Pine Hills paints traffic boxes to liven West Orange gateways

PINE HILLS — A group of citizens and local officials met Jan. 8 at the Pine Hills Community Center to discuss concepts for the area’s new initiative, St.art Something Traffic Signal Cabinet Art Program.

In the program, artists will paint or wrap traffic boxes at strategically considered locations all around Pine Hills, including many on gateways to West Orange, such as State Road 50 and Silver Star, Clarcona-Ocoee and Apopka-Vineland roads.

Kerry-Ann Brown, an art teacher at Evans High School, said one of her students proposed the idea to Pine Hills after witnessing a similar project around Orlando.

The Orange County Board of County Commissioners approved this Neighborhood Preservation & Revitalization Division initiative in early fall. High interest among many areas led to the program expanding to countywide, after the first Orange County cabinet art project began with 15 Orlando cabinets along International Drive, part of a beautification project to deter vandalism and crime.

“What we really want is to have the community come together and think of one theme and community identity,” said Cristina Pichardo-Cruz, senior planner.

Artists participating in the project will have artistic freedom to explore a particular expression of the themes, foremost of which will be revitalization and diversity, hallmarks of Pine Hills selected by attendees of the Jan. 8 meeting.

“This is an issue at the NID meeting we talked quite a bit about,” said Jerry Presley, executive director of the Pine Hills Neighborhood Improvement District. “One of the kind of mottos or themes we’ve come up with is a concept of highlighting the fact that this is a community of many cultures, but it’s also a community that’s going through revitalization. It’s about noting the positive things happening in this community: many cultures, one bright future. We want our artists to highlight things about our community so that drivers passing through see that art and see what Pine Hills is all about.”

Applications are now available and must include an artwork sketch and a signed hold-harmless agreement, which includes upkeep of the box by the sponsor or artist, although community service is a possibility, as well.

Sponsors and artists must fund the means to decorate boxes — probably around $400 to $500, Pichardo-Cruz said — only after meeting the standards of a five-person committee of Pine Hills citizens. Those standards include a fit in the overall themes of the community and specific sector, an artist 18 or older (although a child can create art for an adult to paint), no ads, nothing distracting to drivers and nothing offensive.

Interested sponsors and artists can contact Cristina Pichardo-Cruz, senior planner, at (407) 836-5621 or at [email protected]. The application process is ongoing.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].