Artists Respond is a series of programming engaging artists around critical issues, with funded opportunities for artists to create projects around a shared theme. As new opportunities arise, open calls will be posted here by Springboard.
Artists are creative thinkers and problem-solvers, who are essential to movements for change. Art can be the comfort needed to sustain and heal a community, it can be the challenge needed to see things in a new light and a call to action. Artists Respond grew from Springboard for Arts’ community development work, networks of artists, and commitment to building just and equitable communities.
For over a decade, Springboard has worked with hundreds of artists to address community challenges through modest collaborative projects. What we now call Artists Respond projects began initially in quick response to the uprisings in Minnesota following the murder of George Floyd during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Soon after, Artists Respond: Combating Social Isolation supported nearly 100 artists in Minnesota to create projects that created connection for isolated communities. Subsequent Artist Respond projects have addressed the impact and possibilities of Guaranteed Income, land and place stewardship, equitable rural futures, and rural-urban solidarity.
This replicable, community-engaged project model builds narrative and policy change, and Artist Respond projects have garnered media coverage, been featured at national conferences, and gone on to expanded iterations, building artists’ careers.
Header Image Credit: community participants of Artists Respond cohort activities.
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