WE ARE THE PEOPLE
WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

CURATORIAL STATEMENT

The latest threat to the National Endowment for the Arts seems to have abated, for the moment at least, but how long will the moment last? With almost everything up for grabs in our new political environment - criminal justice reform, immigrants rights, historic global alliances - why should we think that public arts funding, always a shaky proposition in the United States, would remain intact? 

Today’s discourse makes especially clear that the fates of countless people and policies hinge on the cultural narratives that have been attached to them. But the arts are a primal force for creating narrative, so the uncertainty of its funding points to a larger question: What price are we willing to pay for declaring who we are, what we stand for, and who we stand with?

PROGRAM

What Will Be Different for Arts Funding? 
New York Live Arts 
Michelle Coffey + Bridgit Antoinette Evans + Risë Wilson + Yancey Strickler
Moderated by Jamie Bennett | Performance by Theresa Byrnes

What Will Be Different for Social Justice Arts Organizations? 
The 8th Floor
Maha Chehlaoui + Ken Chen + Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario + Lauren Ruffin
Moderated by Kemi Ilesanmi | Performance by Queen GodIs

What Will Be Different for Arts Activism?
Queens Museum
Shahana Hanif + Samora Pinderhughes + Vernon Reid + Alice Shepherd
Moderated by Lisa Cortés | Performance by SLV