Participatory Art
Philadelphia Poet Laureate Yolanda Wisher dreams while walking on the ground
Philadelphia might best be known as the City of Brotherly Love, but it could also be called the City of Poets for its dedication to supporting and promoting the literary form. With a citywide Poet…
Artists & Aging: Access, Storytelling & Change
The Artists & Aging pilot project was created by a partnership between the Citizens League and Springboard for the Arts in Minnesota, and supported by The Pluribus Project through their Narrative…
Place-based art project Water Bar addresses disparities in drinking water access
“Welcome to Water Bar, water is all we have.” These are the words that greeted me as I walked through the door. Immediately, Shanai Matteson, co-owner of Water Bar & Public Studio, offered me a…
Women-led Community Artists Leadership Initiative brings arts funding to the 99 percent
When Desdamona, Julia Nekessa Opoti, May Lee-Yang and Saymoukda Vongsay, co-founders of the Twin Cities-based Community Artists Leadership Initiative (CALI), are sitting at the same table, ideas fly…
Where to get your rural news
In the current media climate, there is a lot of conversation about urban-rural divide, and plenty of thinkpieces published and pundits willing to go on air and talk about what it means. We're…
Lisa Jo Epstein encourages just acts through Just Act, using applied theatre in community development
Philadelphia-based theatre director, educator, and community artist Lisa Jo Epstein has spent 27 years working in the realm of applied theatre. She calls her latest project, Just Act – which recently…
Beth Grossman encourages civic engagement through participatory art
Beth Grossman has worked as an artist full-time for the past 25 years. As a social practice artist, she creates site-specific experiential work designed to engage the public in matters of political…
Public Transformation hits the road
Two months ago, I had no idea that I was going to buy a school bus and travel across the country interviewing rural-based artists - I had no idea that I would need to learn how to insure a converted…
Tia Richardson is an integrative community artist making an impact in Milwaukee
Tia Richardson describes herself as an "integrative community artist." She works as a muralist, teacher, and bridge builder in Milwaukee, leading visual arts projects designed to help heal the…
Imagining New Futures: Artists & Aging Pilot
What is the future for our artists? What is the future for our aging communities? What is the role of arts in aging and policy? In The American Prospect, author Jeff Chang writes, “When artists…
Let's Get To Work
Creative Exchange is the national program of Springboard for the Arts, based in Fergus Falls & Saint Paul, MN. This piece is adapted from the main Springboard website here. Springboard for the…
The Democratic Cup wants to bring people together in conversation over a cup of coffee
It has been nearly two weeks since the 2016 presidential election was called in favor of Donald Trump. In those two weeks there have been protests, riots, and a rash of hate crimes some have said is…
Making political art great again: t. Rutt takes the T.RUMP bus on the road
In the more light-hearted corners of the Internet, it has been jokingly suggested that Donald Trump's entire bizarre presidential campaign has really just been an elaborate piece of performance art.…
Exploring the Art of Conversation at the Urban Consulate
What is the art of conversation? A salon is a social gathering to exchange ideas, a celebration of the art of conversation dating back to 16th century Italy, though most closely associated with the…
Dread Scott is a revolutionary artist whose work takes an unflinching look at Black lives in America
In 1857, Dred Scott, an enslaved Black man, unsuccessfully sued for his freedom on the grounds that he, along with his wife and daughters, had lived in free territories for four years. In the…
Fran Ilich believes another world is possible
Fran Ilich grew up in Tijuana next to the San Diego border. As a "border kid" in Mexico, Ilich has spent his life existing in a space somewhere in between – not quite Latin enough for Mexico,…
Friendly Streets: Bottom-up St. Paul project changes the way people look at their city
The following is excerpted from Jay Walljasper’s new book, “America’s Walking Renaissance,” which can be downloaded for free here. This excerpt was initially published by MinnPost. Laughter, lively…
Design Studio for Social Intervention uses design to change the way social justice is imagined
Kenneth Bailey is one of the founders of Boston's Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI), an artistic organization that uses design to change how social justice is imagined, developed, and…
Pillsbury House Theatre breaks the ice and serves the community
What does it mean to be a "community theatre"? What does it mean to be an arts organization "for the community"? When we talk about community, and about arts organizations with deep commitments to…
Michael O'Bryan helps people to find sanctuary in art
Sanctuary is a place of refuge or safety. In urban neighborhoods all throughout America, sanctuary is a luxury almost beyond attainment. But Michael O'Bryan is working to bring that sense of…
Upcycle Parts Shop engages the community though creative reuse
Nicole McGee has been a self-described "reuse artist" for several years, but her practice wasn't always her profession. Her background is in the nonprofit sector, doing work in PR and marketing,…
Sara Daleiden focuses on cultural production and exchange in various roles of public arts leadership
In common use, "cultural exchange" tends to mean an exchange of ideas, customs, or practices between people of different countries. But "culture" isn't simply defined from one country to another; in…
Ready Go's mobile art projects capture attention and engage the community
How likely are you to sit and have a conversation with a stranger in a park? What if you could do so while playing a board game at a table under brightly colored flags, all of which popped up in your…
ArtSpring's arts-based workshops for underserved communities promote self-esteem and understanding
Leslie Neal has been involved in the Miami dance community since 1981. In 1992, she held a tenured faculty position at Florida University as an Associate Professor of Dance with a focus on community…
Arts with Purpose: Catalyzing Civic Engagement in Denver
Pay no mind to the woman in tattered layers with dirt caked onto the hands with which she holds a cardboard sign. Disregard the worn-out sleeping bags strewn across the sidewalks and trash-bag…
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.…
San Jose's MACLA engages a multicultural community
In early 2016, San Jose’s Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA) opened the exhibition “Custom Lives: Rasquache Renaissance.” The show exhibited colorful, cartoon-like sculptures of…
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…
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…