Case studies provide a concrete demonstration of the effectiveness and impact that public art processes can have on a community. These stories underscore how public art creates culture and community. They also illustrate the bridging function that public art provides across ideological or cultural differences. Stories about successful public arts projects help us understand the roles, outcomes and importance of the civic role of art at grassroots and institutional levels in generating meaning and culture to help us understand our deepest concerns and most pressing issues. These case studies provide local, meaningful examples and insights into the implementation of a public arts endeavor. Other examples can be found by visiting sites listed on the link pages andother sites identified in these pages.

Shelly Willis, Public Art Coordinator, University of Minnesota, Weisman Museum

Shelly Willis is the Public Art Coordinator at the University of Minnesota, Weisman Art Museum. She manages the development of temporary and permanent public art on campus throughout the University of Minnesota system --purchasing art, commissioning artists to create work for specific sites, maintaining existing work and developing the program's long-term plans and policies.

Willis came to Minnesota in October 1999 after 10 years managing visual arts programming for the City of Fairfield, California. She produced six gallery exhibitions each year and founded the city's public art program, with an emphasis on exploring community identity through temporary and permanent art. She developed the annual "Where is Fairfield?" Festival, which beckons Fairfield residents to engage in thought and discourse about their town. While in Fairfield, Willis also developed the curriculum and taught gallery management at Napa Valley College and Solano Community College. Before that, she worked as assistant director at the Turner Gallery in Chico, Calif., as a program coordinator at the California Arts Council and as the Director of the Institute for Design and Experimental Art, a visual and performing arts center in Sacramento.

The Museum of the School of Social Work, University of Minnesota, artist Harrell Fletcher.

In this capacity, Adamek directs three major projects that focus on institutional change in higher education, faculty leadership development, and innovative scholarship on nutritional approaches to healing addiction and related public health problems. Adamek has extensive community development experience and possesses a rich background in systems change and innovative approaches to academic/community collaboration. She, along with Dr. Phil Larsen, served as the Project Director for the Visions for Change program and oversaw the implementation of the Celebration of Stories public arts project.

Celebration of Stories project, Visions for Change (North Dakota State University, South Dakota State University, University of Minnesota)

Karl Lorenz -- lead artist; Kaveh Shakikhan and Gary DeCosse -- collaborating artists