ACI Receives $35,000 Research Grant from The National Endowment for the Arts

We are proud to be included in this funding announcement as an organization approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Research Grant! We will receive $35,000 to support a mixed-methods study exploring the impacts of an intersectional racial justice training program for arts leaders in Massachusetts.

In total, the NEA will award 18 Research Grants in the Arts for a total of $1,045,000 in funding to support a broad range of research studies that investigate the value and/or impact of the arts, either as individual components of the U.S. arts ecosystem or as they interact with each other and/or with other domains of American life.

NEA Director of Research & Analysis Sunil Iyengar said, “The research undertaken by these NEA grant recipients, including Arts Connect International, covers a compelling array of fields and topics. The studies will contribute to a formidable body of research that is strengthening public knowledge about the arts’ benefits to our lives and communities.”

For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news. Visit arts.gov/impact/research to explore more of the NEA’s work in research and analysis, including the agency’s five-year research agenda; in-depth reports and analyses of research topics in the arts; collections of statistics, graphics, and summary results from data-mining about the arts; and more.

Healing through art with T’Ajmal, Co-Director of Systems Support

Art has been a part of my life since I was very young. Memories of fashion sketches, self portraits, story writing, and music fill my mind when reminiscing. My friends and family supported me by showing up, asking questions, and believing in me. My recent life journey has been working on believing and supporting myself.

I grew up in Detroit, MI, and from the energy of the city, my people, and the creatives, there is no denying the effect of my hometown on who I am. I am often called back for my family and friends, city events, and the artistry. I went to Harvard for college, and that was a shock to my body, soul, and sense of self. I found groundedness in my chosen family on campus, who related to the shock and lack of reality at school. I continued to ground myself through art, finding that it was my only avenue to process my experiences, and find my sense of self that felt so lost. Art was my pathway to finding me again, and it held me through all the tough times, life transitions, and shifts. I am a multimedia artist, often answering questions of “what type of art do you do?” with the answer “Anything I’m called to. Finding space currently in print form with zines, and music with my violin.”

I took a chance and pivoted when joining the co-director team at  ACI. I mostly worked in youth direct service spaces, with organizations who provided resources and space to young people. Youth work and support is still a passion of mine; however, my soul was yearning for something new and something that would push me to grow in my artistry and find more artist community. Now, I am the co-director of systems support at ACI, supporting our team with developing and creating systems that make our work more easeful. I help with our gallery space, (first time curating!), and that is a new niche that has lit a fire in me. I’ve met a lot of new people who are all kind and powerful in their own ways, and have felt more at home and secure in my identity as an artist. 

So if you read this far, I ask you to support the organization that has supported me, with a donation. Any gifts would help continue growing and learning as a leader with ACI. Stay tuned for our 10th anniversary birthday celebration on May 20th, 2025!

Shifting Winds

A letter from ACI’s founder, Marian Taylor Brown:

Also available via Vlog, here.

Greetings, beloved ACI community,

I want to take a moment to thank each of you for our many moons of deep and transformational collaboration, working to build cultural equity and creative justice.

ACI was founded with the belief that artists come up with innovative solutions to pressing human rights issues. This core belief - in artists - and in arts and culture, remains true today, now ten years into our work. I’m proud of the many humans that have, currently are, or one day will, be a part of the ACI collective and wider community. You have and will continue to progress us towards shared liberation.

Together, we have built leadership nurturing programs including artist residencies, and multiple fellowship programs like our Youth United Artists, and Creative Justice Fellows. We’ve also met community need with emergency and solidarity creative grants.

Together, we have bloomed the Transformative Research Collective, publishing multiple articles, community findings reports, and an upcoming book focused on collective action and creative justice. Through each, we continue to center community and equity as we shape storytelling and meaningmaking.

Together, we dreamed widely and vastly to create the Cultural Equity Learning Community, training 3K ppl since 2020, we opened the Cultural Equity Incubator in 2021, supporting countless community partners while building home and meaning - alongside journeying with numerous partners through Consult With ACI.

It’s often challenging to know when it’s time to transition, especially as a founder. It’s an incredible thing to see what was once seeded truly bloom, and I am confident in our current season of change and evolution.

Three years ago we transitioned our leadership structure to a lateral co-director model. Although far from perfect, we have made great progress in learning and unlearning as we move towards deeper alignment. With this new model in place, and with T’Ajmal, mica, Andrea, and River co-leading as employee co-directors, alongside Jess, Mama Erdene, and Jazzmin as neutral co-directors, I am both confident in and deeply excited for the next steps and evolution in our collective work.

During this transition season I welcome you to support these co-leaders in any capacity that you can. Reach out to them for a coffee, come visit at the CEI, join future programming, and help sustain this essential work through making a one-time or recurring donation.

I am ever cognizant of the many, many guides who have poured into me, and my learning, along this path. I commit to passing their wisdom forward, with gratitude for the many gifts.

With love, thank you, thank you.

