By Kirstin Wiegmann, Forecast Public Art

Each year, Forecast Public Art hosts a series of community events focused on bringing people together to learn and connect around ideas, questions and concepts related to public art. OpenSpace/OpenBar is a mixture of structured conversation and open dialogue time — all of it driven by the experts in the room (aka: the participants). Facilitators from Forecast’s staff utilize Open Space Technology as a convening strategy to encourage participants to bring their own experiences to the conversation and enable them to pose questions of relevance to their community and their situation.

This year’s OpenSpace/OpenBar events convened dialogues around the themes of placemaking, health and healing, liveable cities and socially engaged art. Participants from across sectors and specialties were encouraged to attend and bring their unique perspectives  to the table.

During the first gathering, Forecast invited a diverse mix of community members with a strong interest in the topic of “placemaking” to engage in an open dialogue around the question: “Does place matter?”.

More than 50 people filled Forecast’s headquarters in St. Paul and brought ideas, energy and inquiry together with levity. Forecast produced a short video to help convey the atmosphere. In the video, breakout conversations are highlighted, including conversations on such topics as: What does it mean to have a resilient place?; What motivates you to “make place”?; and How big does a place need to be to matter?

The Twin Cities are full of amazing people working to plan, create and sustain great places. Not surprisingly, the conversations were fruitful, dynamic and utterly relevant. Forecast was pleased to serve our mission by playing host, and giving voice.