ArtsPark at Young Circle in downtown Hollywood was dedicated in
March 2007. Originally conceived as part of Broward County's Community
Cultural Plan 2010 in response to a community-identified need for
hands-on facilities for arts and culture, the ArtsPark was seeded with
$5 million in park bond funding from the Broward County Board of County
Commissioners in 2002. The 10-acre park is located at Hollywood
Boulevard and U.S. 1.
Address: 1 N Young Cir, Hollywood, FL 33020
History
The nearly twelve-acre Young Circle in the heart of downtown Hollywood has been transformed into a regional, interactive ArtsPark where all Broward County residents and visitors may partake in arts and cultural activities day and night.
Located at Young Circle, which had long been a recreational space for Hollywood, FL residents, the new ArtsPark provides daily, interactive, family-oriented cultural experiences for the general public. The design, led by Project Designer Margi Nothard, includes site-specific artworks blended with unique natural aspects of the South Florida landscape.
The ArtsPark is a civic landmark that was created through strong female leadership; many women contributed to the realization of the project including Mara Giulianti, Mayor of Hollywood, FL; Mary Becht, Director of the Broward County Cultural Division; Cynthia Berman-Miller, former director of the Hollywood Arts and Culture Center and Nothard.
"The concept of the ArtsPark is the integration of landscape and art through human discovery. It was conceived as an integrated artwork that transforms from an organic landscape into a constructed landscape; ultimately, the ArtsPark is architecture as landscape and as sculpture" Margi Nothard, principal, Glavovic Studio.
The design of the ArtsPark is scaled to the urban space it occupies and links the surrounding neighborhoods in which it sits at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Federal Highway 1. Notharda's design evokes Frederick Law Olmsted, America's foremost landscape architect of the nineteenth century, in the layering of spaces and different heights that she created within the park. The ArtsPark comprises multiple activity spaces without walls designed for the activities that occur within them including the Grove, a place designed for sedate activity, and a highly interactive Children's Play Area.
Special events and festivals that do not require full staging are held in the Center Court and Plaza. A Visual Arts Pavilion contains studios where professional artists create their art, places for people to watch and learn how art is made and participatory art classes.
One integrated design element of the ArtsPark is a site-specific artwork created by internationally renowned Japanese artist
Ritsuko Taho in collaboration with Nothard. Entitled '
Millennium Springs', the piece consists of a long, narrow fountain with jets of water that shoot into the air in concert with the life energy wave patterns measured in one of five massive baobob trees located in Young Circle and striped walkway designs that link the fountain to the baobob tree.
