About
Our mission is to give artists a platform to assert agency in the face of oppressive social systems, to tell stories that elevate equity and social justice. We envision a society in which creative acts of knowledge-making open new spaces for equity and social justice.
Our goal for Creativity in the Time of COVID-19: Art for Equity and Social Justice is to open public spaces that make room for the voices of people disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in some cases people who work with those populations. We are also creating materials that invite people who come to the exhibit to respond to the work and to help build compassion and solutions for the inequities and social injustices made visible by the pandemic. We are actively making sure that members of the greater Lansing community have opportunities to attend and to add their voices to the stories told by the exhibit through free workshops and other interactive event surprises.
We have learned so much about the ways creative activities are used by people in their everyday contexts as they have been affected by COVID-19. Working with organizations like DisArt, STQRY, Capital City Film Festival, and our other community partners has shown us the true value of collaborating with people and organizations who have shared goals for inclusion, equity, and social justice. We are all inspired to know there are others who are working toward these goals and whose approaches to collaboration are compassionate and focused on uplifting us all.
This exhibition is supported by a Mellon “Just Futures” grant.
To make all exhibit sites accessible, QR codes on the labels of artwork will take people to audio versions of the text and image descriptions. The exhibit guides have been trained by an organization called STQRY to assist people with technology so they can access all of the accessible pieces. Content will be translated into Spanish, French, Hindi, and Mandarin. STQRY will create an online version of the exhibit that will be active for 6 months before being archived to the MSU libraries.
Contributors
Leadership
Kelsey Abner
Inventory Analyst & Assistant Materials Manager
Physical Exhibit Team
Kelsey Abner
Tasnim Ahmed
Nancy Dejoy
Joshua Dixon
Harmant Grewal
Sydney Kleiner
Fatima Konare
Benjamin Lash
Zoe Potts
Ushasai Reddy
Marta Vaitkaitis
Selection Committee
Kelsey Abner
Tasnim Ahmed
Micaela Balzer
Rachid Benharrousse
Margaret Bice
Kate Birdsall
Patricia Brown
Soohyun Cho
Dominic Cochran
Sheila Contreras
Joshua Dixon
Harmant Grewal
Vishok Gunasekar
Salah Hassan
Julie Huston
Peter Johnson
Sydney Kleiner
Fatima Konare
Benjamin Lash
Jes Lopez
Cody Mejeur
Craig Pearson
Payal Ravani
Ayla Schwartz
Ceili Widmann
Marta Vaitkaitis
Community Partners
Capital City Film Festival
Common Notice
The Cube @ MSU
DisArt
MSU Translation Center
Location Partners
Impression 5
Lansing Art Gallery
REACH Studios
Refugee Development Center
Sears
