Thursday, May 28
6:00 – 8:00 pm
Indianapolis Liberation Center
One time $25 to $50 registration fee for entire course
The Fonseca-DuBois Gallery is partnering with the People’s Forum to put on their latest educational series The artist must take sides. This six-class course is geared towards artists who want to use their art to speak to the moment and elevate the struggles people face in our lives. The artist has the power to illustrate visions of the future that give people hope and push working class movements forward.
This class examines how the U.S. ruling class has produced, policed, and controlled art and culture to maintain power. We will look at State Department–sponsored cultural diplomacy, the persecution of artists like Paul Robeson, the Hollywood blacklist, McCarthyism, and the Pentagon’s ongoing relationship with the film industry, tracing how cultural production has been shaped, constrained, and disciplined in the service of empire. Along the way, we will raise key questions:
- What does it mean for an artist to choose a side?
- What are the consequences of that choice?
- And how does the US ruling class respond when culture steps outside the limits set for it, and how have artists fought back?
We will ground these questions in both historical and contemporary examples, examining culture not only as a tool of repression but also as evidence of the courage and boldness of artists who have dared to resist.