Creativity and policy reform

The fact that Arts+Culture is listed as one of the key initiatives of the The Opportunity Agenda, a New York-based organization committed to "building the national will to expand opportunity in America," is very exciting to me. This rights-based leadership, research, and advocacy organization has recognized the important role of arts and media to "create a window into the possible" when it comes to changing public opinion about immigration.

Favianna Rodriguez, David Henry Hwan, and Chung-Wha Hong
Photo courtesy of The Opportunity Agenda

It was this notion that framed last Wednesday's dialogue and multimedia presentation, Immigration: Arts, Culture & Media held at Florence Gould Hall in Manhattan. As I entered the theater, I was greeted by projected images of multimedia artist Kip Fulbeck, front-on portraits of multiethnic individuals holding white pages in front of them that listed their diverse cultural backgrounds. The images reminded me of happy mug shots, as though the artist was challenging the way American society has come to criminalize immigration.

The lights faded and we were shown clips from popular TV shows, movies, and stand up comedians that challenged negative assumptions about immigrants. Alan Jenkins, The Opportunity Agenda's co-founder and director introduced the even and the night's moderator, the dynamic Maria Hinojoso. Acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair started the evening on a surprising note by indicating during her keynote address that she doesn't consider herself an immigrant per se but as someone who is strongly rooted in three places, on three continents (New York, Uganda, and India). She spoke about confronting ethnic stereotypes in her early work with humor and talent. For Nair, the artist's first responsibility is to her craft, and good work could take an important social justice stand. She also spoke about empowerment as the ability to tell one's own story, this the motto of her East African film training organization, Maisha.


Following Nair's comments, the other participants had the opportunity to share their stories, prompted by Hinojosa's questioning. As this diverse sampling of artists and activists spoke about their work and personal experiences, I began to hear two distinct, but often intertwined, narratives emerge. On the one hand, artists spoke about how their creative impulse enabled them to express, question, and celebrate their multicultural and immigrant identities. Radical printmaker Favianna Rodriguez told the story of how early exposure to political poster art in an anti-immigrant California showed her an outlet for her own growing political concerns, while Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang spoke of how tapping into his subconscious in play writing workshops unlocked a long-suppressed connection to his immigrant roots.

The other narrative I heard was one promoted by The Opportunity Agenda about the role of the arts and culture to change hearts and minds by confronting negative stereotypes with new, authentic stories and images. The arts are able to push the limits of reductionism and offer complex and provoking ideas that can ultimately set the stage for policy reforms. Here the conversation turned briefly to popular culture such as sitcoms, reality TV, and children's programming as a powerful means of reaching wide swaths of the American public. But as was emphasized on numerous occasions during the dialogue, not all artists are comfortable engaging popular culture and there are many diverse modes of artistic political engagement. I liked what Chung-Wha Hong, director of the New York Immigration Coalition (and a self proclaimed non-artist) said about looking to the creative process for inspiration for activist work, especially when it comes to bringing authenticity and personal stories into the work of immigration reform.

I enjoyed seeing a project Martín Perna (Ocote Soul Sounds/Antibalas) has been working on to creatively address immigration issues. He has used video technology to show a concert with the DC-based band Thievery Corporation during which immigrants from the band are "disappeared." The effect is haunting and challenges the audience to think about what it would mean to get rid of the immigrant contribution to American culture.

Maria Hinojosa participating in Kip Fulbeck's art project
Photo Courtesy of The Opportunity Agenda

There were some good, sticky moments in the conversation and subsequent Q&A, which affirmed some of my hesitations (expressed previously in this blog) about over-emphasizing the utility of arts and culture. One audience member voiced concern about the co-opting of artist work in more traditional forms of activism and advocacy. At another moment, there was a comment about artist resistance to mainstream media and pop culture as a medium for expression and advocacy. It seemed that before getting too deep into the proposal to engage artists to promote immigration reform (and other policy reform), more dialogue was needed about the agency of artists themselves in such political processes and their frequent marginalization in American society.

I had a chance to discuss this topic at the reception following the event (DJ'd by Martín Perna!) with a self-identifying artivista, Kayhan Irani whose book, “Telling Stories to Change the World: Global Voices on the Power of Stories to Build Community and make Social Justice Claims,” presents some examples from the field of arts as social change.

Overall, I thought Wednesday's event was an important forum for artists-activists and non-artist activists to share examples of work that addresses immigrant issues and to propose some areas where partnerships could strengthen social activism. I look forward to seeing where The Opportunity Agenda will go with the momentum generated during the forum.