Cambridge Art by the Numbers: Three New Public Art Open Datasets

Art and data? They're not opposites. Working with Cambridge Arts, the Open Data team has recently added three new datasets to the portal, documenting the City's famous long-standing commitment to public art. That commitment reached a major milestone in 1979 with the passage of the Public Art Ordinance , which sets aside 1% of the construction cost of municipal capital projects for public art.

The first dataset, the Public Art Master Sheet , is a master list of public art around the City. Within the dataset, users can find in-depth information about each piece, from facts about the artist to details about the medium, making it easier to discover and systematically explore Cambridge public art.

The second dataset, Public Art Conservation and Maintenance Program , contains records kept by the Cambridge Arts' conservation program . The program keeps detailed accounts of its painstaking care of the art. In this dataset users can find condition reports (both qualitative and numerical) and detailed treatment reports, and read plans put in place by the team. This level of detail makes the dataset valuable for conservation students, arts professionals, and anyone curious about what it takes to maintain public art in New England's climate.

The last dataset is an inventory of Sidewalk Poetry in the City. In collaboration with the Public Library and the Department of Public Works, Cambridge Arts holds poetry contests among City residents, and works with DPW to time upcoming sidewalk renovations with installations of winning poems into new sidewalks. This dataset includes not only information about each poem, but even the full text of each one, creating a digital archive of community creativity that's useful for educators, students, and poetry enthusiasts alike.

Cambridge Arts has also worked with the GIS team to publish a Public Art Map where users can explore art all over the City. We encourage readers to plan a walk to experience the art that intrigues you.

For more information on Cambridge Arts, visit https://www.cambridgema.gov/arts .