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I was recently doing a walking tour of Sioux Falls, South Dakota and I was awestruck by the number of outdoor sculptures lining both sides of their Main Street. Have no idea who funded it all, but being one who goes crazy over outdoor sculptures, this would be a draw for me to visit there even tho' I didn't live in the downtown area.
In Medellin, Columbia they have a great number of Botero sculptures in their downtown area, and if you know anything about Botero, he only painted and sculpted fat people.
Know of any cities in the U.S. that have lots of outdoor sculptures in their downtown areas?
To answer "who pays for it?", there's a pile of federal money out there that's a pass through from the state to municipalities for "Public Art". In Maryland it's part of the Maryland Heritage" program. It's a matching grant program, usually, but 90% is grant funded.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Seattle has it's "Olympic Sculpture Park" along the water front. I work near there and while people pass by walking to Myrtle Edwards Park or back to the cruise terminal from downtown, I rarely see people actually looking at them or taking pictures, except for the naked man and boy fountain.
In 2001, Baltimore put out over 100 sculptures of different types of fish all around downtown. I know that I enjoyed them, and my memory is that a lot of other people did as well. Most likely, they did lure people downtown, at least once, so they could see them.
I don't know about bringing people downtown specifically, but they can definitely serve as "gathering points". The plaza in downtown Reno with the Believe letters and the giant whale served as the location for a number of events while I was there (the Women's March, a Bernie Sanders rally, various other rallies). There are other parks and open spaces downtown where people could gather, but I think these two sculptures signal "this is the center of town".
Avoid controversial subjects from history as statues or public art. Even some of the public art or murals from the 1930-40s WPA or other programs are under fire.
Certain things really attract attention and crowds. The "Bean" in Chicago seems to be a big draw. Some other stuff isn't even noticed.
In Denver, they have a great big black bear, 2-3 stories high, looking into the windows of the Convention center. I noticed it when I was there several years ago.
I'm in favor of making sculptures that will make you laugh, like the Botero sculptures in Medellin. One of the Botero sculptures is a huge fat woman lying on her stomach with her big oversized butt showing, all done in bronze.
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