SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne!
The SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne program empowers neighborhoods to develop and activate their unique identities through public art. The program creates opportunities for inclusion, engagement, education, and dialogue between neighborhood residents through a deeply participatory program. Neighborhood association leaders and residents will be invited to express their identity and story with public art, first through temporary installations produced by residents with guidance from the Project Manager and selected artists; and second with a permanent piece commissioned by the neighborhood and Public Art Commission. The temporary and permanent installations represent two distinct phases of the SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! program.

A SHOUT-OUT: Fort Wayne! steering committee was appointed by the Public Art Commission in February, 2023. In August, 2023 the Steering Committee selected William Bryant Rozier as Project Manager for phase one of the project.

Since that time, Bryant has been able to apply his skills as journalist, artist, and community collaborator with great success in the East Central and Harvester Neighborhoods. Through hours of face-to-face interviews, deep conversations, block parties, and movie nights, he has been able to connect East Central and Harvester with artists that work in a medium that best symbolizes the character of their neighborhood in the past, present, and future.

Both neighborhoods have chosen to create audio and video rooted artwork for their phase one artwork pieces. As phase one begins to draw to a close, the project manager will use the input gathered over the past year to discuss options for a Public Art Commission funded piece of permanent public artwork for each neighborhood.