PROGRAMMING
In 2020 we updated our core programming areas to better align with our new mission + vision and engage more people in our work. This responsive and interconnected way of working across programs will help us deliver our vision for more equitable public art practices and policies that benefit Black, Brown and Indigenous communities across the U.S. Whether someone is an artist, city councilmember, housing developer, librarian, community member or anyone interested in creating more equitable public space, Forecast seeks to engage with them in this work.
PLANNING + ENGAGEMENT
updated from Consulting
Our Forecast consulting team partners with decision-makers and stakeholders in communities of all sizes to offer consulting and technical assistance that supports accessible and equitable arts and cultural planning efforts. This includes arts and culture policies, programs, ordinances, public art collections and support for artists and community engagement. We focus our pro bono and in-kind services in communities of color, rural communities and Native nations.
2020 HIGHLIGHT
Forecast creatively engaged community members to develop the City of Brooklyn Center’s first public art plan. This project involved focus groups, a public art demonstration project utilizing street banners featuring images of community members and the creation of a plan document that will guide the city’s efforts for the next five years.
Image: Forecast creatively engaged community members to develop the City of Brooklyn Center’s first public art plan. This recently completed project involved focus groups, a public art demonstration project utilizing street banners featuring images of community members (mayor with children pictured), and the creation of a plan document that will guide the city’s efforts for the next five years.
CREATIVE STUDIO
updated from Artist Support
We focus on artists in our Creative Studio. This is where we expand access to tools, resources, opportunities and funding for artists to work in public, create partnerships and advance their public art careers. Our Commissioning and Curation services also fall under Creative Studio—we help clients find, select, curate, fund and commission artists. We emphasize supporting and amplifying the artistic work of BIPOC and Native artists, LGBTQIA+ artists, womxn artists, immigrant artists and artists from rural communities.
2020 HIGHLIGHT
We are incredibly proud of the talented group of artists selected to receive Forecast grant funding in 2020. Thirteen artists received a total of $86,000 for independent public art projects and research. By April, we decided the best way we could support our grantees was to release them from any requirements related to their projects and allow them to redirect funding to support their careers or for any other needs they had. While we made these changes, we still continued to offer grantees the same level of one-on-one coaching, professional development and networking opportunties as in past years.
Image: Top row left to right: Alyssa Baguss, Katrina Knutson, Akiem Scott, Dyani White Hawk, Missy Whiteman. Middle row: Camila Leiva Anderson, Kao Lee Thao, Anna Metcalfe, DejaJoelle. Bottom row: Margo Gray, Kaamil Haider, Tori Hong, Naomi Ko.
FORECAST FORWARD
updated from Public Art Review
Through Forecast Forward we share ideas, insights and inspiration for creating a more just and equitable world through public art practice. We convene people to curate and create thought-provoking content that is shared through our magazine FORWARD and affiliated public events. The topics explored via Forecast Forward are future-oriented and connect public art with many other fields of practice (i.e. transportation, public health). Custom Publishing also falls under this programming area. Our team is available to partner with artists and organizations to tell their stories in dynamic ways as digital books, magazines and more.
2020 HIGHLIGHT
Our first digital issue of FORWARD was released in November 2020 and explores how artists help drive better public health outcomes, with a focus on racism, collective trauma, social exclusion and isolation, mental health and chronic disease. This first issue reached over 1,500 readers in its first month and engaged a wide audience outside of the arts sector. With the launch of FORWARD, we closed our magazine Public Art Review after 31 wonderful years; past issues are still available digitally for free and in print for purchase.
Image: Audience members watch from their front steps in the Grandmont-Rosedale neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan as Cuttime Simfonica and The Urban Requiem Project perform. Read more about a month of socially distanced pop-up concerts and digital performances brought to Detroit by NOW:FUTURE to connect communities during the pandemic. Photo by Trilogy Beats, courtesy Sidewalk Detroit.
INSTITUTE
updated from Learning
In our Institute we break down the hard and soft skills for successful and equitable public art practice. We offer customized in-person and online workshops, training and toolkits for artists, creatives and affiliated professionals (i.e. planners, administrators). We specialize in creating unique learning opportunities that directly meet the needs of participants and focus on helping them enlist culture and creativity to address equitable and healthy community outcomes.
2020 HIGHLIGHT
Forecast Program Director Jen Krava facilitated the workshop Applying Creative Placemaking to COVID-19 at the final ArtPlace Virtual Summit in October 2020, along with Ashley Doughty of Design Kettle and Forecast Consultant Mark Salinas. The workshop focused on how artists can help city departments during a global pandemic.
Image: Forecast Consultant Candida Gonzalez leads a Making It Public workshop.
CHANGE LAB
updated from Initiatives
Our Change Lab works with communities to catalyze new thinking, test new approaches and creatively disrupt the status quo. The Change Lab addresses inequities in all facets of public art through cross-sector partnerships, on the ground research and deep community engagement. Starting in 2021 we will work with a Change Lab Research Fellow annually to go deep into an area of critical importance. The findings of the Research Fellow will lead to public art demonstration projects that can be put into action across the country, acting as a model of change for public art programs, policies and processes. Our first two Fellows will focus on racial justice and indigenous visibility in public art.
2020 HIGHLIGHT
In 2020 Forecast developed the concept of Reimagining Public Art in the U.S. With support from funders and donors, from 2021-2022 Forecast will collaborate with leaders and artists in all five U.S. regions to facilitate listening sessions that ask BIPOC communities their ideas, visions and dreams for public art in the U.S. Based on information gathered, we will collaboratively develop a national public art policy platform that is rooted in justice, health and human dignity.
Image: Our Forecast Forward conversation series explores the intersection of arts, culture, place and equity. This is from our Decolonizing Public Art Part II conversation held in February 2020, facilitated by Candida Gonzalez and featuring Kealoha Ferriera, and Aiyana Sol Machado. Photo by Ne-Dah-Ness Rose Greene.