BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT SCHOOL MODALITY II FEBRUARY 21-22, 2023

Nearly three years into a global pandemic and a nationwide racial reckoning, museums and cultural institutions continue to contend with their role in advancing equity and ensuring their relevancy. As curators, arts educators, and public-engagement teams consider the future and grapple with anti-racist approaches to their work, what can be learned from significant historical approaches and radical thinking that emerged from 1960s arts practitioners and institution makers?

In this virtual session taking place over two days, Black Arts Movement (BAM) practitioners will share firsthand accounts of the ideas and approaches that influenced their commitment to institution making and community. Facilitated by Black Arts Movement School Modality founder Romi Crawford and Terra Foundation Senior Engagement Fellow Pascale Ife Williams, these conversations will dig into the deeper knowledge formations and structures that played out within the context of the Black Arts Movement and consider their applications for today. We are hopeful that the conversation will inform your Art Design Chicago projects as they develop.

About Black Arts Movement School Modality

A nationwide movement led by Black artists and intellectuals, the Black Arts Movement called for creative expression reflecting pride in Black history and culture to awaken Black consciousness and assert liberation. Conceived by Romi Crawford, Professor of Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Black Arts Movement School Modality allows a diverse group of students to learn about a pivotal movement in art history directly from the shapers of that movement–many now in their 70s, 80s, and 90s–and to reflect together on its ongoing agency and relevance today.

Faculty:

·  Dr. Carol Adams (Everyday Art )

·  Marvin X (Black House)

·  Robert Paige (Designer, Everyday Art)

·  Val Gray Ward (Kuumba Theater Workshop)

·  Beatrice Young (Educational Equity Program Founder)

·  Shawn Walker (Photographer)

·  Dianne McIntyre (Choreographer, Dancer, Sounds in Motion)

Facilitators:

· Romi Crawford (Black Arts Movement School Modality)

· Ife Pascale Williams (Terra Foundation)

· Edgar Arcenaux (Artist, Director, Writer, Organizer)

· Karen Wong (Guilty by Association)

Topics to be addressed include:

·  Anti-racist and community-engaged approaches to exhibition and curatorial practice 

·  BAM Faculty reflections and examples of community related practices

·  Ways to expand a history focused on an artist or artists of a dominant culture to be more inclusive and meaningful

·  Institutional accountability to community