Can Public Art Increase Civic Participation?
GENERAL
Research Abstract
Can Public Art Increase Civic Participation?
In 2015, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the historic Voting Rights Act, yet voter participation rates in the U.S. are at historic lows. Instead of being an exuberant celebration of civil rights, the experience of voting is often frustrating, bureaucratic and dreary.
In Philadelphia, many polling places are difficult to find, hidden deep in the recesses of schools, churches, and community centers. The required paper signage identifying polling places must only be posted by the entrance of each location, which means they are often located on side streets out of view for anyone on the sidewalks. These frustrations are causing barriers to entry for first-time voters, senior voters who’ve had their polling places change year to year, new Philadelphians, recent immigrants and more.
Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through their Knight Cities Challenge grant, Next Stop: Democracy! (NSD) aimed to improve the voting experience and increase civic engagement using public art. Here’s My Chance (HMC), a creative agency that works exclusively with nonprofits and socially responsible businesses, produced the project. Working with the Knight Foundation, Mural Arts, Committee of Seventy and other key nonprofit partners, HMC created a completely new way to look at, and impact, voter turnout and experience here in Philadelphia.
This article looks at a public art project's impact on increasing voter awarness and turnout in Philadelphia, PA. Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through their Knight Cities Challenge grant, Next Stop: Democracy! (NSD) aimed to improve the voting experience and increase civic engagement using public art. Here’s My Chance (HMC), a creative agency that works exclusively with nonprofits and socially responsible businesses, produced the project. Working with the Knight Foundation, Mural Arts, Committee of Seventy and other key nonprofit partners, HMC created a completely new way to look at, and impact, voter turnout and experience here in Philadelphia.
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