The Capitol Rice Street Artist Team

The Capitol Rice Street Artist Engagement Team

At a 2025 Rice Street Capitol Region creative pop-up, community of all ages in St Paul shared with artist liaisons their vision for the future of their neighborhood.

Community artist liaisons developed a series of engagements—including this June 2025 social hour—that make community members feel valued, respected, safe, and heard.

Forecast Public Art seeks four artists with connections to Saint Paul’s Rice Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to John Ireland Boulevard, including time spent living and/or working in or around the Frogtown, Rondo, Downtown, and/or Lowertown neighborhoods.

Project: Capitol Rice Street Visioning and Reconstruction

Positions Available: up to 4 (open to artist pairs)

Artist Stipend: $10,000 per artist or artist pair

Materials: $8,000 across all artists

Applications Due: Friday, January 3, 2025, by 11:59pm CST—Applications are closed

Background

Ramsey County and the City of Saint Paul are working in coordination with the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board (CAAPB) to design and construct a community-driven vision for Rice Street near the Minnesota State Capitol from John Ireland Boulevard to Pennsylvania Avenue. This project will build off the connections formed during the visioning and construction of Rice Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Wheelock Parkway throughout the past five years (2019–2024) and is also being coordinated with Metro Transit’s METRO G Line BRT project and CAAPB plans for the area.

This area of Rice Street is a hub of activity near downtown Saint Paul that serves a diverse mix of residents, visitors, businesses and modes of travel. The existing roadway is aging with safety and traffic concerns, and there is the need for strengthened community development, business vitality, bike and pedestrian connections, public safety, livability, and compatible land uses in the corridor. Dialogue between the community and the project team will help to deliver a successful project with a solution that was constructed by the very people who live and use the area.

Project Overview

Public engagement is a key part of the Rice Street Capitol Area project!

The project engagement team, working under the direction of Ramsey County and the City of Saint Paul, consists of Bolton & Menk, Forecast Public Art, and 4RM+ULA. As the project team’s arts-based public engagement lead, Forecast hired individual artists and artist pairs with connections to Saint Paul’s Frogtown, Rondo, Downtown, and/or Lowertown neighborhoods to join our Rice Street Artist Engagement Team.

Read more about the artists and their work below. We are thrilled with the success of this multi-year, multi-award-winning, artist-led engagement. These projects and inclusive practices invite and honor the full expression of people and place, and will lead to the redevelopment of Rice Street. The Rice Street Visioning Project intends to promote economic growth and community investment while maintaining and providing business opportunities; create an inviting environment; enhancing pedestrian and bicyclist safety; maintaining and augmenting transit service; and continuing to increase vehicle safety. Read about previous phases.

Community Artist Liaisons

Alphabetical by first name

Cece Zarzar

@cecezarzar

Instagram

Read Cece’s bio

Cece Zarzar is an emerging artist, dedicated to shaping spaces that reflect culture, identity, and community resilience. Her work explores the intersection of art and urban infrastructure, using design as a tool for storytelling and empowerment.

Her practice is rooted in collaboration and authenticity, seeking to build meaningful connections within the artistic infrastructure industry. Through her work, she aims to challenge outdated systems and create spaces that truly serve the communities they represent—designed not just for them, but by them.

Krista Beier

@mandalabombs

Instagram

Read Krista’s bio

Krista Beier is a creative who uses art as a voice for social change and a means of self-exploration through altering space. Librarian by day, artist by night, her work focuses on her relationship both with the community and the earth. She is inspired by her cultural heritage and draws deeply upon the imagery of her ancestors. She dabbles in a variety of mediums, including mandalas, sculpture (especially with unusual materials!), puppetry, textiles and more. She considers herself a public artist, and loves creating interactive pieces to connect with others. She has created work for the Art Shanty Projects and Made Here MN, and has been a Minnesota State Arts Board grant recipient. Krista lives in the North End, a few blocks off Rice Street, with her husband, her dog, cats and ducks. She’s an avid gardener, reader and explorer!

Malik Curtis aka “Juice Lord”

@hammertimejuice

Instagram

Read Malik’s bio

Malik Curtis, aka “Juice Lord,” is an MC, poet, actor, and educator from St. Paul, Minnesota. Raised in Rondo by older parents who instilled strong values of respect, love, and community, he grew up with the belief that it takes a village to uplift one another.

