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Doer Profile

JUDITH DONER BERNE

City: West Bloomfield
Kudos: Bringing Sculpture To Birmingham Streets

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udy Berne has been a member
of the Cultural Council of
Birmingham-Bloomfield for
more than 15 years. She was the cata-
lyst behind the group's highly success-
ful First Night celebration, which pres-
ents an all-family festival of music,
dance and entertainment in downtown
Birmingham every New Year's Eve.
She's now working with the council
on "CityScapes,” which will place out-
door sculpture at sites within the -city
of Birmingham. She is a former man-
aging editor of the Eccentric newspa-
pers in Oakland County.

Why public art on downtown
Birmingham street corners?
"If we want to have these wonder-
ful downtowns, we need public art.
Birmingham thinks of itself as a city
with a thriving cultural tradition, but,
actually, the number of art galleries
has gone down in recent years.
"Even though I live in West

Bloomfield, I feel that Birmingham.is
my downtown. It's a special city, and it
deserves special art.
"In art, no one is wrong. It makes
us more human. In this highly politi-
cized climate, art is one thing that
brings us together."

How would the city acquire the
sculptures?
"Proposals came from artists in
Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and
Wisconsin. The sculptures would be
on display for about 18 months to two
years.
"The Cultural Council actually did
the project for several years, starting in
1991. At that time, we just paid for
mounting and insurance. Now it's a
joint project with the city's Public Arts
Board, and we're paying each sculptor
an honorarium of $5,000."

Where will the sculptures be, and
when will they be installed?

"There will be four sites -- on
the Baldwin Library property off
Martin and Bates streets; the island
on Oakland just east of North Old
Woodward; the southeast corner of
Pierce and Merrill; and the north-
east corner of Brown and Pierce.
These are perfect venues for public
art.
"We are looking at sending our
recommendations to the City
Commission on Oct. 17, and, if all
goes as planned, installing the sculp-
tures on Oct. 24."

Is the city of Birmingham provid-
ing the funding for CityScapes?
"We made a presentation to the
City Commission, and they
approved half of the funding, enough
for seed money for the first year.
"We're seeking underwriters for the
project from businesses and other
patrons."
— Diana Lieberman, special writer

For more information about the
CityScapes project, visit ci.birming-
ham.mi.us and follow the link in the
left-hand column of the home page, or
call (248) 644-1800, Ext. 221.

REPORT A DOER...: Know a Doer — someone of any age doing interesting, meaningful things in their life outside of their job? Share suggestions with Keri Guten Cohen, story develop-
ment editor, at (248) 351-5144 or e-mail: kcohen@thejewishnews.com

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taken. We regret that we

„TN

9/ 1
2005

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