Podcasts about For Freedoms

Eric Gottesman teaches, organizes, writes, and makes artworks with other people that address nationalism, migration, structural violence, history, and intimate relations. His work is always collaborative; he has never made an artwork alone. One of Eric's creative superpowers is his ability to take his time and gently notice the delicacy and hard edges of his subjects, without judgment, before capturing their images. The resulting pictures are remarkably soulful and honest. He is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, a Creative Capital Artist, a Fulbright Fellow and a co-founder of For Freedoms, an artist-led organization that centers art as a catalyst for creative civic engagement and was named the "largest creative collaboration in United States history" by TIME Magazine. He co-created the books Sudden Flowers (2014) and For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here? (2024). Gottesman is a mentor in the Arab Documentary Photography Program in Beirut, Lebanon, and the W.W. Corcoran Visiting Professor in Community Engagement at George Washington University.TedX talk Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us!We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

Steve and Katie welcome back Professor Amy Adler to discuss the First Amendment's free speech protections as they apply to artistic expression in the context of several recent incidents. Specifically, they discuss the police seizure of certain Sally Mann photographs from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in the context of obscenity and child pornography laws, the removal of the For Freedoms billboard depicting the march on Selma in Montgomery, Alabama, and the lawsuit about the Nirvana “Nevermind” album cover depicting a naked baby.   Notes for this episode: https://artlawpodcast.com/2025/03/25/updates-on-art-free-speech-and-government-censorship/   Follow the Art Law Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artlawpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlawpodcast Katie and Steve discuss topics based on news and magazine articles and court filings and not based on original research unless specifically noted.

Robert Earl Sinclair is a Future Architect & Speculative World-Builder striving to make sense of our rapidly changing world and co-create bold futures. Born in "the hood" of Los Angeles and challenged with dyslexia, Robert became a successful international hip-hop recording artist in his teens and went on to graduate from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Now, this multicultural, classically trained artist, actor and writer uses storytelling to activate the idea that if something is broken, we can fantasize about what it looks like unbroken, and that exercise, in and of itself, can help us to find our way to a solution. This is speculative world-building. In this pursuit, Robert's dyslexia has become an asset, because dyslexic people experience information as story and possess a much higher retention of facts which allows Robert, a voracious reader, to draw from a vast store of resources and disciplines. Dedicated to beauty, justice and inclusive imagination, Robert designs at the crossroads of art, culture and technology and has created original content and world-building workshops for: NYU, Google Creative Lab, Sundance Film Festival, The Guggenheim, the Rockefeller Foundation, Pop Culture Collaborative, The Doris Duke Foundation and For Freedoms, where he co-created For Freedoms News and its month-long residency at the Brooklyn Museum. Robert is an original member of the Guild of Future Architects' celebrated Futurist Writers Room, a diverse community of visionary artists, intellectuals, engineers and technologists. Working with Dot Connector Studio, Robert is working to shape alternative economic models of sustainability and thrivability for everyone. Most recently, Robert has  lectured at USC's School of Cinematic Arts and the ASU Center for Science and the Imagination. He is currently teaching Emergent Expressions at the Harvard Divinity School.Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us!We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

Creativity is as intrinsic to our species as any of our basic instincts, says Debbie Millman, designer and curator. But for millions of people in the United States, the ability to create has been thwarted. This basic human need, as important as love and shelter, Millman says, isn't available for people serving time at the nearly 2,000 correctional facilities across America. In this discussion, moderated by Millman, a group of artists and activists share how they're working to bring creative outlets to people who are incarcerated. Turns out ushering creativity into these dark and lonely spaces not only increases hope for the incarcerated, it makes our country safer. Common, a hip hop artist and actor, launched the nonprofits Imagine Justice and the Common Ground Foundation. Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist who co-founded For Freedoms. Claudia Peña is an artist and founding co-director of the Center for Justice at UCLA. Michael Murphy is an architect, artist, educator, and writer. This talk was recorded at the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival. aspenideas.org

The Stanford Arts Review described Samantha Rose Williams as a “Mezzo-Soprano with ‘jaw-dropping vocal power.” This opera singer and arts activist is committed to creating space for critical discussion about art, culture, and social change. Her latest project is American Patriots, an opera she created that seeks to examine patriotism from four vastly different perspectives: African-American, Native American,  New American and white Working-Class American. For this piece, Samantha asked 50 Americans from diverse racial, socio economic, political, cultural and gender backgrounds to answer the question, “What is a patriot?” Their verbatim answers became the lyrics for her newest opera, which she sings magnificently. She hopes that through sharing nuanced stories of people of all backgrounds and beliefs, she can be a part of breaking down the walls of “us and other” and help to create a more sympathetic and equitable world.Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us!We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

Through colonization, hyper capitalism, and unaddressed trauma, many of us have forgotten how to play our part in the orchestra of the natural world. Join a conversation between two remarkable activists and legal practitioners from different continents, working in different communities, but who happen to share a belief in the power of creative expression help us reconnect to the entire web of life. They discuss interdependence, forgotten ways of relating to each other and all species, and how well-harmonized songs can bring delight and balance to the human spirit, to trees and plants and to our fellow fauna. Resources Video of this conversation from the 2024 Bioneers Conference Featuring Erin Matariki Carr, of Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Awa descent, lives in her traditional homelands in Aotearoa/New Zealand and works in law and policy, with a focus on the interface between Indigenous and Western legal systems and methodologies. She previously worked as Manager of Planning & Design to create and implement policies under the world-first legislation conferring legal personhood to the Te Urewera rainforest. Matariki is currently a project lead at RIVER, where she focuses on the constitutional transformation movement in Aotearoa with a number of other teams, including Tūmanako Consultants and Te Kuaka NZA. Learn more at weareriver.earth Claudia Peña, Executive Director of For Freedoms, an artist collective that centers art and creativity as a catalyst for transformative connection and collective liberation, serves on the faculty at UCLA School of Law and in that school's Gender Studies Department. She is also the founding Co-Director of the Center for Justice at UCLA, home of the Prison Education Program, which creates innovative courses that enable faculty and students to learn from and alongside currently incarcerated participants. Claudia has devoted her life to justice work through community organizing, transformative and restorative justice, consciousness-raising across silos, coalition-building, teaching, advocacy through law and policy, and the arts. Learn more at forfreedoms.com This is an excerpt from a conversation recorded at a Bioneers conference. Visit the radio and podcast homepage to learn more.

Today's episode features world famous visual artist Zoë Buckman (b. 1985 Hackney, East London): a multi-disciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation, and photography, exploring themes of Feminism, mortality, and equality. We talk about her origins and the line she tows between soft and hard both as an artist and advocate. Zoë is an intersectional feminist and we talk about what that means as a Jewish woman in 2024. More about Zoë: Notable solo shows have included BLOODWORK at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery London, Nomi at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, No Bleach Thick Enough, at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, Heavy Rag at Fort Gansevoort Gallery New York, Let Her Rave at Gavlak Gallery Los Angeles, Imprison Her Soft Hand at Project for Empty Space, Newark; Every Curve at PAPILLION ART, Los Angeles; and Present Life at Garis & Hahn Gallery, New York. Group shows include those at SF Moma, The Broad Museum, The Museum of Art & Design, NYC, The Parish Art Museum, The Baltimore Museum of Art, MOCA Virginia, The Camden Arts Centre, London, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Children's Museum of the Arts, The Shirley Fitterman Center NY, MASSIMODECARLO Gallery Hong Kong, Mother Gallery, Beacon NY, Paul Kasmin Gallery NY, Goodman Gallery South Africa, Jack Shainman Gallery NY, Monique Meloche Chicago, NYU Florence Italy, Grunwald Art Gallery, Indiana University, and the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, GA and The National Museum of African-American History & Culture, Washington, DC Buckman studied at the International Center of Photography (ICP), was awarded an Art Matters Grant in 2017, The Art Change Maker Award 2019 at The New Jersey Visual Arts Center, and The Art and Social Impact Award 2020 at Baxter St NYC, and completed a residency at Mana Contemporary in 2017. Public works include MENDED: a Times Square Midnight Momenta, a mural, We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident, in collaboration with Natalie Frank at the Ford Foundation Gallery of New York & Live Arts in NYC, and various billboard projects with For Freedoms. In February 2018 Buckman unveiled her first Public Sculpture presented by Art Production Fund on Sunset Blv, Los Angeles, a large scale outdoor version of her neon sculpture Champ, which has been up for several years. Buckman's work is included in the permanent collections of The National Portrait Gallery, London, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, The Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, The Chrysler Museum Virginia, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. More @zoebuckman on Instagram and at ZoeBuckman.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mystic panel shares their parent-child relationships in succinct and fabulous ways with artist Stuart Sheldon.   (b. 1963, Miami) Stuart Sheldon is a multimedia artist and podcast host best known for immersive installations and collage paintings exploring literature and social justice. Sheldon's gun-sense billboard, How Was School Today?, in collaboration with the artist collective, For Freedoms, earned him a 2018 Ellies Creator Award from Oolite Arts, honoring “the backbone of Miami's visual arts community.” His Swan Dive Podcast features guests from all walks of life who made a major life change to chase their dream.  

