Engaging Artists Featured On City Limits
An excerpt from the article by Melissa Rose Cooper:
“Whether a work of art is good or bad is ultimately in the eye of beholder. Likewise, whether art’s purpose is to force social change or merely react to it—or none of the above—is in the eye of the artist. Author Salmon Rushdie once said, “You can’t ask art to make social change. It’s not what it’s for.” But Mexican artist Pedro Reyes had a different view: “I definitely believe art is the best way to produce social change.”
Some artists in New York City are hoping to prove that the latter is true by producing art relevant to the issues facing neighborhoods and connecting artists with people leading the fight for change.
Engaging Artists is a program through the non-profit organization More Art aimed at helping artists expand their social involvement. The four-month fellowship gives them the tools necessary to practice their activism on issues that matter to the community through their work.
“It’s about getting artists to be ingrained in everyday life and not so separated,” says Jeff Kasper, manager of engagement at More Art. “We hope that communities understand that, actually, artists aren’t really interested in just displaying their own art work and really want to lend themselves to highlighting community issues more broadly together.”
