From the Archives: Artists of Social Change
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I am a huge believer in the power of art. I believe art can create change, and I have personally been inspired to be a better person through seeing and performing live art.
The Bride prides itself on presenting art for social change. This isn’t something we just SAY we do, we’ve been doing it for years. While browsing through one of many archive boxes I found “the Gazette,” our November – December 1989 newsletter. What stood out to me was a three day conference the Bride held in 1989 called The Arts of Social Change. It was a series of workshops, discussions, and performances around the concept of creating art that made a better world. Five artists (John Malpede, Rebecca Rice, Margaret Randall, Dennis Brutus, and Joseph Sorrentino) selected the issues dealt with at the conference – homelessness, the stifling of Black artists, U.S. deportation policy, and apartheid.
Dedicating time and resources to not only entertain, but also educated and inspire audiences is important. The arts have just as much power to inform a better world as the mainstream media does. The Bride continues this year in our mission to bring about change in our communities through art with an exciting project:
Co-presented by Accion Colombia and guest curated by Andreina Castillo, Papeles: are we what we sign?,aims to serve as a visual examination of our social bond with papers as legal signifiers of identity that shape individual mobility, cultural acceptance, gender and sexual-orientation equality, economic access, labor opportunities, and educational attainment. Using drawing, painting, installation, printmaking, photography, and mixed media the artists will reflect upon the socio-cultural impact of documentation processes present in American society. This is very timely as debate rises over voter identification and voter suppression in certain communities.
Join us on First Friday, September 7th for the opening reception of Papeles: are we what we sign?
by LaNeshe Miller-White, Marketing Coordinator