Making It Public
Making It Public for Massachusetts municipalities is a training program inspired by Forecast Public Art (FPA) and co-designed by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council's (MAPC) Arts and Culture Department and The New England Foundation for the Arts' (NEFA) Public Arts Team.
The curriculum incorporates the use of grant agreements as defined in Section 2 of MGL Chapter 30B and trains municipalities in practices to commission public art that are in alignment with the principles of fairness, transparency, and accountability in public procurement.
Important 2025 Dates
Information Session:
September 11, 2024 | 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Register
Application Deadline:
September 30, 2024, 11:59 PM ET
Apply Online
More info can be found below and on the NEFA website.
Questions?
Please contact Kim Szeto, Program Director, Public Art at NEFA ([email protected]) or Annis Sengupta, Director, Arts & Culture at Metropolitan Area Planning Council ([email protected]).
The Opportunity
Making it Public will cover practical and tactical subject matters for administrators at all stages of their career facilitating public art, such as stakeholder considerations, community engagement, preparing a call-for-artists, equitable selection processes, contracting, and more. Sessions include guest public art professionals, adding a depth of knowledge about the field of public art, the profession, and its contemporary issues.
Through Making it Public and funding artists through municipalities, NEFA aims to foster a community of practice that is inspiring more vibrant and just public spaces and culture through public artmaking across MA.
To learn more about NEFA’s vision and values for public art, visit NEFA’s website.
A parallel workshop series geared towards MA artists will also be offered simultaneously by NEFA and FPA, equipping artists in the region to be better prepared at responding to calls for temporary public art projects.
2025 Cohort
This cohort will:
- Participate in Making it Public, a free biweekly workshop series with 6 training sessions over 11 weeks (January-April 2025) facilitated by MAPC designed to support Massachusetts municipal staff in facilitating more inclusive and equitable processes for administering a Call for Temporary Public Art.
- Apply the learnings from the workshop series to release a Call for Temporary Public Art in 2025.
- Receive a $15,000 grant from NEFA to fund artists selected through a Call for Temporary Public Art in 2025.
- Additional technical assistance from NEFA and MAPC will also be available.
For more information: https://www.nefa.org/MakingItPublic
2024 Cohort
Towns and Cities in the Cohort:
Belchertown, Chelmsford, Clinton, Everett, Montague, Peabody, Somerville, and Southbridge
2022 Cohort
Towns and Cities in the Cohort:
Amherst, Attleboro, Fitchburg, Lowell, Lynn, Natick, New Bedford, Salem, and Watertown
2023 Cohort
Towns and Cities in the Cohort:
Acton, Brockton, Chelmsford, Chelsea, Concord, Devens, Erving, Greenfield, Holyoke, Middleborough, and Revere