Springboard for the Arts brings artists and citizens together to overcome the short-term disruption of light rail construction and produce permanent art legacy.

Springboard for the Arts, in partnership with the City of Saint Paul and LISC Twin Cities, will implement a three year major creative placemaking initiative along a six- mile section of St. Paul beginning in the summer of 2011. This project, called Irrigate, will create a central cultural corridor for St. Paul. This corridor is undergoing major infrastructure development as the construction of the Central Corridor Light Rail takes place directly along this six-mile area, with completion expected in 2014.

Irrigate is a city-wide initiative that emphasizes cross sector participation with government and private sector partners and will be a model of artist-led community development during major infrastructure improvement, in addition to creating a lasting cultural identity for the corridor. Irrigate will change the landscape of the central corridor with color, art, surprise, and creativity and a population of artists who are entangled in the web of community. This environment is a unique opportunity that brings together a moment of huge infrastructure development, a high concentration of resident artists on both ends of the corridor, a wide ethnic and cultural mix across the corridor, and a city with a strong track record of artist community engagement.

Listen to the Irrigate leadership team explain more about the project: