My Story
I work in socially engaged art; where art meets activism and social justice. I think the way art is advertised, and in general, it has this false image of being a luxury item. I don’t think that especially benefits the need for diversity in art. I used to work at the Queens Museum, but right now I work in the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. My boss was telling me a story recently about somebody he met from NAACP who thinks it’s a PR problem that nobody thinks art is good for communities, that we don’t actually talk about the impact of the arts and what it can do for people and people’s lives. Art has a lot of social impact. Art can show you how interrelated everything is; that inclusiveness means you don’t have to be a box. Then you have the freedom to just be you. I think if people understood that, then maybe it would be thought of as something as influential to a community as being a nurse, or a teacher, or a social worker.