The Arts District of Glens Falls has completed the most visible piece of its Arts Trail to date, with seven electrical boxes along the trail featuring painted murals by artists.
A call went out in September and the projects were completed in October. This piece of the Arts Trail is made possible by the Touba Family Foundation.
“This is only the beginning,” said spokesperson Chad Rabinovitz, former artistic director of Adirondack Theatre Festival and co-owner of The Candy Space in Lake George. “We have major plans for public art, from large-scale murals on buildings to statement sculptures. You won’t be able to come to Glens Falls without knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is a place that loves the arts.”
Artists chosen for the electrical box project were Hannah Williams, Shelley Fairbanks, Rodney Allen Bentley, Olga Aleksandrova, Kevin Clark, Stephanie Vaus and Leah Hofgesang.
Also in the works is a Rain Art public art project—quotes from literature, chosen by the Teen Center at Crandall Public Library, spray painted onto the sidewalk outside the library with clear paint so the quotes are only visible when it rains.
Other components of the project to establish an Arts District, seven years in the making, include banners demarking the border of the Arts District, a website at www.artsdistrictgf.com, both of which are already completed. Coming soon, people can expect to see sidewalk stamps around the border of the Arts District, and bike racks that will soon be installed at the 10 arts destinations representing 14 arts organizations within walking distance from one another.
“We have three museums within a mile of one another,” says Arts District Administrator Kate Austin-Avon of Advokate LLC. “Jenny Hutchinson and I pulled together a few of arts organizations in 2014 and we started meeting monthly to collaborate, realizing that we are a bigger magnet when we join forces, and Dr. Jacquiline Touba had the idea to connect us with a physical trail.”
So far, funding has come from the Glens Falls Foundation, the Touba Family Foundation, and several individual donors. Establishing the Arts District was part of the Glens Falls Downtown Revitalization Initiative’s plans, and a fundraising campaign to bring the art to life is now underway, under the umbrella of LARAC (Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council) nonprofit group. Donations are tax-deductible.
Sponsorships of $1,000 are available for a large Adirondack chair to be installed at the heart of Downtown Glens Falls, featuring a cityscape of Glens Falls by Anthony Richichi. These sponsors will be thanked with a plaque mounted on the back of the chair.
Sponsorships remain for the bright blue bicycle-shaped bike racks that will be placed along the trail. Two are already claimed by the Adirondack Cycling Advocates. The $750 level sponsorship earns a logo cut into a metal plate in the bicycle wheel for two years, or the $1,500 level earns the placement for 10 years.
Additional sponsorships are available for large scale murals and sculpture that are planned. Interested groups can contact Austin-Avon by email at kate@advokate.net or (call 518) 353-2121.