Did you know that the Forecast team is working behind the scenes on more and more mural projects in Minnesota and across the country? 

We love to support mural-making by helping our partners select artists through fair and equitable processes. We provide technical assistance along the way to make mural projects more accessible, sustainable and inclusive. We approach each project with community context in mind and with a focus on bringing more BIPOC artists and curators into the field. 

As a national organization, Forecast is concerned that many public art projects continue to lag behind in ensuring full representation of BIPOC, womxn and non-binary artists and see a part of our role is to disrupt the public art status quo. We thoughtfully select and recommend artists for walls, events, and educational opportunities through the lens of racial and gender equity. 

Below are just a few of the projects we are working on now

Reach out to us if you have a mural project in mind. We would love to help.

Chroma Zone Mural Festival

Forecast works with the Creative Enterprise Zone to curate artists for the festival each year and provide ongoing technical assistance and support on the design process, helping muralists move through design to implementation of their concepts. Our team curates events that bring attention to the artists and the topics most pressing in the moment for muralism. This year we are proud to have half of our artists identify as Indigenous as we strive to build deeper relationships with and support indigenous artists through the festival.

Minnesota State Fair Joyful World Mural Park

We are proud to be working with the Minnesota State Fair this year to produce Joyful World Mural Park. We have partnered closely with the Fair to equitably curate 12 muralists who will paint 12 large-scale artworks that reflect the world artists want to live in. Throughout the fair artists will be on-site creating their murals. 

Stop by the Fair to watch the work in progress by these participating artists: Leslie Barlow, Jennifer Davis, Jose Dominguez, Hibaaq Ibrahim, Tom Jay, Maiya Lea, Geno Okok, Shade Pratt, Xee Reiter, Joy Spika, Kao Lee Thao and Thomasina Topbear. These talented artists are excited to paint live at this event—please be kind, practice social distancing, and mask up when you visit them.

Select artists are on-site daily, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM (weather permitting). Please note that the artists will be working on their artwork on a rotating basis, and not all artists will be on-site every day. Murals and information about the artists will be on display all 12 days of the fair.

Tag us in your photos ( @forecastpublicart on Instagram & Facebook, and @4castpublicart on Twitter), with the hashtags #JoyfulMuralPark and #ForecastPublicArt. We look forward to enjoying this creative space with you!

Joyful World graphics designed by Patricio De Lara.

City of Bloomington South Loop

We partnered with the City of Bloomington to design and manage a process to hire a community curator and designer to develop the longest mural in Minnesota! Ua Si Creative has designed the WE mural for the South Loop neighborhood. It will be installed on the 9000-square-foot walls at the corner of American Boulevard and 30th Avenue South. Ua Si is bringing in additional BIPOC artists and art groups into the mural process, expanding who is included in the curatorial role in public art. This follows a commitment by us to build capacity in communities with which we work.

Past to Our Future: 3 Building Mural Project

We provided pro bono support to Mitzi Sinnott of All Here Together productions in producing a new mural in West Virginia focused on the African American history of Fairfield that is often overlooked. The first of three murals was painted as part of the Past to Our Future: 3 Building Mural Project. The project is done through a partnership with Unlimited Future, a not-for-profit development center and business incubator. Ernel Martinez painted the mural on the side of Ebenezer Daycare with the help of the daycare children and community members.

The ALVERA

Working with the Akerberg Group, we’ve curated a national artist to design and install a one-of-a-kind mural on the exterior of a new building on West 7th Street in St. Paul. The building, called the Alvera, will be the largest modular construction project built in the Twin Cities.. Aaron de la Cruz will design and paint a mural that will cover much of the buildings upper exterior, and local artists will be hired to paint murals on the bottom sections of the building in a future phase.

Sonder House

We partnered with local developer, Real Estate Equities, to lead a selection process for a public artist to develop a mural and fence design at Sonder House, a workforce and senior housing building in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Artist Peyton Scott Russell was commissioned to design public artwork that was reflective of the community, and would bring joy to all that pass by. His design incorporates stencils of community members that cast shadows on the ground as the sun changes position throughout the day.

NOKO

Partnering with Trammel Crow, we designed and led a selection process to hire muralists to integrate works in the new NOKO building, a new mixed-use building with 125 rental dwelling units with a ground floor grocery store. We facilitated a selection process with the developer, to select artists with a connection to the Nokomis or surrounding neighborhood, and hired two artist teams to develop murals. Dani Bianchini and Pablo Kalaka were selected to install a mural on the west side of the building that incorporates painting and mosaic, and Liv Novotny and Tomas Aratti were hired to install a mural in 4 sections on the east side of the building. Both murals respond to themes of nature and community, and create an atmosphere of joy and beauty for building tenants and neighbors alike.