Officials in Dubuque have applied for a federal grant to help finance development of a new city park. Steve Ulstad is part of the group pushing for a new “Creative Commons” in Dubuque that would be equipped with a light and sound system similar to a public park in Las Vegas.
“If you wanted to have a gathering of your group, we could put your logo in lights and shine that on the ground,” he said during an interview with KCRG TV.
And tweets about a performance could be shown on the system, too, so the audience could talk, electronically, during the songs. Last week the Dubuque City Council discussed the project. The proposed site is a small area green space near the Port of Dubuque, about the size of a football field. Ulstad said the light shows could match the music and might even be the main draw for shows on New Years Eve.
“We think it’ll be a big event and a big destination for people coming to Dubuque,” Ulstad told KCRG.
The entire cost of the new park is estimated at $2.4 million. Dubuque’s city council has applied for an “Art Place America Grant” of $1.5 million.
Dubuque calls a portion of its downtown the “cultural corridor” and the Dubuque Area Arts Collective helps young artists find studio space and even a place to record their music.