The community painting of the rusty Circle Avenue bridge in 2017 sparked the creation of the Forest Park Arts Alliance that same year. Since then, the organization made up of local creatives has only grown and expanded programming.
At the Dec. 15 village council meeting, the Forest Park Arts Alliance gave a presentation covering its 2025 events and goals for this year.
“I jokingly say, if you ask people what they’re doing in their basement here, it’s almost always art,” said Bridget Lane, the Arts Alliance’s secretary, who gave the presentation. “I’ve been amazed at the number of artists who live in town.”
As the Arts Alliance continues to bring creatives and residents together to enrich lives through art, below are the events the group held last year, and how many people attended.
48-hour Film Festival
This year was the third annual film festival where participants had just two days to write, film and edit a short movie that was then shown to a crowd of viewers. About 85 people attended this year’s showing, which Lane said, “for a one-day event, is really great.”
Garage Galleries
This annual event started before the Arts Alliance, which now organizes the dozens of artists who display their works in local garages.
“It just brings out the best in the community,” Lane said. This year was the 11th annual garage galleries event, where over 800 people showed up.
“It’s hard to count them, but when I talked to many of the restaurants in town, they said it was one of their best days,” Lane said. “It’s starting to get, not quite the [St. Patrick’s Day] parade level, but that’s our hope, that we can really bring that many people here.”
Public art
Following the Arts Alliance’s first public art installation with Little Perspectives in April, this summer, the group commissioned 10 artists to paint bistro tables that were placed in Constitution Court and in front of businesses on Madison Street as a part of Sit and Savor.
Stoop Sessions
Also over the summer, the Arts Alliance put on a handful of stoop session performances. During these shows, local artists perform on Forest Park properties, like a neighborhood front porch or, in August, at the Altenheim.
“It was amazing, the kind of crowds we’re getting for those who hadn’t had an opportunity to go to the stoop sessions,” Lane said. She added that about 300 people attended stoop sessions throughout the summer.
Invasion of the Scarecrows
Every Halloween season, the Arts Alliance partners with the Historical Society of Forest Park on the Invasion of the Scarecrows. The two groups sell scarecrow kits as a fundraiser, and this year, sold 105 kits.
Fiber Flash
This fall, the Arts Alliance decorated Constitution Court with fiber art for the third year in a row, donating the creations after the annual event.
“All of these end up at charity organizations like Sarah’s Inn, the library’s comfort box [which holds toiletries, plus fiber hats and gloves] and the kid’s room in the library,” Lane said. “This is a community building exercise that really has caught traction.”
Makers Market
Twice a year, the Arts Alliance hosts a market where makers can sell their wares. The market grew out of the Garage Galleries, but caters to more crafts and homemade pieces of art.
Tellers’ Night
September through May, on the second Tuesday of the month, the Arts Alliance hosts an evening where local storytellers perform at Robert’s Westside. Every event, about five people share entertaining real-life accounts. In 2025, the Arts Alliance estimates that about 550 people attended Tellers’ Nights.
This year’s plans
In 2026, the Arts Alliance has plans for yet another public art installation in Constitution Court. Lane said, in January, the nonprofit will seek a permit to install garden poles on Madison Street.
“Sometimes they are called totems,” Lane said of the garden poles. “You take your life story and you put it on a post of art.” The Art Alliance aims to put 30 posts in Constitution Court and, if they get more, spread them throughout the community.
Also in 2026, the Arts Alliance is looking for more volunteers to help organize its committees, work out logistics for installations and events, and come up with new ideas. Lane said the Arts Alliance is also hoping to work more with local businesses to display art in the new year.
“Art has the power to bring people together, to spark conversation and to remind us of our shared humanity,” Lane said. “We’re celebrating the creativity that makes this community shine, and we think there’s lots of opportunity for that. We want to weave this art into the fabric of Forest Park.”
