Columbus, Ohio USA
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Art Walk Brings Neighborhood into Focus
Site-specific phone tour
By Margaret Marten
March/April 2013 Issue

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Columbus Art Walks, a program providing self-guided walking maps and audio descriptions of interesting public art, architecture and cultural landmarks, was launched in 2010 as part of Columbus Public Health’s “Healthy Places Program” to encourage physical activity. A dozen neighborhoods are part of the program, including the Short North. District maps direct pedestrians to sites where a sign indicates a number to call on a cell phone in order to hear a recorded message describing the site.

The program began the first year with only three walks – the Arena District, Discovery District, and Capital Square – increasing to 12 neighborhoods by 2012, with the addition of the Short North in 2011.

Installation of signage started last summer, but the Short North was one of the last to get through the work order process, so the signs have only been in place this year.

The signs, posted to raise awareness, as well supplying the audio contact number, appear to be working. Dale Deubler-Sheppard, a Short North resident who lives on Buttles Avenue across from Goodale Park, recently noticed an Art Walk sign placed on the back of an existing parking sign in front of her home. She had never heard of the Art Walks program before and was surprised to learn that Columbus Public Health was behind it. “I would never, if I was looking for something for history in the neighborhood, I would never go to the public health department,” she admitted.

The whole intention of the program is to get people out and walking and exploring things that people treasure within Columbus neighborhoods, said Betsy Pandora, the department’s Healthy Places coordinator. “Art isn’t just a traditional work of art, like a mural or a sculpture, but it is very much the buildings that we have here and our cultural sights. Things that people value as visually important in neighborhoods can be viewed as art, so that’s why we brought in the term ‘public art.’”

At least a half dozen sites and signs are featured in each area of Harrison West, Victorian Village, and Italian Village, as well as over a dozen along High Street as part of the Short North Art Walk. A mobile smart phone app is available through MyColumbus. The app includes information for all the neighborhood walks with audio, text, and images.

For complete information, to download maps and audio tours, or to find a list of pocket map locations by district, visit www.publichealth.columbus.gov/artwalk.aspx

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