SEARCH RESULTS

Art Against Racism is a virtual arts exhibition which aims to lift up the tremendous array of creative works made in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In doing so, project organizers hope that the exhibition will serve as an archive of the national artistic response to this historic moment.

La Raza Youth Leadership Institute hosted an art contest for youth ages 12-19 with the goal of motivating Latinx youth to get vaccinated. Three winners were chosen, and the first place winner's artwork was displayed on buses and in bus stop shelters near a number of schools. A phone number is included with the artwork for youth to call to receive more information about vaccines.

Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective's Perception Isn't Always Reality engages BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) teen and young adult artists to reevaluate messages they may have received about Covid-19 and vaccinations and to reevaluate the sources of the information. Through their own brand of urban storytelling that involves collaborative work in hip hop music and krump dance, spoken word, videography, photography, and podcasting, the artists will produce a challenging body of work for the public to experience on urban canvases such as the sides of city buses and on air waves.

Based in St. Louis, Missouri and incorporated in 2014, the Story Stitchers Artists Collective uses a collaborative model to create social justice art. The mission of Story Stitchers is to document St. Louis through art and word and to promote understanding, civic pride, intergenerational relationships, and literacy. Story Stitchers works to promote a better educated, more peaceful, and caring region through the creation and dissemination of original art.

The product of a collaboration the Potters' Guild of Las Cruces and Mesilla artist Josh Switzer, The Healing Wings project was developed to gave people in Las Cruces who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic a chance to honor those lost during to COVID-19. Las Cruces community members were invited to paint clay-sculpted wings to hang on a metal tree. The wings gave the community members an artistic outlet to share their griefs or honor loved ones. The project also included a sculpture comprised of metal boxes, where people could write their experiences of grief on a paper and then put it in the box. Once the boxes are full, organizers plan to burn the notes as a symbol of letting go.

The Madisonville Community Studio is an ongoing project co-created by Madisonville residents and Design Impact to explore key questions about the inclusiveness of neighborhood changes. The project is supported by the Kresge Foundation. To improve interracial relationships in Madisonville and increase Black residents’ power, influence, and representation in the neighborhood’s development decisions.

With the New York Covid-19 Pencil Tracker, Artist Francine LeClercq acknowledges those who passed away from Covid-19 in New York City and engages the public with the “spread” of the message, charting and replacing the devastating outbreak of the virus with an equally viral transmission of recorded facts through the agency of pencils. A transient tool that dispenses its form to inform, the pencil is thus made into a found testimonial literally as well as metaphorically exposing at once our shortcomings as well as our strengths, delegating a remembrance that pays tribute to those we have lost. During 2022, thousands of pencils will be placed at random locations around the city, from waiting rooms to cafeteria, park, subways and various other public spaces. The printed message carries accurate data recorded from the NYC Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on the date of the pencil manufacturing orders. Echoing the collective nature of the pandemic, the public is expected to

National Alliance of Commuity Economic Development Associations (NACEDA) serves as a national convener of the community development sector since 2015. They aim to make creative placemaking a frontline strategy for community developers. Through their support, they encourage their members to use arts and cultural strategies to improve physical and social character of places. “Artists have engaged neighborhoods in development plans. CDCs became arts advocates. Banks became arts investors. NACEDA networks throughout the country began thinking how artists and cultural strategies could enhance the impact of traditional community development.”

Forklift Danceworks is a civic practice dance company that collaborates with people and associated organizations that have no dance background through a rigourous process based on shared learning and listening. The aim is to build "trusting relationships" and for "our collaborators to have agency to tell their stories in ways that are authentic to them". This long-term committment "amplifies the voices of community collaborators" such as Austin Parks and Recreation's Aquatics Division, which brought attention to the inequitable distribution of crumbling swimming pools in East Austin and the goal to change the City Council's investment decisions.

