Artists with Impact
Grupo Folklorico Los Laureles conserves traditional Mexican folklorico dance and culture
Grupo Folklorico Los Laureles in San Jose is a dance academy and professional dance company co-founded by Ashley Lopez-Gonzalez and Cesar Gonzalez. They started in the summer of 2007, teaching…
Quantum Theatre experiments with the language and location of theatre
Pittsburgh's Quantum Theatre is an experimental, site-specific theatre company currently celebrating its 25th season. Founded by Artistic Director Karla Boos in 1990, the one hard-and-fast dictum…
Urban Matter Inc. creates interactive installations that combine technology, design, and community
This story is supported by a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Knowledge Building grant supporting a partnership between Springboard for the Arts and the International Downtown Association.…
Carrie Morris Arts Production uses experimental puppetry to narrate people's stories
Carrie Morris Arts Production uses performing objects and experimental theatre to tell stories. In other words, puppetry. But this isn’t the soft, plushy children's puppetry of Sesame Street – think…
New Hazlett Theater offers a CSA for the performing arts
You're probably heard of community-supported agriculture, and if you're a regular Creative Exchange reader you have most likely also heard of community-supported art – you can even download our…
Anna Metcalfe explores the intersection of craft and function, food and community, through ceramics
Anna Metcalfe's work in ceramics examines the intersections between public art and craft, specifically the intersections of her craft in people's daily lives. She leads community-based projects that…
Department of Play uses temporary play zones to connect people through imagined urban planning
The Boston-based arts collective Department of Play first started as an inkling of an idea when co-founder Kate Balug was studying interrogative design with artist Krzysztof Wodiczko at the MIT art…
The Lumonics Light Brigade
Sculptor Dorothy Tanner, 93, admits she's something of a rebel, a revolutionary. A petite woman, Tanner declares in a soft, slightly husky voice, "There's a certain 'straightness' that I can't help…
BOOM Concepts is a creative hub that reflects the faces of the community on Pittsburgh's Penn Ave.
D.S. Kinsel, co-founder of Pittsburgh's BOOM Concepts, is a painter, installation artist, event maker, and art curator. He says he is always trying to make sure that his art is relevant to and a…
Teatro Nahual is the Bay Area's first and only entirely Spanish-language theatre group
When Verónica Meza, founder and artistic director of Teatro Nahual, moved to Los Angeles from Mexico City in 2001, she couldn't find any options for Spanish language theatre anywhere. The same thing…
Ballot Box puts public art to the vote
Perhaps you've already heard: this year is a pretty big election year. And while you are going to hear a lot of folks encouraging people to get out there and vote this year, the folks at Northeast…
Corner Concerts promotes Macon's local music scene with a placemaking agenda
Macon's Corner Concerts exists in a unique creative space where placemaking meets urban exploring meets pop-ups meets professionally-produced live concerts. If that sounds difficult to define,…
The Yarrow Mamout Archaeology Project unearths the history of a prominent 1800s African Muslim
Yarrow Mamout was an African Muslim born in Guinea, West Africa in 1736, where he was thought to have been a member of the nomadic Fulani tribe. He was sold into slavery at the age of 16 and was…
Ivar Zeile has seen the future of public art, and it's on 25' x 60' screens
Before launching Denver Digerati and becoming a national leader in digital placemaking, Ivar Zeile founded the contemporary arts gallery Plus Gallery in Denver in 2001. He had previously worked in…
Colette Fu makes pop-up photo books that examine the self through photos of others
Colette Fu was a pretty typical teenager growing up in New Jersey: insecure about her looks and her identity, as so many teenagers are, Fu would peroxide her hair to alter her appearance. She was…
Radiant Hall creates co-working spaces for artists in need of studio space
Sculptural painter Ryan Lammie grew up in Pittsburgh and went to school at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, living there from 2007-2012. During that time he saw the Borough's rapid development, and…
BLU Jazz+ brings world-class jazz to Akron
If you think of the top jazz cities in America, you'll likely count New Orleans, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and New York among them. But Akron, Ohio? Not so much. But as 20th-century jazz…
1xRUN is the future of art
In November 2015, 1xRUN (one-time-run) celebrated its fifth anniversary of delivering limited-edition time-released prints through its e-commerce store. 1xRUN is the world's leading publisher of fine…
Witt Siasoco uses art to create home
If you take Twin Cities artist Witt Siasoco's extensive body of work as a whole, a common theme emerges: home. Not home as a physical place, or even a symbolic one – "Home is where the heart is," and…
Stephanie Pruitt puts poems in vending machines and makes her art her business
Stephanie Pruitt loves finding ways to get poems in unexpected places. That's why she puts poems in vending machines and places those vending machines at various locations around Nashville. Pruitt is…
FEAST Miami brings together the community to support new and emerging creative projects
Nothing brings a group of people together quite like the dinner table. Sharing a meal gets to the core of what a "community" is, a great social equalizer in ways few other everyday experiences can…
LaCa Projects celebrates Latin American contemporary arts while challenging misconceptions
LaCa Projects, which stands for "Latin American Contemporary Art," was founded nearly three years ago by an Argentinean businessman, Walter Dolhare, who was born and raised in Argentina but moved to…
Cado Dos Santos shares his Brazilian culture with the world through his world music
Ricardo "Cado" Dos Santos plays Brazilian music, but it's not the kind of Brazilian music you might be imagining. This is not bossa nova or samba; Cado's music is soulful, gentle, guitar-driven…
Alex Gilliam is Building Heroes
Public Workshop started in Philadelphia in 2009, but is really an outgrowth of the work Alex Gilliam has been doing teaching design and architecture over the past 17 years. With Public Workshop and…
Macon Roving Listeners shares voice through listening
There is an art to listening, and that is the art practiced by the Macon Roving Listeners. A common struggle experienced by neighborhoods in the midst of change – "gentrification," if you want to use…
ArtsWave Cincinnati is the oldest and largest united arts fund in the country
Funding sources for many arts organizations tends to be a hodgepodge of foundation, government, corporate, and patron support, which makes ArtsWave Cincinnati remarkably unique – it is the Greater…
Bryce McCloud wants all of Nashville to be neighbors
There is a tab for "Art Projects" on the Isle of Printing website where all of their various public art endeavors are listed. One is called the "Mr. Rogers' Sharing is Caring Project." The project…
Verb Ballets is a dance company for the community
Verb Ballets is a contemporary ballet company based out of Shaker Heights – just north of Akron – and performing all over Northeastern Ohio. A repertory-based company without a…
ARTLAB J moves with Detroit
Detroit might not be the first city you think about as having a significant dance presence, but you should really think again. Between major performance theaters like the Detroit…
PearlDamour sees the way home in the stars over Milton, America
The North Star is how travelers have found their way home for thousands of years. Located on the handle of the Little Dipper, the most recognizable constellation in the sky, the North Star points…