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Public Art Program

The City of Dallas Public Art Collection numbers over 300 individual works of art as of the beginning of 2015, and features pieces by world-renowned artists, including many Dallas area artists, some of whom have achieved international recognition. All have made a significant contribution to the vibrant culture of Dallas.

The Dallas Public Art collection is comprised of commissions, donations and heritage works completed prior to the Percent for Art Program in Dallas initiated in 1989. Public Art can be found in every corner of the city with concentrations in the downtown, at Fair Park and at Dallas Love Field airport.

The Public Art Program manages the commission and acquisition of new public art as well as the conservation and maintenance of the existing City of Dallas art collection. Works of public art, many created by local and regional artists, enliven parks, libraries, fire stations, recreation centers and many more public locations in Dallas. While many of the artists in the public art collection are from Texas, many are also from around the world. The Public Art Program makes Dallas a vibrant place to live and work and a great place to visit.

Explore Public Art in Dallas

This public facing map of the OAC Public Art collection allows residents and visitors to easily explore Dallas for these Public Art pieces. Plan your own walking tour or explore virtually from your home!Click here for Public Art Maps

See Damaged Public Art?

Call 311 in hundreds of languages or Request City Services Online

Help us take care of our Dallas Public Art Collection by reporting graffiti, damage, or severe wear for staff awareness.

Submit an Online Service RequestDashboard (Check Service Request Status)

Download the Dallas 311 Mobile App

Educational Resources

In the Spring of 2020, the Office of Arts and Culture (OAC) received a $50,000 grant from the National Park Service (NPS) to research and interpret the historic legacy of "The Hall of Negro Life" a federally-funded exhibition at the Texas Centennial in 1936. This grant was used to create a documentary film, in its development the OAC is invited community members to help commemorate this extraordinary exhibition contributing memories, images, audio histories, artifacts, documents, or any other ephemera relating to " The Hall of Negro Life". Together, this story of triumph and perseverance that paved the way for the Civil Rights movement in Dallas created and is available for public viewing.

Click here for "The Hall of Negro Life" Teaching Curriculum

Click here to learn more about the documentary

Get Involved!

Community members are the City's greatest asset and the government works most effectively when it works with its community. Here are several ways you can get involved with the public art process. Click here to learn more

Sidewalks Poetry Project

The Dallas “Sidewalk Poetry Project”, a poetry-centered public art installation that commemorates the historical significance of twenty-eight locations throughout the city of Dallas and provides opportunities for all Dallas residents to participate.

Through the project, poems written by Dallas residents will be stamped into freshly poured sidewalks all across town using an accessible, new, Dallas-centric poetry form invented by Dallas Poet Laureate Mag Gabbert, called the “2-1-Form”. Each featured installation location will be chosen with a focus on equity and inclusion, and with the intention of addressing and healing past instances of harmful erasure.

Learn More

More About Public Art

2014

Celebrating 25 years of the Public Art Ordinance in the City of Dallas, the Collection contains 260 projects consisting of 105 commissions, 34 donations and 121 heritage works that pre-date the Public Art Ordinance.

The Love Field Art Program is part of the City of Dallas Public Art Collection at at Dallas Love Field Airport. The Program consists of 17 public artworks including 12 new commissions and 5 previous installations. The new commissions represent the work of local, national and international artists and were funded through a dynamic partnership with the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture, Southwest Airlines, the Department of Aviation and the Love Field Modernization Program. Phase I of the project was completed in 2014.

North Texas Sunrise, a mosaic by Dixie Friend Gay, is installed in the main lobby of Dallas Love Field. The installation received national recognition as one of the top public art installations in the United States from American’s for the Arts, Public Art Year in Review. The annual survey is conducted by the members of the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network, in recognition of outstanding public art projects representing the most compelling work for the year.

2013

The Cotton Bowl public art project, Light Veil, by James Carpenter completed.

2012

Work by Laura Abrams and Jim LaPaso at Lake Highland Town Center, the first public art.Installation in Council District 10;

2011

Donation of three works by Cliff Garten, Brad Goldberg and Margo Sawyer at City Place with value of $625,000

2010

Three library installations: Lochwood, Prairie Creek and Pleasant Grove by artists Rex Kare, Sandra Fiedorek and Sonia King.

2009

Main Street Garden Park by Leni Schwendinger and Tenor and Contralto at Fair Park by David Newton

1989

The Office of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Commission was established by city ordinance, and the Public Art Program was transferred to the Office of Cultural Affairs from the Park and Recreation department.

Click here to view the Public Art Ordinance
Click here to view the Cultural Policy:

1988

City Council adopted the Percent for Art Ordinance in September 1988.

1986-88

Funded by the Texas Commission on the Arts, a Public Art Master Plan was developed. A broad-based citizen advisory group of 30 people researched programs in other cities and developed recommendations and guidelines for Dallas’ public art program.1982

The first public art program in Dallas appears as a part of the Art in Public Places Program.

1985

A formal Cultural Policy was adopted by the City Council.

1984

The City appoints a Public Art Coordinator to oversee public art projects.

Public Art describes artworks commissioned in public spaces to engage people as a part of their daily life. In Dallas you can find Public Art in many places: libraries, parks, along streets and in public buildings. Public Art can celebrate community, enliven the everyday environment, draw attention to places or ideas, or commemorate events. Located in a public place, it is there for everyone to experience.

Public Art celebrates our public history, ever changing culture and informs civic memory. Artworks reflect their place and time, revealing elements of our society for public consideration.

Given the diversity of our city, there will be a variety of opinions about each work of public art, however the process by which public art is commissioned engages members of the community to provide input and engage in conversations about what is meaningful and valuable about their communities.

Every work of public art commissioned by the City of Dallas has been engaged through an interactive process that involves community members, artists, architects, design professionals, civic leaders, politicians, funding agencies, fabrication and installation professionals. A city with public art values and invests in its diversity, identity, and future.

The City of Dallas has a percent for art ordinance. When the City issues bonds to fund capital improvements, up to 1.5% of eligible capital improvement project costs are committed to the commission works of art for locations at or near the capital improvement site.

A call for artists is issued through the Office of Arts and Culture and a selection panel is assembled to review the submitted artist proposals. The panel is comprised of representatives from the neighborhood in which the artwork will be located, artists or design professionals, the project architect or engineer, the City of Dallas project manager and Public Art program staff. After a review of eligible artist candidates, the panel forwards recommendations for review to the Public Art Committee. Public Art Committee members, who are arts professionals, artists, architects or engineers, review the selection panel suggestion and forward their recommendation to the Arts and Culture Advisory Commission. The Commission members review the recommendation.

If recommended for approval, projects larger than $50,000 are forwarded to the City Council for review and approval. For projects costing less than $50,000, the Commission recommends approval or rejection of the proposal. Public Art staff works with the artists, City of Dallas Project Managers, and additional Client Project Managers (where applicable) through the design, installation, completion and dedication of the project.

When a donor makes a gift, donation or loan to the City of Dallas for the purpose of commissioning a work of art, the selection process remains the same as for the Percent for Art projects as described above. The work is reviewed by the Public Art Committee for appropriateness and maintainability and a recommendation is forwarded to the Arts and Culture Advisory Commission for approval or rejection.

When reviewing the artists’ submissions for a Public Art Project the following criteria are considered:

Quality of design
Appropriateness for location
Durability
Ease of Maintenance
Safety
Diversity

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Explore Public Art in Dallas

​See Damaged Public Art?

Call 311 in hundreds of languages or Request City Services OnlineHelp us take care of our Dallas Public Art Collection by reporting graffiti, damage, or severe wear for staff awareness.

​Educational Resources