The Broward County Cultural Division has established the Design Arts Program, which provides grant funding to municipalities and communities to enhance design in the public realm. Beneficiaries of these grants include the municipalities of Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale By the Sea, and Coral Springs. The Design Arts Program has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to enhance its activities and programs to educate local communities. A Speakers Forum is planned for 2006 to encourage civic dialogue with local leadership with managing design development projects. Nationally recognized speakers will address both design and public art topics. The forum will be organized in different cities in Broward County. At this time the schedule includes:

• February 22-23 Buildings are our legacy – Tracing the Influence of Architects: Polevitzky to Reed to Singer to Abbate, panel discussion and presentation featuring architects Donald Singer, Chuck Reed and Anthony Abbate; South County Town Hall, Miramar (February 22) and the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood (February 23).
• April 6-7 How cities, towns, and neighborhoods have developed around transporation systems, Alex Marshall, independent journalist and author of How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl and the Roads Not Taken (April 6); Topic TBA, Jill Manton, program director, Public Art program director, Public Art Program for the San Francisco Arts Commission (April 7); during VisionBROWARD Leadership Conference.
• May 17- 18 Sustainable Urban Design, Definitions and Delivery. Matthew Carmona, Planning and Urban Design Head, Bartlett School of Planning, London UK; Sunrise Civic Center Theater.
• June 20 Great American Public Art 2006 Year-In-Review. Greg Esser, manager, Public Art Network, Americans for the Arts; Coral Springs Museum of Art.
• September 12 Topic TBA public artists Richard Heipp and Jody Pinto; Emma Lou Olson Civic Center, Pompano Beach.
• November Special Guest Speaker TBA. Pembroke Pines River of Grass Arts Park.
• December 5 Broward County Artist Live-Work Space Project Update. Kelley Lindquist, president, ArtSpace; Weston Community Center.

For more information visit: www.broward.org/arts