Doris Chanin Freedman (1928–1981) was a pioneer in the field of

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

, active in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She was the daughter of architect Irwin Salmon Chanin and his wife Sylvia Schofler. Freedman graduated from

Albright College Albright College is a private liberal arts college in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1856 and had an enrollment of 1,652 students as of fall 2023. History Albright College traces its founding to 1856 when "Union Sem ...

, Pennsylvania in 1950, where she would later help fund the creation of the school's art gallery. Founded in 1975, Freedman Gallery's primary aim is to represent living American contemporary artists. Freedman also received a master's degree in social work from Columbia University. From 1971 to 1980 Freedman was the president of City Walls Inc., a

not-for-profit organization A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

, established in 1969 which worked with artists and communities to revitalize New York City through public art and had sponsored more than fifty

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s. In 1971, she founded the Public Arts Council; “both organizations provided technical assistance and financial support for a wide variety of projects, and developed programs to explore the potential of urban public spaces”. In 1977 she founded the

Public Art Fund Public Art Fund is an independent, non-profit arts organization founded in 1977 by Doris C. Freedman. The organization presents contemporary art in New York City's public spaces through a series of highly visible artists' projects, new commissions ...

of the City of New York by merging City Walls and the Public Arts Council. Freedman served as New York City's first Director of Cultural Affairs during the Lindsay Administration, and as President of the

Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

. Greatly through her efforts New York City introduced

Percent for Art The term percent for art refers to a program, often a city ordinance, where a fee, usually some percentage of the project cost, is placed on large scale development projects in order to fund and install public art. The details of such programs va ...

legislation in 1982, which requires civil construction projects to spend a portion of their budgets on art. Freedman also hosted the radio show Artists in the City on

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

. The southeast entrance of

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, located on

Grand Army Plaza Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It consists of concentric oval rings arranged as s ...

at 60th Street and

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

, was dedicated to Freedman by Mayor Edward I. Koch in 1981.''The Doris C. Freedman Plaza'' in her honor. It is the site of rotating sculptural art installations presented by the Public Art Fund. In 1982 the ''Doris C. Freedman Award'', dedicated to her memory was established by Executive Order by Mayor

Koch Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east In ...

. The Award honors “an individual or organization for a contribution to the people of the City of New York that greatly enriches the public environment”. Her daughter Susan K. Freedman is currently president of the Public Art Fund.

References

External links

publicartfund.org
Public Art Fund official website 1928 births 1981 deaths

American people of Polish-Jewish descent Activists from New York City Albright College alumni {{NewYork-politician-stub

See also

References

External links