Sydney Skybetter and producer Kamal Sinclair chat about the intersection of the cultural sector, emerging technologies, and the vintage hardware that shaped their childhoods. Are we all complicit in these complex cultural systems? Oh, and also, can we please bring back the Filofax? About Kamal: Kamal Sinclair supports artists, institutions, and communities working at the convergence of art, media, culture, and technology. Currently, she serves as the Senior Director of Digital Innovation at The Music Center in Los Angeles, which is home to TMC Arts, Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Master Chorale, LA Opera, and LA Phil. Additionally, she serves as an advisor or board member to  Peabody Awards interactive Board, For Freedoms, NEW INC.'s  ONX Studio, Civic Signals, For Freedoms, MIT's Center for Advanced Virtuality, Starfish Accelerator, Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation, and Eyebeam. Previously, she was the Director of Sundance Institute's New Frontier Labs Program, External Advisor to Ford Foundation's JustFilms and MacArthur Foundation's Journalism & Media Program, Adjunct Professor at USC's Media Arts + Practice program, and Executive Director of the Guild of Future Architects. She is the co-author of Making a New Reality. Sinclair got her start in emerging media as an artist and producer on Question Bridge: Black Males, where she and her collaborators launched a project with an interactive website and curriculum; published a book; exhibited in over sixty museums/festivals. Read the transcript, and find more resources in our archive: https://www.are.na/choreographicinterfaces/dwr-ep-4-fierce-on-the-palm-pilot-a-conversation-with-kamal-sinclair Like, subscribe, and review here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dances-with-robots/id1715669152  What We Discuss with Kamal (Timestamps): 0:00:00: Introduction to Kamal Sinclair 0:01:32: Discussion on the influence of Minority Report on technology and body interfaces. 0:04:56: Personal experiences with early mobile devices and anticipation of smartphones. 0:07:10: Exploring the cyclical nature of technology and imagining the future. 0:08:10: The role of a curator in identifying and bridging new forms of art and technology. 0:09:18: The importance of following the artist and supporting their vision. 0:10:38: Balancing the promise and ethics of technology in art. 0:12:29: Exciting emerging art in storytelling, aesthetics, and movement. 0:15:18: The power of imagination and action in shaping the future. 0:17:43: The relationship between bodies and technologies. 0:18:53: The influence of disability and otherly abled experiences on technology. 0:19:41: Dance historical perspectives on the bodies of the future. 0:21:26: The need to consider nature and relationships in future designs. 0:23:25: The negative impact of militarized surveillance technologies on marginalized groups 0:25:39: Discussion on the immersive VR experience of Birdly 0:27:02: Healing and altered states through immersive experiences 0:28:30: Managing complicity and the future of work for artists 0:30:41: Closing with the acknowledgement of not knowing 0:31:19: Show credits & thanks The Dances with Robots Team Host: Sydney Skybetter Co-Host & Executive Producer: Ariane Michaud Archivist and Web Designer: Kate Gow Podcasting Consultant: Megan Hall Accessibility Consultant: Laurel Lawson Music: Kamala Sankaram Audio Production Consultant: Jim Moses Assistant Editor: Andrew Zukoski Student Associate: Rishika Kartik About CRCI The Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces (CRCI) explores the braid of choreography, computation and surveillance through an interdisciplinary lens. Find out more at www.choreographicinterfaces.org Brown University's Department of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies' Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces thanks the Marshall Woods Lectureships Foundation of Fine Arts, the Brown Arts Institute, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for their generous support of this project. The Brown Arts Institute and the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies are part of the Perelman Arts District.  

Ep.162 features Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976 Plainfield, NJ). He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY as a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad including the International Center of Photography, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Musée du quai Branly, Hong Kong Arts Centre and the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art. His collaborative projects include Question Bridge: Black Males; In Search Of The Truth (The Truth Booth); The Writing on the Wall; The Gun Violence Memorial Project; and For Freedoms, an artist-led organization that models and increases creative civic engagement, discourse & direct action. Thomas is a recipient of the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship (2019), The Guggenheim Fellowship (2018), AIMIA | AGO Photography Prize (2017), Soros Equality Fellowship (2017), Aperture West Book Prize (2008), Renew Media Arts Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation (2007), and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Award (2006). He is a former member of the Public Design Commission for the City of New York. Thomas's public artworks include the permanent installation of “The Embrace” (2023) was unveiled at the Boston Commons in Boston, MA, symbolizing love and unity the statue pays hommage to the King family; Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King, in the city where they met. “REACH,” (2023 made in collaboration with Coby Kennedy, is permanently installed at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, IL. In 2019, Thomas unveiled his permanent work "Unity" in Brooklyn, NY. In 2017, “Love Over Rules” permanent neon was unveiled in San Francisco, CA and “All Power to All People” in Opa Locka, FL. Thomas holds a B.F.A. from New York University, New York, NY (1998) and an M.A./M.F.A. from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA (2004). He received honorary doctorates from the Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD and the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland, ME in 2017. Headshot~ Hank Willis Thomas, Wide Awakes, 2020 Photo Credit: Jeff Vespa Artist https://hankwillisthomas.com/ Mass Design Group https://massdesigngroup.org/work/design/embrace-hank-willis-thomas Pace Gallery https://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/hank-willis-thomas-ive-known-rivers/ The Art Newspaper https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/01/16/hank-willis-thomas-martin-luther-king-jr-monument-boston NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/arts/super-bowl-sculpture-hank-willis-thomas.html Tisch https://tisch.nyu.edu/giving/news/nyu-tisch-school-of-the-arts-to-honor-conceptual-artist-hank-wil Art21 https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s11/hank-willis-thomas-in-bodies-of-knowledge/ Hyperallergic https://hyperallergic.com/792677/hank-willis-thomas-memorializes-mlk-and-coretta-scott-kings-love/ Newcity https://www.newcity.com/2023/05/02/today-in-the-culture-may-2-2023-one-poem-one-chicago-hank-willis-thomas-and-coby-kennedy-reach-at-ohare-the-failure-of-the-nonprofit-industrial-complex/ Artnet News https://news.artnet.com/art-world/hank-willis-thomas-nfl-super-bowl-sculpture-2255436 Archpaper https://www.archpaper.com/2023/02/hank-willis-thomas-debuts-new-sculpture-at-super-bowl/ Ocula https://ocula.com/magazine/art-news/hank-willis-thomas-sculpture-the-embrace/ Time Magazine https://time.com/6249068/martin-luther-king-sculpture-hank-willis-thomas-interview/ Cultured Mag https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2023/05/17/hank-willis-thomas-duality-miami Palm Beach Daily News https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/news/2023/01/19/mlk-sculpture-boston-embrace-hank-willis-thomas-coretta-scott-king/69822342007/

