Greenwood Art Project Calls for Public Artwork Proposals to Honor Tulsa’s Black Wall Street

On August 22, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and MacArthur Fellow Rick Lowe officially kicked off the Call for Artist Proposals for the public artworks celebrating and commemorating a vibrant community in the Historic Greenwood District known as Black Wall Street. The news conference was held at the Greenwood Cultural Center, 322 N. Greenwood Ave.
Lowe, a nationally renowned artist and founder of Project Row Houses, is working with Oklahoma artists to tell the story of Greenwood through eight temporary art installations. At the news conference, he announced more information about four workshops to be held in September and October to help interested artists understand the expectations and process for application. The deadline for proposal applications is Nov. 1.
In January, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced the grant to commission temporary works of art accessible to the public and visitors in the historic Greenwood District of Tulsa, the location of Black Wall Street, the most prominent district of black-owned businesses in the United States in the early 20th century.
Last year, Bloomberg Philanthropies invited mayors of U.S. cities with 30,000 residents or more to submit proposals for temporary public art projects that address important civic issues and demonstrate an ability to generate public-private collaborations, celebrate creativity and urban identity, and strengthen local economies.
More than 200 cities applied for the 2018 Public Art Challenge with proposals reflecting diverse artistic media addressed a range of pressing issues and social themes such as community development, environmental sustainability, cultural identity and immigration.