Sculpture Fields and CFC Foundation Jockey for Park Space

Dotted with enormous and interactive statues, the 33-acre Sculpture Fields is the largest outdoor museum in the southeast.
“We will always be free and open to the public of Chattanooga,” says Sculpture Fields Executive Director Anne Rushing. “So, it’s really an opportunity to get hands on and interactive with art and an environment where people feel really comfortable.”
Rushing says these outdoor spaces are more important than ever.
“Our daily lives, it’s work or school and family and it’s really important to have something else. For some people it may be running and here you can go running in an art museum,” Rushing says.
Located atop the 110-year-old Montague Park, a 13-acre portion of the park is currently unused but Rushing says they already have plans to build into the space they understood would become theirs.
But the Chattanooga Football Club Foundation says the space would be better enhanced with playing fields of their own.
“Soccer is the broadest sport for the most people,” says Chattanooga Football Club Foundation Executive Director Krue Brock. “It’s the world’s game so it’s our bias, but you can play ultimate frisbee or rugby or anything there. So the whole idea of drawing people together around play is a thesis we’ve seen work over and over here.”
Sculpture Fields has identified other locations for the football club foundation to build upon but the foundation said it’s all but a done deal.
“It’s the city’s process,” Brock says. “And I thought it was a pretty good process. It was a long arduous one and we submitted our bid to animate the space. We were selected actually twice and right now, we’re just in the final stages of getting our lease done.”

In 2003, Montague Park was shut down due to high contamination levels found within the soil. The park was once a landfill. Officials from both organizations have assured us they have addressed safety concerns with local environmental organizations.