The Downtown Dayton Partnership (DDP) and The Contemporary Dayton (The Co) have teamed together to enliven downtown streetscapes with ArtWraps, a project to “wrap” utility boxes with original designs by local artists of all ages.
ArtWraps takes commonplace objects, such as the “ugly” utility boxes on downtown streets, and transforms them into pieces of art by wrapping them with artistic designs printed on vinyl wraps.
The program debuted in 2022 with the first phase of ArtWraps, consisting of 15 utility boxes throughout downtown.
An additional 15 boxes were wrapped during the project’s second phase in 2023. See the map below for locations. The designs were chosen from more than 200 entries submitted by a diverse range of people from the Dayton area.
ArtWraps is an extension of the DDP’s Urban Art Intersections program, which seeks to use public art to enliven downtown and connect artists with the community while engaging downtown Dayton residents, workers and visitors. It is also a project from Place Lab, the DDP’s approach to prioritizing and implementing placemaking projects, making downtown locations more vibrant, inclusive, engaging and connected.
