“It’s really using the superpower of artists—that they’re great storytellers—to highlight some productive ideas about how to approach these issues,” says Gilbert, who sees the event as a way to foster community in a city long fractured by segregation. “Art can be the glue that connects multiple neighborhoods and institutions.” By focusing on public art, she says, the half-year celebration hopes to expand audiences beyond those who traditionally visit galleries and museums. “So many artists have strong messages in their work, and they want to get beyond their own circle,” she says. 

Raised in Connecticut, Gilbert pursued painting for many years, while also creating events and public arts programs for nonprofits such as the Revolving Museum and the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Her time at SMFA allowed her to reinvent herself. “I was like a kid in a candy store,” she says. “It afforded me a chance to try something completely new.” She began experimenting with video and creating sculptures, installations, and clothing, while at the same time thinking about creating an organization of her own. “I had grown out of the ‘angry artist’ phase, and wanted to see Boston be more vibrant,” she says. “I felt like it was time for me to give back.”

The result was an organization called Now + There (since renamed the Boston Public Art Triennial), which has focused on contemporary, site-specific art, bringing in acclaimed artists such as Nick Cave, who created a Joy Parade featuring inflatable sculptures in a procession from downtown to Dorchester’s Codman Square. “I like to start a conversation by asking an artist, ‘What’s the big project you’ve always wanted to do?’ and just seeing their eyes light up,” she says. At the same time, Gilbert has navigated Boston’s notorious bureaucracy, reinventing what’s possible in the city’s public art landscape. 

“Kate is impressive when she sets her mind to something,” says Pedro Alonzo, an independent curator who has worked with the Institute of Contemporary Art and other venues and has collaborated with her on projects. “This can be a very difficult city to do anything new in, and I admire her tremendously for her vision.” Along with public art installations, Gilbert’s organization has sponsored some 40 local artists since 2018 through its Public Art Accelerator program, giving them a stipend and training that culminates in an original artwork. “We’ve seeded the ground, showing the city that this isn’t scary,” Gilbert says. “It’s become a virtuous circle, where people accept it, then embrace it, and eventually demand more of it.”

The idea for the Boston Public Art Triennial came out of conversations during the pandemic between artists and local leaders, who wanted a more sustained connection with art in their neighborhoods. Gilbert conceived of a citywide celebration that would generate more excitement through its temporary nature. “We wanted to dig deeper into our community engagement,” says Gilbert. “With permanent art, eventually people just walk by it. With a triennial, there is a must-see attention.”

To curate the exhibition, Gilbert tapped Alonzo, who conceived the theme of The Exchange, pairing artists with local experts to collaborate in a uniquely Boston way. “One of the most interesting characteristics of Boston is all of the experts who live here,” says Alonzo—not just academics at the city’s many universities, but also nonprofit and neighborhood leaders as well. “But it’s not a city where people come to promote themselves.” Collaborating with artists can draw new attention to issues, at the same time creating a more emotional connection with audiences, he says. 

Artists participating in the event include Los Angeles–based Patrick Martinez, who has collaborated with local homeless youth to create his signature neon signs that will be hung in storefronts in Downtown Crossing; Salvadoran artist Beatriz Cortez, who will build a “giant whalebone spaceship” in East Boston to draw attention to migration of people and animals due to climate change; and Alaskan artist Nicholas Galanin, who will examine cultural appropriation by creating enormous bronze sculptures based both on Inuit totem poles and knock-off souvenirs produced for tourists.

The event will include several local SMFA alums as well, including Gabriel Sosa, AG16 (MFA), a Miami native who has used bilingual text-based public art in his work. His participation will include a giant artwork on the façade of the SMFA itself, as well as a community printing press to create posters and pamphlets distributed throughout the city. “You never really know who you are reaching out to,” he says of the impact of public art. “Someone can be going about their routine and have this serendipitous encounter that prompts them to reconsider something or experience their community in a different way.” 

Evelyn Rydz, AG05 (MFA), also originally from Miami, will partner with the Climate Conservation Corps of the National Park Service to create a large-scale living map of the Mystic and Charles River basins at the Charlestown Navy Yard, incorporating bio swales and a rain garden. Rydz’s installations often address issues of water, and with this work, she aims to engage with residents and visitors on the past, present, and future of water resources in the city. “I hope to inspire a reverence and stewardship for our changing water bodies,” she says, “creating meaningful reflection and engagement for the communities that rely on them and impact them.”

A half-dozen weekend celebrations between May and October will highlight the different neighborhoods where exhibits are taking place, aimed at breaking down barriers between Boston’s neighborhoods, Gilbert says. “The Exchange also happens when people go get a roti or a cup of coffee in a place they wouldn’t go normally.” Ultimately, she hopes the celebration will showcase Boston’s energy and spirit, and provide one more signal that its old tribal barriers are dissolving. “We’ve been working for a long time against the image that Boston is cold, is siloed, is racist,” Gilbert says. “I hope that people can see Boston as a strong cultural city as well as a place for arts, technology, and science, and experience the optimism and resources available here.”