Madison’s Imagination Center opens at Reindahl Park with community-shaped public art

Madison’s Imagination Center at Reindahl Park has opened to the public at 1814 Parkside Drive in northeast Madison, bringing a new library and community space to the park. The September 25 opening also introduced Nate Page’s outdoor sculpture, The Passage of Being, which the city says was selected after residents and local students contributed their views. The Daily Cardinal reported the opening on September 29, describing the branch as Madison’s first new library in 26 years.

The city calls the 17,500-square-foot center its first park-based library, a partnership between Madison Public Library and Madison Parks. Its plan combines library services with indoor and outdoor programming and space for people to gather. For visitors, the distinction is practical: the library has opened, while rentals of the connected park pavilion are planned for 2027, according to The Daily Cardinal. No booking date or confirmed rental schedule was established in the reporting.

What visitors can use at the Imagination Center

The city’s opening schedule called for a ribbon cutting from 3 to 4 p.m. on September 25, followed by public entry to the library. Its announcement lists free Wi-Fi, public computers and resources for health, wellness, work and education among the center’s offerings. The Daily Cardinal reported that the interior includes a meeting area, classroom, small study rooms, a quiet reading room and a children’s area. Those spaces give residents several ways to use the branch beyond borrowing materials.

Library director Tana Elias told The Daily Cardinal that residents had repeatedly said they lacked places to meet on that side of town. At the opening ceremony, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway described the center as a resource hub intended to fill a service and programming gap in northeast Madison, the newspaper reported. Those accounts explain why the partnership places a library and gathering space together in Reindahl Park, rather than treating the new building solely as a place for collections.

How neighbors shaped The Passage of Being

The sculpture stands in the parkland behind the Imagination Center. According to the city, the Madison Arts Commission selected Page’s work with the Parks Division and Madison Public Library after a community survey completed by more than 1,200 residents. Students at Sandburg Elementary School also took part in classroom workshops with library arts staff. The participation figure and description of that process are the city’s account; the reviewed independent report did not audit the survey total.

Council President Sabrina Madison told The Daily Cardinal that she insisted students’ views be included before she would support moving the art selection forward. The city describes the finished work as having two sides: layered colors facing the center draw on the flags of prominent immigrant communities in northeast Madison, while a reflective side mirrors the surrounding park and activity toward the library. The city gives its approximate dimensions as 16 feet high, 10 feet wide and 30 inches deep.

Page said in the city’s announcement that he wanted the work to feel like an invitation to enter the library, connect with nature and imagine together. The city says its Percent for Art program funded the sculpture by directing 1% of eligible construction budgets to public art. It credits Seven Generation Contractors with foundation construction and Gallas Metalworks with fabrication. The announcement scheduled the work’s dedication for the opening; the reviewed accounts do not separately establish whether that ceremony took place.

The outdoor sculpture is one part of the center’s art program. The Daily Cardinal reported work by neighborhood artist Terrance Adeyanju inside the library and an Imagination Wall displaying Aleida Hertel’s collage Passage. Alongside Page’s permanent piece, those works bring local artists into a building intended for everyday public use. The same report said the center followed almost two decades of planning, giving the September opening significance beyond a single day’s celebration.