Arts & Democracy helps build a movement of work that cross-fertilizes arts and culture, participatory democracy, and social justice. We do this through cultural or¬ganizing, capacity building, artist residencies, and by shaping policy and creating spaces for reflection and connection. Our focus is on historically disenfranchised communities. We put arts and culture on agendas where it hasn’t been before, connect artists, activists, and policymakers who wouldn’t otherwise know each other, and create the connective tissue and generative environment needed for transformative collaborations to succeed. We cultivate year-round arts and cultural programming with immigrant communities, including the Bangladeshi community in Kensington. This includes concerts on the Ave C Plaza and an annual Community Iftar. Our Cultural Organizing workshop shares our core practice of integrating arts and culture into organizing strategies to advance social and economic justice. With partners including El Puente, NOCD-NY, Hester Street, and USDAC develop resources such as Arts + Participatory Budgeting, the Cultural Blueprint for Healthy Communities, and Activating the Cultural Power of a Movement.

Image: A Quest for Home. Photo by Rathkoph Photography, 2019.