Six Artists Vie For Columbus Statue Replacement

Six artists are competing to design a monument to Italian-American heritage to replace the now-removed Christopher Columbus statue in Wooster Square Park.

The Wooster Square Monument Committee now faces the task of narrowing down the options.

Wooster Square business owner Bill Iovanne updated neighbors about the project this week at the monthly Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team meeting.

“This is all new to us. If coming here earlier is something that should have been done, I apologize as a co-chair,” Iovanne said.

New Haven took down the Wooster Square Christopher Columbus statue one year ago, to cheers from some and anger from others, as part of a national moment recognizing the violence Columbus perpetrated against indigenous Taino people. Mayor Justin Elicker created the Wooster Square Monument Committee soon after.

The committee received over 100 ideas for how to honor Italian Americans as the Columbus statue once did. The 27-member group narrowed down the ideas into one vision that six artists have now offered to bring to life.

Four panels would depict the story of Italian Americans immigrating to New Haven and shaping Wooster Square into the neighborhood it is today. The artist would etch community members’ photos into the metal panels, which would be arranged in a garden around the pedestal. A new sculpture would sit atop the pedestal to tie together the story in the four panels.

The committee sent out this vision in a request for qualifications in April. Five New Haven artists responded; four currently live in New Haven and one grew up in New Haven. A sixth artists responded from elsewhere in Connecticut.

Only a few neighbors responded to the presentation at the monthly management team meeting. One recounted how excited she is to see the replacement. Another, New Haven Urban Design League President Anstress Farwell, expressed concern that historic experts and community members have not been more involved in the project so far. Iovanne countered with historians the committee has been relying on, as well as examples of community input.

A subcommittee of the Wooster Square Monument Committee is taking the first look at artist submissions. To attend those virtual subcommittee meetings, email Iovanne and other co-chairs .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Meeting dates and times for the full committee are listed here.

The group hopes to finalize a contract with one artist by July and start installing the new statue in the spring of 2022. The committee has promised to find grants and donations to pay for the project, rather than asking for money from the Board of Alders.

The city’s other Christopher Columbus replacement has just happened. One year after first deciding to rename Christopher Columbus Family Academy, the New Haven Board of Education has officially set the new name of the Fair Haven-based K‑8 school to the Family Academy of Multilingual Exploration.