In solidarity,

Marian Taylor Brown

ACI Founder & former Co-Director of Collective Abundance

P.S. In case you’re wondering - up next on my path is a health, spiritual, and artistic sabbatical for the fall 2024 semester. I will also continue my work as a visiting researcher and lecturer at UMass Boston and as an adjunct lecturer at Harvard University. I welcome continued connection via mariantaylorbrown@gmail.com, with updates upcoming on my personal platforms: Website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram.

Introducing the 2022 DIAL Boston Cohort

DIAL Boston cohort members, including Arts Host staff, ACI team, and interns, sit and introduce themselves around a large conference table at the Cultural Equity Incubator. Light filters in from a large window, illuminating the wooden beams of the ceiling and earthy red of the exposed brick wall.

When ACI conducted the Cultural Equity Gap study from 2017-2019, one of the main levers for change in building equity focused on the importance of leadership pathways and pipelines. 5 years later, we’re thrilled to introduce the inaugural Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) Boston cohort!

This year, ACI welcomes 5 interns who will work with local equity-focused arts organizations including Dunamis, Pao Arts Center, StageSource, The Theater Offensive, and us at ACI!

Meet the Interns

celine voyard (they/she) is a Boston-based community organizer of Haitian and Japanese ancestry. A current senior at UMass Boston, they major in Labor Studies, and minor in Human Rights, Latin@ Studies, and Cinema Studies. They are excited to continue strengthening practices of ethical storytelling through the mediums of film, poetry, and research, to better incorporate multilingual and diasporic accounts of healing. 

celine will intern at arts connect international

Kay Brown (she/her/hers) is a South Carolinian and part of the Mount Holyoke College class of 2023 majoring in Critical Social Thought. She is interested in exploring the relationship between language & power, Black Southern Womanhood, & how art can be used to break down institutional systems to create a new Disturbance in the world. Kay explores these themes and more through the founding & publication of her e-magazine entitled Disturbance, inspired by James Baldwin's quote that "artists are here to disturb the peace."

Kay will intern at Dunamis

Ana Boyd (she/her) is currently a rising Junior at Brown University, concentrating in Modern Culture and Media on the Practice Track with a certificate in Engaged Scholarship. She is a visual storyteller: working in photography, film, public art, and graphic design. Her practice aims to incorporate ethnographic methods, centering the narratives of communities of color in art spaces. Outside of this, Ana is an avid film and music enthusiast, working at the Blackstar Film Festival, Ivy Film Festival, and WBRU 360.

Ana will intern at The Theater Offensive

Ruzhen 'Anna' Zhang (She/They) is a first generation college student studying History and Museum Studies at UMass Amherst. She’s passionate about working to increase diversity and create artistic environments for the enjoyment of the Chinatown neighborhood this summer. In the future, Anna hopes to become a museum curator that can decolonize museum collections and connect with audiences.

Anna will intern at Pao Arts Center

Elliot Charis Haugen (he/they) is a 20-year-old theater artist from the Twin Cities, Minnesota. His mission is to stage plays through accessible, flexible, and non-hierarchical processes. He is currently studying Theater and Mathematics at Mount Holyoke College, and is a proud alum of Saint Paul Conservatory For Performing Artists.

Elliot will intern at StageSource

DIAL Mentors

DIAL interns are also matched with mentors who will provide support and guidance through a weekly call with the intern. Pictured above from left to right:

Angela Godin, Executive Director of Community Arts Center of Cambria County in Johnstown, PA (Mentoring Elliot Haugen)

Carmen Plazas, Communications and Community Engagement Manager at Mass Cultural Council in Boston (Mentoring Ruzhen “Anna” Zhang)

Dawn Meredith Simmons, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The Front Porch Arts Collective in Boston (Mentoring Kay Brown)

Eboni Bell Darcy, Inclusion, Engagement and Training Director at Stages Houston in Texas (Mentoring Ayana Boyd)

Jinyi Duan, Co-Founder & Executive Director of The Flavor Continues in Boston (Mentoring celine voyard)

Hiring a Co-Director of Finance!

Hello y’all! As ACI continues growing, we are excited to search for a co-director who can support the financial health of the organization. The full job description is here - please email micah@artsconnectinternational.org with questions, feedback, et al, and apply (share a resume and cover letter through this link) by Thursday May 26, 2022.

Please share with your neighbors and networks! Our co-directors live and collaborate transnationally, organizing across & against borders, but under current legal forces, we must hire this position in the U.S.

About the ACI Co-Director of Finance:

You are a visionary who knows how to nurture the financial well-being of non-profit organizations and collectives. You are committed to intersectional racial equity and believe that participatory budgeting is essential to collective well-being. You are a collaborator who values multiple perspectives and ways of knowing, and are excited about the community ACI has fostered and continues to evolve. You may or may not identify as an artist - but you believe in the transformative power of the arts. As we journey through decolonizing our bookkeeping and relationship to monies within this work, we look to you to support best practices and day-to-day fiscal well being as we steward this work collectively. 

