DCLA Announces 'Last Call' For Artists To Be Considered For Monuments Honoring Billie Holiday And Dr. Helen Rodríguez Trías

NYC Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo has announced the “last call” for artists interested in designing two permanent, public monuments in New York City: one monument honoring jazz legend Billie Holiday in Queens, and one honoring public health pioneer Dr. Helen Rodríguez Trías in the Bronx.

The artist selection process for these two monuments will move forward in the weeks ahead, so artists who want to be considered for these major commissions are being asked to respond to the open call – being conducted by the Department of Cultural Affairs' Public Art Unit – by April 7, 2025.

“She Built NYC is a first, long overdue step toward telling a more complete story of who we are as New Yorkers through public monuments honoring the women who fought to make our city better, stronger, fairer, and more vibrant,” said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. “With these monuments honoring icons Billie Holiday and Dr. Helen Rodríguez Trías, we're looking for artists to help us pay tribute to these extraordinary women through permanent, public artworks that will speak to residents and visitors to our city for generations to come. So artists, before Women's HERstory month is over: please consider applying!”

Last year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) Commissioner Laurie Cumbo announced the revival of She Built NYC, an initiative to build monuments honoring women influential in the city's history.  The Adams administration previously announced a major milestone on the first of the five She Built NYC projects — a monument honoring Shirley Chisholm in Brooklyn's Prospect Park — in July 2023, when it received unanimous approval from the city's Public Design Commission.

The four projects restarted last year were initially announced in March 2019, but stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and never reached the initial phase of planning. As Mayor Adams announced in March 2024, the restarted She Built NYC projects will honor Dr. Helen Rodríguez Trías in the Bronx, Elizabeth Jennings Graham in Manhattan, Billie Holiday in Queens, and Katherine Walker in Staten Island. Today's announcement of a final open call for artists is for the monuments honoring Billie Holiday (which will be located on the grounds of the Jamaica Performing Arts Center) and Dr. Helen Rodríguez Trías (which will be located at NYC Health + Hospitals / Lincoln). For both projects, the city is seeking artists to create three dimensional, sculptural artworks made from a durable material, such as bronze.

“A monument at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center to celebrate the incomparable Billie Holiday will accelerate the perception of Southeast Queens as the vibrant cultural community that it is,” said Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL) Executive Director Leonard Jacobs. “The lady sang the blues—truly, like no other. Soon, through a winning proposal submitted by a visionary contemporary artist, all New Yorkers will be able to honor Billie Holiday's unsurpassable and timeless contributions to American music.”

Planning and preparation remains underway for the other two She Built NYC monuments restarted by the city last year – one in Staten Island honoring Katherine Walker, and one in Manhattan honoring Elizabeth Jennings Graham – and the artist call for those projects will remain open on a rolling basis. All monuments are being commissioned through the city's Percent for Art program.

Billie Holiday (1915-1959) - Queens  

Born Eleanora Fagan Gough, “Billie” Holiday is one of the most celebrated jazz singers of all time. Her career helped to define New York as the emerging jazz scene, and she challenged racial barriers, becoming the first Black women to sing with a white orchestra. Holiday's “Strange Fruit” — a powerful protest song about lynching — was named by Time Magazine as “the song of the century.” Her career was recognized with a dozen Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  

The Billie Holiday Monument will be built at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center, near the clubs she performed in and the neighborhood she called home. 

Dr. Helen Rodríguez Trías was a pioneer in reproductive rights and HIV/AIDS care and prevention. Dr. Rodríguez Trías' work often advocated on behalf of women and children, especially those in poor and minority communities. She became the medical director of the New York state Department of Health's AIDS Institute and the first Latinx director of the American Public Health Association. Dr. Rodríguez Trías was a recipient of the Presidential Citizen's Medal for her work on behalf of women, children, people with HIV/AIDS, and the poor. Among her greatest legacies are shaping regulations that govern informed consent for sterilizations and empowering low-income and minority women through the women's health movement. 

The Dr. Helen Rodriguez Trías Monument will be built in a public-facing area at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, where she was the head of the hospital's pediatrics department and advocated for better medical care for the communities of color that the institution served.