The Forecast Public Art's Midwest Memory Grant Opportunity aims to empower rural Midwest communities to express, elevate, and preserve the diverse stories and experiences of BIPOC communities through public monuments. This initiative aligns with Forecast Public Art's broader mission to advance racial justice and indigenous visibility, recognizing that public memory and history are core to fostering equitable and inclusive communities. The grant specifically supports non-profit, 501c3 organizations based in rural Midwest communities with populations under 25,000, located more than 40 miles from a metropolitan statistical area. The geographic scope includes Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, and the Native Nations within these areas.
The target beneficiaries are BIPOC and Native communities in the Midwest whose stories and histories have been silenced or oppressed. The grant prioritizes projects that uplift the narratives of Black settlers, Tribal nations, and immigrants of color. The impact goals are to address deep systemic inequities and advance racial justice and indigenous visibility through public memory and history. This is achieved by supporting the creation, recontextualization, or removal of monuments and memorials, or updating policies that affect them. The program seeks to foster a more inclusive and representative public memory in the Midwest.
The grant prioritizes projects that focus on addressing deep systemic inequities, advancing racial justice, and/or indigenous visibility, with public memory and/or public history as their core. Emphasis is placed on projects that amplify the stories and histories of BIPOC and Native communities who have been silenced and oppressed in the Midwest. This includes uplifting the stories of Black settlers, Tribal nations and communities, and immigrants of color. The program's strategic priorities are rooted in the belief that cross-sector teams and community-led initiatives are essential for the sustainability and effectiveness of monument and memorial projects, contributing to a broader theory of change that public art can be a catalyst for social and racial equity.
Expected outcomes include the realization of unique monument projects that reflect diverse community histories, enhanced capacity building within recipient organizations, and fair compensation for cultural advisors involved in the projects. Measurable results will be seen through the successful completion of monument or memorial projects that align with the grant's focus areas, the engagement of multi-racial and multi-ethnic teams representing diverse community cross-sections, and demonstrated current involvement in work around monuments, memorials, public history, and/or public memory in their communities. The 20-month project period, from January 2025 to October 2026, provides a clear timeline for the implementation and evaluation of these initiatives.
