Good Grief
A Community-Informed Public Art Pilot
Overview: The Good Grief Program is a new public art pilot developed by Maui Public Art Corps in partnership with the County of Maui as part of the ongoing Lāhainā Think Space and Lāhainā Memorial Project research and development process. The program explores the question: Can grief become a catalyst for connection, healing, creativity, and collective action?
Artists in any discipline are invited to visit the Lāhainā Think Space and engage deeply with its stories, recordings, reflections, installations, and community-generated content. Applicants will identify one element of the Think Space that resonates with them and propose a temporary public artwork inspired by that experience. Projects should be trauma-informed, community-centered, culturally respectful, and designed to contribute positively to the ongoing recovery and future of Lāhainā.
The program is informed by the Hui Moʻolelo: Lāhainā initiative, which has gathered intergenerational talk-story recordings from residents, families, and community members affected by the August 2023 wildfires. These continued recordings, reflections, and related community engagement activities form the foundation of the Lāhainā Think Space and the emerging Lāhainā Memorial Project.
Funding for this pilot is supported through grants dedicated to fostering mental health recovery, community resilience, cultural stewardship, and public engagement through the arts.
Artists in any discipline are invited to visit the Lāhainā Think Space and engage deeply with its stories, recordings, reflections, installations, and community-generated content. Applicants will identify one element of the Think Space that resonates with them and propose a temporary public artwork inspired by that experience. Projects should be trauma-informed, community-centered, culturally respectful, and designed to contribute positively to the ongoing recovery and future of Lāhainā.
The program is informed by the Hui Moʻolelo: Lāhainā initiative, which has gathered intergenerational talk-story recordings from residents, families, and community members affected by the August 2023 wildfires. These continued recordings, reflections, and related community engagement activities form the foundation of the Lāhainā Think Space and the emerging Lāhainā Memorial Project.
Funding for this pilot is supported through grants dedicated to fostering mental health recovery, community resilience, cultural stewardship, and public engagement through the arts.
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Program Goal: To explore how artists can transform experiences of grief, loss, memory, resilience, and connection into public artworks that strengthen community healing and inspire collective imagination.
Objectives:
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5-min film sharing the Lāhainā Think Space
Artist Expectations
Selected artists will:
Available Commissions
Performance Art Commission: One or more awards of up to $5,000 | Minimum 20-minute public performance | Includes all artist fees, equipment, labor, supplies and related expenses | Community-informed process required | Public presentation must occur before December 14, 2026.
Moving Image Commission: One or more awards of up to $5,000 | Original short-form animated or fine art film | Designed as a public artwork and community experience | Must be non-commercial and site-specific to this commission | Public presentation must occur before December 14, 2026.
Think Space Installation: One or more awards of up to $2,500 | Temporary installation or sculptural intervention to be installed within the next iteration of the Lāhainā Think Space | Must be participatory, non-commercial, and aligned with the Good Grief concept | Installation timeline to align with Think Space programming schedule.
Mural Commission: One award of up to $12,000 | Budget must include all artist fees, labor, equipment, materials, lifts, scaffolding, insurance, travel, and related expenses | Mural must be community-informed and inspired by the Think Space | No words, text, lettering, slogans, or written language may appear in the final mural | No recognizable human faces or portraiture may appear in the final mural | Public unveiling must occur before December 14, 2026 | Application must include mural location/s under consideration
Open Call: One or more awards of up to $7,500 | Open to artists working in any medium not otherwise represented in the categories above | Must be inspired by a story, recording, artwork, reflection, conversation, or community contribution encountered through the Lāhainā Think Space | Must be designed for meaningful public engagement and community benefit | Public presentation, installation, activation, or unveiling must occur before December 14, 2026.
Selection Process
The Good Grief Program is a commissioned public art process administered by Maui Public Art Corps as part of the Lāhainā Think Space and Lāhainā Memorial Project R&D initiative. This is a fee-for-service commission, not a grant, fellowship, or residency. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis by a community-informed selection panel convened by Maui Public Art Corps, which may include cultural practitioners, artists, educators, and community members connected to Lāhainā recovery efforts.
