We’re postponing… but! In response to the Massachusetts’s Governor’s guidance in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we’re postponing this event. In the meantime, however, we’re still thinking about these important issues, and know you are, too. We invite you to sign up here to receive occasional emails on this and related topics. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to being in touch!

How might creative acts of remembering and imagining in public help us reframe the past and present–and see more inclusive futures?

Join the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) for a conversation that explores the power of public art to catalyze critical dialogue around public memory, representation, and belonging, and to transform public life. You’ll hear from artists, curators, and organizers who use creative strategies to reframe public memory and imagine future possibilities for more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities.

Guest Speakers:

Paul Farber – Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Monument Lab and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Public Art and Space at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design (keynote speaker and moderator)
Erin Genia (Dakota/ Odawa) – Multidisciplinary artist, educator and cultural worker specializing in Indigenous arts and culture
Kate Gilbert – Executive Director of Now + There
Stephen Hamilton – Artist and educator, based in Boston

This event is part of a series organized by the MAPC’s Arts and Culture Department and NEFA’s Public Art Department in conjunction with MAPC’s MetroCommon 2050 planning process. This unique, cross-sector initiative brings together artists and creators, planners, and policymakers to discuss the evolving relationship among public art, public memory, and public policy and to explore how artists can envision and shape more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities in Greater Boston.

We’re postponing… but! In response to the Massachusetts’s Governor’s guidance in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we’re postponing this event. In the meantime, however, we’re still thinking about these important issues, and know you are, too. We invite you to sign up here to receive occasional emails on this and related topics. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to being in touch!

What can municipal staff working in the areas of planning, open space and recreation, and public arts do to address untold histories, engage with controversy, and leverage the power of public art and public memory in these discussions?

Join the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and New England Foundation for the Arts for a professional development workshop designed for municipal staff on new approaches to public memory and public art in Greater Boston.

In this workshop, you’ll learn about best practices for facilitating dialogue about controversial monuments and memorials in your community, and about inspiring examples of public art and public history projects that are transforming public memories of places around the country. You will also engage in small group discussions where you’ll have an opportunity to learn about lesser-known historic and cultural stories in our region and how those stories and experiences can be actively engaged in place-based planning and programming related to public art, creative placemaking/placekeeping initiatives, and more.

Facilitators and Speakers: To be announced

This event is part of a series organized by the MAPC’s Arts and Culture Department and NEFA’s Public Art Department in conjunction with MAPC’s MetroCommon 2050 planning process. This unique, cross-sector initiative brings together artists and creators, planners, and policymakers to discuss the evolving relationship among public art, public memory, and public policy and to explore how artists can envision and shape more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities in Greater Boston.

The Medfield Anthology is a site-informed performance piece written by playwright and Metropolitan Area Planning Council Artist-in-Residence Hortense Gerardo.

Featuring local Medfield talent from The Gazebo Players and performances by members of the Boston Dance Theater!

First created as an immersive walking play through the Medfield State Hospital grounds, the play portrays the Medfield State Hospital in its many facets – not only a place where patients went for psychiatric care, but also where community members attended an annual Harvest Ball, young lovers went to movie screenings in the chapel, and youngsters competed in Little League games.

The cast and crew of The Medfield Anthology are excited to present the play in an exciting new online format. Featuring a new scene about the 1918 flu pandemic and a movement piece adapted for viewing on computer screens, the latest version of this play⁠ takes on surprising relevance⁠—as does the history of the site itself.

Followed by a Q&A with Medfield Town Planner Sarah Raposa and Cultural Alliance of Medfield Director Jean Mineo about future plans for the chapel and the rest of the MSH campus

Register for tickets here to receive a link to the free performance!

For more information, visit: https://medfieldculture.org or www.mapc.org/msh-events.

What is spatial justice, and how can cities and towns use this framework to rethink how their built environment supports people’s rights to be, thrive, express and connect? What role can artists and public art play in helping us imagine and shape more inclusive, thriving public spaces throughout Greater Boston? Join a lively discussion among artists, activists, and urbanists who are leading the conversation about spatial justice in our region today.

How can public-making—the collective creation and activation of public spaces for interaction and belonging—be a radical, joyful tool for spatial justice? Join artists, activists, and community leaders to discuss how public-making can create opportunities for interaction, laughter, dialogue, and surprise, and explore real-life examples of public-making that you can bring to your community.

Not all public spaces are created equal. Transformative planning and urban design begins with addressing historic and current experiences of racism and exclusion. But what does that mean in practice? Join the conversation with creative community leaders about what it means to design for spatial justice. We’ll explore how skate parks, sidewalk kitchens, and “dance courts” can change how public space is used, who feels welcome in it, and how inclusive creative placemaking can help lead the way toward lasting spatial justice.

