This blog grew out of a study group on arts and social activism preceding the
Big Learning Event, Powerful Conversations for the Future, at UW-Madison on June 7 & 8 2011.
Projects listed alphabetically. Please tell us about others we should add to the list!
Art Action Unionhttp://artactionunion.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/another-sporadic-activist-art-blog-thing/Their aim is to provide creative & concerned people a platform & audience, archive of thoughts & celebration of actions for change.
Art & Remembrancehttp://artandremembrance.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.showHomeArt and Remembrance is a non-profit, arts and educational organization that seeks to change people's hearts and minds by illuminating the experience of war, oppression, and injustice through the power and passion of personal narrative in art.Art For Shelterhttp://art4shelter.org/home.htmlAn exhibit and sale of original artworks on paper by emerging and established artists with all funds going to support a homeless shelter.. Each piece will sell for $30. A list of participating artists are updated on the website and posted the night of the event. The works themselves are signed only on the
back. Donnors may end up with a work by a famous artist, or be the first to discover an unknown talent! All will be Simpson Housing Services.
http://www.simpsonhousing.org/donate.htmlBarefoot Artistshttp://www.barefootartists.org/Barefoot Artists brings the transformative power of art to the most impoverished communities in the world through participatory and multifaceted projects that foster community empowerment, improve the physical environment, promote economic development, and preserve and promote indigenous art and culture. Barefoot Artists develops projects in collaboration with individuals and/or agencies on the ground in identified communities. (There is a link to a Lilly Yeh presentation on this site).
City Repairhttp://cityrepair.org/City Repair is an organized group action that educates and inspires communities and individuals to creatively transform the places where they live. City Repair facilitates artistic and ecologically-oriented placemaking through projects that honor the interconnection of human communities and the natural world. City Repair began in Portland, Oregon with the idea that
localization - of culture, of economy, of decision-making - is a necessary foundation of sustainability. By reclaiming urban spaces to create community-oriented places, we plant the seeds for greater neighborhood communication, empower our communities and nurture our local culture.
The Clothesline Projecthttp://www.clotheslineproject.org/The Clothesline Project (CLP) is a program started on Cape Cod, MA, in 1990 to address the issue of violence against women. It is a vehicle for women affected by violence to express their emotions by decorating a shirt. They then hang the shirt on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of violence against women. With the support of many, it has since spread world-wide.
Code Pinkhttp://www.codepink4peace.org/A women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end U.S. funded wars and occupations, to challenge militarism globally, and to redirect our resources into health care, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities.
Creative Visions Foundationhttp://www.creativevisions.org/projects/cool-climate-contest.htmlThe
Creative Visions Foundation is inspired by the life of Dan Eldon, an artist, adventurer and activist killed in Somalia in 1993 while covering the conflict as a photojournalist for Reuters News Agency. He was 22.
Critical Arthttp://www.critical-art.net/(CAE) is a collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations including computer graphics and web design, film/video, photography, text art, book art, and performance. Formed in 1987, CAE's focus has been on the exploration of the intersections between art, critical theory, technology, and political activism. The group has exhibited and performed at diverse venues internationally, ranging from the street, to the museum, to the internet.
Daughters of Vietnam Veteranshttp://dovv.weebly.com/index.htmlElla’s Daughtershttp://www.ellasdaughters.org/about-us/principlesElla's Daughters is a multi-racial, multi-national, intergenerational network of women activists, scholars, artists and workers advancing justice in Ella Baker's democratic tradition and facilitating connections between different social justice movements. We embrace Ella Baker's Humanistic practice that affirms the dignity and worth of all people and also embrace the creative spirit of our collective imagination as a powerful force to help not only oppose the politics of domination but also to envision and realize something better.
Environmental Performancehttp://www.environmentalperformance.info/These are site-specific performances as they give attention to certain spaces where a large amount of litter is visible or generated.They focus on waste as the project considers waste the ultimate expression of our society. Analysing waste, our environment and by extension our culture and society can be examined.
Evolveganhttp://theveganbus.com/evolvegan/To use art, performance, and media to educate and increase public awareness about the connections between dietary choice, personal health, cultural ethics, and globally sustainable ecology
Green Deenhttp://greendeen.blogspot.com/2009/01/activist-art-finds-niche-in-urban.htmlGreen Deen is a proactive effort of young Muslim activists from Southern California who have come together for the sake of Allah (swt
) to raise awareness and change the current environmental conditions by promoting a healthier, greener and more environmentally conscious lifestyle.Green Arts Web: Artists & Projectshttp://www.greenarts.org/artprojects.htmlGreen Museumhttp://greenmuseum.org/This online museum emerged from the organizers’ experiences making environmental art and from seeing firsthand some of the challenges facing artists, community groups, nonprofit organizations and arts institutions when it came to presenting and discussing environmental art. Useful community art toolboxes are a part of this site which they consider a giant collaborative art-making tool.
Graphic Arts Activist ProjectDesignAThon
http://www.kutztown.edu/acad/commdes/news/designathon.htmlFreewheel Design
, Woody Holliman's design firm sponsors "DesignAThon"
DesignAThon is a 24-hour creative marathon during which created logotype and identity designs as well as posters, brochures, T-shirts, newsletters and Web sites. Twenty chosen nonprofits are culled from a list of 50 +applicants.