Selection is based on alignment with the Good Grief concept, responsiveness to community stories, feasibility, clarity of proposed site-specific location, and potential to support community reflection, healing, and connection. Community benefit and cultural responsiveness are weighted equally with artistic merit.
Awards will be made on a rolling basis until funds are fully allocated. The final deadline for submission is July 20, 2026. Maui Public Art Corps may make partial awards, request revisions, or decline any proposal. Final decisions are made at the discretion of Maui Public Art Corps.
Selected artists will:
- Visit and engage with the Lāhainā Think Space.
- Identify a specific story, recording, installation element, prompt, image, or community contribution that inspires their proposal.
- Engage in a community-informed design process.
- Participate in meetings with Maui Public Art Corps and project partners.
- Create and publicly present a new, site-specific artwork between June 1 and December 14, 2026.
Available Commissions
Performance Art Commission: One or more awards of up to $5,000 | Minimum 20-minute public performance | Includes all artist fees, equipment, labor, supplies and related expenses | Community-informed process required | Public presentation must occur before December 14, 2026.
Moving Image Commission: One or more awards of up to $5,000 | Original short-form animated or fine art film | Designed as a public artwork and community experience | Must be non-commercial and site-specific to this commission | Public presentation must occur before December 14, 2026.
- MORE: Artists may propose an original animated, digital, projected, multimedia, or moving-image public artwork inspired by a story, reflection, artwork, conversation, or community contribution encountered through the Lāhainā Think Space. Projects may include animation, experimental video, projection-based work, digital storytelling, motion graphics, immersive media, or other moving-image formats. This commission is not intended to support independent films, documentaries, commercial productions, episodic content, or projects intended for future distribution. The commissioned work must be created specifically for the Good Grief Program and shall become part of the Maui Public Art Corps public art collection. Artists may not sell, distribute, license, tour, stream, submit to festivals, monetize, or otherwise commercially exploit the completed commissioned work without prior written approval from Maui Public Art Corps. The Artist may use excerpts, still images, and documentation of the project for portfolio and educational purposes with appropriate attribution.
Think Space Installation: One or more awards of up to $2,500 | Temporary installation or sculptural intervention to be installed within the next iteration of the Lāhainā Think Space | Must be participatory, non-commercial, and aligned with the Good Grief concept | Installation timeline to align with Think Space programming schedule.
- MORE: Artists may propose a temporary installation, sculptural work, or spatial intervention for inclusion in the next iteration of the Lāhainā Think Space. Projects should be inspired by and responsive to Hui Moʻolelo: Lāhainā and the broader Good Grief framework, honoring grief as a shared human experience that can foster connection, reflection, and collective care. Works should be designed for a public, participatory environment and may invite visitors to engage through reflection, storytelling, mark-making, contribution, or other accessible forms of interaction. The installation will exist alongside other community-generated materials within the Think Space and should be conceived as part of a living, evolving civic environment rather than a standalone artwork. This commission is not intended for permanent installation, commercial reproduction, or independent exhibition outside of the Think Space context.
Mural Commission: One award of up to $12,000 | Budget must include all artist fees, labor, equipment, materials, lifts, scaffolding, insurance, travel, and related expenses | Mural must be community-informed and inspired by the Think Space | No words, text, lettering, slogans, or written language may appear in the final mural | No recognizable human faces or portraiture may appear in the final mural | Public unveiling must occur before December 14, 2026 | Application must include mural location/s under consideration
Open Call: One or more awards of up to $7,500 | Open to artists working in any medium not otherwise represented in the categories above | Must be inspired by a story, recording, artwork, reflection, conversation, or community contribution encountered through the Lāhainā Think Space | Must be designed for meaningful public engagement and community benefit | Public presentation, installation, activation, or unveiling must occur before December 14, 2026.
