Or, at least that’s what Alan Shemper used to call it. But who ever said banks never did anything good? ArtPlace, a new national collaboration of foundations, banks and federal agencies formed to accelerate creative place-making across the U.S., has awarded grants totaling over $1 million to the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, University City District, and the Asian Arts Initiative. The OACCE’s grant totals $200,000, while UCD gets $375,000 and the AAI brings home $450,000.

So where will all of this money go?

>>>The OACCE project will feature an unusual installation – tentatively entitled NET – by the Austrian artist and design collaborative Numen/For Use which will soon appear on the central Delaware Waterfront. NET, an interactive installation of interconnected nets, will focus attention and excitement on the waterfront at Race Street, supporting local efforts to activate the waterfront. Numen/For Use calls the installation a “transparent artificial landscape of ephemeral architecture in public space.” Visitors will enter at the “ground floor” and climb the transparent structure to the highest level, or just recline in what may appear to be an oversized public hammock. The installation will occur in summer 2013.

>>>UCD’s grant of $375,000 will support urban design upgrades and art installations at “The Porch”, a new half-acre public space at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, the second busiest train station in the country. Artists will be part of the design process throughout, and will create functional art to enliven the plaza. The Porch will create a new town square for a rapidly expanding new neighborhood around the site.

>>>The Asian Arts Initiative will use their $450,000 ArtPlace grant to create a “Social Practice Lab” that will commission work from creative individuals and organizations in Chinatown and Chinatown North. The goal of the Social Practice Lab is to encourage artistic excellence and innovation while building relationships, encouraging neighborhood development and effecting positive change within the community.”

Oversized public hammock? Uh, sure. Philadelphia: We got big shit.

So there you have it: The world is not totally made of shit. Have you got some good news? If so, send it to tips[at]philebrity[dot]com with “GOOD MOTHERFUCKING NEWS!” in the subject header — we’d love to hear about it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 12th, 2012 at 10:46 am.