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Put Public Art Into Your Life with the Collection Connection! · Inside West Palm Beach

14:57:40
Welcome to the City Center Podcast. I'm
14:57:42
Jerry Marcello. Part of a city's soul and
14:57:45
personality comes from the public art it
14:57:47
chooses to display. The city of West
14:57:49
Palm Beach is no exception with a
14:57:51
thriving public art program with
14:57:53
installations spread across the entire
14:57:55
community. But putting both local and
14:57:58
national arts to work is one thing.
14:58:00
Getting residents to fully enjoy public
14:58:02
art is another. Today we're going to talk
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about a new program to encourage
14:58:07
residents both young and old to explore
14:58:09
what art life West Palm Beach has to
14:58:11
offer and what role the Mandel Public
14:58:14
Library plays in making this new program
14:58:16
a success. That's next on the City Center
14:58:19
Podcast from West Palm Beach.
14:58:29
And joining us this afternoon is Sibile
14:58:32
Guntal, the Director of Arts, Culture and
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Community Building for the City of West
14:58:36
Palm Beach. Sibile,
14:58:37
welcome. Hi Jerry. You
14:58:39
know a lot of people don't know just how
14:58:41
active the City of West Palm Beach is as
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far as public arts are concerned. Can you
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give us some background? How did it
14:58:47
all get started? Oh sure. So in 2014 an
14:58:51
ordinance was implemented and then the
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sexier stuff came in. We had a five-year
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master plan and I came in and I started
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really developing the program. I started
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off with temporary projects, big scale
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ones. I don't know if you were around but
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there were big ones that
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happened in the Great Lawn and they were
14:59:13
an introduction to the possibilities of
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what public art can be. Fast forward
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another five years and we really started
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doing public-private partnerships,
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getting the private sector more involved,
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collaborating with communities,
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collaborating with neighborhoods,
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collaborating with all the other entities
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that exist within the city and
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the program really started to take off.
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The last five years we've seen over 55
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projects, permanent artworks, temporary
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projects throughout the city. So you can
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see the growth that has happened. So in
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during those five years that included
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obviously the pandemic years. How did the
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pandemic really affect what we were
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doing as far as public art? I'm glad you
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asked that. So even
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though COVID you know it was a
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global crisis, what occurred during that
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time, what manifested was that the
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virtual and physical worlds of the public
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realm is where the safety net was.
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That's where people felt they were safe,
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they could gather, they could discuss,
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they could experience and so the public
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realm became an integral component of
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like I don't know I guess as a community
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getting better and public art
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we realized right there was an important
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aspect of how to continue to build upon
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a city's growth because everybody had
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stalled. So yeah I mean everyone
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realized where the public realm was just
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absolutely important. Sure and so you're
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saying that during the five years though
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you there were 55 different
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projects or even around that number are
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they all still in place or do they rotate
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out after a while? So there's the
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permanent pieces that obviously are
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permanent but there's a lot of temporary
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pieces that we work on and especially
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with the local artists we do we try to do
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initiatives and we try to you know
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take more risks when you do temporary
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pieces you don't have to have every
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little nut and bolt put into place like
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you would a permanent piece that has to
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like withhold all sorts of things not
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just nature and that way you can play
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around and also you have an opportunity
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to introduce the public to something
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that hadn't maybe considered and the
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artists themselves gets to play around a
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little more from their studio practice
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into the public art practice. And I would
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think that with the idea of temporary art
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that would be there just for a short
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period of time that's more reason for
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folks to go back out again. It's not like
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you've seen everything you don't have to
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go back out for another couple years
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there's always something new coming out.
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The exhibits keep rotating it's exactly
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it it's like a rotating public art
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experience all the time. Now what sort of
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artists do you bring to the city are they
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all are they around the country or
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the local what are you looking for? It's
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a mix it's a mix pack so we have
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international superstars we have national
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we have regional and we have
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our local artists that are defined by
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being Palm Beach County artists. And so
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it's a mixed bag and that's where really
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the richness of the program lies because
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you have artists of all different
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backgrounds in different you know levels
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of their art experience their art
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professions and you mix that all up with
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you know something like a Fred Eversea
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portals and you mix it in with a couple
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the local mural artists and you and in
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between all that you have other layers
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of artists in different places in their
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in their careers. And so I think that's
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the richness of this program is a little
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bit of everything. How do the residents
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who live nearby the yard how do they
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react to it? Oh they love it you know the
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best part is when you go especially when
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you go into neighborhoods they get
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really involved. We just finished one at
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Echo Lake Park and all those the
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neighborhood surrounding neighborhoods
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were very involved from inception into
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the final installation. And they loved
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the whole process and they learned a
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tremendous amount. And the best you know
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my idea of success there's many ideas of
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success but one of them is when you hear
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back like that's oh that's our artwork.
