Open Engagement is a free annual conference on socially engaged art. Directed and founded by Jen Delos Reyes and planned in conjunction with the Art and Social Practice MFA program at Portland State University.
Profiles - Projects
Looking for a comprehensive list of Projects using the arts to create social change?
Use the map and listings below to browse 13+ pages of Project profiles, or use the filters and keywords to refine your search. You can also view a comprehensive listing of all profiles, or view the listings separated by Artists and Organizations.
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New York, NY
“Open House,” a play by Aaron Landsman and produced by The Foundry Theater in New York City, presents a personal take on urban living. The play was performed in two dozen living rooms in neighborhoods spanning the five boroughs, from a squat in Bushwick to a multimillionaire’s loft overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. Audience members interact with actors and home owners during the productions, each one different than the next.
Operation: Homecoming is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Department of Defense that makes writing an important component of rehabilitation and recovery. Starting with a writing workshop built into the critical phase of rehabilitation for troops, Operation: Homecoming is then opened up to allow family members the opportunity to also share their experiences through memoir, fiction, poetry, journal entries, and essays.
Baltimore, MD
Since 2008, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has operated an El Sistema-inspired in and after-school music education and mentorship program, delivered in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools System (BCPSS). Designed to create social change for Baltimore City’s at-risk youth, OrchKids' mission is to:
Partners in Action is a program that gives Alternate ROOTS the opportunity to manifest more deeply its mission to support progressive artists working in grassroots communities throughout the fourteen states of the South. It offers artists and community partners the vital support and resources needed to do their work at a higher level. ROOTS’ interest is to be a third partner with cultural organizing projects in order to help bring about social justice.
Austin, TX
Play Ball on Historic Downs Field was performed May 9th-11th, 2014 to an audience of over 1,500 people. Presented through a partnership between Forklift Danceworks and Austin's African American Cultural Heritage District, Play Ball premiered as part of District Days at Downs Field, a citywide celebration of historic Downs Field.
Durham, NC
Thirty-four artists were invited to create innovative and engaging artwork after a stimulating discussion on social and economic inequality, wealth distribution, and what is so taxing about taxation. Some chose to explore how to visualize analytical data. Other artists explored the capacity for art to spark an emotional response to the research presented by the Center for Advanced Hindsight.
Portland, ME
Portland Works employs artmaking as a catalyst to build enduring, authentic relationships which are essential to meeting the increasing challenges facing cities. Created in response to civic and social tensions between city employees, elected officials and the immigrant and refugee communities, Portland Works partners municipal participants – city councilors, police, public service, social service, fire and EMS workers – with community leaders who represent both the city’s growing diversity and the residents who have lived here for generations.
New London, CT
The Portrait of America series initiates monumental, interactive public art exhibitions to engage communities in a constructive dialogue that triggers positive change. The exhibitions hold a mirror up to a community to reveal what is already there – the inherent dignity and promise of its people. Portrait of America partners with established community organizations to ensure a broad community outreach, meet the needs of the city, and establish relationships and programs with a lasting presence and impact. In 2004, artist Joe Standart began Portrait of America in New London, Connecticut.
Baltimore, MD
Created through a series of community Weaving Bees, this abandoned playground is being woven with reclaimed materials into a neighborhood gathering space. This project is aimed at inter-generational collaboration, building friendships and community, as well as sharing weaving skills.
Austin, TX
On September 21st & 22nd, 2013, in the shadow of Austin’s Decker Power Plant, Forklift premiered PowerUP—a performance featuring the employees and machinery of Austin Energy (AE). With lighting design by Stephen Pruitt and an original musical score by Graham Reynolds, accompanied by a string orchestra led by Austin Symphony Conductor Peter Bay and featuring "digital violin" soloist Todd Reynolds, PowerUP showcased 50+ linemen, electrical technicians and AE employees in a choreographed full-length dance with cranes, bucket and field
Durango, CO
Prelude for Yuba Salmon is a collaborative adventure in music, environment, composition and film. Bringing together music students, environmental educators and professional musician mentors, the project explores a defining community issue in the Sierra foothills of northern California: the health of the native salmon run and the importance of watershed conservation.
Santa Cruz, CA
Since 1977, the William James Association has been organizing the Prison Arts Project, a project funded by the San Francisco Foundation, the NEA, the California Arts Council and the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. Its success has been because of their dedicated team of art advocates who promote art leading to a better self-image and worth. The prison system is a place of negative behavior, and does little to endorse a positive life after release. Because the Prison Arts Project is so far-reaching, it has had the chance to impact large number of now-free inmates.
Prison Freedom/New Life Scripts--creating resiliency for a life of integrity
State College, PA
Prison Freedom/New Life Scripts is a curriculum delivered within prison walls to incarcerated individuals who are within a year of re-entry.
The purpose of the program is to educate and motivate individuals to consider the areas of their lives where they have control and then develop practices of self-love and discipline to cultivate good health and positive attitudes. Both are strategies that are needed in order to, not just survive, but thrive in society.
Chicago, IL
Project Cabrini Green is a public art installation addressing the demolition of the last high-rise of the Cabrini-Green housing development. The Project, led by the artist Jan Tichy and developed together with Efrat Appel, was created in collaboration with youth from Chicago, most of them attending educational programs in the Cabrini-Green area and with students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Los Angeles, CA
Project Willowbrook proposes a new and dynamic model for asset mapping and public engagement in civic planning. Willowbrook, an unincorporated neighborhood of Los Angeles County south of downtown Los Angeles, northwest of Compton and just south of Watts, is undergoing a major urban transformation spurred by the landmark reopening of the Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital.
New York, NY
Prospect New Orleans is the largest biennial of international contemporary art in the United States. Conceived in the tradition of great international biennials that merged city and art, such as the Venice Biennale and the Bienal de São Paulo, the Prospect New Orleans project showcases new artistic practices from around the world and contributes to the revitalization of New Orleans by spurring tourism and bringing international attention to the city's vibrant visual arts community. The first biennial, Prospect , took place from 2008 to 2009; Prospect 2 is slated to launch in October 2011.
Chicago, IL
A project of the Illinois Humanities Council, the Public Square fosters debate, dialogue, and exchange of ideas about cultural, social, and political issues with an emphasis on social justice. By building bridges between theory and practice, The Public Square encourages the use of ideas as tools to improve people's lives. These programs promote participatory democracy and create space for public conversations. Knowledge is power, yet much crucial knowledge still circulates only in small, isolated communities.
Syracuse, NY
PAGE (Publicly Active Graduate Education) is Imagining America’s network of, and fellowship program for, early career publicly engaged scholars in the arts, humanities, and design. PAGE broadens notions of scholarship and professionalization within the academy through activities which enhance the theory and the tools for students and scholars to articulate their own public scholarship; foster a national, interdisciplinary community of peers and veteran scholars; and create opportunities for collaborative knowledge production.