Through his abstract paintings, the Miami-born, Brooklyn-based artist José Parlá explores themes ranging from memory, gesture, and layering, to movement, dance, and hip-hop culture, to codes, mapping, and mark-making. Coming up in Miami in the late 1980s and early '90s, Parlá spent his adolescence and young adult years steeped in hip-hop culture and an underground scene that involved break dancing, writing rhymes, and making aerosol art. The art form still manifests, in wholly original ways, in his abstract works, which, while decidedly of the 21st century, extend in meaning and method back to ancient wall writings and cave drawings.On the episode, Parlá talks about his recent near-death experience with Covid-19; his activism with the collective Wide Awakes; and how his large-scale murals at locations including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barclays Center, and One World Trade Center trace back to his early days of painting elaborate wall works with aerosol.Special thanks to our Season 7 sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.Show notes: [07:37] Rey Parlá[11:45] Ciclos: Blooms of Mold[12:19] Augustin Parlá[13:13] Curtiss School of Aviation[14:05] José Martí[16:20] “Phosphene” series[18:27] “Polarities” series[18:32] “Breathing” series[23:25] Wide Awakes[23:26] For Freedoms[23:29] Hank Willis Thomas[23:31] J.R.[23:35] Wildcat Ebony Brown[24:28] “The Awakening”[32:04] “It's Yours”[34:17] Snøhetta[34:45] Ghetto Gastro[36:50] Craig Dykers[36:55] José Parlá's Studio[38:20] James B. Hunt Jr. Library[38:22] “Nature of Language”[38:47] Far Rockaway Writer's Library[56:56] “Brothers Back to Back”[59:51] “Parlá Frères”[01:00:03] Hurricane Andrew[01:00:12] Savannah College of Art and Design[01:01:32] New World School of the Arts[01:01:51] Mel Alexenberg[01:02:29] “Combine” by Robert Rauschenberg[01:06:29] “Gesture Performing Dance, Dance Performing Gesture” at BAM[01:06:30] Barclays Center mural[01:06:32] “One: Union of the Senses” at One World Trade Center[01:06:33] “Amistad América” at the University of Texas at Austin[01:12:08] Gordon Parks fellowship

Invest in Women. Improve the World.If you were moved by any part of this episode, then please consider making a donation to Vital Voices to help continue our work of investing in, connecting with and amplifying the work of women leaders who are solving the world's greatest challenges. www.vitalvoices.org/donateAbout This Episode:In this special Festival series episode of the power of the arts and storytelling to spark social change, you'll hear from a panel of featured thought leaders from film, TV, fine arts and the stage, including Sesame Workshop President SHERRIE WESTIN, President of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts DEBORAH RUTTER, Filmmaker SAMAR MINALLAH KHAN, and Executive Director of For Freedoms artist collective CLAUDIA PEÑA. These powerhouse women spoke about their roles as creative executives to positively impact the world with media entrepreneur and Founder of the Oxygen Network and former President of Nickelodeon GERALDINE LAYBOURNE expertly guiding the discussion.

Anthony Demby has worn many entertainment-industry hats for more than two decades. From managing the careers of artists such as Childish Gambino and John Legend to advising global brands, his journey has been diverse and expansive. In 2010, Demby combined his recording label, artist management knowledge, and cultural curiosity to found Humbleriot, a New York-based intentional idea shop that utilizes music, culture, and social impact to create dynamic experiences and tell compelling stories. Additionally, he leads a mentorship program for international artists, musicians, and creators. His roster has included clients such as Google, Sonos, Oatly, HBO Max, The Red Hot Organization, For Freedoms, and many others. Follow Anthony Demby on socials: @dembycratic and @humbleriot. Artists Ant told us he loves right now in this episode: Yaya Bey, Yussef Dayes, and NeOne the Wonderer.

Taisuke Yamada is a photographer, artist, and DJ. Taisuke met at the Apollo not by performing a legendary duet there but by working as a team to photograph portraits for For Freedoms. Then we worked together on other projects and then became close friends where I am now part of the Japanese community. I'm not, it was just one dinner but I met a bunch of new friends, ate Japanese food, got on the DJ decks, took some photos and linked up with previous For Freedoms team member, Jun Mabuchi and future guest and famous TikTok star, Yurie Collins. Taisuke stop Irish goodbye-ing parties and start saying Japanese Goodbyes.  Please welcome Taisuke Yamada, to Wear Many Hats. instagram.com/waniwanipanicdj ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/wearmanyhatswmh⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/rashadrastam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rashadrastam.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠wearmanyhats.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dahsar.com⁠

Anisa Tavangar is a writer, curator, and PhD student at Princeton University. I met Anisa when I worked at For Freedoms, a non-partisan non profit artist collective that centers art and creativity as a catalyst for transformative connection and collective liberation. Anisa has written for The Arts Magazine, Pioneer Works, and the Guggenheim. Anisa likes to surf, loves to travel, has red hair. Anisa is one of the most intelligent human beings I've ever met. Tactfully, lovingly, prayerfully, persistently. Please welcome Anisa Tavangar, to Wear Many Hats. instagram.com/anisatav ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/wearmanyhatswmh⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/rashadrastam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rashadrastam.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠wearmanyhats.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dahsar.com⁠

American conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas joins aja in conversation about what it means to be an artist, the creative process, and the power of branding and advertisements. They also talk about democratizing art for the people and For Freedoms, an artist collective he co-founded that focuses on using art and creativity as a catalyst for liberation.We invite you to leave us a voice memo and answer some of the same questions we ask our guests. Click HERE to leave us a voice message!For more info, check out The Sound Bath Podcast site.Meditative sound bath music from The Dojo Upstate.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The artist Hank Willis Thomas is a voracious reader, not only of books, but of the world around us—and particularly, of images. Through his practice, Thomas interrogates and investigates, probes and prods, and ultimately helps make sense of various strands of visual culture—advertising, photographs, videos, clothing and ephemera, monuments—to tell necessary stories and shape new forms of meaning and memory. While Thomas's roots are in the medium of photography, his work also extends far into other realms, including sculpture and memorialization. A prime example of this and a collaboration with MASS Design Group is “The Embrace,” a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, that will be unveiled in the Boston Common in January 2023. Another is the Gun Violence Memorial Project, organized with the prevention organizations Purpose Over Pain and Everytown for Gun Safety, and also with MASS. Central to Thomas's art are the subjects of truth and reality (best illustrated by his traveling “Truth Booth” installation, which toured all 50 states in the lead up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election), how they're shaped, and by whom. Many of Thomas's more conceptual projects also tend to be collective. Most notable among these is For Freedoms, an artist-run coalition he co-founded in 2016 as a super PAC that serves as a platform for artists of all kinds to meaningfully contribute to public discourse and help raise political awareness in the United States.On this episode of Time Sensitive, Thomas speaks with Spencer about identity as a figment of our imaginations, race as the “most successful advertising campaign” ever, and quilt-stitching as a metaphor for all that he does.Special thanks to our Season 6 sponsor, L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts.Hank Willis Thomas[06:36] “Remember Me” [06:56] “Digging Deeper”[12:12] MASS Design Group[15:27] “The Embrace”[18:02] “Raise Up”[19:27] Gun Violence Memorial Project[23:21] “Unity”[27:59] TED Talk: “A Mother and Son United by Love and Art” [38:31] “Along The Way”[39:08] “Branded”[39:08] “Unbranded”[39:08] “Rebranded”[39:23] “Absolut Power” [43:55] “A Place to Call Home”[44:01] “Question Bridge: Black Males”[47:00] “Truth Booth”[49:01] For Freedoms[49:01] “For Freedoms News”[58:46] “Guernica”

