As the City of Pawtucket evolves from a historic industrial city into a city with a 21st century identity, the arts are playing a major role.

The identity of the City as a haven for the arts builds on its history and the opportunities presented by the abundance of former mill buildings that have been and will continue to be repurposed for live/work artist studios, exhibition and performing spaces, and creative start-ups work spaces, and where visual and performing artists and arts organizations with local, national, and international reputations bring attention to Pawtucket.  Public Art reinforces that identity in a very visible and public way.

Acquisitions to the Pawtucket's Collection of Public Art began by the annual Pawtucket Arts Festival under the intiative of Patricia Zacks, who was Program Chair at the time and was directed by her Committee. Between 2001 and 2007 six permanent sculptures and one temporary installation were funded wholly or in part by the Pawtucket Arts Festival. In 2017, the Festival funded two temporary art installtions under the dicrectorship of Jennifer Dalton Vincent. The current Public Art Program grew out of these earlier efforts by the Festival planners to leave a legacy of art for the residents of Pawtucket.

In December, 2017 the Pawtucket City Council approved a city ordinance creating a source for funding of Public Art.  The Percent for Public Art Ordinance specifies that private and non-profit developers who receive City subsidies are required to contribute a percentage of their construction costs for public art.

Pawtucket's Public Art Inventory

In 2010 local resident and artist, Joan Hausrath, began photo-documenting and researching the City's public art and her work was published on the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative website. Todd Stong, an intern at the Pawtucket Foundation in 2014, continued the work begun by Hausrath and contributed a great deal of information about many of the artworks by contacting the artists and researching further. The website then migrated to the Pawtucket Foundation website for several years. In 2019 Emily Morse of the Pawtucket Department of Public Works created an interactive map of public art in Pawtucket. The website is currently produced and managed by Joan Hausrath with the support of XOS Plus, an arts advocacy nonprofit organzation based in Pawtucket.

Unless othewise noted, photographs are by Todd Stong and Joan Hausrath.