August 8, 2001

NEA ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR 10 NATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITIONS
Program to Expand With Focus on School Design in 2002

Washington, D.C. - The National Endowment for the Arts
today announced the 10 awardees of its second annual
$500,000 New Public Works initiative. The agency will
provide up to $50,000 each to 10 organizations to help fund
national design competitions for a range of public works
projects. This year, particular emphasis was given to
landscape design, to stimulate activity in that discipline.
Six of the projects receiving funding include a significant
landscape component. In 2002, the program will award up to
$1.25 million to support as many as 20 design competitions,
with a focus on school projects.

The winning competitions involving landscape design include
reconfiguring the streetscape of Pasadena's Arroyo Parkway,
sponsored by the city's Art Center College of Design; a
landscape masterplan for the approach road to the Denver
International Airport; and a bridge and park design for the
Anacostia waterfront, sponsored by the District of Columbia
Office of Planning. Other notable projects involve the
design of 12 rapid transit bus stations for the Hartford,
Conn. metropolitan area, the expansion of the Queens Museum
of Art in New York and the design of a new high school in
Perth Amboy, N.J.

"It is gratifying to see the positive impact this program
is already having on the quality of design for public
buildings and spaces across the country," said NEA
Chairman, Bill Ivey. "By encouraging communities to conduct
these competitions, we are ensuring that, no matter where
they are located, they have access to the
best, most innovative design talent available."

New Public Works is intended to develop the highest quality
of design in the public realm through the sponsorship of
national design competitions. It is targeted to the
disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, urban
planning, and industrial design. The program, in its third
year, is intended to bring institutions from across the
country together with the best design talent, to raise
expectations and aspirations for public work, and to
increase popular awareness of the importance of design
in daily life.

The multi-year New Public Works initiative will emphasize
school design in its next round, to stimulate greater
public awareness of the important role design can play in
education. The program will be expanded to award up to
$1.25 million for as many as 20 projects in 2002. Although
proposals in all disciplines will be accepted, half of the
awards are earmarked for school design projects. New Public
Works will provide up to $75,000 each to as many as 10
school design projects, in addition to 10 general projects
that will receive up to $50,000 each. The deadline for
letters of interest is January 11, 2002.

"This special focus recognizes the need to respond to the
dramatic changes in education with innovative design that
will benefit children and families," said Mark Robbins, NEA
Design Director. "Our hope is that by bringing the best of
design to schools, we will create more productive, exciting
environments for learning, that can then become national
models."

This year's projects were reviewed by an interdisciplinary
panel including Ignacio Bunster-Ossa, a landscape architect
and urban designer; K. Michael Hays, Professor of Harvard
University's Graduate School of Design; and architects Brad
Cloepfil, Mario Gooden and Laurie Hawkinson. Proposed
jurors for the winning projects include Frank Gehry, Walter
Hood, Carlos Jimenez, Reed Kroloff, Enrique Norten, Laurie
Olin, Terrence Riley, and Karen Van Lengen, among others.
Designers involved in limited or hybrid competitions
include the offices of Julie Bargmann, Petra Blaise, James
Corner, Diller + Scofidio, George Hargreaves, Herzog
and de Meuron, Jean Nouvel, Machado and Silvetti
Associates, Ken Smith, and Tod Williams + Billie Tsien.

The winning proposals showed strong evidence of community
and political support for the projects as well as the
financial ability to carry them out. Each applicant will
have a year to complete the competition process.

In order to assist with this initiative, the Graham
Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts is funding
the Graham Fellowship in Federal Service at the NEA for the
second year. This year's recipient is Kristina Alg, who has
recently completed graduate studies at the Southern
California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles.

For New Public Works application information, please
contact Kristina Alg in the Design Department at
202-682-5078 or via e-mail at algk@arts.endow.gov

2001 NEW PUBLIC WORKS AWARDS

Art Center College of Design Pasadena, CA
$40,000

To support an invited competition to redesign the
streetscape of the Arroyo Parkway that will enhance the
"gateway" into Pasadena from Los Angeles through a melding
of art, landscape design, and architecture.

The jury will include Walter Hood (Hood Design), Frank
Gehry (Frank O. Gehry and Associates) and Richard Koshalek
(President, Art Center College of Design). Invited
competitors will include Petra Blaise, Adriaan Geuze/West
8, George Hargreaves and Associates, Ken Smith, Peter
Walker and Partners.

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