Navigation: 3 mega menus (Events, Eat + Drink, Explore) with 2/3 link pane + 1/3 editorial spotlight panel. 2 simple dropdowns (Parking + Safety, About) with icon + label + description per row. Donate CTA styled as distinct button. Editorial panels are CMS-managed single post references with fallback defaults; Explore groups subpages by section (Art + Culture, Shopping, Experiences, Stay); Shopping nav shows only Fashion, Gifts, and All Shopping (analytics-informed — other categories accessible via landing page); Mobile: editorial panels omitted.
Full-bleed mural / sculpture / park scene — SNA photography
Art in Every Direction
The Short North's most iconic art isn't behind glass. Murals wrap entire buildings. Sculptures anchor plazas. Green spaces frame it all — from Goodale's century-old canopy to the glow of the Arches over Poplar Park. Step outside. There's always something to find.
§1 — Immersive Hero. Full-bleed image or looping video. Headline sets the merged identity: art + outdoor space as one proposition. No hard CTA — let the page breathe. SNA-owned photography preferred: imagery showing art and outdoor space in the same frame. Headline recommendation: "Art in Every Direction."
Explore the District
Public Art Map
Filter by type and tap any pin to learn more about what you'll find on the ground.
Interactive map — Mapbox or Google Maps embed
Pins plotted from georeferenced art inventory + static park locations
§2 — Interactive Public Art Map. Core feature of the page. Map view is default; Grid view provides a card-based alternative showing all works. Each pin opens a detail modal with artwork name, artist, location, and bio when available. Category filters removed — the OEF feed data is predominantly murals, and finer-grained filtering adds complexity without much utility given the dataset. On mobile: map ≥ 60vh. Data source: Ohio Event Finder public art feed — all pins are georeferenced from the feed's latitude/longitude fields.
Public Spaces
Parks + Plazas
The green spaces and gathering points that give the district its character.
[ Goodale Park — SNA photo ]
Goodale Park
Columbus's oldest park, the Short North's backyard.
Donated to the city in 1851 by Dr. Lincoln Goodale. 40 acres bordering Victorian Village, a short walk from High Street. Home to some of Columbus's most-loved summer festivals.
40 acres
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Playground
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Tennis courts
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Gazebo
[ Poplar Park / Short North Arches — SNA photo ]
Poplar Park
A plaza, a stage, and a light show — one of the district's most distinctive spots.
An official City of Columbus Park, housed in a bricked urban courtyard. Formerly East Poplar Avenue — repurposed in 2003 as part of the award-winning Short North Cap. During Gallery Hop, performers set up here and the Arches light show glows overhead.
Short North Arches
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Performance space
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Urban courtyard
[ Italian Village Park — SNA photo ]
Italian Village Park
A neighborhood treasure, just around the corner from the district's energy.
Officially the Carl Proto Memorial Park, one block east of High Street in the historic Italian Village neighborhood. Dedicated to Carl Proto, an Italian-American Columbus native, with gardens maintained by the Italian Village Park Committee.
Playground
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Picnic area
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Gardens
§3 — Public Spaces: Parks + Plazas. Three equal-weight cards — warm and editorial, not a city directory. Each: strong photo, park name, tagline, 2–3 line description, feature icons, and links. Poplar Park cross-links to Events (Gallery Hop). Copy should be shorter and more evocative than the legacy site — create curiosity, don't replace a visit.
Spotlight
Meet the Artists
The people behind the murals, sculptures, and installations that define the district.
[ Artwork photo ]
Mural
"Defend Democracy" at Hubbard
Shepard Fairey
Born in 1970, Shepard Fairey has been a major figure of the contemporary street art movement. He rose to prominence with his OBEY GIANT art campaign and his iconic 2008 Hope poster for President Obama. His work is held by MoMA, the V+A, and the National Portrait Gallery.
View Artwork Details →
[ Artwork photo ]
Mural
Are You A Life-force?
Sally Meier
Sally Meier began painting murals as a 16-year-old, when she painted a wall in the Columbus Zoo + Aquarium ice cream shop. When zookeeper Jack Hanna saw the piece, he asked her to paint a 20-foot by 25-foot elephant on the zoo's pachyderm building.
View Artwork Details →
[ Artwork photo ]
Mural
2023 Summer Spray Mural
Ariel Peguero
Ariel Peguero is a Dominican American artist who blends technology with traditional methods, working with murals and augmented reality. His work explores the immigrant experience within American culture through family themes and symbolism.
View Artwork Details →
§4 — Meet the Artists. Highlights 3 randomly selected works where the artist has a biography in the OEF feed. Purpose is distinct from the map's grid toggle: the map grid shows all works as thumbnail cards, while this section tells the human story behind the art. Zero editorial maintenance — the randomization and bio-existence filter can run at build time or page load from the WordPress dataset. Cards open the same detail modal as the map pins.
The Program
Short North Public Art Program
How the district's outdoor gallery gets made.
The Short North Alliance actively commissions, funds, and stewards public art across the district — partnering with the City of Columbus, local arts organizations, and individual artists to bring new work to public spaces every year. The program is rooted in the belief that great neighborhoods deserve great art, and that art should be accessible to everyone who walks through.
40+
Public Art Works
15
Years of Programming
25+
Commissioned Artists
3
Public Parks
§5 — Public Art Program Overview. Builds credibility and ownability. Answers "Who makes this happen?" Brief editorial copy + 3–4 proof-point callouts. Tone: credible and proud, not bureaucratic. If hard numbers aren't available at launch, use qualitative anchors instead. This is what separates shortnorth.org from a generic city guide.
Participate
Get Involved
Want to see your work in the district? Interested in sponsoring a commission? The Short North's public art program is community-driven — here's how to be part of it.
Propose a Project
Artists and collectives can submit proposals for new public art installations in the district.
Submit a Proposal →
Open Calls
Check for current or upcoming calls for artists and community collaborators.
View Open Calls →
Sponsor a Commission
Businesses and individuals can support the next generation of public art in the Short North.
Learn About Sponsorship →
§6 — Get Involved CTA. Present but not loud. Three-item row: propose a project, open calls, sponsorship. Small and clear — should not compete visually with the Featured Installation or Parks sections above. Reserve prominent button styling for highest-priority action only. Links update quarterly as open calls go live or close.
Public Art Detail Modal. Serves as a pseudo detail page for individual artworks. Triggered from gallery grid cards or map pins via data-art-modal attribute. Fields drawn from Ohio Event Finder API: name, category (Mural/Sculpture/Installation), artist name(s), address, year, artist biography. Bio section hidden when no biography exists. In production, the modal content would be populated from WordPress custom post data imported from the OEF feed.
PRE-FOOTER — Global component displayed on every page. Combines newsletter signup + social links into a persistent strip above the footer.
Footer consolidates full sitemap. Social links in pre-footer above. Links connect to wireframes where available; # = placeholder for pages not yet wireframed.