Planning Division | 389 Congress Street | 4th Floor | Portland, Maine 04101 | 207-874-8719
City    Home Community Development Housing Inspections Planning

public art program

contact us
Annual Plan
Bayside Trail Seating Public Art Project
Conservation & Maintenance
Commissions
Community Art
Public Art Committee
Public Art Guidelines
Public Art Ordinance
Winslow Park RFP
In April 2000 the City Council established the Portland Public Art Program to preserve, restore and enhance the City’s public art collection. The Portland Public Art Program commissions art that engages with the surrounding environment to create, enrich, or reveal a sense of place, and to express the spirit, values, visions and poetry of place that collectively define Portland.

The public art collection currently contains twenty-four works of art that are permanently installed throughout Portland. Several new works were added in 2004. The collection contains works of historical significance that date from the nineteenth century, as well as contemporary pieces that reflect the diversity and spirit of the city.

The Portland Public Art Committee administers the Portland Public Art Program. The responsibilities of the Art Committee are outlined in Article XI of the City Code (Public Art Program). The Art Committee utilizes the Guidelines for the Public Art Ordinance (Volume 1, Number 1 – adopted May 2001) for direction in administering their responsibilities.

A key element of the Portland Public Art Program was the establishment of a percent-for-art ordinance. Under that ordinance, the City allocates ½ of 1% of the City’s annual Capital Improvement Project (C.I.P.) budget for the restoration or acquisition of permanent public art.

Information about the Portland Public Art Program can be obtained from Department of Planning and Development, City of Portland, 389 Congress Street, Portland, Maine 04101, 207-874-8723, publicart@portlandmaine.gov .