New Initiatives

RESEARCH + POLICY

In the Change Lab, we catalyze new thinking, test new approaches, and creatively disrupt the status quo to advance justice in the field of public art. We also pilot new ways of working within the field of public art and allied fields through cross-sector partnerships, on the ground research, and deep community engagement, working with communities to address inequities in all facets of public art.

We need your support to help fuel this important work!

SUPPORT FORECAST

CHANGE LAB RESEARCH FELLOWS

Forecast’s Change Lab Research Fellows go deep into an area of critical importance, and apply findings to collectively develop a national public art policy platform rooted in justice, health and human dignity for Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.

Through the Change Lab, reports developed by Fellows will become a model of change for public art programs, policies, and processes. Each 6-month, paid fellowship is based around a specific research topic, and is open to graduate students, recent college grads, doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, artists, and public art professionals.

“Information is at the root of public art policy reform. My hope is that, through interviews paired with supporting research from Forecast resources, my findings and paper will prove useful for helping to enact real change. I know that my fellow Native artists have stories to tell that can be the driving force behind change—after all, our stories… have always been one of our most powerful tools.“

Jessica MehtaChange Lab Research Fellow

“I plan to use a community-based participatory framework to conduct interviews, archival research, and site visits in cities with robust public art practices, beginning with Chicago. My aim is to illuminate how public art can not only reflect civic life but also actively reimagine and repair it. I bring a deep, long-standing commitment to this vision and hope to contribute a voice rooted in lived experience, rigorous scholarship, and love for community.”

Lee NahChange Lab Research Fellow

“This fellowship has provided me with a unique and long-desired opportunity to dedicate my professional experience in the field to an area of critical importance that has received little dedicated research.”

Amina CooperChange Lab Research Fellow

Lee Nah

Change Lab Research Fellow

Civic Engagement + Public Art

Paula Castillo

Change Lab Research Fellow

Climate Resilience + Public Art

Read Paula’s report

Jessica Mehta

Change Lab Research Fellow

Indigenous Visibility in Public Art

Read Jessica’s report

Amina Cooper

Change Lab Research Fellow

Racial Justice in Public Art

PUBLIC ART POLICY PLATFORM

With support from funders, Forecast facilitated nationwide community listening sessions and will hold a national convening to create a public art policy platform that reimagines public art in the US. This will inform future work undertaken in our Change Lab.

An artist participated in live graphic note-taking to illustrate each listening session. This illustration is the work of that artist, Sarah Paulsen, from one of the sessions in early February, 2023.

a page filled with ideas signed by graphic notetaker Sarah Paulsen includes phrases like “what is grant landscape?” “capitalist structure does not allow for balance,” “what do you want to see (or need) to make your work?” “resource hoarding no redistribution…,” “who are the stakeholders?” “shine light on south (hear from formerly enslaved),” and “urgency of the moment” along with drawings of figures, a globe, waving hands, a magnet, a scale, and trees.

NATIONAL PUBLIC ART LISTENING SESSIONS

Forecast’s team is listening—we have long recognized the need to collectively develop a national public art policy platform that is rooted in justice, health and human dignity and pushes for long-term change. Now it is happening.

With support from funders and donors, our team facilitated creative listening sessions in 5 regions across the country in 2023. In collaboration with leaders and artists in each region, through engaging, artful, and culturally-relevant listening sessions, we explored and documented critical contemporary issues that BIPOC artists and arts admins are facing in the field. This new initiative will mean change for the whole industry.

REPORT PRESENTATION + PEER EXCHANGE

At our report presentation and peer exchange, participants learned about our listening effort and the recommendations we heard from BIPOC artists and leaders nationwide, and we discussed next steps. We were thrilled to be joined by sixty-six peers from over a dozen locations around North America.

Through our Taking Action poll during the peer exchange, 70% of participants responded that they could take immediate action for more equitable public art in their community by Government agencies and funders reforming their applications, metrics and budgets. 48% through Field building in culturally resonant ways, and 41% by Supporting artist collectives and communal cultural practices:

VIEW Taking Action poll results

These poll results open in our 2023 Report to the Community

REIMAGINING PUBLIC ART FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS

CONVENING

We will hold a national convening to share back the creative visions gathered during the creative listening sessions. This convening will also serve as an opportunity for the public art policy platform to be created collaboratively and shared widely.

Future work in the Change Lab will be informed by the public art policy platform, turning concept into concrete action.

Download the listening sessions analysis, then connect with us to collaborate.

We need your support to reimagine public art in the US and disrupt the status quo. Please consider a gift to the Forecast Change Lab to make a public art policy platform created collaboratively and with community input a reality.

SUPPORT FORECAST

a tattooed arm reaches toward a white board, the hand writing in a vibrant pink marker under a heading "Public Art Is," with words like free, engaging, opportunity, and unexpected

CHANGE LAB GUIDING PRINCIPLES

A Black man smiling holds up a piece of paper with the writing: "my vision for Rice Street."

Forecast envisions public art as a field reflecting the values of those fighting for equity, justice, and dignity. As a national organization, we aim to set standards for ethical policies, processes, and outcomes in the field. To do this, we must change power dynamics that have resulted in inequities within our organization, in our field, and as a result of previous work.

These inequities have impacted our communities, our climate, and our health. Public art practice and policies should be rooted in the cultural and environmental contexts that celebrate people, honor customs, highlight aesthetics of place, and ensure our well-being.

Forecast will use the following guiding principles to direct our Change Lab work, until a community-driven public art policy platform is created:

Elevate Public Art Practice: We will set high standards for public art practice to ensure ethical and equitable policies, processes, and outcomes.
Celebrate Narratives/Shift Power: We will be led by the values of our communities as public art is a reflection of our priorities.
Combat the Climate Crisis: We will take urgent action to protect our natural spaces to also protect our identities, our homes, and our health.
Improve Health: We will use public art to support and protect the health of and equitable outcomes in our communities.

CONTACT US

2380 Wycliff Street
SUITE 200
ST. PAUL, MN 55114

(651) 641-1128

INFO@FORECAST
PUBLICART.ORG

RESEARCH + POLICY

We need your support to help fuel this important work!

CHANGE LAB RESEARCH FELLOWS

Lee Nah

Paula Castillo

Jessica Mehta

Amina Cooper

PUBLIC ART POLICY PLATFORM

With support from funders, Forecast facilitated nationwide community listening sessions and will hold a national convening to create a public art policy platform that reimagines public art in the US. This will inform future work undertaken in our Change Lab.

NATIONAL PUBLIC ART LISTENING SESSIONS

REPORT PRESENTATION + PEER EXCHANGE

Download the Reimagining Public Art report

REIMAGINING PUBLIC ART FOCUS GROUP ANALYSIS

CONVENING

We need your support to reimagine public art in the US and disrupt the status quo. Please consider a gift to the Forecast Change Lab to make a public art policy platform created collaboratively and with community input a reality.

CHANGE LAB GUIDING PRINCIPLES

CONTACT US

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