NEW Public Art Grant Opportunities in the Time of COVID-19

In the midst of this ever-evolving pandemic moment, we are reminded that our concepts of “public” are overlaid on the history of stolen lands, our public streets are still plagued with the policing of Black bodies, and our public squares are home to the complex histories of some monuments and memorials that uphold and pay tribute to oppressive narratives. These are just a few of the reminders of the deep healing work that still needs to be done in our public spaces.   

We believe that public art has the ability and responsibility to creatively engage important and timely conversations, bring healing to space and place, and foster public imagination for a more just version of what is possible.  

After much reflection over the past few months, NEFA’s Public Art Team is making some program changes for 2020.  

• Creative City Boston (CCB) application process is postponed until 2021
  
  As Boston began to shut down in March due to the increasing spread of Covid-19, we were getting ready to launch the next CCB application process. It simply didn’t seem like the right time to ask artists to propose ideas for socially engaged public art as we were all adjusting to public health guidelines for social distancing. Stay tuned for updates on the CCB application process in 2021!
   
• NEW Grant Opportunity: Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice
  
  Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice (CISJ) grants support teams of artists, creatives, culture bearers, cultural organizers, and/or community-based collaborators to do the important work of imagining public art that fosters and contributes to more just futures for our public spaces and public culture.   
  
  CISJ grants are available to Massachusetts based artists and collaborators. Grants range from $2,000-5,000.   
   
• NEW Grant Opportunity: Public Art for Spatial Justice
  
  Public Art for Spatial Justice grants (PASJ) support Massachusetts artists and artistic collaborations to create public art in Massachusetts that fosters public imagination and contributes to more just futures for our public spaces and public culture.
  
  Public Art for Spatial Justice grants range from $5,000-10,000.

Application deadlines for both CISJ and PASJ are once a month from August through October 2020. Our first deadline for both grant opportunities is Monday, August 24, 2020.

In lieu of our CCB grant application, we are excited to share these new grant opportunities that are centering spatial justice in the public artmaking (and imagining) process.

Learn more about Public Art at NEFA on our Public Art Program Page.

Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice and Public Art for Spatial Justice are supported through funding from the Barr Foundation. 

Related Links

• "400 years later - an Indigenous artist's perspective" by Erin Genia
• NEFA's Statement on Racial Justice

• "Monumental Change: Addressing the Legacies of Systemic Racism in Public Art" Video by WBUR CitySpace with Boston University Arts Initiative

• We use the phrase "spatial justice" as defined by DS4SI in "Refusing the Past, Imagining the Future" by Lori Lobenstine