Judy Baca and the LA Muralshttp://www.lamurals.org/MuralistPages/BacaJ.htmlhttp://www.judybaca.com/now/index.phphttp://www.nohoartsdistrict.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=290:the-current-plight-of-los-angeles-murals-by-judy-baca&Itemid=221Keepers of the Watershttp://www.keepersofthewaters.org/Founded by artist Betsy Damon,
Keepers of the Waters works to inspire and promote projects that combine art, science and community involvement to restore, preserve and remediate water sources. Keepers is at the vanguard of integrated approaches to a vast complexity of water issues through collaborative innovative design, community organizing, mentoring, educating, providing workshops, and functioning as a cross cultural resource.Knitting for Knockershttp://www.etsy.com/shop/KnittingForKnockersKnitting for Knockers, established in 2006, is a collaborative of artisans and craftspersons working to promote their creations to benefit breast cancer research and education. We are an effort which strives to bring together the timeless art of knitting with modern-day activism ideals, thus shedding light on the concept of craftspeople as activist artists.
Landfillhttp://www.thelandfill.orgLandfill is an online archive and quarterly subscription service that studies socially engaged artworks by documenting and redistributing the material byproducts they produce. The Landfill Archive includes scanned images of leftover materials and short descriptions of the projects they publicized and enabled. Each issue of Landfill Quarterly will contain selected pieces of ephemera from the Archive and a printed journal that contextualizes the objects through essays, images, and interviews. Landfill has three aims: to provide projects with a second venue for reception, to build a cumulative and nonlinear history of socially engaged practice, and to pull diverse practices into conversation by reframing them in writing.
LA Poverty Departmenthttp://lapovertydept.org/state-of-incarceration/index.phpHighways Performance Space Presents the Los Angeles Poverty Department’s Examination of the Personal and Social Costs of Incarceration in the U.S.
LTE Artshttp://lter.limnology.wisc.edu/ltearts/The goal of LTEArts is to create new ways to share research and information with the public through the arts. The project engages arts and humanities with Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) studies of future scenarios and landscape change. We hope to increase public understanding of lake ecology, highlight research results from our LTER lake studies, and encourage people to take an active role in defining and influencing the future of our lakes.
NAMES, AIDS Memorial Quilthttp://www.aidsquilt.org/history.htmIn June of 1987, a small group of strangers gathered in a
San Francisco storefront to document the lives they feared history would neglect. Their goal was to create a memorial for those who had died of
AIDS, and to thereby help people understand the devastating impact of the disease. This meeting of devoted friends and lovers served as the foundation of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Today the Quilt is a powerful visual reminder of the AIDS pandemic, with more than 44,000 individual 3-by-6-foot memorial panels.
Philadelphia's Magic Gardenshttp://www.phillymagicgardens.org/about/generalRuckus Rootshttp://ruckusroots.org/They travel to festivals, concerts and campuses, with interactive installations encourage young adults to find their creative voice within the eco-activism community. They're creating positive pandemonium and infectious enthusiasm for art and advocacy wherever they go.
Social Artistry
http://www.jeanhoustonfoundation.org/social_artistry.aspx
Social Artistry™ is the art of enhancing human capacities in the light of social complexity. It seeks to bring new ways of thinking, being and doing to social challenges in the world The Surveillance Camera Playershttp://www.notbored.org/the-scp.htmlThe Surveillance Camera Players (SCP) is a small, informal group of people who are unconditionally opposed to the installation and use of video surveillance cameras in public places. The SCP was formed in New York City in November 1996 by two groups of friends/activists.
Swamp Gravyhttp://www.swampgravy.com/Community storytelling festival and folk-life event in rural Georgia.
Temporary Serviceshttp://www.temporaryservices.org/Temporary Services is based in Chicago and Copenhagen and has existed, with several changes in membership and structure, since 1998. They produce exhibitions, events, projects, and publications. The distinction between art practice and other creative human endeavors is irrelevant to them. They move in and out of officially sanctioned spaces for art, keeping one foot in the underground the other in the institution.
Transformative OrganizingSocial Justice Leadership:
http://www.organizingupgrade.com/2010/06/ussf-social-justice-leadership/Ultra Redhttp://www.ultrared.org/mission.htmlIn the worlds of sound art and modern electronic music, Ultra-red pursue a fragile but dynamic exchange between art and political organizing. Founded in 1994 by two AIDS activists, Ultra-red have over the years expanded to include artists, researchers and organizers from different social movements including the struggles of migration, anti-racism, participatory community development, and the politics of HIV/AIDS.
Watershed: Art, Activism, and Community Engagementhttp://watershedmke.wordpress.com/Watershed: Art, Activism, and Community Engagement addresses the shifting ecological and political dimensions of water. This project, organized by
Raoul Deal and
Nicolas Lampert, uses art as a form of activism to comment on water issues in Milwaukee and the Great Lakes Basin, and their impact on the world at large. It tackles issues such as water shortages, notions of abundance, water privatization, invasive species, industrial pollution, and water as a human right.
Women’s Circushttp://womenscircus.org.au/index.php/about/The Women’s Circus is a community arts organisation that presents innovative high quality circus performances and workshops to a diverse audience and participant base. Create and deliver a high standard of innovative and socially challenging circus programs and performances. Maintain and develop a vibrant and sustainable ongoing Women’s Circus community. Provide an opportunity for women to build self esteem and reaffirm control over their bodies in a safe and non competitive environment.
