shared learning for all audiences. A dozen (12) coloring pages were used for these workshops, which also allowed ABC and Nuwu Art the opportunity to give useful feedback from participants on Las Vegas Public Art in the City of Las Vegas.
Illustrations above are some of the illustrated designs for the Community Engagement activity by artists of Nuwu Collective including Xochil Xitlalli, Juan Cuevas (Quetzal Visions), Avis Charley, Fawn Douglas. This images are not to be downloaded or shared without artist permission.