Iowa City Downtown District hires its first public art director

IOWA CITY - Three years ago, a local artist painted his first bench with a design perfect for Iowa - a hog made of corn on the cob and butter - as part of the Iowa City Downtown District's budding Benchmarks program on the Pedestrian Mall.

Since then, Thomas Agran has completed a collection of public art pieces downtown, but now he's taking on a new role as the first director of public art for the downtown district. In his new position, he'll serve as a liaison between businesses or other entities and local artists as well as someone who works to identify and organize new public art opportunities.

Agran, whose new position is part time, said he is taking inventory of all potential spaces and walls downtown and learning just what permission is needed to put artwork on some of them.

He said he sees potential for some more temporary art pieces, such as projections or installations in Black Hawk Mini Park on the Ped Mall.

On Tuesday, the Iowa City Council unanimously approved a temporary art installation, called Prairie Box, that should go up by August and remain in the park until Oct. 31.

'It's really important that the voices present feel diverse,” Agran said. Public art can be challenging because everybody wants everybody to like what goes up.

'But I think if you wait for those projects that everybody agrees on, you're either going to be waiting forever, or those projects are not going to be as memorable or as impactful. And I think that Iowa City is a community that can handle more challenging content, as well.”

Agran will inherit ongoing projects such as the Benchmarks program, which he organized before starting his new position about two weeks ago; the district's effort to improve alleyways; and the CoSign project, which is intended to create more pedestrian-friendly signs on businesses.

One thing he won't do, however, is simply be a commissioned muralist for the downtown district.

Rather, Betsy Potter, director of operations for the ICDD, a self-taxed improvement district made up of downtown business and property owners, said he'll be developing the framework of a public art program.

This program became a priority for the district during its strategic planning last year, Potter said. She said Agran's role will help create long-term support for public art in downtown Iowa City.

'Out of that conversation, it developed that we do want to have a really great impact on art downtown because art vastly affects the feel of downtown and what downtown Iowa City is,” Potter said.

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