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That's like ownership and they're they
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become the stewards that to me it's like
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did the job. So one of the challenges I
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think you would face is that you may
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have a neighbor who a neighborhood where
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just down the block there is a beautiful
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piece of art. But how do you manage to
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get people from blocks away or maybe
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miles away different different districts
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come to see all the art that's been
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created? So we're working a couple
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different things. We're working on an
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ongoing art map. We have it on the GIS
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you can find it on the city's website
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and you can find the GIS map. It's
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actually more user-friendly on your phone
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than it is on the city on like a desktop.
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So when you're on your phone what
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happens is okay so you're let's say at
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Jose Marti Park and you look and you're
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like oh I didn't know you know on the
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rise was here and then you go and look
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for it and it gives you all the
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information and then it pinpoints all
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the other different artworks that are
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nearby that you can walk to. So on the
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phone it's you really user-friendly. Yeah
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we're working on the
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move and you're at it
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you have an opportunity to walk to the
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next piece and you can actually find
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your way using the map on your phone. Now
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again that that map lives at the city
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website WPB.org. Yeah probably search for
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artlife map. Yeah I think it's called
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the art life map and you can find it
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right on your you don't have to download
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an app on your phone. That's key right.
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Everybody loves that so you just look it
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up and then you'll find it. You can
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Google it find it and
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you're like oh there it
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is. So but that's a work in progress as
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is the the web pages for the art life
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page where you can see all the art and
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see what's coming and it'll tell you
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coming soon ongoing temper it's about to
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go. So you know all these are work in
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progress. So you would you would
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recommend it if people want to keep up
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with what's going on the program you they
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can get a lot of information right
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from the city website. Mm-hmm. Okay
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that's great. So and I
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think you're about to
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launch a new project that is going to be
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really really exciting in 2025. Tell us a
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little bit about that. So one one of many
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new projects. But this new one is called
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Collection Connection and it is in
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partnership with the Mandel Public
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Library. They are big partners of the art
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life program. You
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know the library's books
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are you know we go together right? Right.
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We're good cousins. We have been working
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on this on this project where the idea is
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that oh and I brought little samples.
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Sure. So I'm gonna give you the kids
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version. So this is the kids version.
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This way. And Collection Connection and
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the adult version. So what they are is
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they're passports that you go to the
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library to and you pick them up there.
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And it gives you the opportunity to then
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you I'm just gonna random. I'm gonna be
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random. You pick any artwork any artwork
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doesn't matter. Okay.
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And you go to it and
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for this one you know it says today I
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visited the place where I saw give us a
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noun. It was blank size and the color.
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And so you know you
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fill it out. You can you
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can go into another one. You know if this
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if I made this art artwork I would call
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it. If I licked it it would taste like
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this is the kids version. No well that's
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really neat because it really gets the
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gets the kid into thinking about the art
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and sort of becoming involved in being
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creative with the art. Very
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involved. And so you could
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pick one of these up at the third floor
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children's library.
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Third floor library at
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Mandel Public Library right here next to
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the kids zone. For the
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kids one. Right. And you
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when you come when you've done a few of
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them you come back you get a stamp and
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if you get enough stamps you get enameled
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pens. And then if you get enough
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enameled pens after a quarter like we
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have it it's a year-long project then
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you come back and you get raffled off for
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some big prizes. Now you said that
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they can come back after they've done a
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few. Is there a number they have to do
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or just you want to do? There is. So the
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way on the children's have less than the
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adults. Okay fair enough. Right right.
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Well continue talking about it. So what
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you do is here's the adult version.
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There's the QR code to scan the art
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map that we just talked about on the
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phone. Right. So you
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scan it. And what I'm
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just gonna pick out something random. You
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go to any page you don't have to do this
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in order. I mean you can do it in order
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but you can be nonlinear if you want. And
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this one that says what did you notice
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that was not apparent upon first glance?
