East Frederick Rising is teaming up with other organizations to beautify a primary gateway into Frederick by placing public art at the East Street traffic circle and updating the landscaping. For more information on our project, see below.
We want your help.
Please tell us your preferences for the theme and style of the art to be placed in the circle. Your preferences will help shape the guidance we give artists when we ask them to submit their ideas.
Click one of the links below and take our brief survey:
- Business Owners
- Art Community (artists, gallery owners, and others actively engaged in art)
- Youth & Young Adults (ages 13-24)
- Everyone else
About EFR’s East Street Circle Art Project
EFR selected this as our current “major impact” project because we believe the East Street Circle doesn’t represent Frederick as well as it should. We want that gateway to demonstrate a sense of pride, to show we’re investing so that others are encouraged to invest in Frederick by bringing their businesses here, to take a risk on developments or buy a home and move here. We want the circle to welcome visitors who come to shop or recreate here. Bottom line, we believe this project will benefit Frederick economically while also making Frederick a more pleasant, beautiful place to be.
We’re not doing this alone. We’re teaming up with other organizations. The Rotary Club of Frederick has provided funding to help kick the project off. M&RR is providing in-kind services for the survey. The City of Frederick.has also agreed to provide in-kind support for site preparation. A committee has been formed to assist with fundraising and facilitating connections we’ll need to be successful. We will also create a panel of representative stakeholders that will assist in the art selection process.
Using a process that is closely aligned with the best practices defined by the Frederick Arts Council for public art projects, we’ve defined 6 project stages: Planning & Preparation, Art Definition, Art Selection, Art Creation, Art Installation, Ongoing Maintenance.
We are now in the Art Definition phase. The goal of this phase is determining what kind of art should be installed so we can finalize the RFQ. A survey has already been released and will be open until August 15.
By the end of the year, we hope to have the Art Selection phase completed. In that phase, we will issue the RFQ and create a short-list of finalists from among those who respond to the RFQ. That short-list of 3 will be narrowed to 1 through a review process that includes input from the public, presentations to City Commissions, as well as the Mayor & Board of Alderman. So, stay tuned for another opportunity to provide input on the specific piece of art to be placed at the East Street traffic circle.