WE ARE THE PEOPLE
WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

A FESTIVAL OF VISIONARY IDEAS, ACTIVISM & ARTS

LEAD PARTNERS: ARTPLACE AMERICA · CARIBBEAN CULTURAL CENTER AFRICAN DIASPORA INSTITUTE · 
CREATIVE CAPITAL · FRACTURED ATLAS · UNITED STATES ARTISTS

Public Programs: Issues & Ideas, Arts & Culture, Democracy 

 
 

ABOUT

We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For presented three days of performances and public conversations with arts funders, artist-activists, and arts administrators on the future of arts and culture in America’s new political landscape. Inspired by and held in the wake of Federal threats to defund the National Endowment of the Arts. With opening remarks from Susan N. Herman, President, American Civil Liberties Union, on the historic links between cultural activism and civic action.

 
 

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


PROJECT TEAM

Brian Tate, Curator/Executive Producer 
Bill Toles, Tech Director 
Ed Marshall, Photography
Merle Augustin, Project Support
Miriam Fogelson, Project Support
Jess Song, Project Support 
Trevor Exter, Project Support


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