Description

Public Art Saint Paul (PASP) is a private, non-profit organization working in partnership with the City of Saint Paul to imagine and create a more just, sustainable, and beautiful city. By placing artists in leading roles, we help shape public spaces, improve city systems, and deepen civic engagement.

At Public Art Saint Paul, we envision our future filled with creativity, play, and innovation while also building a more equitable community. Advocates like you propel our vision forward. To celebrate that future, please join us for our 2020 online Gala with the theme of “Artopia”– a place where everyone is an artist.

Donations from ARTopia 2020 go towards four main areas- Night Light 2021, Sidewalk Poetry Writing Contest 2021 - Internship Stipends and General Operations. These projects are exemplary of our commitment to creating opportunities that place artists in leading roles to shape public spaces, improve city systems, and deepen civic engagement, which is also supported by our General Operations.

Night Light 2021 - This will be a unique experience that will showcase an innovative video form called “projection mapping,” which uses buildings, landscapes, and objects as screens for outdoor projection events. PASP is training a cohort of artists from BIPOC communities to collectively learn projection mapping techniques. We will screen these new videos onto sculptures at Western Sculpture Park. While the cohort will only be featured together for this event, the cohort is formed with the intention of longevity—to transition their careers from emerging to established public artists. Please support to help us match a grant from the St. Paul Cultural Star Program.

Sidewalk Poetry Writing Contest 2021 -Public Art Saint Paul has stamped poems into more than 1,200 sidewalk panels throughout St. Paul. Today, every St. Paul resident lives within a 10-minute walk of a Sidewalk Poem. In 2021, we want to host a new Sidewalk Poetry Writing Contest that will be open to any writer living in St. Paul, from emerging to professional. We pay Contest curators and jurors who are professional writers to promote Contest and jury the submitted poems. We also hope to eliminate the submission fee, making participation FREE to all. We want to host a series of multilingual poetry workshops, led by teaching artists for youth and community members. The workshops will provide space for people to practice writing and to learn that Sidewalk Poetry now welcomes poems in Dakota, Hmong, Somali, and Spanish, not only English. This project was initiated in 2008 by former PASP City Artist Marcus Young. Your support will help us to advance these goals. 

Internship and Mentorship Program 2021 - Our Internship and Mentorship Program offers young people interested in public art to gain experience while making critical contributions to PASP’s work. Your gift will allow us to create paid opportunities for our interns, who may not have financial support from families or educational institutions for this kind of learning experience. We believe it is critical to provide paid internships to allow more students from Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities to gain access to the field of arts administration and learn behind-the-scene skills in the field, without having to sacrifice their time for unpaid labor. 

General Operations - From artist selections to installation, we take careful efforts to design public art programs and opportunities filled with depth, quality, beauty, and accessibility. We strive to prioritize a “people first” approach, centering community input and leadership in our work. But to hold these values, intentional planning around design and hospitality take great effort. Your gift will help the administrative operations of Public Art Saint Paul.

From small-scale gestures to large-scale events, Public Art Saint Paul creates more beautiful communities and fosters more inclusive civic life. Over 30 years, our work has become essential to the fabric of daily life in Saint Paul. Thank you for being a part of making our city just, sustainable, and unique.