Make for place & public space

Street Works applies MJN’s 3 values — justice, loving care, and solidarity — to make justice normal in the cultural asset ecosystem. (Read more here about why we're focused in this particular program on the cultural asset ecosystem.) Public space is one of its design principles.

What it is

Making for place & public space is a design principle that we apply to Street Works in service to multiple characteristics of justice, solidarity, & loving care.

Place is the area where you live, however you define that — like your building, your block, or your neighborhood.

Practically, we describe public space as spaces that are owned and managed by local or federal government — directly sustained with taxpayer dollars — and meant for public use. They are streets, parks, and plazas. (Click here for more.)

This design principle is important to Street Works because we believe...

Justice-guided systems recognize that injustices often manifest in place, through policies, urban planning, & more. Public space is an entry point to pushing back. It is more accessible (financially, culturally, and physically), and — in theory — collectively owned, stewarded, and designed. It is also a collective asset we can see, feel, and touch. And everyone belongs.

Goals

To prioritize place & public space, all Street Works projects aim:

• Explore structures and feasibility of collective ownership models in order to develop them in the future where public space is not doing what it should or is insufficient.

• Foster relationships in place.

All Street Works artists will also:

• Create in public space.

• Serve public space.

• Help others access public space.

• Learn how policy making on public space works and try to influence it.

Why

We desperately need new presentation models for the arts designed at their core to serve justice. Unfortunately, status quo private spaces, like commercial galleries and nonprofit museums, are not set up to do that. Many have colonial histories. And history doesn't simply disappear over time: trafficking in heritages and remains of BIPOC still continues. Most cultural institutions also have abysmal records on racial equity in acquisitions and pay gaps. Who tells our stories shape our narratives and what we believe.

And our local relationships are especially important. In an emergency, family & neighbors in close proximity are most able to help one another, or spot signs of depression if they're looking. Place is also organized by systems; census tracts and regional boundaries dictate who and what we vote for, funding allocations, urban planning, policing, schools, and more.

Public space is a conceptual guide for designing new presentation models. It is:

• More accessible: open to all, and with fewer to no doors, stairs, and gates.

• Created and maintained with collectively pooled dollars. It is funded by our taxes.

• Open to public input: neighborhood residents have a right to voice their opinion about its design by participating in local governance processes.

• A tangible example of collective good. We literally stand on it every time we leave our homes. Those of us who are jaded by democracy can build our sense of power by first influencing our own block.