Forecast seeks to award 20 more mini-grants of $500 each—and we need your help!

As an organization dedicated to advancing the transformational power of arts in public life, Forecast believes artists can make a difference in the midst of challenging public health environments. We remain committed to artists during this difficult time.

Forecast asked artists how we can best help them and their communities NOW. In response, we reallocated $10,000 of our own resources to quickly provide mini-grants to 20 public artists to safely create and share messages of hope within their communities—a much-needed act of solidarity in the face of these stark economic and health crises.

Artists across Minnesota want to show up for their communities. We know this because we received nearly 400 applications for our Messages of Hope Mini-Grants from all corners of the state.  We are thrilled for our 20 awardees, who are already live-streaming beat sets, teaching virtual classes, engaging audiences to create drawings together, sharing poetry, stitching quilts, and so much more. We want to keep supporting these incredible artists!

Donate today to help us launch a second mini-grant cycle to fund 20 more applicants. Any donation over $50 will receive one of three original works of art by local artists Mike Davis, Marlena Myles, or Christina Vang, shown below.

The fundraiser deadline is this Friday, May 1, 2020.

About the Poster Artists

Mike Davis

Along with creative partner Wes Winship, Mike Davis is a co-owner of the award-winning Northeast Minneapolis-based design and screenprinting studio Burlesque Of North America. Mike’s brightly-colored and stylized work draws from 1960s-1980s graphic arts, graffiti, and everyday packaging design. His work appears in projects he has completed for Nike Sportswear, Rhymesayers Entertainment, Chromeo, Target, Milkjam Creamery, Red Bull, The National, and Toyota.

Marlena Myles

Marlena Myles is a self-taught Native American (Spirit Lake Dakota/Mohegan/Muscogee) artist located in St Paul, Minnesota. Growing up on her traditional Dakota homelands in the Twin Cities, she brings modernity to the history, languages and oral traditions of her people through digital art, fabric patterns, animations and illustrations.

Christina Vang

Christina Vang is a Hmong American designer, illustrator and muralist. She is also a community organizer and curator whose efforts are focused on empowering communities and cultural narratives. In 2016, Christina founded La Bang Studio, operating as an independent designer, artist and marketing consultant to help engage audiences more effectively through dynamic design and visual storytelling.

Our goal is to get funds to artists as quickly as possible, so they can impact their communities now.

DONATE TO THIS FUND

If you’re able, please help us reach even more artists with a donation to launch a second mini-grant cycle, reaching 20 additional public artists (40 total), and their communities. For our next round of support we will again collaborate with artists to adapt to their ever-changing needs during this pandemic.

You can donate at GoFundMe or send a check with “mini-grants” on the memo line to:

Forecast Public Art
2300 Myrtle Ave, Suite 160
St. Paul, MN 55114

More Recent Initiatives From Forecast

A national initiative to support public artists and public art program administrators during this pandemic

On April 2 we began to offer pro bono consultations and technical support to any public artist or public art administrator based in the U.S. and the Native nations that share the same geography until May 31, 2020, as a response to the mounting effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

A toolkit on creative alternatives to in-person arts-based activities

We created a toolkit with artists, arts organizations, presenting organizations, and others collaborating with artists in mind. It contains strategies for adapting in-person arts-based activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are launching the first iteration of this toolkit now and will continue to develop it based on open-source input from you.

Weekly conversations for BIPOC artists who work in public

We’ve been talking to artists and hear that space is needed to connect with one another as we physically distance and projects are halted. In response, we are launching a series of conversations for BIPOC artists who work in public spaces and/or in community. These weekly conversations will have loose agendas and are open to BIPOC artists around the country.

Learn more about Forecast’s extensive public art consulting and artist support services.