‘Fearless Girl’ moving to spot outside the New York Stock Exchange

AP
Photo/Bebeto Matthews

• The “Fearless Girl” statue, a symbol of female can-do
  business spirit, has been removed from her spot opposite Wall
  Street’s “Charging Bull.”
• The statue will move to a location in front of the New
  York Stock Exchange by the end of this year, said
  officials.
• State Street Global Advisors placed the statue opposite
  Wall Street’s iconic “Charging Bull” statue in March 2017 as
  part of its campaign to pressure companies to add more women to
  their boards. 
• New York City extended the temporary installation
  permit of the girl until this year, upsetting the sculptor of
  the “Charging Bull.” 

The “Fearless Girl” statue, a symbol of female can-do
business spirit, has been plucked from her spot opposite Wall
Street’s “Charging Bull” and is on the move to its new home in
front of the New York Stock Exchange, officials said
Wednesday.

The sculpture of a defiant-looking young girl has been
removed from her original location at Bowling Green in
preparation for her reinstallation, said
State Street Global Advisors, the world’s third-largest asset
manager that installed the statue last year. 

The statue hasn’t been relocated to its new location yet,
but will be there by the end of the year, State Street
said. 

On the eve of International Women’s Day 2017, the
Boston-based financial-services firm placed the bronze girl
statue in front of Wall Street’s iconic “Charging Bull” statue as
part of its
campaign to pressure companies to add more women to their
boards. 

The “Fearless Girl” was installed with a temporary permit
by New York City, but was so popular that the public successfully

petitioned the city’s officials to extend the permit through
2018.

At that time,
Arturo Di Modica,
t
he sculptor of Wall Street’s “Charging
Bull” was mad about the decision to extend the temporary
installation permit. 

“Women, girls, that’s great, but that’s not what that (my
sculpture) is,” he said. “I put it there for art. My bull is a
symbol for America. My bull is a symbol of prosperity and for
strength.”

Ironically, Modica did the same thing back in 1989, when he
installed his “Charging Bull” in front of the New York Stock
Exchange without a permit. The sculpture was impounded by
the city but the public
appeal it generated forced officials to bring it back,
just two
blocks farther south from where Di Modica had originally placed
it.

In April, the
mayor’s office said that the statue’s post outside of
the New York Stock Exchange would be its “long-term” home. Mayor
Bill De Blasio called the statue “a powerful symbol of the need
for change at the highest levels of corporate America” and “a
durable part of our city’s civic life.”

A plaque with two footsteps marks the girl’s former spot in
the heart of New York City’s Financial District. “Fearless Girl
is on the move to The New York Stock Exchange,” the plaque reads.
“Until she’s there, stand for her.”

“While Fearless Girl is preparing to move to her new home, we
encourage the public to visit Bowling Green and #StandForHer to
keep her powerful message going strong,” said State
Street.