BOOM Concepts
2023 grant amount: $50,000 over two years
BOOM Concepts will continue the successful temporary public art program, Activist Print Paint Past or AP3. Public art is a critical signature for cultural existence and occupation of space. By expanding BOOM's portfolio of public art, the organization and artists address inequities in specific sectors within the arts while presenting work outside of gallery spaces and directly into public domain.
The AP3 program was founded by BOOM Concepts in 2015 as Activist Print through a collaboration with The Andy Warhol Museum and Artists Image Resource that resulted in the installation of the first commissioned #blacklivesmatter mural in Pittsburgh by DS Kinsel. The series, Activist Print, started in 2016 with three Pittsburgh artists, Bekezela Mguni, Paradise Gray and Alisha B. Wormsley, who were invited to create socially and politically inspired print work to be exhibited on the windows of the Rosa Villa, a building across the street from The Andy Warhol Museum. The program has grown to produce and support more than 25 temporary public and private art installations that engage a variety of styles and presentations of public art. More recently AP3 program has partnered with PPG Paints, 1HOOD, Artist Image Resource, Carnegie Museum of Art, The Office of Public Art, The City of Pittsburgh, Rivers of Steel and many more. AP3 has also provided unique and diverse examples of art in public spaces which allows the program to operate outside the bounds of what might traditionally be considered public art. These have included artwork included in the 58th Carnegie International, a graffitied derby art car, an open sourced poll and a free coloring book.
AP3 will engage two BOOM staff members to facilitate local and national site activations over the two year funding period. For this years program AP3 will target 3-6 neighborhoods and an advisory board of local artists, curators and activists will assemble and invite creatives to submit proposals. Secured sites include neighborhoods such as Downtown, Northside, Deutschtown, Braddock, Carrie Furnace, Garfield, Homewood and Bloomfield. The program casts a wide site net as public art conversations can be fickle and fragile based on community voice and or community pressure around messaging, aesthetics and installation.
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