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Does your opinion of the work change? You
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know it just prompts and there's a
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little prompts. Start at the artwork
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without glancing away from it for any
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extended period of time. At least a
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minute or more if you can. That's the
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prompt. Right right. Because you when you
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when you first approach a piece of work
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you have obviously a very visual
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response. Yeah but if you look at it if
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you stick with it long enough longer
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let's say longer.
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Mm-hmm. Five minutes, ten
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minutes, twenty minutes. It changes. You
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start walking around. You start picking
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up nuances. Things that you didn't see
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before. And that's the idea is like okay
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take a moment. Look at it. Now look at it
15:09:19
again and give it a whole
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minutes attention. Which you believe it
15:09:24
or not is a lot for in our technology
15:09:27
world. Right. In our social media capital
15:09:29
world. And then I guarantee you your
15:09:33
thoughts will have changed. And and so
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that's kind of like the idea is like
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making that connection with the art, your
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thoughts, going back to the library.
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The same thing go back to the library. We
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have a visitor stamp visitation. So you
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get your little stamps enamel pin. The
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same thing. But it's about making that
15:09:54
connection of looking at the art in more
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depth. Sure. Going back to the library.
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The library is a wealth of information.
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So you find something and maybe that
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triggers something. And then you can ask
15:10:06
like you know I'd really like to find a
15:10:08
book about color theory. Or I really I
15:10:11
didn't know about this artist. Can I get
15:10:13
a book about Yinka Shannabari? You know
15:10:16
and so we and we go from there. And so
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it's just sort of like this back and
15:10:21
forth while giving the tool. Yeah. What I
15:10:25
really like about it especially in the
15:10:27
adult version is that you have to make a
15:10:30
commitment to go to this art. You're not
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going to spend 15 seconds and swipe
15:10:34
your way away from it. You're gonna take
15:10:36
some time and breathe it in and really
15:10:38
think about it. Which pays homage to the
15:10:41
to the art and the artist. But it also
15:10:44
sort of rewards you by taking a moment
15:10:47
and really breathing in what's happening
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with the art. And really opening up a new
15:10:52
kind of moment of absorbing and
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thinking about something rather than just
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simply swiping it away and
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scrolling through it. Which is sort of
15:11:02
where we are in things in our life and
15:11:04
in our culture. Yes we're very Instagram
15:11:05
I like boom. Yeah.
15:11:08
Right. Yeah. So this one
15:11:09
makes you slow down a bit. That's really.
15:11:11
And then hopefully you'll have you'll
15:11:13
you'll find surprises. Mm-hmm. You know
15:11:15
because it's it's not we're not telling
15:11:18
you you got to go to this this. We're
15:11:21
just saying just pick out any artwork in
15:11:23
the public realm. Yeah. Just start
15:11:25
choosing some. Right. And you can go
15:11:27
anywhere in the city and choose them. Now
15:11:29
is this something that's just going to
15:11:30
be taking place for a month or a couple
15:11:32
months. How long does
15:11:32
this last? This is a
15:11:33
year. Oh it's a full year. It's a full
15:11:35
year. So we're gonna launch Tuesday
15:11:38
February 12th at the Urban Living Room 4
15:11:41
p.m. So come to the party and basically
15:11:45
we're gonna go the librarians are gonna
15:11:47
walk you through this is you know this
15:11:49
is how you get your passport. This is the
15:11:51
anticipation. This is how it'll go. And
15:11:54
it'll be a year long because as we spoke
15:11:58
earlier the landscape keeps changing in
15:12:00
the arts. Right. So I'll be introducing
15:12:02
as this launches we anticipate by March
15:12:07
having five new pieces. Mm-hmm. And then
15:12:10
by the following month we'll probably
15:12:12
have another one. And you know it just
15:12:13
keeps evolving. So there's no reason to
15:12:15
like cut it off. Sure. It's an
15:12:17
evolutionary thing. Well
15:12:18
that jumps right into my next
15:12:19
question for you. Obviously 2025 is gonna
15:12:21
be an exciting period of time for you.