From a young age, Juice was drawn to poetry, balancing his artistic passion with dreams of sports stardom. His creative journey took a pivotal turn in high school when he joined the Penumbra Theatre Summer Institute and TruArtSpeaks programs. These experiences opened his eyes to social injustices and fueled his passion for activism through art. His poetry gained recognition in slam competitions, with powerful pieces like “Dear Juvenile System” and “Cut From a Different Cloth.”

On November 30, 2013, inspired by Jay-Z, Juice officially transitioned into music. He sharpened his craft at Blue Nile open mics and even performed in Brooklyn, NY. Since then, he has released multiple projects, sold out venues like First Avenue, shared stages with hip-hop legends, and embarked on his first national tour in 2023.

Beyond music, Juice remains deeply committed to his community. Through his work with the Beacons Program at Maxfield Elementary, he teaches entrepreneurship to young students, showing them that success is possible—not just in the future, but right now. Whether through music, poetry, or mentorship, Juice Lord continues to use his art as a tool for change, uplifting St. Paul and beyond.

Melvin Giles

Friendly Streets Initiative

Read Melvin’s bio

Melvin Giles is a Community and Global Peacemaker and a Bubbling Artist. He incorporates Peace Bubbles, Peace Messages and the International Peace Pole to create places/spaces of peace. He is known for his signature style of blowing and sharing peace bubbles. He is a veteran peace, diversity, and dismantling racism educator. He started using bubbles to bridge a gap and distrust between the Black community and the Saint Paul Police Department in the late 1990s by offering police officers bubbles for their domestic calls to give kids when investigating domestic violence in residential settings, in order for the children to have a healthier perception of police officers in general. He has extensive experience working with youth, academia, government agencies, nonprofit agencies and neighborhood groups. Notable accomplishments include serving as an adjunct community faculty instructor in Bethel University’s Anthropology Department, a member of AfroEco and the Growing Food and Justice All Initiative, advisor to the Diversity Committee of Ramsey County Master Gardeners, certified facilitator of Racial Sobriety workshops, anti-racism trainer for the Minnesota Tri-Council Commision of the Council of Churches, and founding member and key organizer of the St. Paul Pluralism Circle.

Giles recently worked with two other artists on an exterior face-lift of the Rondo Library and received a 2020 Forecast Messages of Hope Mini-Grant to promote hope in his community during Minnesota’s COVID-19 sheltering-in-place.

We at Forecast grieve with our community for the loss of artist Melvin Giles, a beautiful creative soul and peacemaker, and share our deepest condolences with those close to him. Melvin’s achievements and peace-focused community approach fill us with awe, joy, and gratitude. He touched many hearts through his creative work, including through projects with Forecast. Read our full tribute.

Participants engage in a creative activity at a Peace Celebration event on June 20, 2025.

a group of people concentrate on creative projects around one of many tables at an outdoor event

Community participants gather around an activity table at the Little Mekong Night Market on July 8, 2025.

people gather around a creative activity table during an outdoor event

Roles: what does an engagement artist do?

The Rice Street Artist Engagement Team, consisting of four selected individual artists and/or artist pair, are:

Collaborating with Forecast to co-develop and implement an arts-based community engagement plan.
Staffing community events, alongside the larger project team, to build on existing relationships with neighborhood residents, local businesses, and organizations who care about the future of Rice Street. The goals of these events include ensuring awareness of the project planning and design process, and providing opportunities for Q & A.
Developing and using arts-based tools for activities, activations, or engagements that connect with the communities surrounding the project for 6 pop-up events and 4 open house events.

Budget

Each of the four (4) individual artists and/or artist pair in the Rice Street Artist Engagement Team will be paid a total of $10,000, in eight quarterly payments, over the life of the project.
Artists receive mentoring and support to grow their artistic practice as a group.
The entire Rice Street Artist Engagement Team has access to $8,000 in funds to use for their engagement activities.

Timeline

These are temporary part-time independent contractor positions funded early 2025 through 2027.

