Arts Activists Gather in Chicago

Cultural producers from 18 cities visited Chicago during the mini-blizzard of January 9-11 to engage in a retreat around the arts and social change. This was an amazing group of artist-activists-educators who are working a wide range of community and political settings. The group met in the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport. This was self-organized and not supported by any foundation or established cultural institution. Questions of politics, social change, civic engagement, economic critique, class and race privilege and the role of the arts in a post-Bush America were all raised and debated. How can this group of independent but loosely affiliated group of activists stay together and help one another? How can we work together and, at the same time, broaden our connections to the community and to people not currently being served by the economic and cultural infrastructure?