Forecast Public Art activates, inspires, and advocates for public art that advances justice, health, and human dignity.
Forecast supports artists, partners, and communities throughout the entire process of creating public art that advances justice, health, and human dignity. We partner with decision-makers and stakeholders on arts and cultural planning efforts, and support public artists with funding, training, and opportunities to create partnerships and advance their public art careers. We also help others find, select, curate, fund, and commission public artists. Forecast emphasizes access for artists of color, indigenous artists, and groups that are traditionally excluded.
Forecast firmly believes that culture and creativity are important drivers of creating a more just society. As one of the country’s first nonprofit organizations dedicated to advancing the field of public art, we are called to advocate for and advance public art practices that advance justice, health and human dignity. We are invested in public art that plays a crucial role in creating a sense of belonging, and supporting people to realize their potential and live healthy lives.
What is public art?
Public art plays a crucial role in shaping our culturally vibrant and sustainable communities. Artists of all disciplines are treating public space as a venue for creative experimentation. Public art offers opportunities for community collaboration, for ideas to shape our environment, and to influence change. The definition is always expanding — performance art, interventions, land art, and wrapped buildings are just some examples — and artists are redefining public art every day.
Forecast Public Art seeks an artist or an artist team with experience designing arts-based activities and events for community engagement. This may include experience in a variety of mediums including social practice, drawing/painting, photography, writing, performance, etc..
Project: Mississippi River Learning Center Design Community Engagement
Positions Available: 1 (open to an artist team)
Artist Stipend: Up to $6,500 per artist or artist team. This includes all materials and event expenses.
Applications Due: Tuesday, June 17, 2025, no later than 11:59pm CST
BACKGROUND
The City of Saint Paul, along with its partners, the Great River Passage Conservancy, and Mississippi Park Connection, is developing a 25-acre area within the Hidden Falls Crosby Farm Regional Park and Mississippi National River and Recreation area for the Mississippi River Learning Center (MRLC). This contract is to complete Engineering, Permitting, Architectural, and Landscape Architectural design to be prepared for Bidding.
To inform the design and functionality of the Mississippi River Learning Center, Forecast is conducting community engagement activities that focuses on getting feedback on the site’s programming, planning, and design from the River Learning Center’s project stakeholders. Community engagement consists of a series of events and activities that engage different constituencies through learning and community-building around the river.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Public engagement is a key part of the Mississippi River Learning Center design project!
The project engagement team, working under the direction of the City of Saint Paul’s Parks and Recreation department, includes VJAA and TEN X TEN architects, Forecast Public Art, and New Publica Communications. As the project team’s arts-based public engagement lead, Forecast Public Art is seeking one artist or artist pair to lead a large-scale artistic form of engaging the public to solicit feedback on the River Learning Center’s storytelling and interpretation.
DUTIES
The MRLC engagement artists will:
**Collaborate with Forecast’s project manager and lead project artist to co-develop and implement an arts-based community engagement event designed to
- Increase awareness of the Mississippi River Learning Center project within communities who are not yet familiar with the project; and
- Invite community members to share ideas of stories and interpretation they want at the site.
**Lead one community engagement event in August (specific date TBD), alongside the larger project team, to engage community members and build on existing relationships with neighborhood residents who care about Crosby Farm Regional Park and the future Mississippi River Learning Center
**Support the collection of ideas received during the community engagement event
**Assist with analyzing and synthesizing the information received through the engagement activity
BUDGET
Up to $6,500
The artist or artist team for the MRLC arts-based engagement will be paid up to $6,500, which shall include all materials and event expenses.
Due to the nature of this project, please note that much of the work may take place at a variety of times including early mornings, evenings, and/or weekends.
ELIGIBILITY
Selected artists should have:
- Experience designing arts-based activities for community engagement. This may include experience in a variety of mediums including social practice, drawing/painting, photography, writing, performance, etc.
- Familiarity with the West 7th neighborhood in Highland Park and/or adjacent neighborhoods, and/or connections and relationship to St. Paul East African, Southeast Asian, African American, or Mexican communities.
- Comfort in the collaborative art making process.
- Comfort representing the project team in meetings and engaging with the public at community events.
- Comfort using technology including, but not limited to
- Communicating in a timely manager via email or telephone
- Online research tools
- Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides
Because of the rich cultural diversity of the community, artists with foreign language skills and connections to and/or experience working in historically-underrepresented communities - including immigrant and refugee communities present in the project area - are particularly encouraged to apply.
TIMELINE
These are temporary part-time independent contractor positions funded from the middle of June through the middle of September 2025.
If needed, interviews will take place between June 20 or June 24, 2025.
Onboarding and the collaborative design of the Mississippi River Learning Center engagement event will take place in July 2025.
Artists with experience in and connections to multiple language communities -- including immigrant and refugee communities present in the neighborhoods, are particularly encouraged to apply.
To apply: Fill out our online Application Form
Questions? Please contact us by email at candida@forecastpublicart.org later than Friday, June 13, 2025.
Forecast Public Art seeks a Native artist or an artist team with experience designing arts-based activities and events for community engagement. This may include experience in a variety of mediums including social practice, drawing/painting, photography, writing, performance, etc..
Project: Mississippi River Learning Center Design Community Engagement
Positions Available: 1 (open to an artist team)
Artist Stipend: Up to $6,500 per artist or artist team. This includes all materials and event expenses.
