Make Art with Purpose (MAP)

Make Art with Purpose (MAP) was one of the first organizations in Dallas to produce wide-scale Social Practice projects. We carved and continue to shape space and opportunities for artists and organizations to create art that engages and addresses social and environmental themes, grounded in aesthetics, with positive impact. 

In 2023 MAP produced WELCOME, a project that connects people recently settled in the US to resources that support community connection and well-being. The WELCOME food bag program, produced in Dallas, included a beautifully designed, reusable canvas bag filled with rice, lentils, sugar, beans, tea, nuts, raisins and ten different spices distributed to 500 families from Afghanistan living in Dallas.  Produced in collaboration with Break Bread, Break Border, Refugee Services of Texas, Movement HQ, and zakti with generous support of Communities Foundation Texas and Moody Fund for the Arts. 

In 2022 MAP produced Gather, a multi-platform project for youth, teens and young adults. Gather responds to the increased racial injustice and violence in the US.  Produced in two parts, Gather launched with "Sandcastle Mews," a workshops and shadow puppet production for youth, which premiered at Oil and Cotton in Dallas in 2022. Authored by Charlotte Lily Gaspard, the show explored racial justice through the lens of fantasy and fairy tale.

MAP projects include Translating Culture: Community Voices at the DMA, which won outstanding arts education program by Association of Art Museum Directors. MAP initiated and co-produced the first ever bi-lingual, Spanish – English guide to the museum authored by Latinx community members, giving voice to perspectives and ideas that are under-valued and under-represented. 

 MAP has produced numerous murals with community members of all ages in South Dallas, Oak Cliff and downtown Dallas, on the exterior of CityLab High School. Our most recent mural, in the final stages of design, is for a new building on the Metrocare mental health campus in North Dallas. Measuring 230,000 square feet, the mural celebrates the positive impact of the arts on mental health.

MAP’s Ignite Ferris Plaza, a permanent public art piece at Ferris Plaza across from Union Station, includes fifteen concrete, mosaic benches reflecting the historical flow of the Trinity River. Produced with in partnership with seven civic and corporate organizations, the sculpture has been the site for numerous public art workshops and performances.  

MAP's impact is measured in our projects, including a social practice art festival, produced every 3- 5 years that began with MAP 2013. Over 30 projects, including exhibitions, public art, and community programs were produced over a six-week period in Dallas-Fort Worth. MAP 2013 helped to lay the foundation for project based work in Dallas and created a lasting legacy at institutions including Trinity River Audubon Center, African American Museum, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Nasher Sculpture Center, and Dallas Museum of Art.  MAP 2020 was produced to celebrate and critically examine the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave (some women the right to vote.  Through MAP2020, MAP gave space and funding for 19 female artists and writers (17 women of color) to create work that honored women who have impacted society and culture, or themes connected to the amendment, such has female empowerment and voting rights. The participants ranged from internationally recognized artists to local artists who work in their communities and a recent graduate of UNT’s MFA program.  A core component of the festival was commissioning the design of fifteen flags connected to the project themes, which were installed throughout out DFW through 2020.

Other MAP programs include the MAP Radio Hour, our podcast that investigates the intersection of art, design, science and ecology, often with a social justice lens. Guests have included visual and performing artists, designers, and others based locally, nationally and internationally. 

Each MAP program is designed with community outreach as a core component, providing opportunities for conversations with the wider community about gentrification, cultural identity, and the importance of community engagement to creating and directing futures that are inclusive and just. Out of these conversations we then revisit our work and mission to address the concerns and needs of our community.