Rahm Emanuel: Public art by Yoko Ono and others flowers in Chicago

Few things have the power to enhance public spaces and promote neighborhood vitality like public art. Throughout the City of Chicago, we are reclaiming our public spaces for the public to enjoy and enriching the experience through great works of art.

This Friday morning, we will see renderings of another treasure soon to be added to Chicago’s public art collection when Yoko Ono will unveil her first permanent public piece in the Americas, for Jackson Park on the South Side. Her work, titled “Sky Landing,” will include a sculpture and a landscape garden that will serve as a place to congregate and contemplate.

This year, as we prepare to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of two of our most seminal works of public art – the Picasso in Daley Plaza and the Wall of Respect which once stood at 43^rd Street and Langley Avenue on the South Side – we are announcing our Public Art Chicago: 50 for 50 Campaign to activate a public art project in all 50 wards over the next two years. The initiative will be spearheaded by a committee chaired by the City’s Commissioner of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Michelle Boone, School of the Art Institute President Walter Massey, and philanthropist Cindy Pritzker.

The City of Chicago has a long history of making art accessible in public spaces. In Chicago, you can see works by Picasso, Dubuffet and Miro, all from the same street corner and all for free. A few blocks away, you can see a great work by Calder. Soon these and additional works will be even more accessible by the new Loop Link, connecting the West Loop to Michigan Avenue.

As we reclaim our public spaces for the public, we are also making sure that every neighborhood has the opportunity to experience great works of art in their community. Last week, we cut the ribbon on the spectacular 606 Trail. The 606 transformed a barrier that used to divide four neighborhoods into a landmark that unites four neighborhoods.

The 606 itself is a work of art thanks to the artist Frances Whitehead, who teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She worked closely with the design and engineering teams to ensure that the structure itself has artistic value, consistent with Chicago’s history. The 606 has many works of art along the way, including a piece by celebrated Chicago artist Kay Rosen, which can be seen at Milwaukee and Leavitt, several works from other local artists from Project Onward, as well as a street art gallery showcasing creations by acclaimed Chicago street artists.

The 606 comes on the heels of the newly transformed Riverwalk. The juxtaposition of the 606 and the new Riverwalk make spaces that used to be cut off from the public new recreational enhancements for all Chicagoans. At the end of this month, half of the new Riverwalk will be open and will provide river level access to the public. Public art will be incorporated to further enhance the experience and engage residents who enjoy the Riverwalk.

We are also bringing more public art to our neighborhoods through our work to rebuild the CTA. The CTA has commissioned some of Chicago’s most talented artists to create new works at its stations. Every new or renovated station over the past four years includes a piece of public art by a famous or up-and-coming artist. Examples include Theaster Gates, whose work will appear at the 95^th Street Terminal of the Red Line, Hebru Brantley, whose work can be seen at the new Motor Row station on the Green Line, and Ryan Szanyi, who is creating a piece for the Wilson station on the Red Line that is currently being renovated. As we rebuild CTA stations along the Red Line North and the New Blue Line, we will continue to commission works by local artists to enhance the community, just like every station along the Brown Line and the Red Line South.

In addition, building on the success of our great sculptures along Lake Shore Drive, we will soon be moving them to neighborhood boulevards throughout Chicago. We will also be providing opportunities for our youth through our summer jobs program to learn landscape art through shrub and tree trimming and to create art such as murals and sculptures in our neighborhoods.

Four years ago, I asked Commissioner Boone to produce a new cultural plan for the City of Chicago, incorporating ideas from residents throughout the city. It is the first new cultural plan that Chicago has had in 25 years. The plan focused on bringing the arts into every community in the City of Chicago. We have made a lot of progress from our summer music festivals to our free “Night Out in the Parks” program that brings 1,000 world-class music, movies, dance, and theater performances to neighborhoods throughout our city parks system.

Today, as Chicago welcomes the Americans for the Arts annual conference for the first time in the city’s history, I will be discussing my vision for the 50 for 50 Campaign. This campaign will enrich our neighborhoods with the same cultural vitality that word class art like Picasso, Dubuffet and Miro have done for our central business district, taking Chicago’s rich history of public art to the neighborhoods throughout our city.

Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, was elected to a second term on April 7.