Creative Capital Announces Series of Artist Dinners and Civic Conversations
NATIONAL PROGRAM IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FOR FREEDOMS’ 50 STATE INITIATIVE
New York, NY (September 6, 2018) — Creative Capital announced today the Dinners Project, a platform for artists and communities around the country to host potluck-style gatherings in locations across the United States from October 4 to 7, 2018 to ensure artists’ voices are an active part of civic discourse leading up to the midterm elections. Fourteen Creative Capital Awardees of various artistic backgrounds will host dinners in their respective cities as part of this series, and a free discussion guide is available to anyone who would like to host their own dinner conversation. Interested users are encouraged to visit dinners.creative-capital.org to sign up to host or attend a dinner.
The Dinners Project is part of For Freedoms’ 50 State Initiative, designed to encourage nuanced artistic thinking and organizing in politics nationwide. Creative Capital is contributing to the initiative with the dinner model by facilitating local conversations and connecting them to an ongoing national dialogue, furthering its commitment to supporting artists and their communities.
The Dinners Project continues Creative Capital’s collaboration with For Freedoms, founded by Creative Capital Awardee Eric Gottesman and Hank Willis Thomas in 2016 to use art as a vehicle to build greater participation in American democracy. Host guides and discussion materials, provided for free on the Dinners Project website, were written in partnership with Love Army, a project of Dream Corps founded by Van Jones. In 2017, Creative Capital organized a For Freedoms Town Hall to discuss the precarious state of arts funding in the U.S.
“I am thrilled that Creative Capital can participate in the 50 State Initiative and provide a platform for local organizing around arts and culture, which are so critical to our society,” said Marianna Schaffer, Director of Artist Initiatives at Creative Capital. “We’re at an important moment in our nation’s history and by encouraging people to break bread together, connect, and exchange ideas about art and civic responsibility, we’re doing our part to encourage active participation in democracy.”
Confirmed Creative Capital Awardees participating in the Dinners Project
Byron Au Yong (San Francisco, CA), Ellen Bruno (San Francisco, CA), Erika Chong Shuch (Berkeley, CA), desert ArtLAB (Bay Area, CA), Amy Franceschini (Oslo, Norway), Maria Gaspar (Chicago, IL), Tana Hargest (Minneapolis, MN), Maryam Keshavarz (Los Angeles, CA), LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs (Harlem, NY), Mark Elijah Rosenberg (Brooklyn, NY), Nick Slie (New Orleans, LA), Nick Szuberla (Wilmington, NC), David Wilson (Columbia, MO), Kristina Wong (Los Angeles, CA)
Registration and Discussion Guide
dinners.creative-capital.org
Public dinners will be added to the website as they are confirmed; users can sign up to host or attend dinners.
About For Freedoms + 50 State Initiative
Building off of the existing artistic infrastructure in the United States, For Freedoms has developed a network of artists and institutional partners who will produce nationwide public art installations, exhibitions and local community dialogues from September through October in order to inject nuanced, artistic thinking into public discourse in the lead-up to the mid-term elections in November 2018. Learn more at forfreedoms.org.
About Love Army
With over 123,625 members in 49 states, Love Army convenes people in local teams, forums, concerts, and digital community creating and sharing content, grounding people in the values of love and solidarity through teach-ins, study groups, and digital media. Learn more at lovearmy.org.
About Creative Capital
Creative Capital supports innovative and adventurous artists across the country through funding, counsel and career development services. Its pioneering venture philanthropy approach helps artists working in all creative disciplines realize their visions and build more sustainable careers. Since 1999, Creative Capital has committed $40 million in project funding and advisory support to 511 projects representing 642 artists and has worked with more than 18,000 artists in over 800 creative communities across the country. Learn more at creative-capital.org.
Creative Capital receives major support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Lambent Foundation, Toby Devan Lewis, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, New York Community Trust, William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, Muriel Pollia Foundation, Jane Brown and Neil Didriksen, Paige West, Stephen Reily and Emily Bingham, The Theo Westenberger Estate, and more than 100 other institutional and individual donors.
Press Contact
Michael Gibbons
Director of Marketing & Communications, Creative Capital
[email protected]