New Initiatives

CHANGE LAB

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.

Our Change Lab is a NEW initiative.

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 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.

The fellowship is a 6-month long, funded position with a $5,000 stipend. Fellows work from their home base and can be located anywhere. Working knowledge of public art in the US and some experience with research in the topic area is important.

Our second Change Lab Research Fellow, focusing on Indigenous Visibility in Public Art: Jessica Mehta

JESSICA BEGAN HER FELLOWSHIP IN JANUARY OF 2022

A multi-award-winning Aniyunwiya interdisciplinary author and artist, Jessica is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation born and raised in the colonized land of what is today called Oregon. Space, place, and ancestry inform much of her work. We are excited to see Jessica get started in this role, and look forward to together developing a national public art policy platform that is rooted in justice, health and human dignity for Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.

“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 Mehta

Jessica Mehta

MORE about the INDIGENOUS VISIBILITY IN PUBLIC ART FELLOWSHIP

Forecast’s inaugural Change Lab Research Fellow, focused on Racial Justice in Public Art: Amina Cooper

“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 Cooper

AMINA BEGAN HER FELLOWSHIP IN MAY OF 2021

A public art administrator experienced in collection management, cultural equity and the arts, and more, we are excited to see Amina get started in this role, and look forward to together developing a national public art policy platform that is rooted in justice, health and human dignity for Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.

“It is time to talk about the lack of diversity within our public art commissions, artist selection panels, and our public art workforce. We need to address the elitism with which we dictate to communities which artworks are acceptable, and which persons and cultures are worth affirming with monuments and beautiful objects.”

— Amina Cooper, quoted in “How Public Art Programs Can Join the Movement Against Police Brutality, White Supremacy, and Anti-Black Racism”

MORE about the RACIAL JUSTICE IN PUBLIC ART FELLOWSHIP

PUBLIC ART POLICY PLATFORM

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

two people sit with heads bowed on stage in a darkened, full auditorium lit by dangling strands of light. Text reads, we are listening, launching in 2023 national public art listening sessions for BIPOC artists and admins

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, we are thrilled to share that our team will facilitate 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 will explore and document critical contemporary issues that BIPOC artists and arts admins are facing in the field. This new initiative will mean change for the whole industry.

Stay tuned for updates later this year.

CONVENING

Following listening sessions, 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.

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

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