Artists Respond: The Art of Weathering Together

Climate health requires collective care, and when it comes to weathering the uncertainties of the future, artists play an essential role in how we move forward together. Through Springboard’s Artists Respond: Weathering Together initiative, 40 artists across North Minneapolis and Powderhorn, MN built a network of small-scale, community driven projects that offered creative ways to support their neighborhoods in climate action and understanding.

In the summer of 2025, with support from Hennepin County’s FORTIFY fund, Springboard facilitated two Artists Working in Community (AWC) one-day intensives at PLOT Gallery and Juxtaposition Arts. These intensives gathered 40 local artists for training in climate preparedness and action, cultural organizing, and narrative work. Following the intensives, the artists created series of small scale community engagement projects across Minnesota’s North Minneapolis and Powderhorn neighborhoods. Projects included poetry gatherings, fashion shows, public art, poster making, skill sharing, community meals, and more. Some highlights:

Weathering Together Fashion Show, led by The Red Light House, at the Kroenig Nature Center in North Minneapolis featured recycled garments, runway presentations, and community conversation to connect climate justice with local artistry. 

Weave Got To Do Something, led by Luciana Bongiovanni, invited neighbors to transform plastic bags into yarn and contribute to a collective woven tapestry, turning everyday waste into conversation about care, reuse, and local action at the 40th Street Park Recreation Center within the Powderhorn community.

Shug Munic’s project, Quilting Amidst Collapse, created quilting circles in Powderhorn as a neighborhood space to process climate grief and practice healing together. Centered in textile tradition and gentle, repetitive handwork, the project prioritized relationship and reflection over producing a finished object, inviting neighbors into a low-barrier, culturally rooted gathering where conversation about collapse, care, and resilience could unfold at a human pace.

Drag Story Hour created A History of Powderhorn Lake, a children’s adaptation from a Socioecological study of Powderhorn Lake by Nurse T. In the video, Doña Pepa, Old Man Shimmer, & Sid Sity embark on a storytelling journey that tracks the history of the pond in our Powderhorn Park neighborhood. Rooted in historical accuracy, we come together to learn how our park was created and to brainstorm ways to move forward. Watch the video on YouTube.

While climate repair can’t be solved by one moment or project, artists can help us imagine what’s possible and how we can work together to build a future worth weathering.

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