Artist As Citizen

Artist As Citizen brings ideas and information to the public in fresh ways, in order to promote the critical thinking necessary to a democracy. We select students and recent graduates (within 3 years of graduation) of the best creative programs around the country, and connect them with funding, expert advice, and logistical support for the production of art, media and design projects that examine urgent real world topics. Since 2006, we have partnered with students and recent graduates of the nation’s top art schools to deliver a steady stream of innovative works to the public. We've teamed up with organizations including the New York Times, Grameen America, and 350.org, and have worked with thinkers including Jeffrey Sachs and Craig Newmark. Our advisors include Ji Lee, creative director at Facebook, Gavin Schmidt, climate scientist at NASA, and Reese Schonfeld, co-founder of CNN. We are currently working on an ambitious, far reaching project for New York City: an environmental Atlas, describing both the city’s past and future. This two year project is a collaboration with the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities (CISC). Together with CISC, we are recipient of a 2010 Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund grant for the City Atlas, which will be a unique way to use New York's tremendous depth of creative talent as a conveyor of essential scientific information to the public. More important than the Atlas itself (or any one AAC project) is the tool we are building to create the Atlas by harnessing the best young creative minds for the project. In the coming decade, the effects of climate change will be increasingly evident. Explaining this process to the public, and drawing a rational response, will be an ongoing challenge for journalists, scientists and artists. At relatively little cost many of the nation’s most inspired thinkers can be applied to the task, and the return on investment can be profound. The time to start is now.