Client: Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority

Overview

To increase the visibility and awareness of public transportation in Hillsborough County, the Tampa Bay Foundation for Architecture & Design (TBFAD) teamed up with Gasparilla Music Festival (GMF) & Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) to develop a unique, creative placemaking initiative which transforms a standard transit bus into a thirty five foot long rolling art canvas

Goals

The purpose of the project was to give artists an opportunity to interpret how music moves and connects communities, the same way that public transit movers people throughout Hillsborough County. Without the artwork as the basis of design, the project would not have been possible. The intent of the project was to remove the typical ads from a bus and replace the with a unique piece of art that would bring a new vibrancy to the streets and attract new riders throughout Hillsborough County.

Process

It took a team of dedicated individuals from several organizations to plan and implement this program. From finding funding, to advertising for artist submissions, to jurying the works and selecting a winner. From there we had to coordinate the artwork to be transposed onto the bus and promote the unveiling. TBFAD acted as the project managers to ensure that GMF & HART both received the information they needed and did not incur any undue costs or strain from the programs implementation.

Additional Information

The Art on HART program has a concurrent raffle running through 2019 in which anyone who spots the bus on the streets can snap a photo and tag it on social media using three distinct keywords to be entered to win a free 31-day bus fare card courtesy of TBFAD.