As an employee of ACI you work to manage and oversee the receipt and allocation of money within and from ACI. This position reports directly to the other co-directors as a part of our shared leadership structure. The position is intended to grow over time and could expand into other work as opportunities arise. 

Image Description: A banner and logo. Blue text reads "Arts Connect International Building Equity and Inclusion In and Through the Arts" in all caps. To the right: our logo is overlapping multicolored circles with our name spelled in a circle around the pattern.

Meet ACI’s Co-Director of Creative Disruption | Zakiyyah Sutton

Image Description: A portrait of Zakiyyah seated in front of a red backdrop wearing a black t-shirt with the text “DANGER - EDUCATED BLACK WOMAN”. She holds a book open in her hands, about to turn the page. Next to Zakiyyah is a pedestal with several stacked books and a pair of glasses. Photo by Mel Taing

A love letter from Zakiyyah

My name is Zakiyyah (she/her). A few months ago, I had the honor of joining the ACI family. As I step into my fairly new role as the Co-Director of Creative Disruption, I’m reminded of the very long, and sometimes painful journey that led me here.

See I’ve been disrupted quite a lot in my life. I’ve been disrupted by men whose bias made my voice inaudible. By white people whose values deemed mine insignificant, and by a capitalist system that taught me that I am not worthy of living a good life unless I sacrifice my sanity--and my culture to do it. 

These are the lies that give credence to the idea that we must work with what we’re given, and not with what we can make. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned from my art is that disruption doesn’t just have to be something that happens to me--it can be my path to salvation.

As an arts-activist, I’m constantly learning new ways of being, of lending my art to the charge that is social justice. Along the path I discovered Hip-Hopera, my own way of disrupting the social and artistic expectations of a Black girl whose classically-trained background meant she would gladly abandon the sounds that birthed her, for those that would be more easily heard and respected in the spaces that “matter”. 

I fell into disruption, and when I got up I found freedom. 

Disruption is messy. It’s unapologetic. Bold. Demanding. And it’s effective.

This is why I decided to join Arts Connect International. There are major systems designed to favor the few, and they require our disruption. Contrary to popular belief, “the system” was never broken, and that’s precisely the problem. Through ACI I’ve been blessed to work with a group of individuals who embody what it means to constantly rediscover your humanity through a commitment to self-disruption after a lifetime of societal conditioning. 

As I work with organizations who struggle with major inequities, seemingly imprisoned by years of tradition and capitalist incentives, I’m reminded of just how necessary disruption is. With platforms of greater power and influence, their own systems carry the weight that give all others validation and legitimacy. That is why I seek to disrupt those systems before they continue to disrupt the lives of other BlPOC beings whose very existence is a testament to why people in power fear disruption in the first place.

Now my focus is on working with my fellow ACI members to create the tune that makes all the others stop. We may not always get the notes right, but we always get better.

-Zakiyyah

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Image Description: A portrait of Zakiyyah seated in front of a red backdrop wearing a black t-shirt with the text “DANGER - EDUCATED BLACK WOMAN”. She has her left elbow propped up on the pedestal next to her, her left hand framing her face in an ‘L” shape. On the pedestal are several stacked books and a pair of glasses. Photo by Mel Taing

Throughout this fall season we will be highlighting our employee Co-Directors!

Interviewed by Artist in Community Fellow Mel Taing, each co-director will share more about themselves centering on what they're most excited about in their work, how they’ve been practicing self-care, and what they hope to manifest in the future!

Zakiyyah Sutton (she/her) is the Co-Director of Creative Disruption at Arts Connect International. You can follow her work on Instagram - @zakiyyah_official or her website https://www.zakiyyahofficial.com.

To ‘meet’ with Zakiyyah, read below!

What is the juiciest thing you're working on right now? What aspect of your work are you most passionate about in this moment? Is this a particular memory from the past month that you want to highlight?

I'm excited about a show I'm putting together for the end of September at the Museum of Science! The theme is all about decolonizing museums, something that is essential to our arts equity work, and I'm excited that I get to lend my own artistry to this cause.

How have you been filling your cup? How are you creating space for rest, care and joy lately?

I'm still struggling to find my balance. I have a hard time resting because that capitalist guilt seeps in and I start thinking about what I SHOULD be doing. I'm trying to stave off those thoughts by getting back into exercise. Exercise changes my mood in general and I don't really have an opportunity to think about my long list of responsibilities in that moment.

Looking into the near or far future, what are you hoping to manifest? What are you visioning into within this moment?

In the near future, I want to manifest my tribe. I've already found an amazing tribe in ACI, but in my artist life, I'd like to have a tribe that can offer me the support I need to enjoy my art and be able to engage with it without it feeling so burdensome. None of us can go it alone so that's very important to me!

