Meena Mangalvedhekar

2021 EARLY-CAREER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT GRANTEE | $2,500

Join the Circle

With Join the Circle, Mangalvedhekar seeks to create a proof of concept for a network of circular benches in the Minneapolis Phillips neighborhood as a community mental health resource for sharing and practicing interdependency. Mangalvedhekar’s research will identify ideal locations in the neighborhood to install benches, wood prototypes, and tests, develop the behavioral language and vocabulary necessary to introduce the objects, create a project plan, and budget to pursue permanent installations in near future.

While working as a photojournalist in India, Mangalvedhekar found her roots in listening to communities. Now, through multidisciplinary projects as social intervention, participatory urban projection, and public installations she strives to connect community and place. This exploration is informed by the personal process of finding home in the USA. As a transplant from India, Mangalvedhekar struggles to feel at home, and often notices similar struggles among different demographics of Twin Cities. This feeling drove her to create public art projects where passersby can come together to make, relate, and participate at multiple occasions over time.

Mangalvedhekar is a former member of the Board of Directors for Forecast Public Art.

Forecast has been offering early-career artist grants supported by Jerome Foundation since 1989. In addition to funding, Forecast is dedicated to providing professional development and learning opportunities designed to assist emerging artists as they experiment/ hone their practices, and cultivate careers in the field. Forecast mid- and early-career grants are designed to support independent projects, leadership development, professional development, risk-taking, multidisciplinary approaches, and collaborative problem-solving in the field of public art.