Monday’s Monument: Spirit of Hope, Austin, Texas

The Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex was built to provide neighborhood youth with safe entertainment options, in response to a 1992 drive-by shooting of a teenager. David Newton was commissioned to create a commemorative sculpture and fountain for the center. This winged bronze Spirit of Hope is attached to a building column and hovers above a fountain basin. A poem by Michael Gifford, Jr., mounted near the sculpture, was selected through a neighborhood youth poetry contest about youth violence. “Hope is the key / Let’s make this game a reality / We’ve got to stop the violence / Love one another / She’s your sister and I’m your brother / We’ve got to come together in unity / That’s the way it ought to be / Having the spirit of hope is the key.”