In the beginning, Small Steps on Climate Change was a dance and embodied movement performance intended to inspire Metro Boston to view climate change as an opportunity to create stronger, collaborative, healthier, and more vibrant communities in the face of climate change. Just six weeks before opening night, COVID-19 altered the path.

Small Steps: Dances of Resilience is a full-length documentary film about overcoming the struggle to create and perform during a global pandemic. The dancers tell their stories of climate, COVID, art, and hope, and, finally, they dance.

Join us for three film screenings on YouTube Live this September 9, 10, and 11. Each screening will be time-limited and all content will be removed between and after each screening, so see it while you can!

After the Friday, September 11 performance, we will hold a “Meet the Dancers” Q&A session on Zoom.

The production was developed by movement artist, screenwriter and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Artist-in-Residence Hortense Gerardo and MAPC Senior Environmental Planner Darci Schofield to integrate the arts into climate change planning.

Directed by Hortense Gerardo and produced by Darci Schofield and MAPC.

Featuring original choreography and performances by:

• Laura Sanchez Garcia, award-winning flamenco dancer, choreographer, and educator
• Elizabeth Walker, former Los Angeles Ballet soloist
• Simon Chernow, KRUMP and fusion hip-hop dancer and core leader of Boston’s Climate Strike
• Jean Appolon Expressions, Haitian dance troupe fusing contemporary elements with Haitian folkloric dance
• Olivia Link, contemporary modern dancer and Urbanity Dance educator
• Any Berube and Theo Martinez, competitive ballroom salsa dancers and instructors

In the beginning, Small Steps on Climate Change was a dance and embodied movement performance intended to inspire Metro Boston to view climate change as an opportunity to create stronger, collaborative, healthier, and more vibrant communities in the face of climate change. Just six weeks before opening night, COVID-19 altered the path.

Small Steps: Dances of Resilience is a full-length documentary film about overcoming the struggle to create and perform during a global pandemic. The dancers tell their stories of climate, COVID, art, and hope, and, finally, they dance.

Join us for three film screenings on YouTube Live this September 9, 10, and 11. Each screening will be time-limited and all content will be removed between and after each screening, so see it while you can!

After the Friday, September 11 performance, we will hold a “Meet the Dancers” Q&A session on Zoom.

The production was developed by movement artist, screenwriter and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Artist-in-Residence Hortense Gerardo and MAPC Senior Environmental Planner Darci Schofield to integrate the arts into climate change planning.

Directed by Hortense Gerardo and produced by Darci Schofield and MAPC.

Featuring original choreography and performances by:

• Laura Sanchez Garcia, award-winning flamenco dancer, choreographer, and educator
• Elizabeth Walker, former Los Angeles Ballet soloist
• Simon Chernow, KRUMP and fusion hip-hop dancer and core leader of Boston’s Climate Strike
• Jean Appolon Expressions, Haitian dance troupe fusing contemporary elements with Haitian folkloric dance
• Olivia Link, contemporary modern dancer and Urbanity Dance educator
• Any Berube and Theo Martinez, competitive ballroom salsa dancers and instructors

In the beginning, Small Steps on Climate Change was a dance and embodied movement performance intended to inspire Metro Boston to view climate change as an opportunity to create stronger, collaborative, healthier, and more vibrant communities in the face of climate change. Just six weeks before opening night, COVID-19 altered the path.

Small Steps: Dances of Resilience is a full-length documentary film about overcoming the struggle to create and perform during a global pandemic. The dancers tell their stories of climate, COVID, art, and hope, and, finally, they dance.

Join us for three film screenings on YouTube Live this September 9, 10, and 11. Each screening will be time-limited and all content will be removed between and after each screening, so see it while you can!

After the Friday, September 11 performance, we will hold a “Meet the Dancers” Q&A session on Zoom.

The production was developed by movement artist, screenwriter and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Artist-in-Residence Hortense Gerardo and MAPC Senior Environmental Planner Darci Schofield to integrate the arts into climate change planning.

Directed by Hortense Gerardo and produced by Darci Schofield and MAPC.

Featuring original choreography and performances by:

• Laura Sanchez Garcia, award-winning flamenco dancer, choreographer, and educator
• Elizabeth Walker, former Los Angeles Ballet soloist
• Simon Chernow, KRUMP and fusion hip-hop dancer and core leader of Boston’s Climate Strike
• Jean Appolon Expressions, Haitian dance troupe fusing contemporary elements with Haitian folkloric dance
• Olivia Link, contemporary modern dancer and Urbanity Dance educator
• Any Berube and Theo Martinez, competitive ballroom salsa dancers and instructors

How do monuments and memorials shape our understanding of place—and what we choose to forget? And how might we reframe public memory to address the harmful legacy of colonialism in our region? This artist panel will consider how remembering and forgetting of Indigenous peoples and colonial history shaped the landscape and collective consciousness of Greater Boston—and the necessary role of Indigenous artists in shaping more just public spaces.