How Christopher Columbus statue could return through million-dollar art project

Watch a report on the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A city initiative supported by a $2 million grant is seeking public opinion to decide what should happen to the Christopher Columbus statue removed from outside of City Hall in 2020.

The statue was ordered for removal by Mayor Andrew Ginther and placed in storage after community input. At the time, Ginther said the statue represented patriarchy, oppression and divisiveness. He also said the statue's removal would combat systemic racism.

“By replacing the statue, we are removing one more barrier to meaningful and lasting change to end systemic racism,” Ginther said in 2020.

After years in storage, the Christopher Columbus statue could soon find a new home. That's part of what Reimagining Columbus -- a $3.5 million initiative to revise public art and commemorative spaces in the city -- is trying to figure out.

Jennifer Fening, deputy director of the Department of Development, said Reimagining Columbus came about because of a $500 million program from the Mellon Foundation to recontextualize contested monuments. She said the Reimagining Columbus initiative has two primary goals.

"The two key deliverables are designing sketches of a space that use the statue to tell the story of who Christopher Columbus was, and to explain who we are as a community in light of his legacy, and really communicate to the world who we are as a city named Columbus," Fening said. "The other deliverable of the grant is a public art plan for the City Hall campus."

The Christopher Columbus statue will not return to City Hall, Fening clarified. However, the project will map out what a new space for the statue would look like, before kicking it over to the city to decide based on community response.

"We have an opportunity to unpack as a community what Christopher Columbus' legacy means to us," Fening said. "And also, how do we communicate who we are as a community today? What are our values?"

As part of Reimagining Columbus, the city has had events to receive community input, with more to come. Fening said the forums have discussed much more than just the statue, covering topics like heritage, colonialism and more.

In 2020, residents opposed to the statue made their voices heard and ultimately got their wishes fulfilled, but Fening said another portion of the community has a different perspective.

"In 1955, the Italian community was a community that was still experiencing a good deal of marginalization in American culture," Fening said. "And so to them, at that time, the gift of a statue from our sister city of Italy, depicting an Italian, felt like cultural acceptance. I think that's an important lens of empathy to bring to how we interpret this conversation."

The two-year Reimagining Columbus initiative began in June 2023 and will go through June 2025.