Alexis Kane Speer and Anjuli Solanki – Enriching Communities with Public Art (Fall Forum #4 on Nov. 9, 2022 at 2:30 pm at Tartu)
Alexis Kane Speer
Anjuli Solanki
The topic of the Fall Forum #4 is “Enriching Communities With Public Art” presented by Alexis Kane Speer and Anjuli Solanki.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inequalities that exist in cities, particularly in public spaces. STEPS Public Art envisions a world where artists and communities co-create meaningful, welcoming and safe public spaces. STEPS will speak to their decade of work engaging and empowering artists and communities to transform public spaces into vibrant places, and the role public art can plan in post-pandemic recovery.
Alexis Kane Speer is the Founding and Executive Director of the award-winning public arts organization, STEPS and its affiliated social enterprise. Her work bridging culture, community and city-building has been recognized with a DiverseCity Fellowship by the Greater Toronto Civic Action Alliance in 2011, as well has been featured across international media outlets. Alexis has served on the National Congress Committee for Culture Days, the Advisory Board of the Toronto Arts Council’s Neighbourhood Arts Network, as well as the Adult Committee for the Delisle Youth Services Art Gallery.
Anjuli Solanki is the Director of Community Programming with the STEPS Initiative she led the development of capacity building opportunities for youth and emerging artists. She has developed community programming with the Riverside Business Improvement Area, the UBC Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, Museums of Malawi in Blantyre, and the Goethe and the Akilah Institutes in Rwanda and has been a part of the Open City Project’s Design for Diversity toolkit. She currently chairs the Board the Toronto Ward Museum’s Programming Committee.