Maura Garcia, a Black Indigenous woman leaping in the air as she dances
16.09.20
One afternoon choreographer Maura García danced to the music of Navajo-fronted band, DDAT in the homelands of the Kaw and Osage nations. The resulting film - a part of the "Natives NOW" project - is a multilayered music video, uniting Indigenous artists across genres and milesand a celebration of the intertribal Native community.
09.09.20
This year, ArtPlace America culminates a decade of work as part of an extraordinary community of artists, community developers, culture bearers, designers, government officials, philanthropists, and researchers who have come together from rural, suburban, Tribal, and urban communities across the United States.
02.09.20
Carlton Turner, Director of Sipp Culture, reminds us of what is possible in this moment, a transition from a community of consumers to a community of producers. "This letter is an open invitation for my community and every community to take control of the food production needed to keep people fed, healthy and cared for. We have the land. We have the knowledge. I pray we have the will! Our lives literally depend on it."
A poster feature an image of a woman with the words Machuchaleras Ivelisse Rivera along the bottom
26.08.20
With the film "Machuchaleras: Ivelisse Rivera" the Puerto Rican grassroots organization Casa Taft 169 honors powerhouse Ivelisse Rivera (community leader and sister of famed salsa singer Ismael Rivera) for her work in preserving and fighting for the often forgotten or ignored Black communities of Puerto Rico and the legacy of her brother, Ismael Rivera.
A cardboard cut out with the words "Ahmaud Arbery. Murdered. Say His Name."
19.08.20
Silky Shoemaker is an artist from central PA who explores queer community in its many despairs and ecstasies, solitudes, strangeness, and epic iterations. She talks to us about how a vandalized life size plywood sculpture of Ahmaud Arbery in her front yard opened up the local community to a conversation about racial justice and encouraged her to think on an entirely bigger scale.
12.08.20
What is the impact of self-isolation, quarantine, and a pandemic on our capacity to cope? Augusta Sparks is the founder of the Arts in Health: First Aid Art Kit, which contains multiple artist designed writing prompts, creative process projects, and more made by local artists. The kit hopes to give the opportunity to self-create and facilitate escape during these times.
A Lakota teen standing by a table displaying their art.
05.08.20
Julie Garreau, is the executive director of the Cheyenne River Youth Project, a nonprofit community development organization that serves the youth and families of South Dakota’s remote Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. She sat down with two Lakota teens - accomplished leaders from their Art Fellowship program - to discuss the Covid-19 crisis, their Lakota values, and how the novel coronavirus has affected their sense of place during this challenging time in history.
Hanmin Liu and Jennifer Mei standing by a mural that says "Tenderloin"
22.07.20
Hanmin Liu and Jennifer Mei, cofounders of the Wildflowers Institute, spoke with artists in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, CA, to see how artists are making explicit the needs of their community and what changes need to happen to improve the conditions for all people, but especially the most vulnerable, so they can all grow together.
Two kids playing by a large cement cylinder in a park
16.07.20
Together, ArtPlace America and Creative Generation are pleased to announce a new research initiative focused on arts, culture, and youth development. This partnership will explore the intersections of creative youth development, creative placemaking, and community development through community based, youth- and practitioner-led research. By the end of the year, a series of new web-based tools and resources will be created by and for practitioners operating in this space.
Gwen Johnson leaning against a piece of furniture with a green bandana on
15.07.20
Letcher County is nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky and is home to a diverse population of 23,123 people. Within the center sits a social enterprise program- Black Sheep Bakery which supports community members by providing job training to people who are recovering from addiction. Dedicated citizen and baker Gwen Johnson talked with us about preconceived notions and Appalachian solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
Visual Arts