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At New England Foundation for the Arts, we believe that public art has the power to shift public culture and change the future, for the better. Creating positive social change requires collective imagination.
Everything created must first be imagined, including our collective future. Social imagination is a prerequisite to positive social change.
Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grants support teams of Massachusetts-based artists, creatives, culture bearers, cultural organizers, and community-based organizational collaborators, to do the important work of imagining:
What does public art that fosters positive social change look, sound, and feel like in your community?
Starting in 2022, we are inviting Collective Imagination Teams to join us in imagining public art that fosters positive social change. Through a six-month imagination journey together with us, from January through June 2023, Collective Imagination Teams will be selected to participate in a cohort learning model and receive a $6,000 grant.
Note: This is NOT a project grant. If you are looking for funding for a specific project, you may be interested in the Public Art for Spatial Justice Grant.
Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice is one of NEFA’s grant programs supporting artists in the field of public art.
For more information about other elements of NEFA’s Public Art programs:
VISIT THE public art PROGRAM PAGE
The lead applicant of the team may apply as a…
Starting in 2022: Past CISJ Grantees are not eligible to apply to CISJ again for a full calendar year from completing their grantee report. (E.g., If you submit a CISJ grantee report on June 1, 2022 that is approved, you are eligible to apply to CISJ again starting June 1, 2023.)
Note: If you are applying for a Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice and a Public Art for Spatial Justice grant in the same grant round, each application will be reviewed independent of each other and funding is not guaranteed (i.e., you may be funded for one but not the other).
Starting in 2022, we are inviting Collective Imagination Teams to move through a six-month imagination journey together with us at the beginning of 2023. (See Grantee Requirements section below for more details)
Teams will be selected based on:
Priority will be given to teams that share in NEFA’s public art values and are commitment to the work of dismantling the legacies of racism, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy culture. In particular we are prioritizing teams that are…
The next deadline for Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice is October 17, 2022, 11:59 PM ET.
Applications are accepted through our online grant portal.
Collective Imagination Teams will be selected in mid/late December 2022 for our 2023 cohort, beginning in January 2023.
Grants for CISJ will be released in full, at the beginning of the grant year.
Reminder: Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grants are taxable income to individual recipients and reportable to the IRS. All grantees will receive a 1099 from NEFA.
Starting in 2022, we are inviting Collective Imagination Teams to move through a six-month imagination journey together, with us, from January through June 2023.
January-June 2023. Collective Imagination Teams participate in monthly cohort gatherings (90 minutes) facilitated by NEFA staff and Program Advisors.
Date/Time of cohort gatherings TBD.
Teams will also have access to meet with Program Advisors one-on-one, and the opportunity to connect with fellow Collective Imagination Teams across Massachusetts who are also on their own journeys.
Collective Imagination Teams are expected to do independent imagination work in between the NEFA-hosted cohort gatherings. For example, this may include but is not limited to, meeting regularly with your imagination team, connecting with community, taking time to further learn more about and experience the public spaces that your team is imagining into!
In lieu of a final grantee report, CISJ teams will be asked to participate in a conversational report back at the June 2023 Cohort Gathering.
Each team will be asked to prepare reflections on their collective imagination journey and participate in a group conversation.
NEFA’s public art team is learning with and from this collective imagination journey alongside our grantees!
These conversations will not only help us to better understand the impact of the grant and cohort model for the 2023 CISJ teams but help us understand how we can continue to evolve this program to meet the current needs of our creative communities and the field of public art in Massachusetts.
If a Collective Imagination Team is unable to participate in the June Cohort Gathering, please contact NEFA staff as soon as possible to make alternative arrangements.
Reminder: CISJ grants will be released in full, at the beginning of the grant year.
To get a quick introduction to our three Public Art grant programs, watch the video above or read the transcript.
See Past Recipients of the Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice Grant
Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice is made possible with funding from the Barr Foundation.
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