15:12:24
Tell us a little bit about what's going
15:12:25
on what you have planned. So we have
15:12:28
Collection Connection. Yeah that's
15:12:29
fantastic. We have the Commons Project
15:12:31
which is five artists five spaces. So
15:12:35
these are this is a local artist
15:12:38
initiative that started during COVID. And
15:12:40
what we do is when I say we it's the
15:12:44
Public Art Committee. We put out a call
15:12:47
for all Palm Beach County artists. They
15:12:49
selected through a competitive process
15:12:51
five artists who are either emerging or
15:12:54
not, but they're new to the public art
15:12:57
field. So they could be you it could be
15:13:00
you you have 30 years you've never been
15:13:02
in the public realm. And you could be
15:13:03
that person who for the first time goes
15:13:06
out into the and creates a piece
15:13:09
specific to a public space. That's really
15:13:12
different from being in the studio. So
15:13:15
that's one of them. I'm excited about
15:13:16
that one. Then we have coming up a lot in
15:13:21
the private development sector.
15:13:24
Especially in the downtown area Forte
15:13:27
Residencies will open up in spring. We'll
15:13:29
have three new works there by three
15:13:32
prominent women artists. Very exciting
15:13:34
for that one. Mr. C's Residencies is
15:13:37
developing something as is the Berkeley
15:13:39
811 South Dixie. I'm working with on a
15:13:44
public-private partnership with that one.
15:13:45
And that's on the south end of the city.
15:13:47
The entrance to the city from the south
15:13:49
part. Working on a new piece there. We
15:13:53
have the Northwood Village. I'm always
15:13:55
working with the CRA. They're a great
15:13:56
partner also. Library's a great partner.
15:13:59
CRA is a great partner. The
15:14:01
community. So what you know
15:14:06
we're I gotta tell you it's all over the
15:14:08
city. It's all over the
15:14:09
city. There's a lot of
15:14:11
energy happening here. This program that
15:14:13
we're describing here sounds like a
15:14:15
great place to start especially
15:14:17
introducing young
15:14:18
people. Absolutely. To art.
15:14:19
And really thinking about what they're
15:14:21
looking at rather than just swiping left
15:14:23
and being gone. You know it's really nice
15:14:26
to see that. It's very exciting. We're
15:14:28
really excited about this. And it'll be
15:14:29
fun just to you know people don't take
15:14:34
the time to just sit and like really
15:14:36
think about the art that they're seeing
15:14:39
sometimes. I mean there are people who do
15:14:41
but I think this is the opportunity to
15:14:43
do it. So and I hope they and it's a
15:14:45
perfect size. You don't have to write a
15:14:46
lot. Just throw it in your back pocket.
15:14:50
All the efforts upstairs. Take a look at
15:14:53
interpret the art. So we've talked a
15:14:56
little bit about how you know the
15:14:58
library is involved. And we want to give
15:15:00
love back to the website because it's
15:15:02
gonna be a place where a lot people are
15:15:03
gonna be getting a lot of information. So
15:15:05
wpb.org. Go ahead and look for Art Life
15:15:09
West Palm Beach. And you'll find
15:15:11
information there about this program as
15:15:13
well as everything else you're doing.
15:15:15
Yes. Which is tremendous. And the other
15:15:17
can I just throw this
15:15:18
in too for this one too.
15:15:19
Don't forget to look under the library
15:15:21
too for this project. That's right.
15:15:23
Collection connection. Of course. So as
15:15:25
well so really you can find out
15:15:27
information about the program on the
15:15:29
library's web pages. Step by step. Very
15:15:34
good. So really how it's done is gonna be
15:15:36
living at the
15:15:36
library. Excellent. So go to
15:15:38
the library pages of the city website.
15:15:40
You'll find out a lot more about this
15:15:42
particular project and how to get
15:15:43
involved. That's very cool.
15:15:45
Sibili, thank you so much for your time.
15:15:47
What you're doing for the city is so
15:15:48
important. It's part of our profile. It's
15:15:51
part of our personality. Thank you. Thank
15:15:53
you for having me. Thank you for giving
15:15:55
me the time to... Collection Connection!
15:15:58
I really appreciate your time. Thank you.
15:16:02
And thank you for joining us. We hope
15:16:04
you'll take part in the Collection
15:16:05
Connection and enjoy all the art our
15:16:08
city has to offer. The City Center
15:16:10
podcast is a production of the City of
15:16:12
West Palm Beach Communications
15:16:14
Department. I'm Jerry Marcello. We'll see
15:16:17
you next time. Collection Connection is a
15:16:21
joint project between the Mandel Public
15:16:23
Library and ArtLife West Palm Beach that
15:16:26
encourages participants to explore the
15:16:28
city, connect with art, and related to
15:16:31
other aspects of
15:16:32
their lives. Please visit
15:16:33
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15:16:36
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