BILLINGS — The City of Billings is wrapping its arms around public art by creating a seven-person committee to streamline art installations.
On Monday, the City Council discussed a proposal to create the committee, which would help artists display their work at city-owned areas, such as public parks.
Supporters say the goal is to give artists' work wider reach and beautify the city.
One artist who has a lot of experience doing just that is Elyssa Leninger, who has painted murals throughout Billings for the last decade.
Watch Elyssa talk about her murals across Billings:
“I have probably around 10 murals in Billings,” Leninger said Wednesday.
Now, she’s working on a new mural for Miles City.
“By the time I’m finished, it will be a fairly intensive mural,” Leninger said.
Each of her murals takes hundreds of hours to complete.
“I have donated around three to four thousand hours of my time,” Leninger said.
Leninger also spends a significant time maintaining her work to keep it looking fresh.
“There's a lot of upkeep on my murals from washing them to cleaning up garbage and making sure that the environment stays nice for all of the passers-by,” Leninger said.
Leninger said that level of care is expected as an artist.
“They look almost as good as new by the time they're finished,” Leninger said.
The City of Billings is recognizing the importance of public art by creating this committee to place and care for public murals.
“The idea is that this committee is going to have an interest and also knowledge of public art that they can guide us in making these decisions,” Elyse Monat, transportation planner with the City County Planning Division, said.
Monat said the new policy focuses on outdoor art installations on city-owned property.
“We need to make sure that we fit within the city's rules and regulations, but we also expand our ability to empower artists to kind of give these love letters to the community,” said Melissa Henderson Healthy by Design, a coalition of health-advocacy groups in Billings.
The Billings City Council plans to discuss the proposal in September.
In the meantime, Leninger hopes the new policy reflects the will of Billings residents.
“When we have a hand-picked committee that gets to decide this, they might not reflect the desires of the community members. This is their town, it's their art, and it's their home, so they should have a say as to what goes up in the community,” Leninger said.