New on the pod! Humbled and honored to welcome international artist, activist, educator, and documentary filmmaker EMILY HANAKO MOMOHARA. Listen in as we explore 1940's AAPI feminism, patriotism, resilience, perseverance, leadership, and “gaman (我慢)” – Japanese for “silent endurance” from Zen Buddhist origin meaning "enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” Tune in to a riveting behind-the-scenes glimpse into Momohara's upcoming film premiere of NAMBA, inspired by the true story of May Namba. From Japanese American grandparent FBI files to incarcerated Japanese American Omikuji cookie makers in the San Francisco Bay area unexpectedly inspiring counter-culture fortune cookie branding and marketing, we share tales of Momohara's Okinawan family and my Filipino family journey to the States by way of Hawaiian pineapple plantations. (I promise you will never look at a fortune cookie or pineapple the same way again!) A true time capsule tribute, Momohara masterfully transforms multi-generational trauma, revealing how her own family's incarceration story intertwines with May and May's granddaughter, Miyako. NAMBA will premiere at Cincinnati's National Underground Freedom Center Harriet Tubman Theater on July 16th with additional screenings at Seattle's Wing Luke Asian Art Museum Takeuchi Story Theatre on July 30th, and future Portland and virtual dates forthcoming. NAMBA is a coming-of-age journey in the midst of war and bravery, introducing us to May Namba, a Japanese American woman incarcerated during WWII, a portion of American history not often told. We learn the story of May Namba, narrated by her granddaughter Miyako Namba. Beginning with the summer of 1941, Momohara chronicles the bombing of Pearl Harbor and President Franklin Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 that sent Japanese Americans to prison camps, and the impact it had on those Americans. May was incarcerated in Minidoka, Idaho, one of 10 such prison camps. Of Japanese-British-American ancestry, EMILY HANAKO MOMOHARA grew up outside of Seattle, Washington in a mixed-race family. Her work centers around issues of heritage, multiculturalism, immigration, and social justice. Momohara has exhibited internationally including in the Changjiang International Photography & Video Biennale, Chongqing, China; a 2-person exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum titled Sugar Islands; and the Okinawa Prefectural Museum in Naha, Japan. Momohara was featured in a number of public art projects such as the For Freedoms 50 State Initiative billboard campaign and 2021 AAPI Heritage Month program. Her billboards have been featured at the International Center for Photography, NY; Utah Museum of Contemporary Art; and StandBy in Tokyo, Japan. She serves as Associate Professor of Studio Art at the Academy of Cincinnati. She is currently a board of trustee at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center and member of Ohio Progressive Asian Women's Leadership (OPAWL). Emily Hanako Momohara ehmomohara.com https://www.instagram.com/ehmomohara/?hl=en "NAMBA - A Japanese American's Incarceration and Life of Resilience" https://namba-movie.com/ Minidoka National Historic Site I National Park Services https://www.nps.gov/miin/index.htm

Bobby and Afdhel are joined by conceptual artist and provocateur Hank Willis Thomas with his For Freedoms colleague Emma Nuzzo. We hear how they work to turn traditional ad-space into provoking art pieces, designed to inspire civic discourse, in the hopes of uniting a polarised nation. We believe that business and culture can be forces of good. But creators and entrepreneurs alike are still struggling to find the right model that allows them to impact real social change. In this series, Bobby Jones and Afdhel Aziz sit down with an extraordinary lineup of luminaries from the worlds of fashion, film, art, music and activism, who all believe in using business and culture as forces for good. In each episode, you'll learn how bold creative actions can change the world for the better through interviews with the trailblazers who are doing it every day. Recorded in the inviting Soho House in 2018, this podcast series delves into many unique stories and the one thing they all have in common – the desire and the courage to transform our world for the better.

Warning: This podcast contains sensitive subject matter including suicide and sexual assault. In this episode, Amanda and Hana spoke with Dr. Peña, a professor in the School of Law and Gender Studies Department at UCLA and the Executive Director of For Freedoms. Dr. Peña shares with us the different ways through which trauma can manifest in an individual's body as well as some ways to deal with one's own trauma.

On this episode we're joined by Muna Malik - the multidisciplinary artist whose work spans photography, painting, and sculpture, to include a wide array of mediums that seek to create cultural awareness and understanding. Her work has also been featured in ArtForum and i-D Magazine. Malik also explores the complexities and entanglements between individuals and communities. The two core interrelated strands to her practice are using abstraction to explore the variations and nuances of identity, and the second is creating platforms for community connection through interactive installations, sculpture, and photography.While this episode - recorded in 2020 touches on her work with For Freedoms and it's national campaigns throughout the US, Malik also participated in the Fountainhead Artist residency program in Miami. The month-long residency hosts artists from across the globe. Operating annually the Residency hosts 30-40 artists per year. Malik, born in Yemen, is a first-generation, Black Yemeni immigrant, whose road to the arts came by way of her innate passion to help others. 

"Throughout his career, Hank Willis Thomas has addressed the visual systems that perpetuate inequality and bias in bold, skillfully crafted works. Through photographs, sculpture, video, and collaborative public art projects, he invites us to consider the role of popular culture in instituting discrimination and how art can raise critical awareness in the ongoing struggle for social justice and civil rights," reads the bio from his 2019 retrospective at the Portland Art Museum. Hank's work is as clever as it is hard-hitting, and Swan Dive host, Stuart Sheldon, believes Hank to be one of the most important artists working today. Hank is the co-founder of For Freedoms and the Wide Awakes, both of which have changed the game in creative activism and engagement. Hank's work is included in numerous public collections including the MOMA, the Guggenheim, Whitney National Gallery in D.C. and many others. He has a beautiful young family and lives and works in NY.  Share your Swan Dive at www.swandive.us

Art has always been about stretching people's imaginations and creating spaces for expansive thinking. For Freedoms is an art-led civic organization that creates art and sparks conversations around what expanded civic participation looks like. Michelle Woo is the Director of For Freedoms and is also a creative producer and artist based in L.A. Her diverse range of work includes cultural strategy, creation, project management, and management of national campaigns. In today's episode, Michelle sheds light on her artistic journey and how she got to where she is in her career. We talk about the skills that artists need, beyond their talents, to succeed creatively. Michelle then shares the impetus for founding For Freedoms and how it has grown from its humble origins. In an increasingly divisive and polarized political landscape, artists must give nuance to conversations to broaden perspectives and allow spaces for bridges to be built rather than burnt. We hear about some of the incredible projects For Freedoms has run, and Erin and Michelle also discuss the AAPI campaign they are working on as we wrap up the show. Tune in to hear it all!   Key Points From This Episode: Hear about some of Michelle's earliest art-making memories. How Michelle got into the art world and her decision to go to Pratt after high school. Michelle's parent's feelings around her pursuing art as a career and how these have shifted over time. Details about Michelle's first job in the art world and what it taught her. Insights into some of the first events Michelle ran and the spirit of these gatherings. You have to know the rules first in order to know how to break them. Artists are small business owners, but art schools do not equip students with those skills. For Freedoms' founding story, the impetus for starting the organization, and how Michelle met her team. The diverse range of projects that For Freedoms currently runs. Why it works for For Freedoms to have such a broad range of work. How Erin knows when a piece that she has created is finished. Where For Freedoms' innovative programming strategy comes from. The impetus for the For Freedoms conference and why it happened when it did. Tips from Michelle on how to build connections and strengthen partnerships. An example of a project For Freedoms ran with a clear call to action. Some of the important facets of fundraising that are often overlooked. There is a balance between staying true to your creative process and securing resources. Details about the AAPI Solidarity Billboard Campaign that Erin and Michelle are working on. Why billboards are such a unique, inclusive medium to display art on.  Where you can follow For Freedoms and Michelle online. For more information and photos, visit here: https://notrealart.com/michelle-woo

