For Which It Stands: Art and Public Planning

How can artists help us reimagine our cities? What is the role of the arts in city planning? As our city continues to grow with new development projects dotting the skyline every day, we’ll discuss these and other critical questions with artists and public administrators. Join the discussion as we consider a vision of the future that invests in what the visual arts can bring.

Free | Registration Required
This program is made possible by the generous support of Art Bridges

Featured Speakers:

Meredith Connelly

Meredith Connelly is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, best known for her grand-scale installations that emphasize the interplay of light, science, and technology. Connelly’s illuminated, site-specific displays – complete with interactive elements – connect and submerge viewers into glowing, otherworldly environments. Developed from and influenced by the organic qualities of nature, Connelly’s structures are formed using manufactured materials that are able to accurately capture the elaborate detail of the natural world, while also supporting environmental sustainability. Having worked with lighting and technology as a material for over a decade, Connelly has built a practice that has not only captured national attention but has engaged hundreds of thousands of participants in the evocative and inclusive power of public art.

Tom Stanley

Born 1950 in Fort Cavazos, Texas, Tom Stanley has been working as a visual artist for over fifty years. After earning an MA in Applied Art History and an MFA in Painting from the University of South Carolina in 1980, he served on the faculties of Arkansas College (now Lyon College) in Batesville, Arkansas and Barry University in Miami, Florida. He was director of the Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, North Carolina, from 1985 until 1990 when he then became the first full-time director of Winthrop University Galleries in Rock Hill, South Carolina. For 10 years he served as chair of Winthrop’s Department of Fine Arts until his retirement in 2017. He currently resides in Durham, North Carolina. Current activities include an ASC public art commission for a City of Charlotte Infrastructure Improvement Project along Tom Hunter Road in the Hidden Valley neighborhood.

Kendra Stewart

Dr. Stewart is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration and Director of the Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Center for Livable Communities at the College of Charleston.  Her research interests include South Carolina government, non-profit management, state and local government, food policy, and women and politics.  She is co-editor of a book entitled The Practice of Government Public Relations. She has conducted political analysis for a variety of print, radio and television media, including Good Morning America, Fox News Channel, the Associated Press, The New Yorker, and National Public Radio.