Blog Posts for Public Art

Thank you to the many people who have been blog contributors to, and readers of ArtsBlog over the years. ArtsBlog has long been a space where we uplifted stories from the field that demonstrated how the arts strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically; where trends and issues and controversies were called out; and advocacy tools were provided to help you make the case for more arts funding and favorable arts policies.

As part of Americans for the Arts’ recent Strategic Realignment Process, we were asked to evaluate our storytelling communications platforms and evolve the way we share content. As a result, we launched the Designing Our Destiny portal to explore new ways of telling stories and sharing information, one that is consistent with our longtime practice of, “No numbers without a story, and no stories without a number.”

As we put our energy into developing this platform and reevaluate our communications strategies, we have put ArtsBlog on hold. That is, you can read past blog posts, but we are not posting new ones. You can look to the Designing Our Destiny portal and our news items feed on the Americans for the Arts website for stories you would have seen in ArtsBlog in the past.

ArtsBlog will remain online through this year as we determine the best way to archive this valuable resource and the knowledge you’ve shared here.

As ever, we are grateful for your participation in ArtsBlog and thank you for your work in advancing the arts. It is important, and you are important for doing it.


Ms. Barbara Schaffer Bacon


Ms. E. San San Wong

Artists, Funders, and Disruption in the Public Realm

Posted by Ms. Barbara Schaffer Bacon, Ms. E. San San Wong, Aug 22, 2019 0 comments


Ms. Barbara Schaffer Bacon


Ms. E. San San Wong

When artists activate the social imagination and cultural practices bring people together, when new images and events claim or create public space, and when cultural organizing mobilizes people to action, art disrupts and influences social and political dynamics and discourse in the public realm. And, when funders shape programs to support this work, they too are influencers and activists in the public realm. As definitions of public art broaden to include social and civic practice, art in the public realm continues to recur as a central idea and practice. The concept of the “public realm” recognizes public space as more than physical places for locating art. They are connectors that support or facilitate public life and social interaction. In April, Americans for the Arts and The Barr Foundation released Programs Supporting Art in the Public Realm: A National Field Scan with snapshots of 28 programs supporting and building capacity for artists working in the public realm. The scan highlights how funders and cultural agencies are shaping programs to support artists for more place-specific and issue-specific work as well as cross-sector collaborations.

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Mrs. Laura Conrad Mandel

Pathways to Freedom: We Put the ‘Public’ Back in Public Art

Posted by Mrs. Laura Conrad Mandel, Aug 15, 2019 0 comments


Mrs. Laura Conrad Mandel

The Jewish Arts Collaborative was new to public art when we commissioned Julia Vogl to create Pathways to Freedom in 2018. Our priority was to take the Passover Exodus story and make a universal story of freedom, exile, and immigration—relevant to all in the Greater Boston community in a major way. It was a bigger undertaking than our staff of five really understood, but we knew that Julia’s commitment to digging into individual stories and beautifully featuring them was just what was needed in our community. We took a leap of faith on a project of this size and cost—and this is what we learned.

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Julia Vogl

The Making of ‘Pathways to Freedom’

Posted by Julia Vogl, Aug 15, 2019 0 comments


Julia Vogl

When a Jewish organization wants to make an artwork accessible to all—it has to reach out to all in the making of the work. That’s what I and the Jewish Arts Collaborative, a Boston arts organization, did together to explore the meaning of the Passover holiday. To me, the themes of Passover were already universal—leaving oppression, seeking a new start, ending up in limbo for years as you find a new home. The Exodus story is the story for many refugees today, one of how seeking freedom is about liberation but with a responsibility, too. Because the Pathways to Freedom artwork was going to surround the Soldiers and Sailors Civil War monument on Boston Common, at the city center, I wanted to be as inclusive as possible in making the work. So, I created a pop-up cart and with the JArts team and a band of volunteers, we travelled across the Boston region. Our mission: to engage people on the subject of freedom and immigration. 

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Laura Kochman

Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny

Posted by Laura Kochman, Aug 14, 2019 0 comments


Laura Kochman

What if you could score a mural the way that you can score a movie? A unique project from painter Joshua Mays and DJ King Britt answers this question. In West Philadelphia, Dreams, Diaspora, and Destiny comes to life through an augmented reality app (MuralArtsAR), weaving together interviews with community elders, neighborhood sounds, and beats created by local students from The Haverford School and Mastery Charter’s Shoemaker Campus. The final mural evokes perspective and curiosity, invitations to meaning, and possibility through cosmic awareness and cultural connection. The artwork is intensely rooted in the neighborhood, and best experienced in person, but ultimately we wanted this public art to be accessible to folks farther afield—the final app includes a feature that will “create” the mural experience right in front of you, wherever you are. 

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Ms. Julie Garreau

The Radical Importance of RedCan

Posted by Ms. Julie Garreau, Aug 14, 2019 0 comments


Ms. Julie Garreau

Five years ago, I remember feeling profound sadness and disappointment when I thought about the condition of too many buildings in my town of Eagle Butte, South Dakota. Not only were the structures in rough shape; graffiti tagging had further defaced them. I’ve been the executive director of the grassroots, nonprofit Cheyenne River Youth Project since 1988, and three decades of youth development work here on the Cheyenne River reservation have taught me that our young people need to find healthy ways to explore their identities, find their voices, and share their stories. That’s fundamental to who we are as Lakota people, because for us, art is life. And without a positive outlet for so much youthful creative energy, vandalism is inevitable. I found myself wondering if CRYP could make a difference. In 2014, we invited a professional graffiti artist to complete a mural in town and provide lettering classes for our teens. We didn’t know it then, but this little test project was the proverbial pebble thrown into a lake, and the ripples are still expanding.

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Laura Kochman

Families Belong Together

Posted by Laura Kochman, Aug 13, 2019 0 comments


Laura Kochman

In the summer of 2018, against a backdrop of national immigration policy restrictions, Mural Arts had the opportunity to work with Chiléan artist Artes Ekeko (Ian Pierce). The pieces fell into place as we worked quickly to create something meaningful: North Philadelphia’s Providence Center joined us as a partner; members of our Restorative Justice Guild program were available to assist; and local artist Cesar Viveros signed on to help make this mural possible. A 900-square-foot wall was available in the Fairhill neighborhood, a predominantly Hispanic and Latinx community, and so we got to work. Ekeko and Viveros created a bright, textured design in line with Philadelphia’s longstanding status as a sanctuary city, representing a family making their way to a new home. Over a few short weeks, the mural went up on the wall, invoking conversation around community, empathy, and home. 

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