The Public Art Archive (PAA) project seeks public art professionals to join a field-wide conversation about online tools and services for public art administrators. The goal of the conversation is to inform WESTAF’s PAA team of issues in the public art field and advise on specific proposals related to the development of public art collection management tools and services. These tools and services are being developed as part of the existing PublicArtArchive.org database.
The Archive project is currently advised by a Senior Advisory Committee. That committee advises the Archive project manager on macro-policy issues and long-term strategic planning for the project. The field conversation among public art practitioners is intended to augment, not replace, the work of the already established Senior Advisory Committee.
Who Can Join?
Potentially, participation in this conversation is open to all individuals currently working in the area of public art. Participants can be public art administrators, artists engaged in public art, public art project managers, public art maintenance contractors, curators, conservators, technologists working in the area of public art, public art policy experts, visual resource experts, and scholars of public art.
In order to ensure that various specialties, geographic regions of the United States and Canada, and specialized expertise are represented, invitations will also be extended to specific individuals. Doing so will help ensure that the Archive staff receive broad and deep responses to the issues posed.
Consider Joining If You:
- Love talking about databases;
- Think that the web is the next frontier for the arts;
- Wish you had a better way to manage your public art collection;
- Have a horror story about using your database; or
- Manage a large collection in a highly customized database built just for your needs specifically;
Commitment Requested
To be a regular and effective participants in this conversation, we ask that you be prepared to:
- Engage proactively and bring issues from the field to the Public Art Archive team.
- Suggest ways that WESTAF can address the needs of the field.
- Reply to monthly emails, polls, or discussion questions via a Facebook group.
- Attend up to two webinar meetings per year, and one in-person meeting if you attend the AFTA conference in June.
- Volunteer for this work, no compensation for your time is offered.
The Conversation Tool
The field conversation will be facilitated via an open Facebook group. The Facebook conversation will be supplemented by webinars and conference calls.
If You Are Interested:
Please complete this short survey (if you have not previously) so that we know about you and your database. If you have already completed the survey, simply email PAArchive@westaf.org directly and Rachel Cain, PAA Program Manager will contact you.
Feel free to forward this announcement to colleagues who you think might be interested in joining the conversation. Please email any questions to PAArchive@westaf.org.