#AES2020 Partner Highlight: Conservatory Lab Charter School

Written by Conservatory Lab Charter School

At Conservatory Lab Charter School, we believe that students are already scholars, artists, and leaders who bring rich cultural resources with them to school. If more schools and arts organizations put students and participants at the center of their work, we believe that it would make educational and cultural institutions stronger and more inclusive.

At Conservatory Lab, because we believe our students can already participate as investigators, creators, and advocates, we put them at the center of their own learning. We treat music as a core subject and in all subjects, teachers and resident artists remove barriers to learning and create opportunities for students to connect basic skills like reading and math to the real world. Students investigate the world through fieldwork and teachers introduce them to the tools they need to understand themselves and others.

For example in 2019, kindergarten students observed trees like scientists in a learning expedition called “Trees Are Alive.” Teachers took students on two trips for fieldwork at the Arnold Arboretum in early and late spring. Each student had their own backpack equipped with tools for measuring, sketch pads, and a set of questions they worked with teachers to create. They shared their findings in science talks, journals, and artwork, enumerating what they learned about how trees grow, how trees affect other living things, and why trees are important for our human community.

In 2019, Conservatory Lab piloted a summer program focusing on Food Justice for students going into grades 3-5. To see for themselves how food is grown and transported to them, students observed their city taking trips to Drumlin Farms, the Blue Hills, a Dorchester Market and a regular grocery store. They worked together in the Lower School garden beds, connecting growing things and soil. Using a social justice lens, students questioned the equity of the different quality and costs of food at grocery stores and markets. Making connections to their lives, students considered how food is wasted, and brainstormed ways to abate waste in Boston and worldwide.

This March, students in Grade 8 celebrated their progress on the culminating experience at Conservatory Lab, the Eighth Grade Capstone Project. Students set up an Artist Salon presenting their capstone research on social justice issues. Visual artworks and poetry lined the walls of a classroom while families milled around to ask questions and students explained their research on social justice issues. The whole salon paused rapt with attention as students performed original spoken word and music about community violence, incarceration, and equity in education.

By taking the work our students do seriously, we honor their practice of reflecting on their own progress in context, so that as Conservatory Lab students grow they learn to approach opportunities and challenges proactively. Because we know our students are already scholars, artists, and leaders, students will be prepared to be independent civic agents and advocate for what they believe in the future.

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In an effort to responsibly curate community and activation during the COVID-19 pandemic, ACI is making #AES2020 virtual! We are still curating three days of art and conversation exploring issues of equity in and through the arts, and we hope to see you there. 

Tickets are free and donations based, and you can register for VirtualAES2020 HERE.

#AES2020 Session Spotlight && Open Mic Sign Up

Virtual AES2020 | 4.24.20 - 4.26.20

We are incredibly excited to bring the Arts Equity Summit to you in its new virtual format! You can still join us in community online for three days of art and conversation exploring issues of equity in and through the arts.

Only those who register via Eventbrite will receive breakout session Zoom links.

Tickets are free and donations based, and you can register for Virtual AES2020 HERE . 

REGISTER TODAY

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SESSION SPOTLIGHTS

We are so grateful to the community of cultural workers that has agreed to share their thought work with the AES2020 community, as we move to collectively build equity. Meet some of the activators, shakers and makers who help ensure the movement happens.

Equity-by-Design: Resistance in Arts Education Praxis through Inquires, Celebrations, & Creative Constructs

Through interactive activities and creative process, Danielle and Terrance invite us to collaboratively reconfigure HOW we think about and do arts and education, core pipelines to arts participation and leadership. Decolonize our imaginations by dismantling and redefining rigor, ensure access to meaningful experiences which transgress Patriarchal-White Supremacy-Capitalism-Ableism, investigate and get inspired by exemplars for centering creative practices which are equitable by design and empower diverse ways of knowing and being in order to expand our palette for applying equity-research. Bring your own insights and creativity!

Art & Global Health Center Africa, Lessons from Malawi 

Working together to share lessons from their work, Rodger and Sharon invite us to:

1. Look at the application of Umunthu, the pan African philosophical concept of humanity, in curbing health access disparities of LGBTI persons through creative participatory arts.

2. Look at the various participatory arts approaches that ArtGlo's UN SDG Action award winning MASA program uses to engage different audiences in gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights issues.

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#AES2020 COMMUNITY OPEN MIC!

Did you know that this year we're rocking an open mic for AES2020? Join us Friday April 24th at 8:30pm EDT , following AES2020 performances.

We want to hear from you! Sign ups are on a first come basis, and the line-up will be shared with artists on Friday before we start.

