The O+ Festival is a three-day, community-run celebration of music and the arts. O+ participating artists barter their contributions in exchange for health care services from art-loving doctors, dentists, and other wellness providers at the O+ Clinic. In short, it’s a grassroots solution to offer healthcare for the creative community. By programming the festival’s art and music events in various venues, O+ supports and unites local businesses and residents, artists, musicians and doctors, strengthening the fabric of a community to make it stronger, more sustainable, and more vibrant.
Profiles - Artists, Organizations, and Projects
Looking for a comprehensive list of Artists, Organizations, and Projects involved with arts for change work?
Use the map and listings below to browse 45+ pages of profiles, or use the filters and keywords to refine your search. You can also view the listings separated by Artists, Organizations, and Projects.
Oakland, CA
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) seeks to connect communities to the cultural and environmental heritage of California. Through collections, exhibitions, education programs, and public dialogue, OMCA inspires people of all ages and background to think creatively and critically about the natural, artistic, and social forces that characterize the state of California and influence its relationship to the world. With a major renovation nearly completed in 2010, OMCA transformed its galleries touching on almost every aspect of the 300,000 square-foot museum.
New York, NY
The Forum Project is working with organizers at Occupy Wall Street to develop a Forum performance series developed and performed by a community of Occupiers. The performance itself would explore issues of oppression important to the Occupy movement and be a space for public theatrical dialogue to begin conversations around anti-oppressive engagement.
Occupy the Stage
Occupy the Stage is an interactive theatrical experience employing forum theater scenes to spark lively conversations and insightful critical analysis of complex issues of debt, the racial wealth gap, immigration and oppression of domestic workers and more. The performance itself would explore issues of oppression important to the Occupy movement and be a space for public theatrical dialogue to begin conversations around anti-oppressive engagement and democracy.
New Orleans, LA
The mission of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art is to broaden the knowledge, understanding, interpretation, and appreciation of the visual arts and culture of the American South through its events, permanent collections, changing exhibitions, educational programs, publications, and research.
Minneapolis, MN
On the Commons (OTC) is a commons movement strategy center founded in 2001. Our purpose is to activate the emergence of a commons-based society by:
Portland/Mollala/Oregon City, OR
Sojourn Theatre’s 2010 project On the Table is a participatory performance that bridged two Oregon communities, one urban (Portland), one rural (Mollala) with the aim to shift people’s attitudes about the places where they live. The performance required the audience to participate in inter-city travel, public dialogue, video and involvement within the performance itself, including a bus trip, a wedding and a meal. The concept goes beyond metaphorical bridge building to physically move audiences across geographic boundaries.
Portland, OR
One Day was part of a year-long collaboration between Sojourn Theatre Company and visionPDX, a public engagement initiative sponsored by the Office of the Mayor of Portland that invited community members to develop a shared vision for the future of the city. The play was part multi-narrative performance, part civic dialogue. It told the story of eight fictional Portlanders (composites based on themes drawn from civic engagement research conducted by Sojourn and visionPDX) and the choices they had to make within a 24-hour-period in the city.
One Family at a Time: The Baltimore Housing Mobility Program
Short video documentary about the impact of the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program on a family living in poverty in Baltimore.
St. Paul, MN
One Voice Mixed Chorus unites gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people and straight allies to build community and create social change by raising our voices in song. As the largest GLBT chorus in North America, One Voice is known for its musical excellence, diverse programming, and deep commitment to community outreach. The 90 singing members range from ages 17 to 75, and the "Fifth Section"; boasts more than 50 non-singing volunteers.
Portland, OR
Open Engagement is a free annual conference on socially engaged art. Directed and founded by Jen Delos Reyes and planned in conjunction with the Art and Social Practice MFA program at Portland State University.
New York, NY
“Open House,” a play by Aaron Landsman and produced by The Foundry Theater in New York City, presents a personal take on urban living. The play was performed in two dozen living rooms in neighborhoods spanning the five boroughs, from a squat in Bushwick to a multimillionaire’s loft overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. Audience members interact with actors and home owners during the productions, each one different than the next.
New York, NY
The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve this mission, the foundations seek to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, the Open Society Foundations implement a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, we build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information.
Operation: Homecoming is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Department of Defense that makes writing an important component of rehabilitation and recovery. Starting with a writing workshop built into the critical phase of rehabilitation for troops, Operation: Homecoming is then opened up to allow family members the opportunity to also share their experiences through memoir, fiction, poetry, journal entries, and essays.
New York, NY
The Opportunity Agenda was founded to expand opportunity in America for people of color, poor people, immigrants, and women who face multiple barriers to opportunity that cannot be overcome through individual effort alone. The Opportunity Agenda builds support through communications and media, research, training social justice leaders, and policy advocacy.
Nashville, TN
Opportunity NOW is a coordinated initiative launched by Mayor Megan Barry to provide young people inDavidson County access to employment. In Nashville, we have seen fewer and fewer teenagers and young adultsworking during the summers and after-school. At the same time, Nashville employers across various industriesare concerned about the lack of “soft” skills among their youngest employees—skills most readily learned throughactual work experience.
Sugar Loaf, NY
Our Vision:
The Orange County Arts Council envisions a community that supports the arts and appreciates how the arts enrich human experience and illuminate the human condition.
Our Mission:
To strengthen the arts in Orange County by providing educational, promotional, and information services. These goals are accomplished by coordinating and facilitating relationships among arts, schools, businesses, government, and the public.
Orchestra Engagement Lab
Montpelier , VT
The Orchestra Engagement Lab (oelvt.org) is a co-commissioning project in which 10-12 orchestras come together around a new commission and around creating the bold local community engagement initiatives that will be attached to it. The kickoff each year is a week long retreat in Vermont in August, with the composer, soloist, orchestra leaders, and team of teaching artists, all of whom contribute to the artistic and community engagement possibilities of the piece and many of the community engagement projects.
Baltimore, MD
Since 2008, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has operated an El Sistema-inspired in and after-school music education and mentorship program, delivered in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools System (BCPSS). Designed to create social change for Baltimore City’s at-risk youth, OrchKids' mission is to: