A few months ago, that feel from another lifetime, we began Now + There's fifth curatorial year with the opening of Justin Favela's ¡Provecho! . We set off to help realize the works and vision of thirteen artists working in the public realm with projects ranging from partner-led to Accelerator-incubated, all under the theme of Shared Power. 2020 was to be, and now more than ever will be the year we recognize our commonality, our collective agency, and the importance of coming together to bridge divides.

Little did we know that the Shared Power theme would become such an implicit but central topic in local, national, and global debates as leaders and lawmakers respond to the voracious spread of COVID-19 and attempt to distribute unilateral relief. Or that our systems would skew to such inequitable distributions and suggest division more than agreement in our objectives and intent to make our country whole.

There is no confusion of intent with this year’s projects. Our artists and partners slated for 2020—however and whenever they are presented—are united in their desire to make meaningful change through public art regardless of race, creed, or religion. All use the arts to lift up voices and to foster conversations that need to be had, that result in our combined communities arriving at a better place, a place of positive consequence for many if not all.

But like so many cultural institutions, Now + There is challenged with how we continue the work of engaging audiences and fostering those conversations during a time of universal physical distancing.

Luckily, we have global models. The artworld is already an open conversation thanks to social technologies like Instagram. And Now + There has models for connecting disparate groups: we pose questions. Last summer Boston artists Destiny Polk, L'Merchie Frazier, Barrington Edwards, and Wilton Tejeda with Design For Social Intervention gathered people in artmaking and questioning "What Brings You Joy?" a prompt from internationally acclaimed artist Nick Cave. The result is a visual representation of collective joy that still welcomes us in Upham's Corner and offers a memory of what life was like, and what it can be post-COVID-19.

Today, we're asking questions via Zoom with N+T Asks and holding virtual studios, dropping in on artists’ studios and kitchens alike. When our Asks conversation series concludes, we'll have an archive of the concerns, questions, and resulting creative ideas that can guide Now + There, and others, as we take thoughtful and intentional steps back into public life.

In anticipation of that time, we are preparing the Accelerator artists, Shaka Dendy, Ang Li, Andy Mowbray, Karthik Pandian, Gabriel Sosa, and Yu-Wen Wu for their final jury and award presentation in July. We are continuing to work with artist Sari Carel and partner Jewish Arts Collaborative on a prescient work celebrating freedom and play. With Mumbai-artist Shilpa Gupta, we'll be illuminating our commonality. And there are others to come.

In some ways, the great pause forced on us by COVID-19 comes at an opportune time in our young organizational history. As we enter the second half of our first decade, we are pausing and listening. With you, we are asking who is our public. We're inviting perspectives from global-artists while also focusing on local needs. We are reflecting on what we can do to support public life and artistic risk-taking over the next five years. With your support, we are evaluating the core we are trying to preserve and imagining new ways of recognizing and exerting shared power.

I ask you to let us know what more we could be doing to bring the power of art to transform our virtual and digital worlds by commenting below. I also ask you to reflect on what you too could be doing to foster our work by participating, donating to our fifth-year anniversary fund, or simply taking time to slow down.

Header image (c) Faith Ninivaggi.