The UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art public sculpture program has a guiding vision to engage our UCCS students, faculty and community with experiences and lifelong learning opportunities spring boarding from nationally and internationally significant public art projects amplifying diverse voices and approaches. The Black Forest Institute by M12 Artist Collective is an outdoor public art project operating as an experimental forestry school and a knowledge-sharing platform. This project has a focus on regional fire history, including Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires, and features a series of dynamic speakers at UCCS Ent Center for the Arts outdoor sculpture green during the spring semester of 2021. The project began in the forest, working with CU students and forestry officials and crews learning about and gathering firewood from burn sites in Black Forest north of Colorado Springs. The second phase of the project happened with UCCS students from multiple departments at the Ent Center for the Arts, working to realize an installation of the gathered wood and a wood-burning stove on the lower outdoor sculpture green. The final phase of the project featured a series of outdoor “fireside chats” with guest speakers that were attended by a limited number UCCS students, faculty, and community guests (per Covid regulations at that time) that was simultaneously live-streamed on the GOCAdigital.org platform as well as recorded and archived on the site. All programs will be free and accessible to all.