04.08.2017
A Media Maker's Roundtable on Racial Justice
Civil Liberties and Public Policy Conference
Amherst, MA
From articulating the needs of our communities to affirming our multi-faceted lives, to visioning new worlds and just futures, media-makers play an integral role in our movements. Join this distinguished panel of media makers using multi-pronged media strategies, written communications, podcasts, music, performance, and multi-media art to make critical political and cultural interventions that guide our activist movements. Moderated by Verónica Bayetti Flores, panelists include: Sasha Alexander, Pamela Merritt, Shanelle Matthews, and Taja Lindley.
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04.08.2017
Artivism 101: How Arts and Culture Are Integral to Our Fight for Reproductive Freedom
Civil Liberties and Public Policy Conference
Amherst, MA
In order to build new futures, we must first imagine them. And it will take creativity to address long-standing problems facing our communities. Now, more than ever, the role of artists and cultural workers are essential in our social movements. In this session, we will identify and discuss how artists and cultural workers work on their own and partner with institutions to create performances, illustrations and other works that advance reproductive freedom. Using the technology of improvisation and freestyle, the workshop will culminate with the sacred tradition of the cypher. We will devise mantras, call and responses, poetry, rap, rhythm and movement to co-create a collective freedom song that honors our visions for bodily autonomy and reproductive justice. Workshop conceived and led by Taja Lindley.
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04.26.2017
Martha Wilson Activist History Teach-In
The 8th Floor
New York, NY
Performance artist Martha Wilson, founder of Franklin Furnace, instigated an evening of presentations and performances as a “teach-in” with a selection of activist artists from the 1960s to the present, looking at the history of performance art as protest to consider which methods and strategies remain effective in today’s political climate. Wilson, known for her political drag performances as first ladies Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan, will perform her recent work Martha Does Donald, in which she impersonates Donald Trump. In addition, the event will include presentations by artists Ann Agee, Rehan Ansari, Tomie Arai and Betty Yu (Chinatown Art Brigade), Todd Ayoung (REPOhistory), Avram Finkelstein (ACT UP and Gran Fury), Alicia Grullón (Percent for Green), Amin Husain and Nitasha Dhillon (MTL), Rasu Jilani, Taja Lindley (Harriet’s Apothecary), Katharine Perko, Gregory Sholette (Gulf Labor Artists Coalition), Lise Soskolne (W.A.G.E.), and Barbara Zucker (A.I.R. Gallery).
