What are the various roles that artists and the arts can play in civic infrastructure? What are the responsibilities of artists in public space? The upcoming Laundromat Symposium will address those key questions at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 19, at Walnut Place Laundromat, 4241 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo.

Laundromat Symposiums are open to the public and address various topics and ideas, during which participants will actually do their laundry.

Rather than reinforcing the roles of academic panel and attentive audience, guests in this series come prepared with questions and various experiences to stimulate and guide public discourse. The conversation between the engaged participants will be recorded and available online at the Rocket Grants website.

Participants will include:

Jacob Wagner is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture, Urban Planning + Design at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. His work is focused on Kansas City and New Orleans, the issues of sustainable food systems, vacancy, neighborhood stabilization, and community planning for equitable development. He is a 2013 Rocket Grant recipient.

May Tveit is an artist whose site-specific art and public art has received national critical reviews in Art in America, Art Papers, National Public Radio, The Kansas City Star, and Review Magazine. She currently teaches at the University of Kansas and lives and works in Kansas City, Mo.

Julia Cole is the Rocket Grants program coordinator at the Charlotte Street Foundation. She was appointed to the Mayor’s Task Force for the Arts.