Creative Change Coalition: Artists in Advocacy
“When our histories have been erased, it’s the people that continue to tell the stories and create the art [who] mark our point in time.”
– Nicole Kang, Asian American Advocacy Fund
Artists and culture bearers can be powerful allies in advocating for policy change, movement building, and other economic and social justice efforts. How can we build equitable and reciprocal relationships that support artists in bringing their skills to the work of advocating for more just and joyful communities?
On Wednesday, June 5, Creative Change Coalition members spent time exploring this question with Sikowis Nobiss, Executive Director of the Great Plains Action Society, and Nicole Kang, Creative Communications Manager of the Asian American Advocacy Fund. Both organizations are working with artists to build narratives, communicate policy impacts, and mobilize community members.
The conversation was hosted by Sage Crump, Director of Racial Justice and Movement Building at National Performance Network. Sage grounded the conversation in a roll call of ancestors who have left us a “lineage of what it means to be cultural workers who are engaged in the transformation of the world.” These ancestors included Firoze Manji, Toni Morrison, Che Guevara, Suzanne Cesaire, Amilcar Cabral, Claudia Jones, James Baldwin, Grace Lee Boggs, Haunani-Kay Trask, Amiri Baraka. Closing out this roll call, Sage offered that “the work that we do is not just ours or it’s not just in this moment, but we are in a legacy of folks. And I firmly believe that in the future if someone else is calling the roll that some of the people that are in this room right now will be on that roll call.”
Above: Posters from the Great Plains Action Society. Art and Photography by Sikowis Nobiss.
Based in Iowa, Great Plains Action Society (GPAS) has engaged with artists since their founding in 2016, with art at the center of every effort they take on, whether advocating for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Relatives (MMIR), land defense, or protecting water. From producing fashion shows, giving out free posters and stickers, to commissioning light installations and celebrating food traditions, the key to arts-centered advocacy is to recognize that artmaking fosters deep community care, and this care can translate to shared power and an invitation to get involved. Much of the artwork GPAS has commissioned and supported is led by women, and GPAS is passionate about compensating artists for their labor because of its powerful impact. Additionally, art has been an effective tool to build relationships across sectors and cultures. One poster campaign on MMIR was hosted at the Department of Corrections, who have become powerful allies in the fight against MMIR. Sikowis also pointed out that while some people might think of the art they support as political or protest art, it’s simply “our way of being and our overarching goal of rematriation—the act of getting land back, or, healing the land and the people, and, bringing back power to the matriarchy.”
Above: The ABC’s of AAPI Coloring Book, photo by Michael Nader. Photo courtesy of the Asian American Advocacy Fund.
Based in Georgia, the Asian American Advocacy Fund (AAAF) is a grassroots organization seeking to build a politically conscious and engaged Asian American base. As the Creative Communications Manager of AAAF, Nicole Kang leads efforts to create culturally responsive ways to advocate for progressive policies, and transform the sociopolitical landscape of Georgia and the South. Their Artivism Lab, for example, cultivates this political awareness and engagement through creative expression. From the Artivism Lab, projects like the ABCs of AAPI, an alphabet book addressing concerns in the AAPI community, artist-designed mailers to engage voters, and a denim jacket design contest have all provided opportunities to explore belonging and inclusion for AAPI communities in the South.
After sharing some of the work of Great Plains Action Society and Asian American Advocacy Fund, Sage, Nicole, and Sikowis began a conversation about the intersections of place, identity, and history as well as how artists and art-making can deepen, contextualize, challenge, and heal.
Above: The Great Plains Action Society theory of change.
Three Key Takeaways from their conversation:
1. Place matters. Place informs belonging. Place is people.
“There’s nothing more real in this world than the land. Everything else is an illusion, right? It’s everything that…humans create on.” -Sikowis Nobiss
“When I think about place, it is very informative of how we perceive ourselves. It is important in understanding our position in the world. And so as a second generation Asian American, I really struggled with identifying with place as home, as a sense of belonging. So for me, I have been making art so that when people look around their space and their places that they understand that they are seeing themselves…I believe that the work that artists do is to offer you some reflection, offer you something different, offer you an extension of who you are in the place that you are.” -Nicole Kang
2. Engage in authentic partnership, relationship, and intersectionality. We’re in this together.
“I am an artist. I have been so frustrated with the way artists have been treated. It has, from my experience, felt very extractive, when I get approached for a project. And then I feel abandoned afterwards…[T]hroughout the process… I crave meaningful and authentic and genuine partnerships. And so in order to create that, it is really about investing a lot of time and relationship into getting to know the artist. Understanding their capacity, understanding their strengths.
So for me, …something that I have really, prioritized [with Artivism Lab] is the authentic relationship building, making sure that every artist that I have worked with, we remain in touch and that I always reconsider them for other things too.” -Nicole Kang
Above: Our mothers, our daughters, our peace: Artwork by Gyun Hur, commissioned by Flux Projects. Photo courtesy of Asian American Advocacy Fund.
“[F]or me, one of the primary places to start is to be really clear. Have a clear political analysis that we all see and understand. I often talk about the the work of Chairman Fred Hampton of the Black Panthers in Chicago, who built what initially was the original Rainbow Coalition, before Jesse Jackson, which was a multiracial multi-tenancy, a revolutionary coalition. And the way he did that, studying Chairman Fred’s work, is by being clear about what are the things that affect us all?…What are the ways that the state is working? What are the ways that the systems function that are actually in the way of all of us having our ability to be free and have a life of dignity that we all deserve?
When I’m working with folks and we’re building relationships, we’re also usually studying together. We’re making work and we’re studying together. Part of that I learned from a brilliant artist named kai lumumba barrow who is also one of the founders of Critical Resistance, an abolitionist organization…We would always be reading and studying together while we’re collectively building creative work so that we’re clear that our values are alive…and that we’re moving in the same direction.” -Sage Crump
3. Fill your cup and fill the cup of those you engage.
“Bad things happen when you’re trying to care for your community, but you’re not being cared for yourself, and so I’m a huge believer in not taking free labor from Black and brown folks…We never…expect somebody just to do something for free—that comes from our communities, or artists or…anybody. That’s how we build relationships. We just don’t take advantage of people.” -Sikowis Nobiss
Connect with Sage, Nicole, and Sikowis and follow their work:
Sage Crump, National Performance Network
Nicole Kang, Asian American Advocacy Fund, Artivism Lab
- Nicole’s website: nicolekang.com
- Nicole’s Instagram: @nicolekangahn
Sikowis Nobiss, Great Plains Action Society
- Facebook: @GreatPlainsActionSociety
- Instagram: @greatplainsactionsociety
- Twitter/X: @PlainsAction