WSDOT taps Palouse artist for new program

In a new program announced last November, two artists-in-residence, including one from Palouse, will spend a year working with the Washington State Department of Transportation to advance WSDOT's strategic plan goals of practical solutions, workforce development and inclusion.

The program was created by ArtPlace America and Transportation for America, a program of Smart Growth America.

Mary Welcome, a 13-year Palouse resident, is originally from Virginia, before going to WSU for a Master of Fine Arts degree. She and longtime collaborator Kelly Gregory were announced by WSDOT as their choice March 22.

Welcome and Gregory – who is based outside the area – will first spend four months learning about WSDOT through meetings with staff and administrators across the state.

Afterwards, they will propose a project or projects which they will complete before the year's time is up.

"What could come out of this is open-ended," said Barbara LaBoe, WSDOT spokesperson. "It could be a variety of things, by design."

"We want to first understand the processes through deep listening and deep looking," Welcome said.

She and Gregory spent the past three years, in part, in St. James, Minn., on another ArtPlace America grant for the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership.

Welcome indicated that the funding for the WSDOT job will allow her to not have to take many other freelance jobs over the course of the year.

What was her specialty for her masters in fine arts?

"Sculpture, I think," Welcome said, noting the broad spectrum and media of her work.

How does she describe what media or what type of artist she is?

"An artist who helps people and places work better together," said Welcome. "There's almost nothing I don't do. It's mostly people, and that could be many disciplines."

WSDOT will be the first state agency in the country to have an artist-in-residence program.

"The quality and quantity of applications we received for the position impressed our selection committee, and we're thrilled to have selected the team of Kelly Gregory and Mary Welcome," stated Ben Stone, Smart Growth America's director of arts and culture. "Their collaborative approach, insatiable curiosity and experience with design, planning, community engagement and Washington state make them ideal artists-in-residence. I can't wait to share their work with other states who are in the process of considering setting up their own similar programs."

Artist-in-residence programs have been piloted across the nation in municipal governmental agencies, including the Los Angeles and Seattle departments of transportation, but never before at a statewide agency.

For the WSDOT endeavor, ArtPlace America will provide a $125,000 grant, including a $40,000 stipend for Welcome and Gregory and $25,000 for the final project(s) the artist and staff develop.

No WSDOT funds will go to pay for the artists.

Transportation for America (T4A) will administer both the funds and the overall program, including providing staff and consulting assistance. T4A is a program of Smart Growth America.

WSDOT will supply in-kind contributions consisting of work space for Welcome and Gregory and staff time for agency workers to collaborate with them.

"Artists can provide fresh approaches and new ways of doing things, interpret complex processes, and provide unique perspectives for existing programs," said Stone. "We're excited to be a part of helping Washington state harness arts and creativity to create better supported and more beloved transportation projects that help accomplish the state's goals."

Why hire an artist-in-residence?

"This type of program has a proven track record at the municipal level by bringing creativity to design challenges, increasing community buy-in, fostering deeper community engagement, building relationships with underrepresented communities and helping improve the processes for day-to-day work," said Roger Millar, WSDOT's secretary of transportation. "Our goal is to find innovative ways to better engage the communities we serve and deliver the best possible transportation projects."

For more information on WSDOT's strategic plan, visit http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/about/secretary/strategicplan