The Saint Paul Foundation awards grants in six areas: economic opportunity and security, education and training, civic participation, housing, affordable health care, and family support. Our unique role as a community foundation allows us to play critical convening and problem solving roles for the Saint Paul region.
Profiles - Artists, Organizations, and Projects
Looking for a comprehensive list of Artists, Organizations, and Projects involved with arts for change work?
Use the map and listings below to browse 45+ pages of profiles, or use the filters and keywords to refine your search. You can also view the listings separated by Artists, Organizations, and Projects.
St. Paul, MN
The State of Things was first performed in the spring of 2006 on the 3rd anniversary of the Iraq war. On September 1st, 2008 in collaboration with Northern Lights as part of the UnConvention, Ligorano/Reese recreated The State of Thing’s Democracy ice sculpture, weighing over 1,000 pounds and measuring 5 feet high and 20 feet wide, in front of the State Capitol Building in St. Paul, Minnesota. Over the course of the less than 24 hour installation, the word “Democracy” tragically disappeared.
Portland, ME
The Telling Room is a nonprofit writing center in Portland, Maine, dedicated to the idea that children and young adults are natural storytellers. Focused on young writers ages 6 to 18, we seek to build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and provide real audiences for our students. We believe that the power of creative expression can change our communities and prepare our youth for future success.
What We Do
Minneapolis, MN
The Theater of Public Policy uses live improvisational theater to bring public policy issues and debates to life.
Each show features a leading thinker on a pertinent public policy issue. We’ll interview each guest to find out their approach and solutions. Next, the T2P2 cast will create improvised scenes based on the guest interview. The guest will take the stage again for a second interview as well as questions from the audience.
Chicago, IL
The TIF Illumination Project (http://www.tifreports.com), which uses data mining, graphic visualization and community organizing to investigate and explain TIFs on a ward-by-ward basis in a wholly new and user friendly way. We helped organize and presented at a TIF Town Meeting on February 12 at the Chopin Theater that was attended by over 220 people!
Austin, TX
The Trash Project is a dance that was created in collaboration with the City of Austin Sanitation Department Named the #1 Arts Event by The Austin American Statesman, the #1 Dance Event by The Austin Chronicle, and winner of Most Outstanding Dance Concert by The Austin Critics Table, The Trash Project celebrated Austin’s sanitation employees while drawing attention to the inherent artistry and skill in this work. The dance premiered in 2009 and was re-mounted in 2011 for an audience of 4,000+.
Minneapolis, MN
The UnConvention was a non-partisan collective of citizens who came together to create a forum in which to promote the democratic and free exchange of ideas on important issues. It existed as a counterpoint to the highly scripted and predetermined nature of the contemporary presidential nomination process and convention. Through a series of projects initiated by participating organizations, The UnConvention sought to umbrella the myriad of artistic and educational activities that took place during the lead-up and staging of the Republican National Convention in St.
The W83rd Street Project
Cleveland, OH
In July, 2011, MOD{all}studio presented “The W83rd Street Project,” a collaborative urban therapy installation of art and architecture at 2040 West 83rd Street, which marks the rebuilding of the West 83rd Street community after a January 25th 2010 gas explosion rocked a neighborhood yet helped bring a community together.
The World As It Could Be: Human Rights Education Program
San Leandro, CA
Since 2006, with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as its guide, The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Program (TWAICB), http://www.theworldasitcouldbe.org, has worked in collaboration with community arts and social justice non-profit programs, schools, universities, school districts and their agencies, and teacher training programs to develop and use creative arts and standards-based learning models and youth-led original dramatizations to inspire youth and adults to value the importance of human rights for
Medfield, MA
Thea Iberall has been called ‘a shimmering bridge between heart and mind.’ She is on the leadership team of the Jewish Climate Action Network. As head of the JCAN interfaith group, she works with other organizations such as the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Parish UU Church Medfield, Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light, and 350MA.org. Dr. Iberall is the author of The Swallow and the Nightingale http://www.swallownightingale.com.
Chicago , IL
Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates has developed an expanded practice that includes space development, object making, performance and critical engagement with many publics. Founder of the non-profit Rebuild Foundation, Gates is currently Director of Arts and Public Life at the University of Chicago.
Brooklyn, NY
Theater of War is a project of Outside the Wire, a company that uses theater and other media to analyze and confront the social issues of various communities. Combat-related physical and psychological issues are not easy topics to approach with the general public. Theater of War seeks to broach some of these controversial issues by wrapping them within the stories of the Greek plays of Ajax and Philoctetes, which depict similar themes.
New York City, NY
Theatre Without Borders (TWB) is an all-volunteer network of individual theatre artists and organizations around the world. TWB was created to share information and to help build links for individuals and institutions interested in international theatre exchange. TWB is a virtual web-based space for artist-to-artist and people-to-people connections across borders.
Winston-Salem, NC
The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts incubates projects that sustain artists at every point in their creative development through strategic partnerships that capitalize on visionary thinking in the arts.
Whitesburg, KY
Thousand Kites is an ongoing national storytelling project that uses performance, web, video, and radio to open a public space for incarcerated people, corrections officials, the formerly incarcerated, grassroots activists, and ordinary citizens to have dialogue and organize around issues related to the U.S. criminal justice system.
Pittsburgh, PA
Three Rivers Community Foundation in southwestern Pennsylvania is the region’s only grantmaker dedicated solely to social change and justice. The Foundation’s key issue areas include: Disability Rights; Economic Justice; the Environment; Racial Justice; Women, Youth, and Families; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues. In addition to making grants of up to $4,000 in these action areas, TRCF also makes small Special Opportunity Grants of up to $500 throughout the year for unanticipated opportunities that may arise, for which organizations did not budget.
San Francisco, CA
Threshold is a progressive foundation and a community of individuals united through wealth, who mobilize money, people and power to create a more just, joyful and sustainable world. Through donor giving circles, we support projects that promote a sustainable planet, justice, and democracy.
Sylmar, CA
Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural is a not-for-profit learning and cultural arts center. The Centro supports and promotes the continued growth, development, and holistic learning of its community through the arts. It provides a positive space for people to activate what we all share as human beings: the capacities to create, to imagine, and to express ourselves in an effort to improve the quality of life for our communities.
Medford, MA
The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service is a national leader in civic education, whose model and research are setting the standard for higher education’s role in civic engagement. Serving every student at Tufts University, Tisch College prepares young people to be lifelong active citizens and creates an enduring culture of active citizenship. Tisch College is a catalyst for active citizenship at Tufts and is the only university-wide program of its kind.
Chicago, IL
I'm a long time activist and educator who has criss-crossed the arts, community development and civic engagement spaces since 1990. I was a Shakespearean actor in the early 1980s and then became a theater producer and then, as a result of the attack on the arts by the Far Right, an arts advocate. My take on the Culture Wars from the early 1990's is that we lost and lost badly. I've been a strong advocate for artists and cultural workers to organize and run for local office.