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Save Outdoor Sculpture!
SOS! is a joint project of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Heritage Preservation.
SOS! Introduction
Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) is a program committed to the preservation and celebration of America's outdoor sculptures. SOS! works to generate appreciation, enthusiasm, and a sense of ownership for America's largest collection of art and to promote outdoor sculpture as an education resource.
Nationwide, nearly 7,000 volunteers collected information about the history and condition of their communities' public sculpture. Unfortunately, they discovered that much of America's outdoor sculpture is at risk. More than half of the 32,000 public sculptures documented by SOS! volunteers needed conservation or maintenance.
SOS! is taking steps to help communities save their treasures. SOS! works with partners of all kinds—community groups, students and teachers, state and local agencies, civic organizations, preservation agencies, and service clubs—to focus attention on the preservation of outdoor sculpture and to use these treasures as an educational resource.
SOS! is supported by major contributions from Target Stores, National Endowment for the Arts, Pew Charitable Trusts, Getty Grant Program, and Henry Luce Foundation, among others.
Search the Inventory of American Sculpture
Are your town's sculptures in our database? Find out by searching the Inventory of American Sculpture online via SIRIS (Smithsonian Institution Research Information System) at AmericanArt.si.edu/search/search_data.cfm.
Pictured: Gail Sherman Corbett, Hamilton S. White Memorial (detail), Syracuse, New York. Photo: Syracuse Department of Parks and Recreation