Public Art Master Plan

In 2013, the City of Longview undertook a Comprehensive Plan study. With a population of over 80,000 residents, and a unique position in the Northeast Texas Region, the City serves as the county seat and a regional hub for services and entertainment. 

The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee brought together a group of residents with unique experiences, backgrounds and interests which helped facilitate discussion and ensured a variety of perspectives and opinions were ultimately considered during plan formation. Members represented government, education, business and nonprofits including several who were actively involved in Longview arts organizations. Extensive community input indicated the greater community was interested in having more cultural arts infrastructure and the final plan, adopted in 2015 called for the development of a public arts master plan:

IMPLEMENTATION MATRIX: NEIGHBORHOOD & COMMUNITY LIVABILITY
Action Item 8.1: Develop a public arts master plan. Public art is ideally site-specific and attuned to its social, economic, and environmental context. The development and adoption of a public art master plan can provide an opportunity to establish a shared vision for Longview’s public realm and to coordinate the activities of multiple stakeholders.

In 2018, a task force of community arts advocates assembled to guide Longview in obtaining a Cultural District designation from the Texas Commission on the Arts. With the information garnered from the 2015 Comprehensive Plan and additional community input, Arts!Longview was formed and in September 2019 Longview joined 42 other recognized Cultural Districts throughout Texas.

With these significant accomplishments in place, it is now time for Longview to create the long anticipated Public Art Master Plan to guide the City in making future public art decisions in the midst of an ever-growing appreciation of the arts.

This Master Plan celebrates the characteristics that make Longview unique and incorporates the initiatives already in place as guidance from previously successful projects such as the Gregg County Historical Museum’s Balloon Sculpture Project and Keep Longview Beautiful’s “ART from the heART” which has placed a variety of sculptures around the community.