Artist for Pompano Beach Neighborhood Transit Center Visits in Community Outreach


6/19/2007 9:20:08 AM


Public Artist Bill Buchen and the Office of Transportation Project Team will visit the Pompano Beach Community at the E. Pat Larkins Center in Pompano Beach on June 26, 2007

BROWARD COUNTY, FL – The Broward Cultural Division’s Public Art and Design Program and Office of Transportation invite members of the Pompano Beach community and other interested community members, to attend an outreach meeting to learn about the artwork, The Drum Circle, the interactive public artwork designed for the new Neighborhood Transit Center in Pompano Beach. The community outreach meeting will be held on June 26, 2007, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, at the E. Pat Larkins Center, located on the southwest corner of Dixie Highway and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, 520 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Pompano Beach.

The new Neighborhood Transit Center will consist of a transit hub, parking and transit amenities, and will consolidate four bus stops that currently serve this intersection. The plans for the new center call for on-street bus bay, and off-street bus bay improvements and several passenger amenities including covered walkways, bench seating, bus platform canopies, restrooms, a walk-up customer service window for information and inter-active public artwork.

Located on a paved circle, the interactive public artwork The Drum Circle— a grouping of sculptural instruments, invites communal music making. Created by artists Bill and Mary Buchen, the artwork draws upon the musical traditions of the diverse cultures represented in the Pompano Beach community and aims to connect these traditions through the universal language of rhythmic percussion. The artists also paid attention to the fact that the Blanche-Ely High School’s marching band is an award-winning ensemble, of which the City of Pompano Beach is very proud.

The artwork will serve to create a sense of place and enhance the visual appeal of the Transit Center, thereby encouraging use of the facility and stimulating transit ridership. The artists and the Office of Transportation are interested in sharing with, and soliciting feedback from the residents of the Pompano Beach community.

Bill & Mary Buchen / Sonic Architecture design interactive installations for museums, galleries, and public sites throughout the United States. Their large-scale public works include: sound parks and science playgrounds, aeolian (wind) harps, and designs for urban and natural environments. Their pursuits center on the study of environmental phenomena examined through its application to science, architecture, ecology and world cultures. Bill Buchen is also an accomplished percussionist.

For further details on the project, contact Claire Garrett, project manager at 954-357-7236 or e-mail cgarrett@broward.org. The telephone number for the E. Pat Larkins Center is 954-786-4585.


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