The Good Lab (By Micro Galleries)
Culture for Impact is an annual recognition by the Museum for the United Nations - UN Live to celebrate cultural initiatives that unleash the power of popular culture to address major societal challenges and inspire positive change.
Introducing “The Good Lab” is Kat Roma Greer, Artistic Director and Founder of Micro Galleries, in conversation with Annesofie Norn, Lead Curator at UN Live. The Good Lab is an initiative by Micro Galleries.
"The Good Lab" is a community-focused artist incubator and knowledge exchange project aimed at connecting global artists with important societal issues through cultural interaction. Taking place in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in February 2024, the project brought together 21 international and local artists with 14 community organizations to tackle pressing global challenges: Displacement, Climate Change, and Public Space Access.
Over two weeks, artists and organizations worked together to create both artistic and social impact, while honoring Thai and Lanna culture and promoting global inclusivity.
Join us to discover how "The Good Lab" shows the power of art in addressing societal challenges and how removing traditional barriers by bringing art directly to public spaces generates positive responses.
Annesofie Norn: What do you believe is the power of popular culture to change hearts and minds?
Kat Roma Greer: Popular culture has an uplifting and unparalleled power to transform hearts and minds because it connects with people emotionally and meets them where they are at, on their terms. Unlike data-heavy or extensively complex communications that can overwhelm, popular culture embeds seamlessly into everyday life, creating accessible and meaningful experiences. Its low barriers to entry allow everyone to engage with it through the mediums that resonate most with them.
At Micro Galleries, we’ve seen that removing traditional barriers to access—by bringing art directly to people’s doorsteps in their own public spaces—creates overwhelmingly positive responses. These interactions with popular culture moments act as gateways to deeper awareness, reflection, investigation, and even behaviour change. It’s a power pill for processing art that activates areas of the brain that traditional communications on complex issues like the climate crisis, gender inequality, or colonisation fail to reach. (Roosen, Klöckner, and Swim).
When popular culture permeates society, it can achieve critical mass, driving powerful cultural shifts and policy changes. For example, artists like Beyoncé embed feminist themes into their music, inspiring fans to explore deeper ideologies and sparking broader cultural conversations. Popular culture is a catalyst for meaningful change, unlocking the potential for a more engaged and aware society.
Annesofie Norn: What drew you towards using public art as a platform to spark positive change?
Kat Roma Greer: We purposely used genre diversity and public art to spark solutions-focused change and action because this format brings diverse groups together and inspires action. By combining art forms (e.g: projection mapping, street art, photography, installation, mural art etc.) we could connect with a diverse range of audiences in meaningful ways. Different genres resonate with different people, ensuring inclusivity and broadening the impact of our work. But also, these different genres and practices colliding, together come up with new fresh ideas, solutions, and ways of communicating.
Based on the knowledge sharing and processes of the project, each group was challenged to create a relevant solutions-focused creative response that the public could see and engage with. Research shows that public art fosters community pride, increases civic engagement, and creates shared ownership of solutions to local and global challenges.
Artists play a critical role in this process. They operate outside traditional structures, using creativity to see problems—and solutions—from fresh perspectives. Artists imagine new possibilities, craft tangible representations of these ideas, and inspire others to take action. This makes them uniquely equipped to address issues like the climate crisis, urban development, and displacement.
The Good Lab also really emphasised public outcomes. Each project involved collaboration with community and community groups, leading to creative responses that were visible and interactive in public spaces. This approach ensured that communities were active co-creators. By centering the community in the process, the work became more sustainable, empowering, and impactful; fostering shared responsibility for the changes we aim to create.
Annesofie Norn: What is the impact of your initiative?
Kat Roma Greer: The program demonstrated how artistic practice and culture can be harnessed to address local and global challenges in innovative and solutions-based ways, whilst authentically centring community and local knowledge. It also demonstrated how essential it is to consciously and purposely carve space for Global South participants: This was demonstrated through three key, tangible outcomes:
Developing, with local organisations and community, the concept for a new accessible initiative and motif for displaced peoples: Displaced Nation. This new initiative and movement is currently being evolved by displaced people, with the support of The Good Lab participants and Micro Galleries, to use as a platform for developing new work to share the stories and experiences of displacement with a broader audience.
Creation of a new, free, public laneway festival “Living Cultures Fest” in a revitalised community space that explored community involvement and ownership over public space, and developed a series of workshops, live performances, and artworks in public space that informed the community about locally-relevant climate change issues such as impacts on the smoky season.
