Call for Temporary Public Art Ideas

Calling artists, performers, makers, designers, educators, landscapers, urban interventionists, architects, students, and other citizens!

Do you have an outdoor project you’d like to test? Do you want to see how the public might react to a pop-up or artistic intervention? Do you work with students who would like to develop a project for an open space? Do you need a public plaza to test a mock-up or your latest lawn game/corn-hole prototype? Are you wondering how your unique mobile-curiosity/creation-sitting-in-your-studio-but-meant-for-outdoor-space might work in Kendall Square? 

The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (CRA) has just opened up a temporary plaza on Third Street between Binney and Munroe. The lot has a 150-foot edge along Third Street, which is a main thoroughfare and social spine of the Kendall Square neighborhood, with mixed residential buildings, high-tech and biotech offices, and restaurant activity. The space is approximately 6000 square feet (approx. 150’x40’), open on three sides to Binney, Third, and Munroe Streets.

To begin, CRA has programmed the space with 2 food trucks between 11:00-2:00 Monday-Friday, colorful chairs, a couple tables, granite seating blocks, a little library, bike racks, and soon-to-come plantings. Cambridge Arts is working with CRA to help activate this new public space for the Kendall neighborhood. We invite proposed temporary activities from artists, performers, designers, educators, landscapers, students, and other citizens. We expect the site to be open space for 5 years or longer and will be active through all seasons. The site offers an opportunity for an open-air experimental space in bustling Kendall Square. Projects could last one hour, one day, one month, or longer. 

For more information, please contact 
Lillian Hsu, Director of Public Art, City of Cambridge
617-349-4389 or lhsu@cambridgema.gov

CRA plaza at corner of Third Street and Binney Street