The public got their first peek at art for the modern streetcar route on Thursday.
More than $765,000 worth of different art types will line the route, which holds a collection of pieces by 14 different artists.
Members of the public met artists, previewed art and met with members of the streetcar project team to learn more about how public art is funded. The Tucson Pima Arts Council administers the public art for the project.
The modern streetcar artists include Simon Donovan and Ben Olmstead, Rafe Ropek, Susan Wink, Mary Lucking and Pete Goldlust, Eric Powell, Joe Tyler, Joe O’Connell and Blessing Hancock, and Cristina Cardenas and Xochitl Gil-Higuchi.
Brenda Semanick is the Cushing Street bridge artist and Daniel Martin Diaz, who runs the Sacred Machine Museum downtown, is the artist for the Plaza Centro Garage.
The estimated $190 million streetcar will have 17 stops on the line, eight of which will display art proposals displayed Thursday. Each of the eight art streetcar shelters should cost around $73,000.
The other nine will include poetry provided by the UA’s Poetry Center displayed on electric panels.
The modern streetcar runs close to 4 miles from Cushing Street to the Arizona Health Sciences Center. The route will connect the west side of Tucson through downtown to the UA and the University Medical Center.