Hosted by Boston creative extraordinaire Amanda Shea

OPEN MIC SIGN UP

#AES2020 Partner Highlight: The Network of Arts Administrators of Color (NAAC) Boston, ArtsBoston

Written by Audrey Seraphin

For 45 years, ArtsBoston has been working to advance the arts and culture sector, and the establishment of the Network for Arts Administrators of Color (NAACBoston) in 2016 was the next chapter in that ongoing work. ArtsBoston believes that the arts are essential to daily life, integral to who we are as a region, and spur economic vitality for all. It works to unite, strengthen, promote and celebrate the diversity of arts and cultural organizations in Greater Boston because they each represent not only a creative vision, but also provide jobs, inspiration, education and community to the people who live, work and play here. ArtsBoston advocates for a more fair and inclusive arts community working to dismantle systems of oppression and eliminate biases in our culture – and within itself. As a sector, ArtsBoston believes we must create spaces that focus on stories by and for people of color, young people, and working-class people. We want to see equitable support given to organizations led by people of color, women, disabled people, nonbinary people. We believe in arts workers' rights with fair compensation, where working in any job in the arts is lucrative and respected. We want the arts and cultural sector to be recognized as the economic force it is, with innovative strategies around consumer engagement, data collection, and community building.

ArtsBoston works to create a shift in the culture through our programs to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). In response to the strategic planning process, ArtsBoston is looking to advance its EDI work beyond a few programs and trainings by more fully integrating an anti-oppression lens into its organizational strategy and core values. It is currently developing an EDI plan that serves as a foundation for infusing these values in all its initiatives, and establishes priorities and process for the work moving forward to best meet the needs of the sector. It also offers workshops for arts organizations on eliminating implicit bias, deconstructing white supremacy, and making all feel truly included and welcome through audience development.

ArtsBoston is also home to the Network for Arts Administrators of Color (NAAC) Boston, the only group made for and by self-identifying people of color (POC) to empower, elevate, and engage POC workers in the arts sector. Founded in July 2016, NAAC is now over 350 members strong, and is led by a POC volunteer steering committee and ArtsBoston staff members. Connected through an active list serve, NAAC Boston serves as a job board, resource share, social club and skill builder for its members. NAAC Boston specifically aims to offer safe spaces for POC arts administrators to unwind, create community, open doors, reduce sector burnout, and keep talented professionals in the industry. Workshops offered include seminars in salary negotiation, personal finance, personal branding and networking. NAAC Boston also provides public programming to showcase the talent and knowledge of our members with panel series like our Conversations with Leader of Color in the Arts, and organizes outings to both support artists of color and to take up space in traditionally white spaces.

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In an effort to responsibly curate community and activation during the COVID-19 pandemic, ACI is making #AES2020 virtual! We are still curating three days of art and conversation exploring issues of equity in and through the arts, and we hope to see you there. 

Tickets are free and donations based, and you can register for VirtualAES2020 HERE.

#AES2020 Artist Spotlight

We are incredibly excited to bring the Arts Equity Summit to you in its new virtual format! Join us in community online for three days of art and conversation exploring issues of equity in and through the arts.

Tickets are free and donations based, and you can register for Virtual AES2020 HERE . 

Check out the spotlights below to learn more about some of the performing artists who will be sharing their incredible talent and thought work with the #AES2020 community.

REGISTER TODAY

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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

This lineup of performers will be live-streamed April 24th from 6:30pm-8:30pm EDT . 

Have a fun night in with us as we celebrate resilience and resistance through art!

In particular, we want to thank Red Sage Stories/Playback Theatre and Aysha Upchurch for creating pieces directly engaging with ACI's research on the cultural equity gap. Click HERE to read the research report, Moves Toward Equity: Perspectives of Arts Leaders of Color .

Red Sage Stories

A Dorchester/Roxbury based performance troupe of predominately People of Color, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and intergenerational. RSS creates space for healing and empowerment for individuals and communities of diverse backgrounds through Playback Theatre and other performance art forms. They are the only Playback Theatre troupe that regularly performs with an ASL interpreter as part of their company.

Aysha Upchurch

Aysha Upchurch, the Dancing Diplomat, is an artist and educator who creates, facilitates, and designs for radical change. Whether on the stage or in a classroom, Aysha is on the move to crush borders and show how Hip Hop and movement education are D.O.P.E. - dismantling oppression and pushing education.

Red Shaydez

Red Shaydez is a multi-faceted, boxer robe-wearing bully of a hip-hop artist and the queen of cool, whose lyrical prowess leaves nothing standing in its wake. The Boston-born lyricist, filmmaker, and mentor has been featured on MTV, Fox 25 News, Hot 96.9 FM and performed at A3C, HubWeek 2018, BAMS Fest 2019. She has just been nominated for “Unsigned Artist of the Year” at the 2019 Boston Music Awards.

Ava Sophia

Laid-back R&B feels and emotionally-driven honest lyrics are what define Boston-based singer/songwriter, Ava Sophia. Ava has performed at numerous venues in the Boston metropolitan area, has toured in New York City, Los Angeles, Valencia Spain, and has been featured by MTV’s TRL. She is striving to inspire through her music.

Zakiyyah Sutton

Boston Performing Artist and Activist Zakiyyah is fusing her passion for social justice with her unique artistic background of opera, jazz, R&B, and Hip-Hop. She recently released her first single, "Shades of Black (The Hip-Hopera) to break barriers and encourage people of color to not compromise themselves in order to fit into white spaces. The single preludes her upcoming album African Import.