Red stickers surround seven potential features for additional pedestrian and multimodal amenities at a Rice Street and University Avenue mobility hub. The option for Trees and greenery has over sixty stickers. The option for Public art has nearly thirty. The option for Wayfinding has twelve stickers. The option for a Rideshare zone has one. The option for Tables, chairs, and benches has about fifty stickers, with three more attached to a sticky note that specifies “seating with shade.” The option for Improved lighting has nearly forty stickers, and the final option for Bike and scooter parking has seven stickers. — At the Little Mekong Night Market, community members added stickers to this board to indicate their preferred concept among seven potential features for additional pedestrian and multimodal amenities at a Rice Street and University Avenue mobility hub.

red stickers surround three proposed Rice Street construction concepts for a bicycle track, shared use path, or hybrid bicycle features. The third concept for the hybrid bicycle features has the most stickers, with almost one hundred. The first concept for the bicycle track has the second most stickers with over thirty, and the concept for the shared use path has only one sticker. — At the Little Mekong Night Market, community members added stickers to this board to indicate their preferred concept for Rice Street Capitol Area Reconstruction.

Sticky notes on a map of the Rondo/John Ireland area of focus on a board describing the Rice Street Capitol Area Reconstruction. The notes read, “generally confusing to navigate. Roundabout? Ditch 94!” “Capitol area generally disconnected from downtown. Would like to see something w/ Sears site.” “Regular biker avoids this area b/c of safety.” “Food truck park daily!” “No more bike lanes (on the road, like when they’re separate).” “Keep it the same.” “Homeless shelters!” and “Better/more clear traffic control/signs.” — At the Little Mekong Night Market, community members added sticky notes to a board describing the Rice Street Capitol Area Reconstruction with their current concerns for traveling around the Rondo/John Ireland Boulevard area, and/or suggested improvements for the future.

Photos from Rice Street artist engagement events during previous phases of the project

Kazua Melissa Vang Stamping tote bags at Rice Larpenteur in August, 2023.

Johanna Keller Flores and Maricella with surveys at Marydale Festival in September, 2023.

Rice Street Visioning Project community artist liaison Kazua Melissa Vang with artist Sai Xiong (Povhaum Studios) met community members at a creative pop-up event in September 2020, where families lined up to engage with the artists and take home a bandana. Photo courtesy Hawona Sullivan Janzen, Forecast consulting team member.

Melissa and Sai facing camera head on RiceLarpenTOUR Sept2020_sm

A June 2023 open house held by the Rice Street community artist liaison team.

How to Apply

Individuals or pairs are asked to submit the following materials via Submittable (https://forecastpublicart.submittable.com) no later than Friday, January 3, 2025 by 11:59pm CST.

Letter of Interest: A letter expressing your interest in the project, outlining your artistic community engagement approach, as well as your connection to the project background and Frogtown, Rondo, Downtown and/or Lowertown communities. The letter should not exceed 500 words.

Note: 500 words typically constitute about one page of typed text, assuming standard formatting (such as 12-point Times New Roman font and 1-inch margins).

Arts Practice Experience: A resume or a document that lists 10 experiences in your life that have led you to this point in your artistic career. This could include people you’ve met, places you’ve been, or any other experience you’ve had. Choose one of these experiences, and expand upon it in 200 words or less.
Art Work Samples: What type of art do you practice? Please include links or up to 3 images of artwork you have created. Indicate titles, your role in the creation of the art, and a description for each sample submitted.
Social Media Platforms: Which social media platforms do you currently use? Please include your handles.

A P P L Y

In December 2023, the Rice Street Artists organized project partners from the city, county, and Bolton & Menk to volunteer at Keystone Community Services in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Questions?

Please contact RiceStreetArtists@forecastpublicart.org

ABOUT FORECAST PUBLIC ART

Forecast firmly believes that culture and creativity are important drivers of creating a more just society. As one of the country’s first nonprofit organizations dedicated to advancing the field of public art, we are called to advocate for and advance public art practices that advance justice, health and human dignity. We are invested in public art that plays a crucial role in creating a sense of belonging, and supporting people to realize their potential and live healthy lives. We emphasize access for artists of color, indigenous artists, and groups that are traditionally excluded. Learn more about our work.