Progress continues to be made on the San Pedro Creek project and now it's reached a noteworthy milestone. That milestone is in hiring Carrie Brown as the project's public art curator.
"I'm charged with creating a public art program that includes not only temporary and permanent installations, but also performance space works. We're really interested in engaging all of the artistic disciplines here in San Antonio."
The 2.2-mile roughly north-to-south project on downtown's West Side will change what's now essentially a drainage ditch into an art-filled below street level landscaped walkway. She says the project will also give voice to new angles in the city's history.
"With the San Pedro Creek project there is another layer of history and story-telling to be told, and so we're really interested in picking apart those histories and really engaging artists in that vein so that when you come to the San Pedro Creek you have a unique experience."
Like the Museum and Mission Reach projects, San Pedro Creek is a public/private partnership between the City, the County, and both the San Antonio River Authority and fundraising from the San Antonio River Foundation. Hiring the Chicago native, by way of public art jobs in Los Angeles and Austin, may also be precedent setting.
"To my knowledge this position with the River Authority is the first permanent Art position within a River Authority in the Country. And so they are definitely trail-blazing, and signifying their commitment to Arts programming, not only on San Pedro Creek, but also along the river."
She will manage the art portion of the Four-Phase project, standing squarely between artists and engineers.
"In my career I've been in that position many times. I'm just thrilled to have the chance to put my mark on the Artistic Community here in San Antonio."
The first phase of the project is slated for completion in conjunction with the city's Tri-centennial in May of 2018.
