Urban art to multiply as ‘art boxes’ are installed downtown

Jodi Schwan

August 4, 2021

Typically, traffic signal control boxes blend into the landscape in downtown Sioux Falls.

But not anymore. They’re going from urban infrastructure to urban art.

Over the next few weeks, 26 boxes will be wrapped with original artwork.

When the Sioux Falls Arts Council did the original call for designs earlier this year, the hope was to get 50 submissions.

“We had 176,” executive director Kellen Boice said. “That’s insane. So we know those artists are here, and they want to be seen.”

The key was finding them.

The goal of the art box project was to “highlight all the artists in the community of Sioux Falls and not just the ones we typically talk to, the ones who follow us and would know about it,” Boice said.

That involved working with the city of Sioux Falls, Downtown Sioux Falls Inc., the Multi-Cultural Center, Lutheran Social Services and many nonprofits that serve the homeless and diverse populations.

It meant printing brochures so applicants could draw, color or paint right on the brochure to submit a piece instead of needing a computer.

And it involved creating a committee to evaluate the work that equally reflected the diversity of the community.

“It created this access for everybody,” Boice said. “And now we have contacts to provide even more opportunities if they weren’t selected.”

An artist’s story also figured into selection, she said. And there are some powerful ones.

“One gentleman had signed up through the Bishop Dudley (Hospitality) House, and it took a couple weeks, but we tracked him down, and he’s able to have his work (displayed) and was very appreciative,” Boice said.

“Telling the story of who lives in our community was really part of it. We had heart-wrenching things that came out of people. It’s incredible and tells a story of this community that is so diverse and broad.”

The boxes are found between Sixth and 14th streets, from Minnesota Avenue to just east of Phillips Avenue. They’re wrapped in durable, graffiti-proof vinyl that should last years, Boice said.

Artists were paid a stipend for their work, and the project was funded with a grant from the Bloomberg Foundation and a contribution from the downtown economic development incentive fund administered by DTSF. The hope is to have all the work installed by the end of the month. There will be QR codes installed, so visitors can learn more about the artists, including through audio recordings.

Boice said a handful of additional boxes could be added annually.

As a newer leader of the arts council who was held up from doing some work because of the pandemic, the project became a natural fit and valuable way to connect to the community, she added.

“We haven’t had an opportunity to really flex our muscles … and this was the perfect chance to show what we can do.”

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