The City of Lancaster recently announced the selection of five artists for its Public Art Community Engagement (PACE) Neighbors program. The 18-month grant-funded program is designed to support a cohort of local artists in making temporary public art projects to engage Lancaster city residents in discovering the connections between art and civic government.

The Lancaster city-based artists selected will receive a $15,000 commission and participate in the PACE Neighbors 2022-23 Cohort. The artists are Matty Geez, Dominique Miller, Libby Modern, Shauna Yorty, and Teatro Paloma.

As a cohort, these artists will have opportunities to connect with other practicing artists and various resources to augment their own work. Information gleaned through the community-based projects will inform the city's upcoming comprehensive plan. Program coordinators also hope the information will contribute to neighborhood pride and sense of place.

The program has four main goals to accomplish over the course of the residencies. First, the program seeks to form a diverse cohort of five local artists who have various levels of formal arts training and who have a desire to extend their studio practice into the public realm. The second goal is to support the implementation and professional development of the artist cohort in creating temporary public art projects. The third goal is to introduce the program artists to local community organizations for potential partnership and to assist the program artists in honing their social practice, presentation, communication, and other similar skills by providing them access to and training with visiting artists and other experts. Fourth, the program will include a display of the artists' work as part of a larger scale temporary public art installation and exhibition to be held at the Winter Visual Arts Center on the Franklin & Marshall College campus at the culmination of the one-year program period.

Informed by Mayor Sorace's strategic plan, the PACE Neighbors program will play an important part in identifying and addressing needs of each neighborhood in Lancaster city.

To learn more about the PACE Neighbors program and the 2022-23 artist cohort, visit http://www.cityoflancasterpa.com/pace. PACE Neighbors is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Franklin & Marshall College, the City of Lancaster's Comprehensive Plan, the Lancaster County Community Foundation, the High Family Foundation, and the Rick and Gail Gray Fund.