Today marks the kick-off of ArtPlace America’s sixth research working group focused on the intersection of arts and culture with a specific sector of community development.
Convened in partnership with Welcoming America, this working group will focus on the ways artists and cultural organizations can act as allies in local immigration sector work, helping to bridge newcomers and longer-term residents, catalyzing new business opportunities, co-creating welcoming spaces that signal belonging, and more.
ArtPlace and Welcoming America will be joined by a diverse and accomplished working group of arts and immigration leaders, practitioners, and advocates including:
Amy Herzfeld-Copple, Western States Center
Ashley Hanson, Department of Public Transformation and PlaceBase Productions
Betty Cruz, All for All
Bryan Warren, Office for Globalization, Louisville Metro Government
Carolina Rubio MacWright, TouchingLand.org
Christa Yoakum, Nebraska Is Home
Christina Patiño Houle, Las Imaginistas
Cooper Green, Interfaith Mission Service
Cynthia Woo, Pao Arts Center, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center
Dan Wallace, New American Economy
David Flores, Casa Familiar
Hazami Sayed, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture
Henry Reese, City of Asylum
Janera Solomon, Kelly Strayhorn Theater
Jennifer Novak-Leonard, Northwestern University
John Arroyo, University of Oregon
Laura Marcus Green, Ph.D., South Carolina Arts Commission and University of South Carolina
Lynnette Tessitore, City of Chula Vista
Malik Gillani, Silk Road Rising
Mara Kimmel, Anchorage Museum
Nadia El-Zein Tonova, ACCESS
Onye Ozuzu, College of the Arts, University of Florida
Rachel Strutt, Somerville Arts Council
Ryan M. Eller, Define American
Taryn Higashi, Unbound Philanthropy
Ze Min Xiao, Mayor's Office for New Americans, Salt Lake County
The group is meeting in Pittsburgh this week in advance of the annual Welcoming Interactive and Welcoming Economies Convening. We’re thrilled to be hosted by two beloved local arts institutions—City of Asylum Pittsburgh and Kelly Strayhorn Theater—and will use a portion of our time together to review preliminary research that ArtPlace commissioned John Arroyo, Ph.D. to conduct. We’ll also identify important fieldbuilding strategies for ArtPlace, Welcoming America, and other partners to support increased collaboration among arts and culture and immigration sector practitioners.
Stay tuned for the Arts, Culture, and Immigration field scan to be published in early fall, and for more resources, forthcoming from our partners at Welcoming America.