The “Chimes Project,” a major interactive and multi-media art initiative located in Freedom Park, was designed by artist Joe Segal in partnership with Compassionate St. Augustine, the grassroots organization Keep Riberia Pointe Green, and the City of St. Augustine. As the Ancient City’s officially approved permanent public art installation, it interpretively pays tribute to our city’s African–American & Civil Rights storylines, as well as the roles freedom, human rights, democracy, tolerance, civility, and compassion, have played in creating the narrative.
Joe Segal was commissioned by Compassionate St. Augustine to carve the semi-circular reflection bench made of white marble and topped with granite tiles designed by local children from the Boys & Girls Club, The Webster School, and St. Johns Youth Academy.
Richard Cooke donated the chimes, which are 14 aluminum cylinders graduated in height to form an upward arc. When individually struck, each of the pentatonic chimes sounds a different tone but produces a harmonious effect overall.
Within our country, there is a great desire to bring individuals and entire communities together to heal old wounds and make firm commitments to cooperatively and collaboratively build a better future. The “Let Freedom Ring Chime Project” initiative aims to invite all to ponder the possibilities and wander with wonder on the unique peninsula at the confluence of the San Sebastian and Matanzas Rivers.
Dr. Robert B. Hayling Freedom P ... view more »
The “Chimes Project,” a major interactive and multi-media art initiative located in Freedom Park, was designed by artist Joe Segal in partnership with Compassionate St. Augustine, the grassroots organization Keep Riberia Pointe Green, and the City of St. Augustine. As the Ancient City’s officially approved permanent public art installation, it interpretively pays tribute to our city’s African–American & Civil Rights storylines, as well as the roles freedom, human rights, democracy, tolerance, civility, and compassion, have played in creating the narrative.
Joe Segal was commissioned by Compassionate St. Augustine to carve the semi-circular reflection bench made of white marble and topped with granite tiles designed by local children from the Boys & Girls Club, The Webster School, and St. Johns Youth Academy.
Richard Cooke donated the chimes, which are 14 aluminum cylinders graduated in height to form an upward arc. When individually struck, each of the pentatonic chimes sounds a different tone but produces a harmonious effect overall.
Within our country, there is a great desire to bring individuals and entire communities together to heal old wounds and make firm commitments to cooperatively and collaboratively build a better future. The “Let Freedom Ring Chime Project” initiative aims to invite all to ponder the possibilities and wander with wonder on the unique peninsula at the confluence of the San Sebastian and Matanzas Rivers.
Dr. Robert B. Hayling Freedom Park, a vast 10+ acre natural green space, honors St. Augustine’s nationally acclaimed Civil Rights Movement hero and offers extraordinary opportunities to reflectively and experientially discover new ways to engage with one’s self, others, and more than 450 years of African-American history in our nation’s oldest continuously occupied European city.
The first phase of the Chimes Project was officially dedicated by the City of St. Augustine on April 4, 2018 – the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The core values of the Chimes Project are grounded in Dr. King’s quote:
“…the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
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