Global South Artists and Changemakers: Representing over 50% of participants, artists from the Global South received significant opportunities for professional development, networking, and creative exchange. By connecting with local and international peers, these artists were empowered to expand their creative practice and impact, breaking traditional barriers in the arts and reinforcing their role as agents of change
Annesofie Norn: Can you share a couple of examples of when you experienced that your initiative made a real impact for someone?
“The Good Lab has allowed my crew to practice and develop their public speaking skills further when giving their presentation. We also really appreciate the connections we were able to make with the other important and like-minded activists/artists which we continue to keep in touch with today! Thanks to The Good Lab, we were able to gain important friends and allies for our cause – some who have been key supporters of our MOB PARTY 24 hosted by Triple Edge this year. One of the most important events in our city that supports resistance art and the community. They helped us find key funders for our event! Without them, it would definitely be more difficult for us! The Good Lab definitely opened more doors for us through funding and other opportunities!”
“It gives me a different perspective on how to see things around me, like the problems about race, society, and more in my country. But also I can share what I got while in Chiang Mai with my friends here. I also got the opportunity to have an exhibition with fellows from Taiwan, and the Philippines, and hope it will continue.”
Uncle Joy, Indonesia
“When I came back I told everyone about the burning season, reclaiming the urban space and about the refugees from Burma, so I am not only more conscious about the issues from others but spread the voice. I expanded my network a lot. Two of them came to visit me in Vienna. Also, I participated in a Podcast I was invited to.”
Brian Luque-Marcos, Austria
Annesofie Norn: What are you hoping that others can learn from your initiative, and what is your dream for the initiative?
Kat Roma Greer: When you bring together a group of artists with a community, absolute magic can happen. Culture can be a transformative tool for addressing complex societal challenges through inclusive, community-centered, and solutions-driven approaches.
Artists are powerful catalysts for change and have powerfully unique skills to connect, knowledge-share, and create visionary solutions and impact.
Diversity drives impact! Representation matters. The inclusion of over 50% Global South participants demonstrated how equitable opportunities foster creative innovation and amplify underrepresented perspectives.
Collaboration elevates results: combining local expertise with creative processes and collaborating across disciplines and regions – you can achieve a deeper, more sustainable impact.
Our dream for the initiative is to scale it so it can be experienced globally, across communities on a range of issues, also providing more artists with deep and meaningful opportunities; create a blueprint on how to work collaboratively, globally, so other groups can elevate their own programs to do this also; plant the seeds for new and future change-makers who can then go on and lead their own iterations of the program.
Annesofie Norn: Core to UN Live is building empathy and global belonging, how do you see your initiative building on that?
Kat Roma Greer: The Good Lab is a small blueprint for how cultural initiatives can weave empathy into their core, transforming it into action (we think this last part is VITAL!).
We build empathy through storytelling and inclusive knowledge exchange, including everyone we can in the conversation and the proposed solutions/outcome, to build a sense of global responsibility, belonging, and interconnection with each other. Through the use of diverse art forms, we connect with a broad audience emotionally, and intellectually - sparking connections between people, places, and issues that may have felt distant or powerless to change previously.
Annesofie Norn: At its simplest, what is your message for the world?
Kat Roma Greer: Together, we can imagine a better world – and once it’s imagined, we can create it. Oh, and of course I have to add my favourite line from Micro Galleries: Don’t underestimate micro action! From small actions and small change, comes big impact.
Annesofie Norn: What does it mean to you and Micro Galleries to be highlighted on the 2024 Culture for Impact List?
Kat Roma Greer: That creativity as a force for good is relevant, and needed. Recognition of that reinforces what we believe - that when passionate, creative humans come together to do something meaningful, they can create impact that matters. The 2024 Culture for Impact list has made us all feel truly seen, valued, and part of a larger ecosystem and community.
A huge thank you to the Micro Galleries, we are excited to follow their continued journey! You can learn more about Micro Galleries and the Good Lab here.
The selection criteria for the Culture for Impact list
The selection criteria prioritize innovative cultural initiatives addressing societal challenges and fostering change:
Culture Innovation: Initiatives that demonstrate a pioneering or significant application of popular culture to address societal challenges or promote positive change.
Genre Diversity: Inclusivity across a spectrum of cultural genres, showcasing a diverse range of creative expressions and innovative approaches.
Topic Versatility: Recognition of initiatives that address a wide array of topics and issues, demonstrating the versatility and adaptability of cultural genres.
Global Inclusivity: Emphasis on initiatives that contribute to cultural impact on a global scale, promoting inclusivity and representation from various regions around the world.
Dual Impact Approach: Acknowledgment of initiatives that have achieved significant reach while also recognizing the nuanced impact of smaller-scale efforts that contribute profoundly to cultural change.