Forward Warrior Mural Project faces the same challenges that many non-profit arts organizations deal with on a daily basis: funding shortages, volunteer fatigue, and donor retention. We face these problems head on, and main momentum by fusing mission with the cultural (and literal) landscape, plus careful cultivation of an organic support structure.
Challenges – Growth – Critical Issues
Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of participating artists, and the budget reflects this priority by focusing on security, site infrastructure & reinforced scaffolding, as well as other risk-reduction protocols such as traffic planning, pedestrian barriers, way-finding, and visibility of relatable law enforcement personnel.
Our parent organization, Cabbagetown Initiative, is no stranger to financial adversity, and the modern world presents unique challenges to maintaining high levels of support for creative enterprises. We have concentrated efforts on funding diversity, cultivating sources from a variety of sectors (foundations, civic institutions, private partnerships, commercial sponsors, and individual donors), in order to ensure financial security in an unpredictable market.
Public health issues will also mandate special attention to site maintenance, sanitation & hygiene, as well as distancing mechanisms. We anticipate increased costs for security personnel, permitting regulations, and new emergency measures that require tighter budget controls.
Growth
Our internal evolution mirrors the challenges of an inclusive modern society even as we recognize ourselves in others. Forward Warrior encourages, embraces, and supports the inner struggle, and hopes to learn who we are by letting people be what they aspire to be. We constantly listen to our participants through their art, their imagery, and their voices. This is one of the reasons it is so rewarding to work on this project.
Our goals have expanded to include a closer monitoring of the dedication to diverse perspectives. Forward Warrior recently took inventory of achievements in gender equity and balance in demographics. Cognizant of criticisms about our contemporaries, Forward Warrior acknowledges public art and mural opportunities have not achieved expected levels on inclusion across many measured factors, and attempts to lead by example.
Though our artists may now represent a closer approximation of what Atlanta really looks like, we understand the lack of diversity on the parent organization’s Board of Directors. Part of this is a function of the neighborhood’s small size, Appalachian history, and gentrification, but in addressing the situation, Forward Warrior has made the following important changes:
- We directly detailed organizational diversity shortcomings with the Board of Directors themselves, and encouraged the parent organization to seek ways to improve.
- We drafted guidelines for artist selection and recruitment based on trending best practices and current academic models to increase outreach and diversity.
- We began to recruit an inaugural Advisory Board which better reflects the diversity of our community, with the charge to develop and refine the mission, goals, and operating principles of the organization.
- We drafted plans for achieving financial independence and moving towards reliable compensation for participating artists.
Our one-year plan includes the establishment of a permanent Advisory Board. This founding group will create lasting document that clearly delineates our path ahead and sets a solid basis for continuing the work with foundational ideals. A succession plan and recruitment procedures will ensure the longevity of the body.
The five-year plan envisions annual Advisory Board performance evaluations of organizational goals which will quantify success and shortcomings. These measurements can guide us as we create strategies for achievements in focus categories such as equity, inclusion, accessibility, and diversity. Other long-term goals include funding solutions that guarantee honorariums and other financial support mechanisms for participants.
Critical Issues
This is a project with several dozen artists making public work on a variety of themes, and the critical issues that persist in society at-large tend to be reflected both outward and inward. This isn’t individual work in an isolated context; Here the world impacts Forward Warrior’s ability to carry out its mission. Of course, there are also a few unique factors which pose us singular existential risks.
A global pandemic blazing death through at-risk populations (including minorities and essential workers) has given an outsized shock to our artists and their families. Many are experiencing terrifying, sustained, and unprecedented economic anxiety. Is this the best time for a non-profit arts initiative to ask they make themselves emotionally, spiritually, and/or physically vulnerable?
Nationally and abroad, systemic racism has wrought havoc and destruction on black and brown communities. There is a lot to unpack about public street painting in Atlanta. Performative acts, gentrification, and Eastside spectator demographics all shape the space we ask our artists to exist in. Even the required police presence for our permit needs a more delicate process. The world seems particularly lethal and ruthless. Our project lasts two to three days. Clock ticking, we are asking artists to stand on a stage.
Irreversible, catastrophic environmental destruction is another harbinger of ill omen for vulnerable populations that will surely hit the poorest and marginalized first, hardest, and quickest. Some may be quick to dismiss the impact of novel coronavirus, police brutality, racism, and climate change issues has on the day-to-day operations involved with painting a wall, but we are asking them to make public work.
Without adequate public resources for emotional support, mental health professionals, or specialized care, young people without strong social support networks may suffer debilitating fear, anger, and depression, negatively affecting their health, relationships, and professional opportunities. Motivating painters to create positive or inspirational work can be challenging for sensitive persons as an examination of their relationship with the audience.
As visual artists, we witness, challenge, reveal, and dream through representational narratives, and part of our project’s success is this ability to team up to combat divisiveness, or spiritually nourish the people. Ever amongst warriors are healers, messengers, and leaders. We hope the tribe gives strength, and the process builds confidence, but we must stay vigilant and care for each other along that path.
Some issues specific to Forward Warrior will sound like minor distractions in a larger world full of chaos and greed. However, we still deal with critical challenges. Navigating a permanent solution to the protect the physical space on which we paint would be near the top of the list, as the property owner recently feigned abandonment, sparking a flurry of investment interest. The resulting speculation and public input process initiated by the adjacent neighborhoods and NPU-N were not entirely discouraging, and one would surmise the expense or effort involved in removing a retaining wall spelled only folly. Yet until there is a solid legal framework in place, bulldozers loom ominously on the horizon.
More nebulous issues exist. Rapid gentrification and reckless development of Memorial Drive is unsettling. We must carefully include and recruit new residents as part of the community, and foster a sense of ownership and participation in the empathy which allows us to help one another. It has been no small effort to give the area a reputation for arts patronage and progressive values.