Dzidzor

Dzidzor (Jee-Jaw) is a Ghanian-American folk, performing artist, author and entrepreneur. Dzidzor’s style of call and response has re-imagined poetry and story-telling as a way to include the audience in a experience to challenge, inspire and encourage self beyond traditional forms. She began performing through slam poetry and now curates spaces like Black Cotton Club, and teaches at Grubstreet, Mattapan Library and Brookview House.

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POWERED BY HOWLROUND

Livestream for Friday night's programming is made possible by HowlRound Theatre Commons. You can watch the livestream HERE on April 24th, starting at 6:30pm EDT .

#AES2020 Partner Highlight: ARTE

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Written by ARTE

Since our first mural in the Bronx in 2011, ARTE has worked extensively with communities throughout New York City, providing quality, interactive arts-based activities that educate young people about human rights in schools, community-based organizations, and jails.

The first facet of our mission is to educate youth on human rights and equip them with the knowledge to identify the root causes of systemic inequity. Realizing that there was a great disconnect between human rights theory and practice in our students’ day-to-day life, we initially developed to support their communities in realizing and advocating for their inherent human rights.

We’ve found that participants become more knowledgeable, interested, and passionate in human rights through the process of public art and particularly in the creation of a public mural. Public murals are a valuable component in the our curricula, designed to empower both students and their local communities to engage in questions surrounding human rights justice and art as a tool for social change--allowing them to reimagine justice actively in their own backyards.

ARTE’s first mural focused on the issue of human trafficking. Since then, community members have learned and painted about human rights violations both within the United States and internationally. Some of these issues have included harsh sentencing, poor prison conditions, child slavery, gender inequity, and police brutality; inspiration has come from women activists and street artists of color.

Our artwork is motivated by history, another reason we prioritize equity in our pedagogy. We’re currently fundraising to publish a redesigned edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s a graphic and contemporary reconception of our founding document, one which feels esoteric and out of reach after 70 years of existence. To reassert its relevance in the lives of our students, we believe releasing the document as an interactive and sleek convertible booklet and poster will bring the text’s mission into the modern day.

ARTE strives to offer a platform on which students can freely and safely express themselves and their opinions, all the while providing an arts education their schools and communities often aren’t able to offer. We equip youth with organizing skills that enable them to collectively activate others in steering society towards justice, using their lingua franca and multisensory modes of communication.

From comfort with identifying root causes of systemic inequity to feeling empowered to uproot them through the employment of creativity and galvanization of resources and communities, ARTE ultimately equips our students to cultivate equity in their own lives. The tenor and adaptability of our workshops, interdisciplinary curricula, and deep commitment to social justice are why we believe equity is at the basis of our work as a non-profit.

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In an effort to responsibly curate community and activation during the COVID-19 pandemic, ACI is making #AES2020 virtual! We are still curating three days of art and conversation exploring issues of equity in and through the arts, and we hope to see you there. 

Tickets are free and donations based, and you can register for VirtualAES2020 HERE.

#VirtualAES2020 Keynote Announcement!

In an effort to responsibly curate community and activation during the COVID-19 pandemic, ACI is making #AES2020 virtual! We are still curating three days of art and conversation exploring issues of equity in and through the arts, and we hope to see you there. 

Tickets are free and donations based, and you can register for VirtualAES2020 HERE.

Check out the spotlights below to learn more about some of the speakers who will be sharing their incredible work with the #AES2020 community.

REGISTER TODAY

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Keynote Speaker Spotlight

Mark Charles

Mark Charles is a speaker, writer, and consultant. The son of an American woman (of Dutch heritage) and a Navajo man, Mark teaches the complexities of American history regarding race, culture, and Christendom in order to help forge a path of healing and conciliation for the nation. In 2012, Mark hosted a public reading at the US Capitol of the buried apology to Native peoples in the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill given by the 111th Congress. He is the co-author of the book, Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery, and he authors the blog Reflections from the Hogan.Mark is currently an independent candidate for the presidency of the United States.

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Keynote Panel Spotlight

Wallace Juma

Born in Busia Kenya, Wallace is an experimental visual artist based in Nairobi. Wallace recently co-founded Kijani artist collective. Wallace uses an array of materials and techniques to visualize his message and thoughts. Most recently, Wallace won the ‘Manjano 2018’ first prize.

Yara Liceaga

Yara is a queer Afro-Caribbean Puerto Rican mother, poet/writer, performer, cultural worker, and educator whose work addresses issues of origin, gender, race, and class. Recently Yara became a Brother Thomas Fellow and was published by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.

Cindy Lu

Cindy is a former scientist and has been making art full-time for the past three years. Her work emphasizes experimentation and uses materiality to explore the dynamics of interaction and the tension of intermediate states, particularly with respect to societal transformations. 

