Sioux Falls Students Help Design New Park Basketball Backboards

New basketball backboards featuring artwork developed with input from hundreds of local students are being installed at 11 Sioux Falls parks.

The installations are part of Full Court Color: Arena to Asphalt, a public art project launched during the Summit League Basketball Championships in March. The City of Sioux Falls, The Summit League and local artist Les Cotton worked with students, families, schools and youth programs to develop artwork that would be incorporated into basketball backboards across the city.

"We wanted young people to have a role in creating the artwork, not just viewing it," said Maren Engel, arts coordinator for the city. "Their creativity displayed during the project became part of the designs that will now be placed in the parks they use."

The 11 parks receiving the backboards are:

• Heritage Park
• Dan Dugan Park
• Emerson Park
• Meldrum Park
• Mansor-Pioneer Park
• Linwood Park
• Dunham Park
• Bakker Park
• Thelin Park
• Glenview Park
• Jefferson Park

The project began with a live art activity at the Sioux Falls Convention Center during Summit League championship week. Cotton created an 8-by-8-foot mural while youth and families participated in a Design Lab with drawing stations, artist discussions and other activities.

Students continued to contribute after the championships. Cotton worked with middle and high school art classes, after-school programs and youth groups throughout Sioux Falls. Their drawings and ideas helped shape the final backboard designs.

The project brings together the city's Arts Commission and Parks & Recreation Department with The Summit League, the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, Experience Sioux Falls, Downtown Sioux Falls Inc., the Sioux Falls School District and Cotton.

The city presented the backboard designs to the Visual Arts Committee and Parks & Recreation Board before moving forward with fabrication and installation.

"Neighborhood parks are places where residents play, exercise and spend time together," said Jackie Nelson, recreation manager for the city. "Adding artwork created with input from local young people and Summit League fans gives residents another way to connect with these spaces."

The Summit League Basketball Championships bring thousands of visitors to Sioux Falls each March. The Full Court Color project brings artwork developed during the championships into Sioux Falls neighborhoods beyond the tournament

"The championships give us an opportunity to connect with the Sioux Falls community beyond the games," said Josh Fenton, commissioner of The Summit League. "This project does that by bringing together basketball, art and youth participation and placing the finished work in city parks."

For more information arts and culture in Sioux Falls, visit siouxfalls.gov/arts.