First Lady Kicks Off Program to Save Outdoor Sculpture!

Target and NEA contribute $1.4 million to Save Outdoor Sculpture!

Click on photo for caption text.

Standing at the base of the Francis Scott Key Monument in Baltimore, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton weathered a blistering July afternoon to kick off Save Outdoor Sculpture’s campaign to preserve public sculptures in every state as a gift to the new century. Mrs. Clinton offered inspiring words at the celebration—the second stop on her Save America’s Treasures bus tour through the Northeast.

Together, Target and NEA contributed $1.4 million to the effort, making it the most ambitious program to preserve American monuments in the nation’s history.

“This remarkable effort will help monuments stand proudly and fully preserved for the new century,” Mrs. Clinton said. “It is an example of how we can rededicate ourselves to preserving what is best about America. It is up to all of us to preserve our heritage.”

Heritage Preservation Chairman Inge-Lise Eckmann joined Mrs. Clinton on the Save America’s Treasures bus tour, which stopped at sites in need of preservation ranging from the icon Star-Spangled Banner at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History to the modest home of Harriet Tubman. “The First Lady has provided anextraordinary platform from which to convey Heritage Preservation’s mission to preserve the past for the future,” Eckmann said. “Her articulate and passionate pleas to save America’s unique cultural treasures inspired people every step of the way.”

By funding and promoting the Washington Monument Restoration Project, Target has become a champion of historic preservation on a national level. Working with Save Outdoor Sculpture! to reach people on a community level seemed a natural extension of its Washington Monument work, said Tom Sands, regional senior vice president of Target Stores. “This program allows us to help preserve significant historic landmarks nationwide,” Sands said. “Our work on the Washington Monument Restoration Project was our first step to restore our nation’s treasures. Now, with SOS!, we have the opportunity to assist local communities throughout the country with their own preservation needs.”

NEA Chairman William J. Ivey lauded SOS! for its commitment to preservation and conservation. “The NEA is proud to be associated with Save Outdoor Sculpture!,” Ivey said. “This is one of NEA’s largest private/public partnerships. . . . Heritage Preservation has the expertise, the capability, and the readiness to make this national preservation program a success.”

Years of weather, deferred maintenance, vandalism and aging have led to the decay of public outdoor sculptures. The SOS!/Target/NEA partnership will assist communities in treating and maintaining these decaying symbols of America’s past. Target announced several advance awards for sculptures in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Houston, Miami, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Among the eleven sculptures being treated are the Francis Scott Key Monument in Baltimore (Marius Jean Antonin Mercie, 1911), which shows Key handing his transcript of what would become our national anthem to Columbia, the symbol of our nation; Emancipation Monument in Washington, D.C. (Thomas Ball, 1876), depicting Abraham Lincoln bidding a slave to rise to freedom; and Vaquero in Houston (Luis Jimenez, 1979), a homage to the American cowboy and his Spanish roots.

Now through July 4, 2000, nonfederal government agencies and eligible nonprofit organizations are encouraged to submit applications for the grant awards for professional conservation treatment. Experts from the fields of art, history and conservation will review the applications and recommend awards. Applicants will be responsible for raising matching funds.

General review criteria are the urgency of the sculpture’s treatment needs, the applicant’s plan for maintenance, and the quality of the proposed conservation. The artwork’s artistic and historic significance or its representation of a great American thinker will also be considered. A minimum of one award per state will be issued. For guidelines and applications, contact SOS! at 202-634-1422 or 888-SOS-SCULP.