Art has always been about stretching people's imaginations and creating spaces for expansive thinking. For Freedoms is an art-led civic organization that creates art and sparks conversations around what expanded civic participation looks like. Michelle Woo is the Director of For Freedoms and is also a creative producer and artist based in L.A. Her diverse range of work includes cultural strategy, creation, project management, and management of national campaigns. In today's episode, Michelle sheds light on her artistic journey and how she got to where she is in her career. We talk about the skills that artists need, beyond their talents, to succeed creatively. Michelle then shares the impetus for founding For Freedoms and how it has grown from its humble origins. In an increasingly divisive and polarized political landscape, artists must give nuance to conversations to broaden perspectives and allow spaces for bridges to be built rather than burnt. We hear about some of the incredible projects For Freedoms has run, and Erin and Michelle also discuss the AAPI campaign they are working on as we wrap up the show. Tune in to hear it all!   Key Points From This Episode: Hear about some of Michelle's earliest art-making memories. How Michelle got into the art world and her decision to go to Pratt after high school. Michelle's parent's feelings around her pursuing art as a career and how these have shifted over time. Details about Michelle's first job in the art world and what it taught her. Insights into some of the first events Michelle ran and the spirit of these gatherings. You have to know the rules first in order to know how to break them. Artists are small business owners, but art schools do not equip students with those skills. For Freedoms' founding story, the impetus for starting the organization, and how Michelle met her team. The diverse range of projects that For Freedoms currently runs. Why it works for For Freedoms to have such a broad range of work. How Erin knows when a piece that she has created is finished. Where For Freedoms' innovative programming strategy comes from. The impetus for the For Freedoms conference and why it happened when it did. Tips from Michelle on how to build connections and strengthen partnerships. An example of a project For Freedoms ran with a clear call to action. Some of the important facets of fundraising that are often overlooked. There is a balance between staying true to your creative process and securing resources. Details about the AAPI Solidarity Billboard Campaign that Erin and Michelle are working on. Why billboards are such a unique, inclusive medium to display art on.  Where you can follow For Freedoms and Michelle online. For more information and photos, visit here: 

In this episode, artist Hank Willis Thomas holds space for Congresswoman Cori Bush to share vulnerability around the intense battles that have shaped her public career: the Ferguson uprising, personal traumas, the road to Congress, and the violent insurrection she confronted in her first weeks in office. Thomas shapes an empathetic conversation, taking a moment to recognize Bush and show an appreciation of Black women throughout history. Their conversation asks us to consider how we can care for front-line activists, bring joy to the center, and insist on our humanity.Congresswoman Cori Bush is a registered nurse, community activist, organizer, single mother, and ordained pastor for the people of St. Louis. Congresswoman Bush is serving her first term as the representative of Missouri’s 1st Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. She is the first Black woman and first nurse to represent Missouri; the first woman to represent Missouri’s 1st Congressional District; and the first activist from the movement fighting for Black lives elected to the United States Congress.Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His collaborative projects include Question Bridge: Black Males, In Search Of The Truth (The Truth Booth), Writing on the Wall, and the artist-run initiative for art and civic engagement For Freedoms. Thomas is a recipient of the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship (2018), Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (2018), Art for Justice Grant (2018), AIMIA | AGO Photography Prize (2017), Soros Equality Fellowship (2017), and is a former member of the New York City Public Design Commission.-As a major component of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis's exhibition Stories of Resistance, Radio Resistance assembles the voices of intersecting local and global agents of change. Artists featured in the exhibition are paired with figures from the past, present, and future of St. Louis, coming together to transmit messages of dissent. Eleven episodes will be released over the course of the exhibition, amplifying shared struggles, collective dreams, and models of individual and group action. Using a historically rebellious medium, Radio Resistance broadcasts social narratives of defiance and hope.Selections of Radio Resistance will be broadcast on St. Louis on the Air, the noontime talk program hosted by Sarah Fenske on St. Louis Public Radio. Full episodes will be released biweekly in a listening station at CAM, and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. A publication celebrating Stories of Resistance, featuring episode highlights, will be released later this year.

“I think of myself as a real-life advocate who argues in the court of public opinion rather than a courtroom.," says Sue Ariza, an Argentinian-Dominican Human Rights expert and producer based in New York City. With a BA in political science and law from the University of  Zurich and an MA in International Law, Sue began her career as an international lawyer before pivoting to social justice PR. "The common thread is changing the world,” she says. Sue is currently working as a communications strategist at The No. 29 Communications and has worked with TED, Pineapple Street Studios, For Freedoms, In Plain Sight, The Wide Awakes and most recently co-produced season 2 of Poetry Unbound by On Being Studios. In her personal mission statement, Sue declares, "I am part of a forward-thinking movement that demonstrates that to advance justice, human rights, and environmentalism we do not need to sacrifice the art of design and aesthetics but rather the opposite." 

Tanya Selvaratnam’s new book, Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence, speaks truth to power by exploring her journey through an abusive relationship with the very powerful politician, former NY Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, who was forced to resign based on Tanya's revelations. Covered extensively in Time Magazine, The New Yorker and beyond, Tanya's narrative has created profound conversations about violence against women and the next phase of the #MeToo movement. Tanya is a writer, artist, and Emmy-nominated and multiple Webby-winning producer with more than twenty-five years of experience in the arts & social justice. Selvaratnam’s producing range includes films, branded content, live events, large-scale convenings, and exhibitions. Her films have played on HBO, PBS, Showtime, Vice, the Sundance Channel and more. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in the States, she is a cofounder w the artist Laurie Anderson and the producer Laura Michalchyshyn, of The Federation: a coalition of artists, organizations, and allies committed to keeping cultural borders open and showing how art unites us. She has also been an advisor and producer for For Freedoms. “My Swan Dive was writing this book, because it helped me write my way out of the darkness which I found myself in after I had come forward against the former New York State Attorney General in 2018. And, I was inspired to write the book because I had so many people reaching out to me sharing their own stories of intimate violence, and I decided I would write this book for them and also for the millions of people that experience it ... to take the reader along my journey from victim to survivor and thriver and, hopefully, help others find their light.” says Tanya.

Gina Belafonte has spent her life in the arenas of entertainment and activism where her professional work thrives today. She is the Executive Director of Sankofa.org, a social justice organization, that enlists the support of today's most celebrated artists and influential individuals in collaboration with grassroots partners to elevate the voices of the disenfranchised and promote peace, justice and equality, and to promote cultural and civic engagement. An Artivist, Actress, Director and Producer, Gina has been a part of many arts and activism initiatives, including being the lead producer of the award winning documentary Sing Your Song that explores the life and legacy of her father Harry Belafonte, the director of the award winning Hip-Hop spoken word musical Lyrics From Lockdown addressing mistaken identity, mass incarceration and police brutality. Gina is the producer of the The Many Rivers To Cross Social Justice Arts and Music Festival that brought together over 40 artists and 50 social justice organizations for a 2 day festival centering on voting rights, mass incarceration and poverty. She has collaborated with For Freedoms on the 50 State Initiative and the reimagining of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms, INTO ACT!ON, and more. Visit www.sankfa.org. Listen to the new Om Shanti Album by Sister Jenna on Spotify. Visit www.americameditating.org.

Gina Belafonte has spent her life in the arenas of entertainment and activism where her professional work thrives today. She is the Executive Director of Sankofa.org, a social justice organization, that enlists the support of today's most celebrated artists and influential individuals in collaboration with grassroots partners to elevate the voices of the disenfranchised and promote peace, justice and equality, and to promote cultural and civic engagement. An Artivist, Actress, Director and Producer, Gina has been a part of many arts and activism initiatives, including being the lead producer of the award winning documentary Sing Your Song that explores the life and legacy of her father Harry Belafonte, the director of the award winning Hip-Hop spoken word musical Lyrics From Lockdown addressing mistaken identity, mass incarceration and police brutality. Gina is the producer of the The Many Rivers To Cross Social Justice Arts and Music Festival that brought together over 40 artists and 50 social justice organizations for a 2 day festival centering on voting rights, mass incarceration and poverty. She has collaborated with For Freedoms on the 50 State Initiative and the reimagining of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms, INTO ACT!ON, and more. Visit www.sankfa.org. Listen to the new Om Shanti Album by Sister Jenna on Spotify. Visit www.americameditating.org.

