In 1964, the MBTA was created as the successor to the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The purpose of the MBTA was to consolidate transit systems in
greater Boston. The first permanent public artworks on the MBTA were added in 1967. (A temporary exhibition had been held in the
Winter Street Concourse in 1960.) Before Arts on the Line was implemented, the MBTA did not have a comprehensive or formal arts program. The Arts on the Line program was developed solely by the CAC and was administered by them as well.
Selection process From 1979-1980, the
Cambridge Arts Council, which was charged with choosing the artworks, went through the artist selection process and selected twenty artworks, five for each station.
Installation In 1985, the first 20 artworks installed under the Arts on the Line program were unveiled. These works comprised the largest collection of art in a United States transit setting, at that time. The total cost of the artworks was $695,000, or
one half of one percent of the total construction cost of the Red Line Extension, and was funded partially by a $70,000
National Endowment for the Arts grant. The works were almost exclusively made with durable materials (stone, bronze, brick, etc.), and many were placed so that it was physically impossible to reach them without assistance. This was to avoid normal wear and tear as well as
vandalism. The MBTA installed temporary galleries in six subway stations, including , , ,
Washington Street, and
Essex (Chinatown) stations, which were all undergoing renovations in the mid-80s. These galleries hosted temporary works for 18 months, and each temporary gallery was allotted to spend on art. In total 21 artists were chosen, each one being given a $3500 stipend to develop and create up to three projects for the station. Forty works were displayed in 1986, with 19 more in 1987. A subway rider at Harvard station stated, "It's worth coming down to the T just for the art". In 2001, the MBTA began a $2.3 million federally-funded program to install ten new works and restore 21 of the 72 existing pieces. The centerpiece of the program was
Totems of Light, a pair of stained glass windows at the rebuilt
Airport station. Public art on the
Green Line Extension was cut during cost-cutting in 2015, but later re-added.
Removal of artworks The Lights at the End of the Tunnel, a large reflective mobile by
William Wainwright in the Porter Square station mezzanine, was removed in 1993 due to a lead weight that fell off. Structural elements of the sculpture slowly deteriorated unnoticed, until a piece fell off without warning. Short of funds and faced with an expensive repair bill, the MBTA considered options to either move or destroy the artwork in August 2013. By December 2013, the sculpture had been removed, and its ownership had been transferred to a private developer of housing in
Rockport, Massachusetts. The developer planned to restore and re-install it on a public harbor walk near a new development in
Pigeon Cove, with the approval of the artist's widow. ==Red Line Northwest Extension artworks==