SMYRNA, Georgia — The Smyrna City Council on Monday adopted a Public Art Master Plan, giving the city a decade-long roadmap for expanding murals, sculptures, artist-led projects and other public art across all seven wards.
The plan, developed with Designing Local, city staff and community input, is intended to guide Smyrna’s growing public art program as the city continues investing in downtown redevelopment, parks, trails and gathering spaces. City officials described the plan as a living document meant to reflect Smyrna’s past, present and future while helping public art become a more intentional part of the city’s identity.
“This is a long time coming,” Mayor Derek Norton said during the city council meeting.
The plan builds on more than a decade of public art efforts in Smyrna, including sculptures, murals on private property, pop-up projects and artist-led engagement. More recently, the city has pursued the ARTery concept along Atlanta Road, utility box murals, painted fire hydrants, crosswalk murals in Smyrna Market Village and vinyl-wrapped traffic cabinets.
Community engagement helped shape the plan’s recommendations. The planning process included one-on-one interviews, a focus group with the Public Art Committee, pop-up engagement at the 2025 Crafts and Drafts Festival and a public survey completed by 234 participants.
The plan identifies several themes residents connected with Smyrna’s identity, including togetherness, vibrancy, diversity, family-friendly spaces and a small-town feel. Its vision statement says public art in Smyrna should reflect the community, amplify the city’s best qualities and enrich the quality of life.
Project recommendations are divided into three categories based on cost and complexity.
“Small wins,” generally under $25,000, include expanding painted fire hydrants and utility boxes, banner activations, vinyl murals and temporary pop-up art. “Medium wins” between $25,000 and $49,999 includes retaining-wall murals, artist-designed furniture, rotating-sculpture infrastructure, and medium-scale artworks in landscaped or hardscaped areas.
Larger projects, starting at $50,000, could include pollinator and sensory gardens, sculpture trails across parks, major sculptures, painted overpasses and underpasses, the Argyle Elementary School bridge mural and artist-designed play structures.
The plan, which passed by a 6-0 vote, also lays out administrative recommendations, including potential funding models. Options include public art requirements in developer agreements for city-owned land, tying public art to future SPLOST projects, allocating a small share of the city’s annual operating budget or continuing general fund support. The plan recommends aiming for $100,000 to $125,000 in annual public art funding.
A proposed mural matching grant program would provide a one-to-one match of up to $5,000 for eligible privately funded murals on private property, with an annual program cap of up to $60,000.
The plan is intended to be implemented by city staff and the Smyrna Public Art Committee, with support from the mayor and council. Its adoption gives the city a formal framework for selecting projects, engaging residents, funding maintenance and growing public art beyond one-off installations.
“I’m just so humbled and proud of the city of Smyrna, and how we’ve come together to support public art and our local artists,” City Councilman Rickey N. Oglesby, chair of the council’s arts committee, said just before the vote. “Public art is supposed to make us feel good, which is what [the] city of Smyrna is all about. So, I’m really excited about the future of public art. I think you will be, too.”
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