Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter.

To be silent is to be complicit.

The Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism values the work of Providence frontline residents, culture bearers, artists and organizers.

At ACT we believe art is a tool for self care and community care. For healing and for organizing. For imagining the world we want to be alive in. For manifesting a just world we all can be alive in.

There are great resources for artists creating art and community during these times. To start, we invite you to take a look at the Center for Cultural Power’s “A COVID-19 Cultural Strategy Activation Guide for Artists and Activists“ and the work of the three Black women who co-founded BLM, each a practicing artist. If your arts or cultural organization is interested in exploring an anti-racist process, we recommend exploring New Haven’s Division of Arts, Culture and Tourism’s Arts for Anti-Racism Pledge and Toolkit.

If this post is hard for you, we invite you to take a look at Mosaic Education Network’s list of resources on unpacking systemic racism.

ACT staff is committed to unpacking and undoing racism within the creative sector. As we move forward with our Creative Providence cultural planning process, we will make room to hold ourselves and our sector accountable to systemic change.

Stay safe out there.

Love,