Edafe Okporo

Edafe is an LGBTQ rights activist, Author of the book "BED 26: A Memoir" and the off broadway show BED26 Play. He is the ED of RDJ Refugee Shelter in Harlem and considers himself as a bridge. He has spoken to world leaders at the UN, educational institutions and Fortune 500 companies. As an openly gay and proud Nigerian, he and his partner live in the heart beat of NYC.

Nayda Cuevas

Nayda was born in Puerto Rico, migrating in 1990 to Florida. As a means of negotiating alienation she turned to the arts to explore her identity. Cuevas' passion emerged for unearthing a visual language to better articulate through visual artsher observation and/or interpretation of her Latinx American experience.

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Live streaming of VirtualAES2020 Keynotes is made possible by HowlRound Theatre Commons. We remain incredibly grateful for their partnership!

During this trying time when the world is learning how to go virtual HowlRound is lending a hand on their knowledge and expertise!

#AES2020 Goes Virtual

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Dear Arts Connect International Community –

ACI is deeply committed to protecting the health, safety, and well-being of our community and continuing to build equity in and through the arts. With health, wellbeing and equity at the forefront, ACI's team is moving forward with AES2020 as a virtual summit.

What does this mean?

• Virtual AES2020 will take place online via web conferencing, April 24th - 26th.

• All of our confirmed artists and speakers are invited to continue participation in this format, and will be offered their full honorariums. 

• All of Virtual AES2020 will be recorded and archived this year, allowing us to make the material open source!

We believe this format leads to a more equitable Summit in myriad capacities. Above all, this response allows us to keep community and collective health at the forefront, while working against fear with love. 

In this time, we are all individually and collectively impacted by the quickly evolving landscape surrounding COVID-19. We want want to recognize the disproportionate impact this public health issue has had on various individuals, families and collectives. 

We also recognize, at this time and always, the importance of addressing racism and xenophobia in our work and in our communities. This is particularly apparent during times of stress and duress, as we are experiencing now. As a member of the ACI community, Wilhelmina Peragine, shares with us:

"It's a time for profound altruism to outshine profound fear" 

We hope that these words resonate as we endeavor to take care of one another during this time.

Virtual AES2020 is supported by our funders and Board of Directors, for which we are incredibly grateful. We simply could not do this work without them and our wonderful community. We are in the process of producing AES2020 in this new format and will release information on the new registration process and updated schedule next week.

Please keep posted on updates through our newsletter and the AES2020 website.

In the meantime, below are additional resources available to better understand COVID-19 and how we can all help to prevent further spread of the virus.

Center for Disease Control (CDC)

Travel Information

Coronavirus Disease 2019

Additional Resources

Mental Health & Coping During COVID-19

Talking to Children About COVID-19

Best Practices for Working from Home

Research Based Online Learning for Teachers

National Coalition for Artists Preparedness

How the Arts & Culture Sector can Prepare for COVID-19

ArtsReady

With all our love,

ACI's Staff & Board

Allegra Fletcher, Executive Director | Hanako Brais, Research & Programming Assistant | Kelsey Karys, Development Fellow | Sahara-Yvette Zamudio, Programming Fellow | Marian Taylor Brown, Board Chair | Jennifer Bailey, Treasurer | Kimberly Curhan, Board Member | Quanice Floyd, Board Member | Andrea Gordillo, Board Member | Meena Malik, Board Member | Shreyas Navare, Board Member | Tiago Santiago, Board Member

#AES2020 Partner Highlight: Brookline Arts Center

Photos provided by BAC, Dominic Chavez and Silvia López Chavez

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Written by Brookline Arts Center

The Brookline Arts Center (BAC) is committed to bringing the community meaningful experiences in the arts through classes, exhibitions and outreach. There are so many individiuals and organizations in the Commonwealth coming together and working to create equity in the arts. Working with our partners, we strive to remove barriers to access, regardless of income, ability, background or age.

Creative expression and exploration are vital to the human experience and we deeply believe that art helps individuals reach their full potential. Art also has the unique ability to connect people, build community and celebrate diversity, a growing need in our society and the world.

Through our programs and partnerships, we strive to provide and foster opportunities for ALL to create, experience and share art, contributing to a happy, healthy, creative and equitable Massachussetts.

The BAC is a central hub for visual arts in Brookline. At 56 years old, we serve over 5,000 individuals each year through classes, exhibitions and outreach within and beyond our walls. Located on the border of Brookline and Boston, and neighboring the Fenway, Kenmore and Beacon Street business district and Longwood medical area, we serve many adjacent communities.

Our community outreach program, ARTreach, provides accessible opportunities for all ages, backgrounds and abilities. We have developed and nurtured partnerships with Brookline Food Pantry, Brookline Housing Authority, Brookline Parks and Open Space, Brookline Public Schools, ParentChild+, Women Thriving, Inc. and others to increase access and equity in the arts.

In partnership with Brookline Housing Authority and Brookline Food Pantry, we strive to break down barriers that families living in public housing face. We offer free art programs for residents onsite during BHA events and during pantry hours.

