Forecast Public Art views education as a critical investment in the next generation of citizens and artists engaged in creating their own meaningful places. Public art learning empowers young people to make and care for their own places, and in turn invest in their communities with pride and a sense of identity.
Forecast’s Education program focuses on bringing people together to learn and connect around ideas, questions and concepts related to public art. This newest program area at Forecast encompasses the following:
The Public Art in the Schools initiative exposes young people to concepts of problem solving, critical thinking, and collaborative work, all uniquely integrated with principles of civic engagement. Our goal is to foster a collaborative approach to public art residencies—in which teacher and teaching artist work together to not only design content but also to link residency activities to other curriculum in the classroom, as well as to the larger community via a work of public art.
How We Work is the online companion to our work in schools. Modeling our experiences working in classrooms and with students beyond direct student learning and the creation of public art, will be case studies designed to exhibit tools, resources and best practices for bringing public art concepts into educational settings that will be available on this page in summer 2013!
The Public Art Scrambler invites public art coordinators and administrators from around the metro to attend quarterly breakfast to learn and connect with peers. The events are focused on issues related to public art administration and are determined by a steering committee of public art professionals. Participants can offer thoughts for future topics here.
Open Space/Open Bar convenes participants around topics central to the current issue of the Public Art Review. Facilitation techniques like Open Space Technology or World Cafe help to shape the dialogues and, as the title implies, there’s a happy hour to follow!
For more information about education at Forecast contact Kirstin Wiegmann and to stay in touch with events and opportunities, please sign up for the newsletter!
This work is made possible through generous support from Mardag Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Travelers Arts and Diversity Committee, InCommons, IFP Minnesota, Perpich Center for Arts Education and ArtStart ArtScraps.
Photo: Students from St. Paul’s LEAP High School exploring and documenting public artworks along University Avenue. Photo courtesy Media Mike Hazard.
