Thursdays, May 7 – 11
6:00 – 8:00 pm
1619 Prospect St
One time $25 to $50 registration fee for entire course
The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.” — Paul Robeson
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-course series 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.
In times of war and crisis, when people are rising up, when people are taking a stand, when the stakes could not be higher– what is the responsibility of the artist?
History points us to the answer. Culture is the heartbeat of our movements. It brings people into collective action, sharpens our sense of our own power, and makes a better future feel possible. But the ruling elites also use culture to flood our screens with art that makes the current crisis feel natural, inevitable, and permanent. Artists on the side of freedom have to fight back. Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, June Jordan, Elizabeth Catlett, and Paul Robeson all took a side. The muralists of the Chicano Movement took a side. Hip-hop artists and those speaking out on stages, screens, studio walls, and the streets today take a side. Now, we as artists have to consider what that looks like in today’s context.
In this course presented by Artists Against Apartheid & The People’s Forum, we will study the role of the artist in the movement. We will discuss the responsibility of artists to struggle against the system that exploits, alienates, and pacifies and towards building a culture that inspires, drives, and sustains our collective struggle for liberation. Art alone cannot make a revolution, but it can transform the people who will.