The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) in Columbus has entered into a partnership with the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) to display art by area youth in COTA’s 300-bus fleet as part of the Poetry in Motion program. COTA and GCAC joined the Poetry Society of America (PSA) to select the specific poems that inspired the young artists.

Because COTA wanted to use the themes of “The Power of One” and the civil rights movement in its student art campaign, PSA selected poems that fit the theme and representatives of the two Columbus organizations made the final choices. The students—members of GCAC’s Transit Arts and Art in the House programs—then created art pieces that paired with the poems, and COTA and GCAC selected the final six to be displayed on the buses.

Public transit agencies in other cities have successfully implemented similar student art programs.

The winning artists were Bria Baldwin, 15, a senior at Columbus Africentric School, “To You” by Walt Whitman; Dezwuan Forrest, 19, a senior at Focus Learning Academy, “To You”; Jalen Anthony Cureton, 15, a sophomore at ACPA Arts & College Prep Academy, “Sympathy” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar; Isaiah Farmer, 12, a sixth-grader at Cols School for Boys, “Let There Be New Flowering” by Lucille Clifton; Sara Jai Haines, 10, a fourth-grader at Avondale Elementary, “Let There be New Flowering”; and Shaniah Dunlap, 7, a second-grader at Columbus Humanities Academy, “For Friendship” by Robert Creeley.

Photo by Jim Shively The winning youth artists in Columbus, OH, display their artwork on board a COTA bus. From left: front row, Shaniah Dunlap; second row, Sara Jai Haines and Isaiah Farmer; and third row, Bria Baldwin, Dezwuan Forrest, and Jalen Anthony Cureton.