ST. LOUIS.- St. Louis Metro's Arts in Transit (AIT), a community partnership program, is currently installing eight new art exhibits along the Cross County extension. This art is something only a handful of cities in the United States can be proud in saying they provide to their city and St. Louis is one of them. AIT furthers Metro's mission of "regional economic development through excellence in transportation" by forging community partnerships and creating community-oriented transit environments that are customer friendly and aesthetically appealing. According to David Allen, Director of Arts in Transit, "Art in transit provides an intersection between public transit and public art."

Metro’s Arts in Transit (AIT) was started in 1986 with the goal of coordinating unique ideas from artists, engineers and architects to design the future light rail system in the bi-state area. Beginning in 1989 with the launching of ArtLink, a series of temporary public art installations along the developing MetroLink route, AIT has continued to bring excitement to the transit system by working with communities to enhance the environment surrounding Metro stations.

AIT launched its innovative approach from the beginning by inviting artists to work with the architects and engineers on the original design team for MetroLink. This initial design team effort was the first of its kind in the United States and has since become a routine operation for public agencies across the country. AIT has created more than 100 public art installations with a depth and diversity that is unprecedented in relation to other public art programs around the country. With its combination of permanent and temporary public artworks, painted art buses, literary works and poetry, Metro is ranked among notable public transportation agencies in cities such as Seattle, Charlotte, Minneapolis, New York and Los Angeles.

Currently, AIT is in the process of commissioning eight new public artworks for the Cross County MetroLink Extension. This project has been enabled through the “percent for art” policy that was adopted at Metro in 1999 and allows for one percent of construction funds to be set aside from capital projects for public art. From the invitational competition the AIT Artist Selection Committee reviewed the qualifications of more than 75 talented artists and narrowed it down to eight artists based on aesthetic quality, past experience and professional experience. These artists represent a diverse group with levels of experience ranging from veteran masters of public space to those who are just beginning to experiment in the public art field.

AIT continues its strong commitment to bringing dynamic public art collections to the bi-state area in order to build community awareness and excitement about the transit system. Current proposals along with past projects represent AIT’s desire to build upon its existing impressive body of work and raise the bar for international transit planning and design.