Forecast Public Art fosters a culturally vibrant world where creativity and community connect. We believe that art should be freely accessible to all kinds of audiences, in all kinds of places—where people live and work, and everywhere in between. By bringing art outside the traditional contexts of galleries, museums and performance halls, the work of Forecast increases access to arts and culture, improving the everyday lives of all people. Forecast supports artists through grants and commissions, technical assistance and educational programs. Artists from every discipline can be creative problem solvers, addressing needs as diverse as racism, the environment, educating young and old, and community building. Through their efforts, artists working in the public realm can enhance civic pride by developing identity and giving unique character to places all over the world. Forecast Public Art has received recognition for its work to strengthen and advance the field of public art—locally, nationally and internationally. In 2007, Forecast received the Award for Excellence in the field by Americans for the Arts. Our annual grant program for emerging Minnesota artists and our journal Public Art Review—both 20 years old—have received national acclaim as well. We have served hundreds of artists and dozens of communities over the past 31 years, facilitating public art plans, connecting communities with artists, and generating support for innovative projects, both temporary and permanent. • Joel Sisson’s Green Chair Project built thousands of homemade Adirondack chairs with teenagers in the Twin Cities (some of them 15 feet tall) and used them to create temporary gathering places, engage audiences in dialogue, and impart team-building skills to at-risk youth. • Wing Young Huie received Forecast support to create Lake Street USA, a six-mile long photography exhibit featuring portraits of South Minneapolis residents and excerpts from his interviews with them. • Marcus Young obtained support to develop an annual festival, Wishes for the Sky, involving hundreds of community members in a unique kind of Earth Day kite-making event. • Nancy Ann Coyne’s Speaking of Home project was the first to utilize the Minneapolis skyways for a monumental installation featuring portraits of immigrants, through images and text. • Randy Walker's Return Journey recycles a neighborhood landmark—a rocket ship playground structure—and transforms it into a monument for a South Minneapolis community that believes in dreaming big, and setting sights high. Forecast regularly partners with government agencies, other nonprofits, neighborhood organizations, developers, design professionals, educators and planners. Our broad base of funding includes grants, sponsorships, earned income and donations from many individuals who recognize the value of our work in the field. Visit www.ForecastPublicArt.org to learn more, subscribe to Public Art Review, or get involved as a volunteer. "Building Public Art Together" “The work that Forecast Public Art does is truly unique and socially powerful. Forecast is a rare organization that focuses on improving communities by offering decades of knowledge and experience to facilitate and expand the definition of public art.” Kurt Gough, Founding Partner, Shelter | Architecture+Interior Design “Support for the arts and people buying art become a lower priority in the current economic climate. Forecast Public Art and the Public Art Review provide much needed support and an avenue for public arts education for artists as well as public art administrators. They are a forum for ideas, supportive of public art events, a forum for sharing of new projects, a source of information and a network for artists and public art administrators.” BJ Katz, artist and subscriber to Public Art Review “Public art and the only magazine in the U.S. to cover the field - Public Art Review - are a critical component of democracy. And Public Art Review offers the kind of insightful commentary and useful information that benefits not only the public art community, but the general public.” Thomas Fisher, Dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota “Forecast Public Art is poised to be THE online resource for people interested in public art--artists, developers, instructors, community planners, researchers, and so many others. After 30 years in the public art field, Forecast's holdings are vast, from the one-of-a-kind Public Art Review to information on regional and national public art projects; from anecdotal knowledge that can be shared through blogs and interactive communication to a huge library of public art resources from around the country.” Margaret Rog, arts consultant