BUSINESS JOURNAL

Schwan: Arc of Dreams sculpture proposed for downtown

Jodi Schwan
jschwan@sfbusinessjournal.com

Minneapolis has Spoonbridge and Cherry — a sculpture of a cherry on a spoon.

In Chicago, it's Cloud Gate. Nicknamed The Bean for its kidney-like shape, the stainless steel sculpture sits in the city's Millennium Park.

And if a group of business leaders can make it happen, it won't be long before Sioux Falls has its own piece of iconic artwork: The Arc of Dreams.

I chased the whispers I'd been hearing about this effort to Paul Schiller and Jim Clark, who sat down with me recently to share the vision.

"Well, it started with this," Schiller said, pushing a single page with a pencil drawing on it across a conference table on the top floor of the downtown office building Cherapa Place.

Like many first drafts, I'll just say this one was rough.

But like many good ideas, this one took root and grew.

It's been 10 years since Sioux Falls debuted its annual SculptureWalk. Clark, retired from Xcel Energy, serves as the nonprofit's director.

"So I said, 'What are you going to do for an encore? It's 10 years old,' " recounted Schiller, who has photographed the estimated 600 pieces SculptureWalk has brought to Sioux Falls in the past decade. "I said 'Let's talk about what we might be able to do. Let's put sculpture across the river.' "

Clark reminded his friend sculpture already is displayed downtown on both sides of the Big Sioux River.

That original sketch tells the next part of the story. It shows a sculpture base on both banks of the river anchoring a piece of art displayed over the water.

When Clark saw it, he told Schiller he was crazy.

"I said, 'Probably. But let's have some fun with it and what it could mean to the community,' " Schiller said.

They started kicking around ideas.

"I was thinking if we do a large sculpture that could possibly become iconic, we want it to represent what this city is all about," Clark said. "Recognizing the dreamers of the past, today, and the dreamers to come in the future."

The project led them to sculptor Dale Lamphere, an artist with experience creating monumental stainless steel sculpture. A South Dakota native, Lamphere sculpted "Song of Creation" for Avera McKennnan's centennial and "Tall Grass" outside the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences.

Working with Clark and Schiller, he proposed what's now known as the Arc of Dreams, two halves of an arch that span almost the length of a football field and rise 70 feet above the Big Sioux River. One base would sit on property owned by Raven Industries, and across the river another base would be located outside Cherapa Place.

There's a 15-foot gap keeping it from looking like a full arch, which symbolizes "that leap everyone takes when they have a dream or idea that makes things happen," Schiller said.

They took the concept to a small group of business leaders who wrote checks to allow design to move forward.

Now it's time to go public.

The Arc of Dreams will start fundraising with an initial goal of $650,000 that will allow Lamphere to start sculpting. An additional $300,000 will be needed for landscaping and foundation work.

Those who contribute at various levels will receive recognition including names on pavers at the base of the Arc.

"This will be a gathering place and a real focal point," Schiller said. "It opens the eyes of this community into a whole new era. We're seeing development on the river and across the river."

As I listened to their vision, I thought back on a recent presentation I heard about the future of downtown Sioux Falls that illustrates why this project needs to happen.

Consultants from Denver-based Progressive Urban Management Associates working on the city's 2025 long-range plan gave an update and analysis.

Their growth projections would add up to 3,200 new housing units by 2035 along with 475,000 square feet of retail and up to 1.6 million square feet of office.

"We think you're really an emerging downtown, a lot of potential," consultant Brad Segal told the board of Downtown Sioux Falls Inc., adding, "A lot of things need to be done to achieve that potential."

Segal's firm has worked in 150 downtowns in 35 states. He shared how national changes in demographics and lifestyles are favoring development in downtown areas.

"Nationally, there's a shortage, and it's only going to intensify, of young highly skilled labor," Segal said. "Cities are increasingly competing to be attractive destinations so young skilled labor will move to them, and companies are moving to cities and regions that have concentrations of young skilled labor."

Research shows that demographic wants to live and work somewhere that feels urban and doesn't require a car, he said.

Let's face it: urban, walkable and bikeable apply to a pretty small sliver of South Dakota. And that's why it's absolutely essential to invest in those areas — specifically downtown Sioux Falls — that are achieving the look, feel, density and environment that are becoming so sought-after.

"It's going to impact you to the extent you want to keep talent here … or if you want to attract talent from cities," Segal said. "There's going to be an expectation you provide that packet of amenities. Downtown, a vital downtown, is going to be an economic development amenity for this region that is just as important as marketing your schools or parks."

Providing the package of amenities that Segal mentions is going to require a substantial, ongoing commitment from the public and private sectors and an acceptance of the idea that while we might call things like riverfront improvements, entertainment venues and public art "amenities," they are becoming more like essentials.

"That's the future of Sioux Falls," Schiller agreed. "If we don't have a vibrant downtown, we are at risk."

The Arc of Dreams could serve as a real and a symbolic sign that Sioux Falls gets it. We're willing to invest in our downtown, promote our natural amenities, cultivate the arts and dream big.

"There's no other iconic sculpture that represents what the community is all about," Clark said. "The Arc of Dreams will do that."

It would take me more space than I have on this page to list the names of all the leaders, past and present, who come to mind when I look at that arc. So many have invested in this community, achieved their own success, but also left Sioux Falls better than they found it.

I'm sure many of their names will appear on those pavers at the base of the Arc of Dreams. But I'm more intrigued by the people we've never met who will take photos in front of it, tell others about it and maybe even move — or stay — here to take the leap that arc invites and build our next big thing.

Of course we can build a sculpture across the river. I'm just glad these guys dreamed it up.

To learn more about the Arc of Dreams, click here.

Jodi Schwan is editor of the Sioux Falls Business Journal. Reach her at 977-3976 or jschwan@sfbusinessjournal.com.