Call for Participants for STEPS 2025 CreateSpace Public Art Forum
Closing Date of Opportunity: November 26, 2024
Name or Organization: STEPS
Website: STEPS Public Arts
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CreateSpace Public Art Forum
STEPS Public Art believes public art has the ability to challenge the systemic inequities that exist in public space. In support of this important work, we facilitate programs that foster inclusive community-engaged public art practices, build the capacity of underrepresented artists, and demonstrate how public art can help reimagine equitably designed cities.
We are thrilled to launch the 2025 CreateSpace Public Art Forum, a digital forum that will virtually convene 60 participants who identify as Black, Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), racialized, rural and/or youth with disabilities and between the ages of 18-25. CreateSpace Public Art Forum runs from January 10 – February 01, 2025. This forum will foster connections, build understanding across geographies and cultures, as well as provide emerging equity-deserving participants with the skills, relationships and support needed to develop public art practices.
About the program
The CreateSpace Public Art Forum will see the presentation of 10 pre-recorded talks/workshops created by professional public artists and cultural workers. These talks/workshops will be available in both video and audio versions for accessibility with ASL translations. Each talk/workshop will be themed around various ideas and concepts of public art practices. Participants will engage with these talks/workshops and create an artistic response, with feedback from peers, as well as one-on-one feedback from established public artists.
Their participation will culminate in a profile on the STEPS Public Art website with a virtual exhibition featuring their public artwork concepts created during the forum to further showcase and celebrate participant creations.
CreateSpace Public Art Forum participants will gain:
Skills: A variety of virtual workshops tailored to encourage participants to grow their understanding of various topics, including Community Engagement, Identity, Accessibility, and Land, and apply these understandings to their public art practice;
Relationships: Opportunities to virtually connect with/access mentorship from established public art practitioners across the country, as well as build relationships for peer mentorship within a closed cohort online channel (Discord);
Practical Experience: Participants in the forum will have the opportunity to create an artistic response to the themes that resonate with them within the talks/workshops, with feedback from peers to strengthen their work. They will also have ongoing access to a Public Art Toolkit tailored to resource sharing for early-career artists that focus on integrating meaningful community engagement strategies into their practice;
Public Audiences: Participants will have their bio, artist statement, as well as artistic work created for this forum featured on the STEPS Public Art website;
Financial Support: Participants will each receive an honorarium of $500 CAD for their full participation in the forum;
Proof of Participation: A Certificate of Completion.