Gina Belafonte has spent her life in the arenas of entertainment and activism where her professional work thrives today. She is the Executive Director of Sankofa.org, a social justice organization, that enlists the support of today’s most celebrated artists and influential individuals in collaboration with grassroots partners to elevate the voices of the disenfranchised and promote peace, justice and equality, and to promote cultural and civic engagement. An Artivist, Actress, Director and Producer, Gina has been a part of many arts and activism initiatives, including being the lead producer of the award winning documentary Sing Your Song that explores the life and legacy of her father Harry Belafonte, the director of the award winning Hip-Hop spoken word musical Lyrics From Lockdown addressing mistaken identity, mass incarceration and police brutality. Gina is the producer of the The Many Rivers To Cross Social Justice Arts and Music Festival that brought together over 40 artists and 50 social justice organizations for a 2 day festival centering on voting rights, mass incarceration and poverty. She has collaborated with For Freedoms on the 50 State Initiative and the reimagining of Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms, INTO ACT!ON, and more. Visit www.sankfa.org. Listen to the new Om Shanti Album by Sister Jenna on Spotify. Visit www.americameditating.org.

We take a look at the work of contemporary multidisciplinary artist Hank Willis Thomas, especially his massive collaborative political art project For Freedoms.

We take a look at the work of contemporary multidisciplinary artist Hank Willis Thomas, especially his massive collaborative political art project For Freedoms.

Imagine starting an Internet company amidst the wreckage of the first Dotcom crash, then growing that company to 250 people and selling for nearly $200 million. Next, a bit of "healthy stalking and serendipity" got Chrysi Philalithes to RED, Bono's AIDS organization, where, as Chief Digital Officer, she mixed technology and altruism to creatively raise $600 million and improve global health over 10 years. "It was really the dream brand for me because it combined all of my interested: tech, culture, entertainment, media and purpose,” says this digital/marketing/communications superstar. Such thinking put Chrysi on The Guardian’s “50 Women to Watch” list. And drives her involvement today as the founder of NYLON LAB, a culture and innovation lab serving for-profits & non-profits ranging from The Grammys to For Freedoms. The fourth guest in our Wide Awakes activation, Chrysi personifies the notion of trusting intuition (it doesn't hurt when that intuition borders on magical). "What I learned was to trust my gut of how people communicate, because I’m fascinated and obsessed by that. And then not be afraid to jump, even when it was something completely new," says our amazing next guest on Swan Dive!

Michelle Woo is Wide Awake, but that was not always the case. This incredibly humble yet fabulously accomplished behind-the-scenes leader at For Freedoms and the Wide Awakes shares how she remembers little of her life up to a few years ago due to being distracted for most of it. Motherhood changed that, and Michelle now actively practices mindfulness through meditation. The results speak for themselves, as this artist, cultural producer, art historian and arts business consultant now helps lead the largest cultural collaboration in US history, fighting injustice and getting out the vote in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. The third guest in our Wide Awakes activation, Michelle Woo's magnificent Swan Dive into her own awareness inspires us all to engage and be here now. Photo courtesy of Jeff Vespa.

Gina Belafonte has excelled at many things. An accomplished actress, director and activist and the youngest child of Julie and Harry Belafonte, Gina produced HBO’s internationally acclaimed documentary, SING YOUR SONG, exploring the extraordinary life and legacy of her father; the film was selected to open the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. As Executive Director of Sankofa.org, a social justice organization that educates, motivates, and activates artists and allies in service of grassroots, equitable change, Gina works with diverse artists, activists and organizations worldwide to promote cultural and civic engagement. Among these are For Freedoms and The Wide Awakes, currently involved in the largest collaboration of cultural leaders in U.S. history with nationwide civic actions leading up to and after the 2020 election. This episode is the first of a series of activations created in collaboration with leading voices and visionaries within the Wide Awakes movement.

Hank Willis Thomas is a busy man. The 44-year-old photographer, sculptor, filmmaker, and writer was already a force within the rarefied world of visual art before he decided to embrace politics on a large scale. But during the landmark presidential race of 2016, Thomas and fellow artist Eric Gottesman co-founded an "anti-partisan" political action committee called For Freedoms to empower artists to channel their creative energy into civic engagement. Along with facilitating major public artworks such as murals and artist-designed billboards, For Freedoms has since grown into a larger nonprofit organization that has held townhall meetings, organized voter-registration drives, and even assembled its own multi-day national Congress in Los Angeles. Not bad for a side hustle. The son of renowned art historian and photographer Deborah Willis, Thomas first rose to prominence for his early photography, which used the visual language of advertising to address systemic injustices such as the exploitation of professional athletes, the scourge of mass incarceration, and the original sin of American slavery. Years before the latest wave of activists began toppling statues of Christopher Columbus, Robert E. Lee, and other problematic figures in US history, Thomas also began questioning the validity of such monuments with his own large-scale sculptures, often creating alternatives to honor the individuals whose sacrifices have been overlooked by mainstream historical narratives. Thomas once said that his personal experiences prompted him to create art that could "change the world in a more intentional way," and now more than ever, he is doing just that. Through July 16, he and his Los Angeles gallery, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, are teaming with Artnet Auctions to present "Bid for Peace," a single-lot sale of Thomas's striking sculpture Peace (2019). All proceeds from the auction including the buyer's premium will be donated to G.L.I.T.S, Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society, a non-profit organization that protects the rights of transgender sex workers. A few days before the opening of "Bid for Peace," Thomas joined Andrew Goldstein on the Art Angle to discuss the evolution of his studio practice, artists' importance to bringing about civic transformation, and whether you might someday see his own name on a ballot near you.

Hank Willis Thomas is a busy man. The 44-year-old photographer, sculptor, filmmaker, and writer was already a force within the rarefied world of visual art before he decided to embrace politics on a large scale. But during the landmark presidential race of 2016, Thomas and fellow artist Eric Gottesman co-founded an "anti-partisan" political action committee called For Freedoms to empower artists to channel their creative energy into civic engagement. Along with facilitating major public artworks such as murals and artist-designed billboards, For Freedoms has since grown into a larger nonprofit organization that has held townhall meetings, organized voter-registration drives, and even assembled its own multi-day national Congress in Los Angeles. Not bad for a side hustle. The son of renowned art historian and photographer Deborah Willis, Thomas first rose to prominence for his early photography, which used the visual language of advertising to address systemic injustices such as the exploitation of professional athletes, the scourge of mass incarceration, and the original sin of American slavery. Years before the latest wave of activists began toppling statues of Christopher Columbus, Robert E. Lee, and other problematic figures in US history, Thomas also began questioning the validity of such monuments with his own large-scale sculptures, often creating alternatives to honor the individuals whose sacrifices have been overlooked by mainstream historical narratives. Thomas once said that his personal experiences prompted him to create art that could "change the world in a more intentional way," and now more than ever, he is doing just that. Through July 16, he and his Los Angeles gallery, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, are teaming with Artnet Auctions to present "Bid for Peace," a single-lot sale of Thomas's striking sculpture Peace (2019). All proceeds from the auction including the buyer's premium will be donated to G.L.I.T.S, Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society, a non-profit organization that protects the rights of transgender sex workers. A few days before the opening of "Bid for Peace," Thomas joined Andrew Goldstein on the Art Angle to discuss the evolution of his studio practice, artists' importance to bringing about civic transformation, and whether you might someday see his own name on a ballot near you.

Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His work is included in numerous public collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art. His collaborative projects include Question Bridge: Black Males, In Search Of The Truth (The Truth Booth), Writing on the Wall, and the artist-run initiative for art and civic engagement For Freedoms. He and Zuckerman discussed anxiety, infinite wisdom, positivity bias, infinite possibility, God, the quality of the question, and the remaining opportunities for freedom.

