LOWER EAST SIDE — These Lower East Side streets will soon be paved with art.
The Lower East Side Business Improvement District is running a competition for artists to submit ideas to cover a 2,000-square-foot triangle of pavement where Division, Ludlow and Canal streets converge.
The BID is working with the organization ArtHere to pick a winning design, which will be stenciled onto the asphalt pedestrian plaza.
"It's an opportunity for public art in the neighborhood and it is something we want to create more of," said Natalie Raben, the director of marketing and communication at the BID.
"This space already exists and is closed off to traffic, and there were not many hoops that need to be jumped through to make this happen," she added.
Artists have until Nov. 1 to submit their design ideas for the area, which is currently covered in wide white stripes.
The chosen artist could be given $3,000 in grants from the Department of Transportation's urban art program to complete the project, but would have to go through the agency's competitive application process first, according to Raben.
The submissions will be judged by a panel that includes Raben and Dan Barasch, the co-founder of the Lowline, a proposed underground park next to the Delancey Street subway station. The BID is looking for a patterned design, rather than artwork showing people, according to Raben.
The BID hopes the artwork will be installed in the spring.
Artists can submit their design ideas through the ArtHere website.