- MORE: Maui Public Art Corps recognizes that some of the most compelling public art projects do not fit neatly into traditional categories. Artists are encouraged to propose projects in any artistic medium that engage with the themes, stories, and community knowledge encountered through the Lāhainā Think Space. Examples may include sound art, musical compositions, participatory artworks, experiential installations, social practice projects, interactive storytelling, temporary interventions, educational activations, community-built artworks, creative technologies, environmental artworks, or other forms of public creative expression. Projects must be community-informed, non-commercial, accessible to the public, and aligned with the Good Grief framework of exploring grief, memory, connection, and collective imagination through art.
Selection Process
The Good Grief Program is a commissioned public art process administered by Maui Public Art Corps as part of the Lāhainā Think Space and Lāhainā Memorial Project R&D initiative. This is a fee-for-service commission, not a grant, fellowship, or residency. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis by a community-informed selection panel convened by Maui Public Art Corps, which may include cultural practitioners, artists, educators, and community members connected to Lāhainā recovery efforts.
Selection is based on alignment with the Good Grief concept, responsiveness to community stories, feasibility, clarity of proposed site-specific location, and potential to support community reflection, healing, and connection. Community benefit and cultural responsiveness are weighted equally with artistic merit.
Awards will be made on a rolling basis until funds are fully allocated. The final deadline for submission is July 20, 2026. Maui Public Art Corps may make partial awards, request revisions, or decline any proposal. Final decisions are made at the discretion of Maui Public Art Corps.
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WHAT IS PUBLIC ART? Public art is not simply art placed in a public space. Public art is a process of listening. Through Hui Moʻolelo and the Lāhainā Think Space, community members have generously shared stories, memories, questions, concerns, hopes, and lived experiences. These contributions are not prompts for artistic self-expression; they are gifts entrusted to artists for thoughtful interpretation. Artists selected for the Good Grief Program are being invited to serve as creative facilitators, translators, and stewards of community knowledge. The resulting artwork should be understood as a collaboration between artist, storyteller, community, place, and audience. While artists retain responsibility for the creative execution of the work, the foundation of every project must remain rooted in community voices and experiences. The success of a project will be measured by its ability to foster reflection, connection, dialogue, healing, curiosity, understanding, or collective action. Artists should approach this opportunity with humility, openness, and a willingness to listen deeply. Participation in the Good Grief Program is both a professional commission and a form of community service. |
From the County of Maui Public Art Master Plan: Planned or executed outside of a gallery or theater context and intended specifically for presentation within free and public view, public art is: A) commissioned by a public process; B) characterized by interaction or dialogue with the community; and C) site-specific, meaning that it is created in response to the place in which it resides. |
ARTIST ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
By submitting an application, I acknowledge and agree to the following:
By submitting an application, I acknowledge and agree to the following:
- I am at least 18 years of age or am applying through an eligible adult representative.
- If selected, I will be required to provide a completed W-9 and enter into a professional services agreement with Maui Public Art Corps and/or its fiscal sponsor.
- I understand that Good Grief is a community-informed public art program. Final artwork concepts will be developed following artist selection and may evolve through community engagement, cultural consultation, and collaboration with Maui Public Art Corps.
- I understand that participation may include meetings, site visits, community engagement activities, trauma-informed practices, and project development discussions.
- I understand that public art created through this program is rooted in community stories, reflections, and contributions. Selected artists serve as interpreters and stewards of shared community knowledge and may be asked to adapt their process or design to reflect community input.
- I will be responsible for providing the tools, equipment, technology, labor, insurance, and professional expertise necessary to successfully complete the proposed project unless otherwise specified by Maui Public Art Corps.
- I understand that all costs associated with preparing and submitting this application are my responsibility.
- I understand that materials submitted through this application become the property of Maui Public Art Corps and the County of Maui and may be used for review, documentation, reporting, archival, and promotional purposes.
- I understand that all commissioned projects will be professionally documented. Maui Public Art Corps may retain and use photographs, video, audio recordings, and related documentation for educational, archival, reporting, and promotional purposes.
- I agree to acknowledge the support of Maui Public Art Corps in project materials as directed.
- I certify that no actual or potential conflict of interest exists that would interfere with my ability to perform the proposed work and that I am not subject to any prohibited reporting or decision-making relationship with County of Maui personnel.
- I certify that all information provided in this application is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.