Arts & Democracy cross pollinates culture, participatory democracy, and social justice. We support cultural organizing and cross-sector collaborations; raise the visibility of transformative work; connect cultural practitioners with activists, organizers, and policymakers; and create spaces for reflection.

Contact us at info@artsanddemocracy.org

History:
The Project grew out of the National Voice 2004 campaign that engaged groups committed to constituencies who are underrepresented in the American decision-making. Through a series of convenings we learned what has, and hasn’t, been effective in building closer ties between arts and culture and sustained and strategic activism. Building on this knowledge we developed our program and decentralized network to creatively support transformative change.

What we do:
Arts & Democracy puts arts and culture on agendas where it hasn’t been before, connects artists, cultural organizers, and activists who wouldn’t otherwise know each other, and creates the connective tissue and generative environment needed for cross sector collaboration to succeed.

• We share resources through our website, newsletters, social media, and presentations highlighting creative work that furthers immigration reform, environmental justice,equitable development, participatory democracy, and human rights.
• Bridge Conversations bring to life the remarkable people who make change at the intersection of generations, cultures, sectors and geographies.
• Cultural organizing workshops draw on our framework for building a robust practice where culture is fully integrated into organizing.
• Our urban planning course links arts, culture, and participatory planning through experiential learning.
• Networking events, roundtables, and conference calls raise the visibility of art and social justice and connect artists, cultural organizers, activists and policymakers.
• Strategic partnerships connect community-based creative practice with policymaking and systemic change. With Service Employees International Union (SEIU) we are creating an artist in residency program to tell the stories of workers and their communities and provide a liberating experience of creation. With Participatory Budgeting NYC, we are integrating arts and culture into a neighborhood-based process of participatory democracy across the city.
• We participate in NOCD-NY, a citywide alliance seeking to revitalize New York City from the neighborhood up.

Arts & Democracy is a fiscally sponsored project of State Voices