Working with ParentChild+, we offer free art classes for low-income families. Our early childhood classes build fine motor, auditory and observation skills, as well as ignite imagination and cultivate group socialization. Participating with a parent, other families and a skilled teacher engages children in an experience that supports school readiness, love of learning and social and emotional skills. Additionally, we provide over $14,000 in financial aid each year for individuals and families.

Our gallery programs further expand access in the arts. These programs provide opportunities for children and adults alike to view and engage with work from emerging and established artists from Greater Boston and beyond. Last year, we displayed work by over 80 professional and emerging artists, and launched our Echo Trobridge Artist Residency, which provides an opportunity for artists to experiment and grow their body of work with our support. Our gallery programs offer an environment where visitors are invited to experience art outside of the traditional white box setting, allowing for a more welcoming and intimate exploration of the work. Admission to these programs is always free.

We understand the importance of responding to the needs of our community. All of our programs are intentionally connected, allowing for multiple touchpoints and an environment that fosters a lifetime of engagement in the arts.

Connect with Brookline Arts Center at AES2020’s kick-off event at Hibernian Hall on Friday, April 24th. Learn more about the Arts Equity Summit and get tickets here!

#AES2020 Artist Highlight: Dimitri Dubuisson & Sherwin Long

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Dimitri Dubuisson is a Boston based illustrator born in the islands. He graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration. As a child he had a strong imagination and drawing was the only thing that he felt he could do to express himself. Now years later into his life and career he explores the full spectrum of art, becoming an inspiring entrepreneur. The inspiration for his artwork comes from surrealism, classical fine art and street art. The combination of each of these elements with his storytelling creates a new experience for each viewer. Every piece that he creates has a meaning behind it. His work engages themes of spirituality and unlocking the latent potential that lies within every soul. He is inspired to make changes in the world through his artwork.  

Sherwin Long is an illustrator and freelance artist from Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated with a BFA in Illustration from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He has a wide variety of work and a technique that is extremely versatile, with mediums ranging from acrylic and watercolor to charcoal and pastel drawings. The size of his work is just as diverse, with small pieces painted on wood surfaces to larger pieces painted on canvas. His work is heavily influenced by the graffiti and murals in his community with a splash of fine art, making his work unique. He is mainly inspired by hip hop music, poetry, spirituality, mythology, and architecture. Sherwin has displayed his work in local businesses and libraries, and has also had the opportunity to teach art classes in his community. Art has always been his passion and a crucial part of his life from an early age, so he enjoys the chance to expand the imagination of young minds. He has also participated in various community events and has hosted cultural events in collaboration with other artists in hopes to provide his community with access to view and purchase fine art and to provide a platform for local artists to display their work or perform.

You can learn more about Dimitri and Sherwin’s work by visiting their websites. You can also join both of them at AES2020’s kick-off event at Hibernian Hall on Friday, April 24th where their work will be showcased. Learn more about the Arts Equity Summit and get tickets here!

Calls are now open! #AES2020

Arts Connect International (ACI) is curating a coalition of community partners, sponsors, speakers and artists for the second Arts Equity Summit in April 2020. We are ecstatic to continue the beautiful work we started last year as we embark on our second Arts Equity Summit. We encourage everyone to apply by the Nov. 30th deadline. Click HERE to apply.

Currently, we have calls open for:

Proposals: Panels, workshops, town hall discussions, keynotes and fireside chats 

Art: Visual, performance and multimedia

Partnership: Community and Sponsoring partners (including in-kind donations)

This year we are introducing three strands to help guide the conversations: 

1)    Structures for Success: Building Equity in Your Organization

Conversations surrounding visions of equitable organizations and the steps to take to get us there.

2)     Innovative Creatives: Building New Systems

Conversations for those interested in or currently building equity in new ways, including new approaches and methods, systems, or structures.

3)    Celebrating Resistance: Centering Community

Conversations celebrating the moves toward equity that are already happening in communities, organizations and institutions with the aim of empowering others to continue or start similar work.

We would love to partner with you to cultivate critical conversations in order to build equitable joyful and creative communities. 

Questions? Please reach out to Allegra via allegra@artsconnectinternational.org

SAVE THE DATE! | 9/19/19

Join us on 9/19/19!

ACI turned five this year and to celebrate we are bringing community together for an evening of connectivity, artistry, advocacy and action in building equity in, and through, the arts.

The evening will feature live performances, a talk back panel with current Boston arts leaders on the state of equity in the arts sector, distribution of the findings from Phase II of the Cultural Equity Gap study, and of course dancing, delicious food and libations.

Join us on Thursday September 19th 2019 | 6pm - 9pm

Tickets are donation based, and the official RSVP is now open! The event is graciously hosted by Boston Art Inc. If you are interested in being on the host committee or sponsoring the event, please contact Marian via: marian@artsconnectinternational.org

If you’d like to make a donation to ACI on behalf of our birthday celebration, 🎉 thank you! You can do so HERE.