Forward Warrior has always spoken loudly for social justice, and has amplified marginalized voices since launch. We will continue to act intentionally in maintaining & promoting our values of inclusiveness, diversity, and equity.
Our twelve month review of policy and future planning includes the following measures:
- Advisory Board Planning & Recruitment
- Metrics Standardization
- Mission Statement & Diversity Goals
Our methods of enacting positive change revolve and root themselves in our artists, our messages, our medium, and our audience. By giving each its due, Forward Warrior is able to interconnect these components of our project, strengthening the bonds, and understanding their ability to grow together.
Our selfhood is the sum of our participants; a family which grows yearly as alumni and emerging artists form relationships in and around our evolving mural wall. Our messages are seen and heard amongst this group of painters first, then echoed and harmonized, and given outward freely. Our concrete work area is transformed by this process, from a surface into a soundboard, a wall into a window, a quilt into a mosaic, shapes into a pattern. Finally, our audience (imagined or present) is welcomed (now or invited) to receive (absorbed or resonant); we listen and watch for their response.
As each of these four facets interact, each has the potential for enriching the experience of the other. Our audience encourages us to speak. Our space invites them to learn. Our wall, year after year, tells us a story. Our message is reflected onto our experience. And so on.
In this manner, our own diversity continues to teach us its strength. The long-term strategy is to allow this process to work on us, our voice, our space, and our community.
More practically, we are on track for our 2020 goals of establishing a diverse Advisory Board, develop an aspirational mission statement, delineate a clear succession plan, and implement well-defined guidelines for successfully continuing the work. These four milestones are modest and achievable, and a natural evolution for the project as it grows into a more responsible role.
We are grateful for the Cabbagetown community’s admirable commitment to supporting the arts, especially its role in establishing the Community Development Corporation which maintains the MOU for the Wylie Street wall with CSX. Everyone recognizes the demographics of that organization do not reflect the larger community. To this end, they have adopted a strategy for Forward Warrior to develop a core consultative body with more focused self-guidance, ensuring there is leadership that looks like the people we serve. While we hope the Board of Directors is successful in its mission to attract more residents of different backgrounds, we can create an Advisory Board now that achieves our goals and represents the artists and audience more closely.
As an invitational event, Forward Warrior has historically been intentionally diverse, albeit without strict adherence to numbers. Our arts community is diverse and our artists look like that. However, since we have focused more on grants and public funding, some reporting requirements have led us to correct this weakness and deficiency of knowledge, and to pay closer attention. Cabbagetown Initiative has been pleased with the first results of internal accounting. For example, in 2018, it turned out that the majority of artists identified as women, and in 2019, more than half of the participating artists were people of color. By improving our methods, we can identify areas for improvement.
Forward Warrior Mural Project is committed to continuing its tradition of rich diversity, yet more mindful of the actual percentages. A strength of our earlier efforts allows us to build upon previous success and add to it. An interesting feature of our event is that previous participants are always invited back to paint if they like. Even as we carefully select our 2020 artists, their members will be enjoy becoming a larger group as previous years’ painters arrive to join the fun.
Our Five-Year Diversity Plan includes expanding the audience. While Forward Warrior exists on a public street, adjacent two City of Atlanta Parks as well as the Beltline Eastside Trail, we recognize that our outdoor installation may not be completely accessible to people in other parts of the city, and/or those with mobility concerns, whether physical or economic. The inaugural Advisory Board will develop plans for increasing accessibility, which may include initiatives such as seeking partnerships for school tours, seniors’ visits, and an increased focus on digital resources. Web content such as virtual tours, video interviews, and online galleries with enhanced content such as time-lapse or brushstroke detail can provide a next-best experience for those who are unable to visit as often as, say, East Atlanta pedestrians & cyclists. Other ideas for outreach implementation could feature rich descriptive audio content and panel discussions for broadcast or similar enjoyment by the visually impaired.
We have lessons to learn and room to grow. We will continue to actively listen and faithfully protect the voices that inspire us to greater awareness. For more information about how Forward Warrior & Cabbagetown Initiative respond to constructive criticism, we have provided transparency into our grant close-out reports and panel reviews, as available.
Recent Consensus Statements or Panel Comments:
2020 Fulton County Arts & Culture
2018 NPU-N Grant Close-out Report