Design Studio for Social Intervention is an artistic research and development organization committed to changing how social justice is imagined, developed, and deployed in the United States. This is done by partnering “with artists whose work expands our imaginations, with cultural workers whose understandings have kept communities alive in the most dangerous games, and with systems gurus of all stripes, including writers, tricksters, clowns, and trouble makers who trouble the rules at play.” Their most notorious and impactful work includes supporting place-based investments of entities such as Boston Transportation Department and Fairmount Cultural Corridor.

The Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) is an organization that works closely with residents in underdeveloped communities to create resources that address physical, social, and economic priorities through design. They work toward the creation of permanent spaces and policy change to create more of these spaces. "In other places where communities are not recognized or are neglected, we drag the city along and try to change how they work". Meaningful participation is at the heart of the work with community organizers to cultivate leaders and make planning and design accessible.

LA Commons engages comunities in the creation of art for public spaces that describes their unique stories, serving as a vehicle for dialogue, interaction, and better mutual understanding among Los Angeles communities. They strengthen community by enhancing everyone's sense of belonging and build stronger bonds between the diverse people in this community. "Art is a critical tool to bring underground community stories to light and shift to societal narrative that values everyone, not only the wealthy and powerful."

The Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) begain in 1988 when a bar was converted into a youth center. It now offers comunity meals, weekened arts and culture camps, arts fellowships, and a graffiti jam to connect youth to their Indigenous arts and culture. Graffiti jam is a two-day event of creating murals to beautify the city by selecting empty building to improve through art as-well-as preserve the Lakota language through its use in street art. Overall, CRYP utilizes making heritage and culture the foundation of positive youth development.

Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) is a community organization supporting health, wellness, and healing by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts, and operating a health center. Their investment in arts and culture supports the "creation, collaboration, and presentation of community-engaged art that unites disconnected communities, facilitates transforming healing, and fosters the ability to radically reimagine the world".

BE-Imaginative Collective is an assemblage of artistis, activitists, and others committed to social change. It provides holisitic healing retreats for isolated mothers as-well-as commuity arts and activation spaces with the aim of mentoring and "healing for the heart". They also gather the community together with stakeholders to have dialouge about key issues on how to collaborate with others working to end violence.

Out of Hand was started in 2001 to create a new kind of theater, a theater that reaches new audiences and meets people where they are with a strong commitment to ant-racism. Out of Hand works at the intersection of art, social justice, and civic engagement. The theatre works to spark conversations to build a better world by using the tools of theater to support and enhance the work of community partners. Out of Hand has four program areas: Equitable Dinner, Shows in Homes, Community Collaborations, and Education

Since 1969, the Dunedin Fine Art Center’s vision and commitment remains to create and grow a fine arts and cultural center, a public arts school and library, open at all times to the general public, and not restricted to any group or groups. To facilitate our continued vision, the Dunedin Fine Art Center is proud to provide classes, events, and exhibitions.

HOME is a creative civic engagement initiative informed by West Hill residents, led by Chameleon Village Theatre Collective. West Hill’s community development corporation (the West Hill Neighborhood Organization) strives to activate its dual-zoning (UPD40) district; however, engagement is limited. HOME used creative methods to inform residents, collect their input, and share their stories through performance. The project utilized a three part methodology to 1) survey residents to collect their input about what they think the neighborhood needs, 2) build infographics to keep residents engaged 3) and collecting residents’ stories about what HOME means to them and presenting their input as a performance activating a home in the neighborhood with their stories for an opportunity to connect with one another. The act of listening to community and working with community, not for community, helped make the performance process both accessible and reflective of the surrounding community.

Asé Arts is a community arts model that roots the work of artists as essential to building vibrant, viable economies. Centering Artists as core community assets, we are the culture-bearers, historical preservationists, and visionaries who build expansive strategies to lead us into the future. Investing in the arts as a foundational pillar to building resilient communities ignites systematic change. Which results in economically abundant communities that are rich in heritage, diversity, and social opportunity.