Applications Due: Tuesday, June 17, 2025, no later than 11:59pm CST
BACKGROUND
The City of Saint Paul, along with its partners, the Great River Passage Conservancy, and Mississippi Park Connection, is developing a 25-acre area within the Hidden Falls Crosby Farm Regional Park and Mississippi National River and Recreation area for the Mississippi River Learning Center (MRLC). This contract is to complete Engineering, Permitting, Architectural, and Landscape Architectural design to be prepared for Bidding.
To inform the design and functionality of the Mississippi River Learning Center, Forecast is conducting community engagement activities that focuses on getting feedback on the site’s programming, planning, and design from the River Learning Center’s project stakeholders. Community engagement consists of a series of events and activities that engage different constituencies through learning and community-building around the river.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Public engagement is a key part of the Mississippi River Learning Center design project!
The project engagement team, working under the direction of the City of Saint Paul’s Parks and Recreation department, includes VJAA and TEN X TEN architects, Forecast Public Art, and New Publica Communications. As the project team’s arts-based public engagement lead, Forecast Public Art is seeking one artist or artist team to lead a large-scale artistic form of engaging the public to solicit feedback on the River Learning Center’s storytelling and interpretation.
DUTIES
The MRLC engagement artist will:
**Collaborate with Forecast’s project manager and lead project artist to co-develop and implement an arts-based community engagement event designed to
- Increase awareness of the Mississippi River Learning Center project amongst the Twin Cities Native community; and
- Invite community members to share ideas of stories and interpretation they want at the site.
**Lead one community engagement event in August (specific date TBD), alongside the larger project team, to engage Native community members about Crosby Farm Regional Park and the future Mississippi River Learning Center
**Support the collection of ideas received during the community engagement event
**Assist with analyzing and synthesizing the information received through the engagement activity
BUDGET
Up to $6,500
The artist or artist team for the MRLC engagements will be paid up to $6,500, which shall include all materials and event expenses.
Due to the nature of this project, please note that much of the work may take place at a variety of times including early mornings, evenings, and/or weekends.
ELIGIBILITY
Selected artists should have:
- Familiarity with the broader Twin Cities Native community and have spent time in parks along the Mississippi or Minnesota Rivers
- Experience designing arts-based activities for community engagement. This may include experience in a variety of mediums including social practice, drawing/painting, photography, writing, performance, etc.
- Comfort in the collaborative art making process.
- Comfort representing the project team in meetings and engaging with the public at community events.
- Comfort using technology including, but not limited to
- Communicating in a timely manager via email or telephone
- Online research tools
- Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides
Enrollment in one federally recognized tribe is not a requirement, but the artist must be recognized by their Native community.
TIMELINE
These are temporary part-time independent contractor positions funded from the middle of June through the middle of September 2025.
If needed, interviews will take place on June 20 and June 24, 2025.
Onboarding and the collaborative design of the Mississippi River Learning Center engagement event will take place in July 2025.
To apply: Fill out our online Application Form
Questions? Please contact us by email at candida@forecastpublicart.org later than Friday, June 13, 2025.
The Change Lab National Research Fellowships aim to produce new research, data, reporting, and suggestions to advance justice, health, and human dignity in the field of public art in the United States. Fellows will be thought partners informing Forecast’s work conducting research and providing recommendations that will inform public art policies and practices in the United States and Native Nations that share the same geography.
The Civic Engagement Research Fellow will articulate how artists are renewing civic life by using public art to foster connection, knowledge, and change, especially for historically excluded communities. The resulting report will contribute to a national public art policy platform, rooted in justice, human dignity, and democratic vitality.
Our goal is to collectively develop a national public art policy platform that is rooted in justice, health and human dignity for Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
Fellows will work from their home base and can be located anywhere. A working knowledge of public art and some experience with research in civic engagement will be important. Research Fellows will have access to Forecast staff and our published resources. The application for our Civic Engagement Research Fellow art is open now. The application deadline is July 13, 2025, at 11:59pm CT.
The fellowship will begin August 1, 2025.
The Fellowship entails:
- Focused Research: The Fellowship will be centered on the critical topic of civic engagement and its intersection with public art.
- National Policy Platform: Research from the Fellowship will include recommendations on how to address civic engagement in public art policy. The Fellow’s research findings will contribute to the development of a national public art policy platform that prioritizes justice, health, and human dignity for historically marginalized communities.
- Model of Change: The final report created during the Fellowship will become a model for shaping the future of public art programs and policies, with a focus on equity and sustainability.
Over a 6-month period (200 hours total), the selected Fellow will:
- Conduct in-depth research into the intersections of public art, civic life, and democracy-building
- Investigate how artists are building civic infrastructure such as tools, spaces, relationships, and systems that help people participate more fully in public life
- Develop a public-facing report that shares research findings, insights, and recommendations for public art policies and programs across the country
- Influence the development of a national public art policy platform that addresses the needs of marginalized communities
- Receive a stipend: $5,000 (paid in two installments)
Who can apply?
- Graduate students, recent college graduates, doctoral/post-doctoral researchers, artists, and public art professionals with research experience, a working knowledge of public art in the U.S., and some experience in research in the specified topic area are encouraged to apply.
- Location: based in the U.S., working remotely from your home base