Below is a video produced by Cortex Marketing summarizing the project and its projected outcomes.

In July of 2011 Burlington City Arts received a $50,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Art to engage the community in a creative planning process that will result in a visionary master plan for City Hall Park to be completed by July 2012.
 
City Hall Park has been the center of civic life for hundreds of years. Once the community ”watering hole” and always a gathering place, today it is the platform where the elements of Burlington’s identity coalesce, from agriculture and business to culture and recreation. The park is the front yard of City Hall, the BCA Center, the Flynn Center, many businesses and a stone’s throw away from the bustling Church Street Marketplace, Burlington’s thriving pedestrian mall and the hub of economic activity for the city and for Vermont. The park is home to the ever-growing farmers’ and artists’ markets, the Discover Jazz Festival, Festival of Fools, many diverse community celebrations, and gatherings. For many, it is a place of reflection in a precious green space in the center of our city. There is great potential to build and expand the public use of this downtown treasure. Community support for park improvements and community use has swelled in recent years. The National Endowment for the Arts grant will allow us as a community to use the arts to reveal, discover, design and convey an inspired master plan that will ensure inclusiveness for all and take direction in its design from the activities that the public responds to most enthusiastically. A clear master plan will allow us to make decisions for the park that recognize and embrace the competing interests and needs for its use and to celebrate the diversity of the people who live and visit here  
 
Activities that will inform the master plan design will include: community information gathering sessions consisting of traditional town meeting methods and visioning events; siting locations for new and existing public art; and expansion of festival and ongoing cultural activities to test new uses and landscape/design requirements.
 
Additional concepts may include more vending opportunities, expansion of the artist market, youth performances, artist’s demonstrations, new park performances for established downtown festivals like Festival of Fools and Discover Jazz, bi-weekly lunch hour performances by local artists, temporary public art commissions and more.

VISIT THE IMAGINE CITY HALL PARK FACEBOOK PAGE TO FIND OUT ABOUT EVENTS AND GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK ON THE PARK!

Take a quick survey about City Hall Park - CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Art Works.