Public Art for "Little Syria"
Donation protected
On Wednesday, January 25, the Department of Cultural Affairs of New York City, through its "Percent for Art" program, held the final panel meeting to determine the winning proposal for public art commemorating the "Little Syria" neighborhood of Downtown Manhattan and its literary heritage of Lebanese and Syrian figures like Kahlil Gibran, Mikhail Naimy, Elia Abu Madi, Nasib Arida, 'Afifa Karam, and Ameen Rihani. The NYC Department of Parks & Recreation is building a new 20,000 sq. ft. park in the historic neighborhood, Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza, and, after determined appeals by our local historical society, they have agreed to incorporate public artwork for the messages and themes of the influential writers and poets associated with this part of New York City.
The winning artist, Sara Ouhaddou, created a design that combines the Arabic script and traditional geometry into a novel, universal form. The poetry and prose of our writers would be written throughout the flat surfaces of the park in stone and in a proposed central pavilion with fortified stained glass. We believe her design is brilliant, and it will allow visitors to the park to encounter the words of Kahlil Gibran and his colleagues in a beautiful setting.
Our local community nonprofit, the Washington Street Historical Society, helped sponsor the artist competition, and now we will also be responsible for raising funds for the monument above what the city can afford from its budget for the park. We are determined to ensure that the artist can realize her full vision, and we will need to develop a comprehensive fundraising plan to achieve this. The cost of the artwork and a supportive endowment for maintenance could be quite substantial depending on our negotiations with the City. We urgently need seed funding to allow us to produce materials, including a crowdfunding video and proposal documents, to persuade donors to support this meaningful endeavour (please also contact us if you are an admirer of Kahlil Gibran and the other poets and would like to discuss a major gift).
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Donations toward this project's development will be listed with the full donations toward the effort once the artwork is complete and installed in 2018 or 2019.
We ask for your help to achieve this monument, and we pray that the final artwork will be an inspiration.
--Todd Fine and Elizabeth Saylor
President and Treasurer
Washington Street Historical Society (www.savewashingtonstreet.org)
[email redacted] / [phone redacted]
"It was in my heart to help a little because I was helped much." -- Kahlil Gibran
P.S. Here are a few articles about the project:
http://gothamist.com/2016/08/05/little_syria_nyc.php
http://untappedcities.com/2017/01/30/new-park-elizabeth-h-berger-plaza-will-commemorate-literary-legacy-of-nycs-little-syria/
https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170202/financial-district/little-syria-elizabeth-berger-financial-district
The winning artist, Sara Ouhaddou, created a design that combines the Arabic script and traditional geometry into a novel, universal form. The poetry and prose of our writers would be written throughout the flat surfaces of the park in stone and in a proposed central pavilion with fortified stained glass. We believe her design is brilliant, and it will allow visitors to the park to encounter the words of Kahlil Gibran and his colleagues in a beautiful setting.
Our local community nonprofit, the Washington Street Historical Society, helped sponsor the artist competition, and now we will also be responsible for raising funds for the monument above what the city can afford from its budget for the park. We are determined to ensure that the artist can realize her full vision, and we will need to develop a comprehensive fundraising plan to achieve this. The cost of the artwork and a supportive endowment for maintenance could be quite substantial depending on our negotiations with the City. We urgently need seed funding to allow us to produce materials, including a crowdfunding video and proposal documents, to persuade donors to support this meaningful endeavour (please also contact us if you are an admirer of Kahlil Gibran and the other poets and would like to discuss a major gift).
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Donations toward this project's development will be listed with the full donations toward the effort once the artwork is complete and installed in 2018 or 2019.
We ask for your help to achieve this monument, and we pray that the final artwork will be an inspiration.
--Todd Fine and Elizabeth Saylor
President and Treasurer
Washington Street Historical Society (www.savewashingtonstreet.org)
[email redacted] / [phone redacted]
"It was in my heart to help a little because I was helped much." -- Kahlil Gibran
P.S. Here are a few articles about the project:
http://gothamist.com/2016/08/05/little_syria_nyc.php
http://untappedcities.com/2017/01/30/new-park-elizabeth-h-berger-plaza-will-commemorate-literary-legacy-of-nycs-little-syria/
https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170202/financial-district/little-syria-elizabeth-berger-financial-district
Organizer
Todd Fine
Organizer
New York, NY
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