Wild Animals on Broadway
A menagerie of creatures are part of a new public art display
Wild animals are taking over the Upper West Side as part of a public art exhibit called Peter Woytuk on Broadway, which kicked off Oct. 21 and will run through April 2012.
The Broadway Mall Association (BMA), in conjunction with the Lincoln Square BID and the Morrison Gallery, is responsible for bringing the display of 46 colorful bronze animal sculptures to the mini-parks in the medians that run along Broadway between Columbus Circle and Morningside Heights. It’s the sculptor’s first outdoor exhibition in New York City.
The exhibit begins with a life-sized pair of elephants at Columbus Circle and concludes with a 2,500-pound trio of seated bulls in Morningside Heights.
Artist Peter Woytuk with one of 46 sculptures on display on Broadway medians between Columbus Circle and 168th Street. andrew schwartz
“We want to make the Broadway malls a major public art venue in New York City,” Nancy Chaffetz, vice president of development of the BMA, said. The BMA has also displayed works by artists such as Tom Otterness and Boaz Vaadia.
The nonprofit takes care of 83 malls that make up 10.6 acres of park space in the medians between 70th and 168th streets.
To most people, the Broadway malls are a good area to stretch out, read a book, eat lunch, play chess or grab some sun. It’s the BMA’s job to make sure that the plazas are planted, maintained and lit for the holidays.
“One of our biggest problems is that most people assume the malls are part of the parks department and don’t understand that we’re the ones responsible for them,” said Robert F. Herrman, president of the board of directors for the BMA.
The BMA also composts leaves from the Trinity Church Cemetery and plants drought resistant and native plant species along the malls. It collaborates with the Goddard Riverside Community Center to provide training to adults living with mental illness and with the Urban Assembly of Green Careers to provide summer work-study internships.
In 2009, BMA was a founding supporter of the first Heritage Rose District, which reintroduced the roses that grew in Manhattan in the 18th and 19th centuries. Last year, it introduced bilingual cell phone tours in English and Spanish to accompany the public art displays.
The organization is currently working with Design NYC to come up with new design concepts for the malls.
“The plan calls for opening them up more, having more seating, making them more environmentally friendly,” Herrman said.
The BMA was created in 1980 by west sider Eugene Hide to beautify the malls, which had become run-down and shabby during the 1970’s. It’s run by a small but active board of directors.
“People take for granted that Broadway is a nice street now but it wasn’t always that way,” Herrman said.
The BMA raises funds to take care of the malls through a spring gala and through partnerships with businesses such as The Hotel Beacon, Fairway and Zabar’s. Individual contributions are welcome and citizens can also adopt a mall or bench.
Last year’s budget was $500,000, but that wasn’t nearly enough.
“That’s only about half of what we need,” Chaffetz said. “Sometimes we feel like we’re the tree falling in the forest that no one knows about.”
For more information, visit broadwaymall.org.
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