King Artist Residency

In 2021, the City of Palo Alto Public Art Program launched the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Coretta Scott King artist residency program, engaging the community in conversations about equity, inclusion, and belonging in Palo Alto. In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, for whom King Plaza is named, the Council asked the Public Art Commission to consider commissioning a permanent work signaling the City’s commitment to race, equity, and belonging. The Public Art Commission is committed to a permanent platform for ongoing conversations about equity, inclusion, and belonging in Palo Alto through the arts. As a result, the King Artist Residency Program was established.  

The 2024 King Artist Residency: Artist Alma Landeta

Alma Landeta (they/them) is the 2024 King Artist-in-Residence. Alma Landeta is a trans and mixed-race visual artist and educator who centers queer joy as liberation through drawings, paintings, site-specific installations, and public programming. Their work reflects their lived experiences while celebrating the communities that have held space for them to live authentically. Landeta's background as an educator has taught them how to incorporate culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate frameworks for facilitating social practice art—whether that’s through a collaborative framework for individual portraits, interactive installations, or community workshops.

For their King Residency project Alma Landeta is focusing on the lived experiences of the LGBTQAI+ community members residing and/or working in Palo Alto with the goal of sparking conversations about inclusion, equity, a sense of belonging and bringing Palo Alto’s diverse communities together through better understanding and compassion. The artist concluded the community engagement phase of their residency with a presentation for the Public Art Commission on January 16, 2025, and delivered a comprehensive project report (both can be accessed below). The next phase of the residency is for the artist to create a site-specific installation for the City Hall King Plaza to be installed during 2025.

(PDF, 21MB)