American Sign Museum Announces National Roll-Out of CoSign Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 23, 2016
Media contact: Cate Becker
cbecker@americansignmuseum.org

American Sign Museum Announces National Roll-out of CoSign Project

Cincinnati, OH -- CoSign, a creative place-making project developed by the American Sign Museum in collaboration with the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation, is expected to be replicated in six communities across the United States in 2017.

CoSign brings together local business owners with artists and professional sign fabricators to create unique signage in designated business districts.  The six cities which have qualified, and their respective organizations which are facilitating the process in these communities, include:  

• Alachua, FL – Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Historic District
• Charlotte, NC - ArtPop Street Gallery, Plaza Midwood Business District
• Evanston, IL - Downtown Evanston, Commercial Business District
• West Des Moines, IA - Historic Valley Junction Foundation, Valley Junction Business District 
• Iowa City, IA – Iowa City Downtown District, Metropolitan Improvement District
• Chicago, IL - Uptown United, Argyle Street Business District

Each community will begin preliminary planning immediately, leading up to a two-day workshop at the Cincinnati-based American Sign Museum, February 19th – 21st. The six to seven month CoSign process will begin in earnest next March for the communities who complete the workshop. The project will culminate in the unveiling of 10-12 signs in each community during an existing public event in the fall.

Tod Swormstedt, Executive Director of the American Sign museum says, “CoSign designs, fabricates and installs a critical mass of new storefront signage for a given business district.  It demonstrates the true value of cross pollination between the arts, small business and the sign industry.” He continues, “We are thrilled to work with each of the six communities and expand this project nationally.”

The project was originally a collaboration of the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation and the American Sign Museum, both of Cincinnati, and was piloted in Cincinnati’s Northside business district in 2012.  CoSign was awarded an ArtPlace grant in 2013 which enabled the project to be encored in Northside in 2013 and then across the river to Covington, KY in 2014.  The Covington project was additionally supported by an Our Town grant from the National Endowment of the Arts.  

The ArtPlace grant involved the creation of a “toolkit,” so that CoSign could be replicated in other US communities.  The critical ingredients for a successful implementation are three-fold:

• A critical mass of willing small businesses with a defined geographic area.
• A committed, organized group of residents willing to be supportive of their neighborhood business district.
• A community character that embraces creative placemaking.

CoSign recently named Cate Becker of BLDG Refuge as the Project Director for the national implementation of CoSign. Becker was the former Cultural Arts Director for the City of Covington and oversaw the third iteration of CoSign in Covington, KY. In her role, she connected artists and designers to the project, liaised with government officials and organized the 10th anniversary of Art Off Pike, the urban arts festival where the project signs were unveiled.
 

2013: The year ahead

It’s on to an even more exciting new year!

• Work has begun on the nearly 20,000 square feet of un-renovated space of our new home, known affectionately as ‘the other side.’ This space will allow for future museum expansion. Expanding the museum itself into this additional space will require a substantial fundraising campaign, but we’re on our way!
• We have also started installing a “boneyard” of sorts along Monmouth Street, that will showcase many of our signs-in-waiting. These signs will welcome visitors and lead them to the museum’s entrance!
• Our annual online auction is gearing up, with its big finish April 6th, at the International Sign Association Expo in Las Vegas.
• We’re looking forward to CoSign II, our working title for the next chapter of CoSign, bringing together local stakeholders to learn about and create effective signage for neighborhood business communities.
• And of course we are continuing to grow the museum’s offerings for all to see – including an expanded gift shop where you’ll be sure to find the perfect item to read, wear, or otherwise display. 

We are so grateful for our financial, in-kind, and moral supporters. We have you to thank for the museum’s success through the years. We hope we will continue to earn your support in the years to come.

CoSign Project Finished on a High Note

A year ago, Eric Avner of Cincinnati’s Haile Foundation challenged American Sign Museum founder and curator, Tod Swormstedt, to design a project that would (1) help local businesses, (2) enhance the built environment within Cincinnati, and (3) increase local visibility of the soon-to-open-in-its-new-home American Sign Museum.

Tod was ready: “I have this bias that artists who design signs may do beautiful work, and business owners may understand the importance of a good sign, but neither necessarily understand what makes for a good sign. Unless they factor in the engineering, purpose, and visual considerations necessary for installing and maintaining a sign and for informing and enticing potential customers, the most beautiful sign in the world won’t get the job done. My goal was to create a project that would educate business owners and artists and produce tangible results in the form of new signage for local business districts. It’s not only my personal passion, but the mission of the American Sign Museum. Imagine my delight when Eric agreed with the idea!”

That idea was submitted to ArtPlace in the hopes of receiving grant money for three Cincinnati neighborhoods. When the response came back to “try again next year,” Avner and the Haile Foundation stepped up and funded a pilot project for one neighborhood: Northside.  The plan:

• invite local businesses, artists and fabricators to participate in ‘Good Signage 101’ workshops
• have the artists submit designs
• select 10 businesses who would choose their winning design
• have fabricators install the signs
• unveil the signs on Black Friday as part of a shop local event

Simple, right? All that was needed was a marketing and communications plan, support of the Northside business community, support of the Cincinnati zoning commission, specifications that would allow for fast tracking permits, content for the workshops, caterers etc. for the collaborative meetings, and more. Oh, and simultaneously manage similar details for the grand opening and beyond of the American Sign Museum’s new home!

Long story short – it worked! At 0-dark-thirty the morning of Black Friday, the unveiling of not ten, but eleven, new signs now gracing the Northside business district began, bringing onlookers, street performers – and customers! – to the community for a celebration of local talent and cooperation.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible. We are proud to have been part of such a valuable and well-executed project. We look forward to many more such collaborations in the community.  In the meantime, enjoy some images of CoSign 2012.  Click on VisuaLinqual’s post to see each sign and the artist and fabricator who created it.

CoSign signs on display at the museum before being installed at their forever homes.