Rather than take sides for or against Christopher Columbus’ statue in downtown Syracuse, the Onondaga Historical Association is holding a design competition to erect a monument next to it honoring other ethnic groups including Native Americans and indigenous people. OHA executive director Lisa Romano Moore says it will sit adjacent to the Columbus Circle rather than replace the Italian explorer.
“To lead with, ‘Oh the monument has to be up or down,’ isn’t really HOA’s call," said OHA executive director Lisa Moore. "And all of those elements could be utilized to tell the story of the history of Syracuse and the people who’ve been here forever and the people who are newcomers.”
Moore says consensus about the monument’s future wasn’t achieved in 2018 and 2019 and a period of neutrality has passed. Now they’re trying to find artists with ideas to tell the stories of many other groups in both a historical context and a cohesive and artistic way.
“You’re also dealing with a space that is outside. So, you’re going to want certain types of materials and those may be things that are reflective of the kind of classical architecture and design that’s in the circle,” said Romano Moore
The Columbus Monument Corporation has criticized the process of hiring an outside firm from Minneapolis to help carry out the process. Moore says Syracuse isn’t home to many public art consultants, and if hired, local consultants would have been excluded from the process. In April, artists and design teams received invitations to share their portfolios of work and are due May 17th. Full Circle Design Competition finalists will be announced in June.
