For twenty years, Public Matters has filled Los Angeles with good mischief, civic imagination, and art that moves both people and policy. Neighborhoods have been mapped, reclaimed, and celebrated. Young people have become civic leaders. Intersections, sidewalks, and storefronts look different than they otherwise would.

Twenty years ago, we set out to prove that art isn't just "something created with imagination and skill that is beautiful or expresses important ideas or feelings."*

It's a lever.

A lever for civic engagement. For community power. For social change.

Two decades later, we're a leader in creative civic engagement. Here's what we've moved:

Neighborhood self-determination, put in the hands of neighbors.
The Good Mischief Toolkit for Neighborhood Self-Determination

Giant bandages on unsafe streets—until the city paid attention.
The Boo Boo Bandage Brigade

The next generation of community-rooted leaders, grown from the ground up.
Urban Futures Lab

The first of its kind. Democracy has never been furrier.
The Pet Parade for Pawliticians

Speed reduction you could actually groove to.
Slow Jams

HiFi's stories, flavors, and streets—celebrated and defended.
The Jeepney in Historic Filipinotown

South and East LA corner stores turned fresh food destinations, powered by youth.
Market Makeovers

Every one of these still lives somewhere: in a street that's safer, a young leader who's now running things, a neighborhood that knows its own story well enough to tell it—and to defend it.

That's the thing about a lever. What it lifts, stays lifted.

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The work keeps going, because it was never a project with an end date. It's a practice.

That's not a burden. That's the point.

So we're not just throwing a party. We're investing in what endures.

This year we're marking two decades of creative civic action—and starting the next chapter. Over the coming months, expect stories, surprises, and plenty of ways to get in on the good mischief.

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Here's what you can do right now:

>< Sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss a thing.

>< Connect with us on LinkedIn and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for announcements as they drop.

>< Explore twenty years of projects and press—see what a lever looks like in action.

>< Donate today—or better yet, mail a check. Credit card fees take a real cut; a check puts every dollar to work. Make checks payable to Fulcrum Arts, with "For Public Matters" in the memo line. Mail to 145 N Raymond Ave., Pasadena, CA 91103.

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Somewhere out there is a Los Angeles that never met Public Matters.

Let's keep that one hypothetical.

Stay tuned. Pay attention. The best mischief is yet to come.

—The Public Matters Team

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*Merriam-Webster's definition, not ours. We've always had bigger plans for art.