The Monumental Project The Monuments Toolkit

For the last year and a half, the Monumental Project has taken a close look at all of the pieces of historical preservation, activism, public art and legislation that has created the conversation around monuments of oppression. These conversations, as you can hear in our previous episodes, are extremely multifaceted and nuanced. An array of industries, missions and opinions have created a very interesting mosaic of perspectives. This is a vital part of the monuments toolkit: finding the indiv...

If you’ve tuned into the show before, then you know that most of our conversations are centered around public art, history and racial justice. The combination of these three things are the essence of what makes this topic so interesting: how does one tackle the artistic, historic and cultural meaning behind a public structure in the best way possible? For the most part, these monuments are city wide issues that permeate the public discourse of a community. Of course, there are times like in 2...

When it comes to the conversation around Monuments of oppression, there are a few obstacles that usually come into play. To start, there's the Daughters of the Confederacy, the neo-Confederate association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers. They work all over the country to “preserve the legacy” of Confederate soldiers by actively fighting against any Confederate monument removal. Additionally, there are the white nationalist groups that, through misinformation and...

Welcome to another episode of The Monumental Project on behalf of the Monuments Toolkit! In honor of Pride Month, we decided to look at an incredible monument collection that does an amazing job championing the LGBTQ+ community. The monuments in question? None other than The Legacy Walk in Chicago, Illinois. The LGBTQ+ community has made great strides in the past few decades in the field of public art representation. One notable example of public art representing the gay community is the...

In Philadelphia, monuments are more than just stone and bronze. They're time capsules that take us back to pivotal moments in American history. From William Penn, the Liberty Bell, to even the Rocky Balboa statue, Philadelphia boasts a wide range of public art that rivals the most famous cities around the world. In fact, Philadelphia holds the world record for the most public art in a single city. As we take a closer look at Philadelphia's monuments, we'll shine a ligh...

Urban planning has been a hot topic in recent years, with the world's cities experiencing rapid growth and transformation. As populations surge and infrastructure struggles to keep up, urban planners face a myriad of challenges. One such challenge is how to reconcile the need for progress with the preservation of our cultural heritage. This issue is especially pronounced when it comes to monuments that have come under scrutiny for their controversial histories.Many of these structures, from t...