Claiming Oneself Where Art & Culture Meet: “Afro Promo #1 King Lady”

Intersectionality is a core tenet and inherent part of what it means to be part of the Asian diaspora.

Anne Ishii is the executive director of Asian Arts Initiative, a multidisciplinary arts center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

A person with short hair is sitting at a circular table. They are surrounded by assorted objects, books, and plants

A Brave Space for Brave Art

Artists are workers and have a work product that’s crucial to the health of their communities.

Artists move us through the darkness in such obvious ways, but many people think art is a luxury.

How history inspired Artists At Work and other creative employment programs

Sculptors at work in New York under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project. Photo: Archive of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Artists work in pairs around small paint-stained benches in a messy studio. In black and white, their hair and clothes indicate that this photo was taken in the early 1900s. Artists work on various stages of sculptures. One artist paints a statue of a camel.

A New Deal for Artists in the 21st Century

Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris is the founder of Rennie Harris Puremovement, a dance company bringing street dance to the concert stage.

A Black choreographer and dancer sits backstage at a theater. A pulley system takes up the entire wall behind him.

Rennie Harris is Just Teaching the Facts

...the Artists At Work program is centered around the belief that artistic labor is valuable and essential to society.

Regeneration has a capacity to heal the earth, heal our communities, and heal ourselves.

I want to help confirm the dreams of others, while gathering and hearing every voice.

“Vivarium: A Place of Life,” one of Artists At Work Fellow Maru García’s past exhibitions. Photo: courtesy of the artist

A close-up shot on a mossy beach shows a person in the foreground laying on their side in a clear bubble.

A (Re)generation of Artists

Chicana Dance Crew Blends Tap and Mexican Footwork

“Pachuquísmo” performed by La Mezcla. Photo: Beth LaBerge for KQED Arts

Two dancers wearing streetwear stand before a vintage car and clap their hands

La Mezcla: The Choreography of Collaboration

Project EATS Founder Linda Goode Bryant at a farm on Randall’s Island in New York. Photo: Ari Marcopolous 

A Black woman stands in an indoor garden in a row of plants. She wears glasses and boots, looking at the camera.

Artist Linda Goode Bryant on Creating Food Sovereignty with New York Communities: “Let’s Find the ‘Can’ in ‘Can’t’ ”

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Artists create social connections among huge groups of people through our ability to imagine and
transform.

There’s nothing about the structure of our DNA nor the content of our blood that is any different from anyone else’s.

Caring for the culture also means caring for the people that make it up.

Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes, Ashé Cultural Arts Center chief equity officer.

Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes

New Orleans Creatives Get to the Heart of the Matter

The Wideman Davis Dance Company performs Migratuse Ataraxia in Alabama in 2020. Photo: Clark Scott

 A single dancer performs in Wideman Davis Dance’s “Migratuse Ataraxia.” They are raising their arms and stepping their right foot forward. A multimedia projection is displayed behind them.

Exploring the Histories of Black Sites

The work of dancer, choreographer, and multi-disciplinary artist nora chipaumire explores gender and the Black performing body and aesthetic, while defying and deconstructing narratives born out of lived experiences of liberation wars, exiles, and racial and social differences. Photo: Erik Tanner for Mellon Foundation

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Artists as Catalysts

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Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Civic Engagement

Civic engagement navigation image - A large crowd of people who are far away and anonymous

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

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Monuments and Memory

A large statue of a confederate general is covered in markings and graffiti. 

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 