"My grandmother's family were all incarcerated at Minidoka, one of the WWII Japanese-American camps, and I just felt like there were few communities that stood up for them at that time and with the privilege that I have now, with being fourth generation American, I certainly can speak out on those issues that were pivotal to my own family." Emily Hanako Momohara was part of a panel talk at this year's SPE Conference titled 21st Century Family. She spoke about her work, Fruits of Labor: A Legacy of Immigration and Agriculture, which draws a connection from her own great-grandparent's history on the pineapple plantations in Hawaii to the plight of today's immigrants and migrant workers. Emily also connects her work and activism to her grandmother's incarceration at Minidoka and, as Emily will say in the show, she went from being a quiet activist to a more vocal activist because of the direction this country has taken and that she is in a position to stand up and speak for others in a way that she would have wanted communities to stand up for her grandparents and great-grandparents in their time. Emily Hanako Momohara was born in Seattle, Washington where she grew up in a mixed race family. Her work centers around issues of heritage, multiculturalism, immigration and social justice.  Emily has exhibited nationally, most notably at the Japanese American National Museum in a two-person show titled Sugar|Islands. She has been a visiting artist at several residency programs including the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Headlands Center for the Arts, Fine Arts Work Center and Red Gate Gallery Beijing.  In 2015, her work was included in the Chongqing Photography and Video Biennial. Emily has created socially driven billboards for For Freedoms and United Photo Industries. She lives and works in Cincinnati where she is an Associate Professor of Art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and heads the photography major. https://ehmomohara.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ehmomohara/

Episode Fourteen features Paula Crown, a multimedia artist with a practice encompassing drawing, painting, video, and sculpture. She incorporates cutting-edge technology, social activism, collaboration, and a commitment to sustainability in her studio practice. Crown has had several solo exhibitions including the Aspen Institute, Dallas Contemporary, Marlborough Gallery, New York, Venice concurrent with the 16th Venice Architectural Biennale, and Fort Gansevoort, New York, to name a few. She has also participated in various group exhibitions nationally, including For Freedoms, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, Mount Analogue, Aspen, and the Elmhurst Museum of Art, Illinois. Crown's Public Art Installations include being featured during EXPO Chicago 2014, the Miami Design District several years and Thoughts & Prayers, with For Freedoms, Chicago in 2018. Most recently, she had a public art installation at the For Freedoms Congress in LA (2020). In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Paula to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. She is a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art and serves on the Aspen Institute Committee of the Arts. Upcoming projects in 2020 include large-scale installations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and India. Crown's works are in numerous public and top-100 private collections. Please read more about Paula Crown in links provided below. https://www.atelierpaulacrown.com/ https://www.aspenideas.org/speakers/paula-crown https://www.galeriemagazine.com/paula-crown-venice-dallas-contemporary/ https://hauteliving.com/2014/03/paula-crown-shares-journey-wall-street-art-world/457891/ https://forfreedoms.org/partners/for-freedoms/

August 27 – October 18, 2018Kathleen O. Ellis GalleryGallery Talk: Thursday, September 20, 6pmReception: Thursday, September 20, 5-7pmLight Work is pleased to announce Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul: Selections from the Light Work Collection. The exhibition is guest-curated by For Freedoms, a platform for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists in the United States, co-founded in 2016 by former Light Work artists-in-residence Eric Gottesman and Hank Willis Thomas. Since then, For Freedoms has produced exhibitions, town hall meetings, and public art to spur greater participation in civic life. On their motivations for starting For Freedoms, Gottesman states, “Our hope was to spark dialogue about our collective civic responsibility to push for freedom and justice today, as those before us pushed for freedom and justice in their time through peaceful protest and political participation.”Borrowing its title from the Charles Biasiny-Rivera piece of the same name, Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul features more than forty photographs from the Light Work Collection that explore topics of politics, social justice, identity, and visibility. These subjects have remained significant for Light Work and many of the artists we have supported over our forty-five year history. The list of artists includes: Laura Aguilar, George Awde, Karl Baden, Lois Barden and Harry Littell, Claire Beckett, Charles Biasing-Rivera, Samantha Box, Deborah Bright, Chan Chao, Renee Cox, Rose Marie Cromwell, Jen Davis, Jess Dugan, John Edmonds, Amy Elkins, Nereyda Garcia Ferraz, Jennifer Garza-Cuen, Antony Gleaton, Jim Goldberg, David Graham, Mahtab Hussain, Osamu James Nakagawa, Tommy Kha, Pipo Nguyen-Duy, Deana Lawson, Mary Mattingly, Jackie Nickerson, Shelley Niro, Suzanne Opton, Kristine Potter, Ernesto Pujol, Irina Rozovsky, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Kanako Sasaki, Pacifico Silano, Clarissa Sligh, Beuford Smith, Amy Stein, Mila Teshaieva, Brian Ulrich, Ted Wathen, Carrie Mae Weems, Carla Williams, Hank Willis Thomas, Pixy Yijun Liao.In addition to the selections of work on view at Light Work, we have collaborated with For Freedoms to display a series of billboards throughout the city of Syracuse created by internationally-renowned artists Zoe Buckman, Eric Gottesman, Carrie Mae Weems, Spider Martin, and Hank Willis Thomas. These billboards use photography and text to address social issues and our political climate. This exhibition and related programming coincides with The 50 State Initiative, an ambitious new phase of For Freedoms Fall 2018 programming, during the lead-up to the midterm elections. Building off of the existing artistic infrastructure in the United States, For Freedoms has developed a network of artists and institutional partners, including Light Work, who will produce nationwide public art installations, exhibitions, and local community dialogues in order to inject nuanced, artistic thinking into public discourse. Centered around the vital work of artists, these exhibitions, and related projects will model how arts institutions can become civic forums for action.lg.ht/BeStrong—Special thanks to Daylight Blue Mediadaylightblue.comLight Worklightwork.orgMusic: "Bald Eagle" and "American Crow" by Chad CrouchMusic: "Vela Vela" by Blue Dot Sessionssessions.blue See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Episode 43 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Gina Belafonte, artist, producer, artivist and executive director of Sankofa.org. Sankofa.org is an organization in service of artists and grassroots movements and equitable change in the world using art and culture as a healing opportunity to express fear, anger and frustration, empowering people and organizations to find non-violent ways for response and for everyone to have a whole human experience in our lives.TranscriptGina and Heather caught up virtually in Los Angeles, CA.Listen in as Gina and Heather talk about:Being an artivist at the intersection of art and activism to open hearts and minds using art as a tool to communicate thoughts and ideas.How as the executive director of Sankofa.org, an organization founded by her Father, Harry Belafonte, they educate, motivate, and activate artists and allies, supporting grassroots movements and equitable change by developing cultural content in partnership with community partners. Sanokfa.org started five years ago, activating fully after the Trayvon Martin murder and verdict along with many other organizations like Black Lives Matter, Movement 4 Black Lives, The Justice League.Growing up with two parents, Harry and Julie Belafonte, who were and are today, deeply rooted in the Civil Rights Movement having the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Shirley Chisolm and others around her kitchen table inspiring, shaping, and developing her artivist roots and way she moves in the world.A discussion of many social justice issues and organizations that are making a change in the world, looking at how we are only as good in our society as the most marginalized citizens. And a look into how movements are built, strategized and the responsibility we have as human beings being beneficiaries of the legacy and work of those that came before us.How one dinner with her friend Stacy Lynch, daughter of East Coast political strategist, Bill Lynch, became more dinners and has developed into a group of women, working, dreaming, and activating together. The group includes: Gina Belafonte, daughter of Julie and Harry Belafonte; Suzanne Kay, daughter of Diahann Carroll; Stacy Lynch, daughter of Bill Lynch; Dr. Hasna Muhammad, daughter of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee; Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz; Dominique Sharpton, daughter of Reverend Al Sharpton; and Keisha Sutton-James, granddaughter of Percy Sutton. The daughters explore how their shared memories growing up watching their parents at work overlap and intertwine, as did the lives of their parents—activists, artists, politicians, political strategists, religious leaders, and founders of the civil rights movement. The group is calling themselves Daughters of the Movement, taking their stories to a broader audience through panel discussions, speaker series and an upcoming new podcast.To follow Gina Belafonte: LinkedIn | Instagram | TwitterGina Belafonte Bio:Born and raised in New York City, Gina Belafonte has spent her life in the arenas of entertainment and activism where her professional work thrives today. As the youngest child of Julie and Harry Belafonte, whose impact in these fields is among the most influential and progressive in the world, Gina’s passions come as no surprise. Gina was the lead producer on the internationally acclaimed documentary film, SING YOUR SONG, exploring the extraordinary life and legacy of Harry Belafonte that was selected as the opening film for the Sundance Film Festival in 2011.After many years working as actress in NYC, with several off broadway and touring companies like The National Shakespeare Company and The Mirror Reparatory Company in NYC, under the Artistic Direction of John Strasberg, alongside greats such as Geraldine Page, F. Murray Abraham, Anne Jackson and Elisabeth Franz, a series of opportunities to work in film and television moved her to Hollywood, where she appeared in several guest-starring roles, and landed a television series called THE COMMISH. After two formative years on screen with the series, her lifelong passion for stage production ultimately led her to produce theater in Los Angeles. Gina’s technical expertise and insight into the world of film and television production were developed while working with Paula Weinstein and Barry Levinson at Baltimore Spring Creek/Warner Brothers.After becoming a mother, Gina followed her early childhood environment by immersing herself in activism. Collaborating with leading gang interventionist, Bo Taylor, Gina developed a deeper understanding of gang culture by working in the California prison system and co-founded a non-profit organization called The Gathering For Justice. This multi-cultural, multi-generational organization focuses on youth incarceration and the criminalization of poverty. She currently sits on the Board of 2nd Call a community-based organization designed to save lives, by reducing violence and assisting in the personal development of high-risk individuals, proven offenders, ex-felons, parolees and others who society disregards and the internationally acclaimed Actors Gang Theatre founded by Tim Robbins.After dedicating over a decade to addressing gang intervention and incarceration, Gina traveled around the world with her father to bring together two inspiring generations of art and activism with the critically acclaimed HBO film SING YOUR SONG.Today, Gina lives in LA and New York and is working with diverse artists, activists, and organizations worldwide to promote cultural and civic engagement in the 21st century. Ms. Belafonte is currently involved in many artistic ventures, such as producing a documentary film titled Another Night In The Free World that explores the lives of three young women activists, their struggles and challenges and the difference they are making in the world, developing alongside her father with Martin Scorsese on a television mini-series about the colonization of the Congo by King Leopold the 2nd, and the staged version of the Grammy nominated 6 CD box set anthology of black music The Long Road To Freedom. She and her father are the executive producers of Lyrics from Lockdown - a hip-hop theater, multimedia production addressing the impact of wrongful imprisonment and mass incarceration. Driven by her passion for the arts and activism, Gina reflects: "After we finished Sing Your Song, I knew then as long as my dad had an idea, I would do whatever I could to help bring those ideas to fruition, continue the best of my elders’ traditions, and preserve our family’s legacy."Organizations:Sankofa.org: Founded by Harry Belafonte, Sankofa.org educates, motivates, and activates artists and allies in service of grassroots movements and equitable change. Sankofa.org is fiscally sponsored by the New World Foundation, a 501c3 public charity. Sankofa.org addresses injustice and creates change at multiple levels. In support of our grassroots partners, Sankofa. Org enlists artists, performers, and prominent individuals to deliver messages of moral and political consequence. We stage a wide range of events to amplify our message further and elevate the voices of those already doing this critical work. Additionally, we employ online and offline media to increase the awareness and spirit of activism. Money raised by Sankofa.org is re-granted to our coalition partners working on the ground for lasting change and towards building a self-sustaining endowment to continue our work.To connect with Sankofa: Website | Facebook | Instagram | TwitterDaughters of the Movement: We are legacy holders. A group of women who sat at the feet of those who were on the front lines of the civil rights movement. We carry the oral history, cultural values, and wisdom passed down to us by some of the revolutionary leaders who turned the tide of American history. We are the Daughters of the Movement. This unique sisterhood is a podcast and a speaker series with a target audience of women of all ages and advocates for social justice. Through the lens of living in the Movement, we take deep dives into critical and controversial topics. Lessons From the Daughters of the Civil Rights Movement, Elle Magazine, by Brea Baker.To connect with Daughters of the Movement: Facebook2ndcall.org: 2nd Call is a community-based organization designed to save lives by reducing violence and assisting in the personal development of high-risk individuals, proven offenders, ex-felons, parolees and others who society disregards.To connect with 2ndcall.org: Website | Facebook | TwitterFor Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here?: A visual art exhibit curated by Ava Hess, in collaboration with For Freedoms, that explores the role of art and visual representation in American civic life. The exhibition features a series of photographs that re-envision American artist Norman Rockwell’s paintings of the "Four Freedoms" articulated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union Address.

