Four days before the Kickstarter campaign expired, the Ix Art Park project hit its $20,000 goal, unleashing promised matching funds from the Ix property developer Ludwig Kuttner and big smiles from the man leading the effort.
“The success of the campaign suggests that the community wants this,” said Brian Wimer, who has been overseeing efforts to turn the sprawling property between Elliott and Monticello avenues into a European style piazza with large-scale art and public theater and music performances.
“The funding gives us the green light on the major art pieces we have planned,” said Wimer, who listed some of the likely next installations, including a “before I die” chalkboard wall, where people can write their “bucket lists,” and the first phase of what will be called “Pollock’s Path,” which Wimer described as “a precedent-setting native meadow, boardwalk, and street mural by Devin Floyd with stream listening stations, edible encounters, and the feeling of what it would been like 500 years ago at IX.”
At presstime on Tuesday, with just under three days remaining before the Kickstarter campaign expires on April 25, the donated funds had risen above $21,000, and Wimer hoped to see that go even higher.
“The more funds we raise, the more dreams we can make real,” said Wimer. “This is the people’s park. Everyone should have a piece of the possibilities.”