In this episode, we explore creative projects that attempt to reconstruct the past—at least a version of it. Plus, we take a look back at some personal moments from the first 10 years of Kickstarter, as told by creators and backers. Say Something Bunny Interdisciplinary artist Alison S.M. Kobayashi came across a seemingly mundane audio recording of a family gathering in 1950s Long Island. It was garbled, filled with obscure references, and she set out to unlock its mysteries. Her unique one-woman show, based on six years of research on this recording, has garnered rave reviews and played to sold-out audiences since 2017. Roger Peltzman Norbert Stern’s career as one of the most promising concert pianists in 1930s Europe was cut short when he and his family were captured by the Nazis, along with other Jews, and sent to Auschwitz, where they ultimately perished. His nephew Roger Peltzman, an acclaimed pianist himself, decided to travel to Brussels to record a program of the Chopin pieces that were Norbert’s speciality in the concert hall where he regularly performed. 10 Years of Kickstarter To help us celebrate our 10th birthday, we asked some other creators who have brought ideas to life with Kickstarter to share some memories—snapshots from different points in their Journeys. Here’s who we heard from: Emmely Elgersma—creator of the world’s largest papier-mache sculpture Hank Willis Thomas & Eric Gottesman—creators of The For Freedoms 50 State Initiative Zoe Mendelson—cocreator of Pussypedia Paul Saisset—screenwriter of Paris Est à Nous Alice Oseman—creator of Heartstopper Eu-wen Ding—cofounder and CEO of Lumos Taneka Stotts—cocreator of The Beyond and ELEMENTS Anthologies Lucien Zayan—founder and director of The Invisible Dog Art Center Raja Feather Kelly + the feath3r theory Ema Ryan Yamazaki—director of Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators Joel Hodgson—creator of Mystery Science Theater 3000](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/bringbackmst3k) Simone Giertz—creator of The Everyday Calendar Tom Putnam—cofounder of Beeline Stevie Ronnie—creator of 'and for you (love)' Sandy Honig, Mitra Jouhari, and Alyssa Stonoha—the comedy trio Three Busy Debras Gifts From the Grave Peter Hicks tells the story of what happened when he introduced Kickstarter to his father, Ray Hicks. Goodbye, Zakiya—we love you! Sadly, this is the last episode of Just the Beginning featuring producer and cohost Zakiya Gibbons. She’s off to work with WNYC’s wonderful podcast Nancy. She'll also continue her work building a directory of people of color working in the audio industry(site coming soon!). Find a full transcript with photos here.

Artist Hank Willis Thomas is a leading thinker on monuments and one of the co-founders of For Freedoms, the largest public art campaign in the history of the United States. Willis Thomas worked with Monument Lab last year in Philadelphia on the prototype monument All Power to All People, a monumental-sized afro pick installed across from City Hall. He also produced Raise Up on the grounds of the National Peace and Justice Memorial in Birmingham. A new survey of his work, Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal, is out in October 2018 from Aperture and the Portland Art Museum. In this episode, we are also joined by Evan Walsh, a photographer and For Freedoms Communications Coordinator.

Bobby and Afdhel are joined by conceptual artist and provocateur Hank Willis Thomas with his For Freedoms colleague Emma Nuzzo. We hear how they work to turn traditional ad-space into provoking art pieces, designed to inspire civic discourse, in the hopes of uniting a polarised nation.

episode 11: Hank Willis Thomas In this episode we talk with artist, community mobilizer, and political advocate Hank Willis Thomas. We discuss his plans to start an artist-led advertising agency, making work for the audiences of tomorrow, and building “the road to progress.” You can follow Hank’s work at @hankwillisthomas on Instagram, @hankwthomas on Twitter, and hankwillisthomas.com. Question Bridge: Black Males is at @questionbridge on Instagram & Twitter and For Freedoms is at @forfreedomspac on Twitter and @forfreedoms on Instagram.