Colored Criticism

A fresh take on art.

Tiffany Bradley

Pride In Many Colors

Summer is finally in the streets. With the solstice behind us and restrictions lifting, I’m so glad that we can gather again. It seemed like we might not make it to another season of celebration, but we’re here for Juneteenth and Pride. From city streets to county fairs, our communities are coming alive, with parties open to all.

One of the brightest, biggest celebrations in New York has to be Pride, along with the Puerto Rican Day Parade and West Indian Day Parade. In our city, we’re still combining digital and in-person parties as we recalibrate post-pandemic. Whatever your speed, there’s a way to honor our LGBTQ+ friends and family whether you’re on a float, hosting a cozy kickback, or digging into some critical theory (and yes, podcasts count!)

Here are my picks for Pride online. Full disclosure, all of these artists and curators are Colored Criticism friends:

  • Close reads: Lambda-award winning poet and performance artist Rosamond King does not mince words. Her latest collection “All the Rage” channels the righteous anger and unflinching hopes of living in America right now. Her incandescent, pointed and playful voice is always in style. Enjoy the book launch at Rutgers here.
  • The kids are more than all right: APA Out Loud brings us young spoken word artists Jireh Deng, Lauren Bullock, and Caitlyn Clark in virtual performance. I’m looking forward to more from their strong spirits and thoughtful reflections. Watch their work here, directed by Alberto Morales of Human Rights Campaign.
  • Teach it like you preach it: Professor and scholar Bimbola Akinbola redefines diaspora through her Queering Belonging mini-series. Her advocacy reminds us that “belonging is continuous work” and not a rigid legacy. Explore the dimensions of Nigerian diaspora artists via Northwestern University online.
  • It’s lit: Kevin Seaman illuminates the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco this weekend. Their public art commission draws from the iconography of the Transgender, Lesbian Labrys, and Leather flags this month. If you can’t visit in person (like me), check out this supercut set to Planningtorock’s Transome.

Image Credit: Meg Emiko brings their candy-colored affirmations to the APA Out Loud campaign. Meg shares “I had spent so many years trying to push the two most important parts of my identity aside, that I knew I wanted to create a platform and safe space for other AAPI and LGBTQIA+ folks so they could feel represented in some way.”

Run It Back

“If American progress is recursive, then studying the past is a form of moral vigilance, an effort to better navigate the nation’s continual cycles of violence and oppression, and perhaps help guide the country to calmer waters when the next crest hits.”

Victor Luckerson

Victor Luckerson’s Run It Back is essential reading on Tulsa, race riots, and historical memory. Subscribe now!

Audience Outlook Monitor

As part of the founding communications team for the Audience Outlook Monitor initiative, we evaluate and share how audiences feel about going out again and what will make them feel safe in order to stage a successful comeback. WolfBrown’s Audience Outlook Monitor is an international collaboration between top researchers, funders, service organizations, and hundreds of cultural organizations that want to make informed decisions about how and when to re-start programming based on rigorous research data. 

Watch the Deep Dive: “Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Audience Attitudes about Covid-19”

April 5, 2021

This 60-minute session foregrounds research findings through the lens of race/ethnicity. Because of the very large sample sizes, were are able to examine differences between racial/ethnic groups within the pool of respondents (i.e., arts and culture members and ticket buyers). Following an initial presentation of research highlights, Tiffany Bradley moderates a discussion with Chandra Stephens-Albright, Managing Director of Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company, a participant in the first phase of the research.

Gina Gibney

Gina Gibney is a choreographer, director, and the Founder, Artistic Director and CEO of Gibney. Gibney emerged in 1991 as an arts organization dedicated to social action, and today the organization has rapidly emerged as a cultural leader operating 23 studios across two Lower Manhattan facilities. With the mission of tapping into the vast potential of moment, creativity, and performance to effect social change and personal transformation, Gibney works through three interrelated fields of activity—Company, the acclaimed resident dance ensemble; Community, a highly respected and impactful social action program, and Center, two beautiful spaces at 890 and 280 Broadway.

Gina Gibney’s repertory of works and community outreach programs have received wide acclaim and support. Beyond the stage, Gibney is dedicated to using the transformative power of dance to give a voice to individuals in need. Considered a pioneer in connecting the arts with the broader community, her organization’s work has impacted the lives of thousands of domestic violence survivors. In 2008 she was inducted into the Vanity Fair Hall of Fame for “making art and taking action.” 

Gibney is serving her second terms as a Trustee of Dance/USA and has received the organization’s Ernie Award, given annually to a changemaker in the field. She is a Founding Member of the Board of Directors of Dance/NYC, serving the organization since 2012. She is a member of The Women’s Forum of New York is an invitation-only organization of more than 500 women representing all professional sectors and spheres of influence in our city.

Gibney was included in Dance Magazine’s 2017 list of The Most Influential People in Dance Today and was named to the Out100 2016 list of influential members of the LGBT community.

In 2018, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater Case Western Reserve University. In 2019 she received the Floria Lasky Award from the Jerome Robbins Foundation and the Plus Factor Award from the string quartet ETHEL.

Gibney is a frequent panelist and speaker on topics of dance, entrepreneurship, and arts-community partnerships. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts from Case Western Reserve University where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. 

This Is Nothing New

We stand in active support of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities as we finish May. Our network is full of artists, activists, and advocates working in the anti-racist tradition. Artist Betty Yu and her Chinatown Arts Brigade collaborators were recently featured in the New York Times arts section. (Although the title is misleading – this work is not new for them!) You can learn more about CAB in this PBS segment, or revisit our ArtOffPause conversation last year. And there are so many AAPI stories still to be told and celebrated – I always enjoy the latest offerings from Asian American Writers Workshop. Their Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities project feels super comforting right now, and they have more upcoming events on deck.

This month is designated to celebrate AAPI culture, but is overshadowed by an increase in hate crimes. These communities deserve safety and respect, as all of our nation does. In particular, we recognize the still-fresh trauma of those who have lost their elders to violence in Atlanta, Indianapolis, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Extra credit: work on equity with donation-based training tools for your community or organization via educator Jaime Jin Lewis.

Yours in spring celebration, 

Tiffany.

Image Credit: Sue Jeong Ka used “ID Shop, 2014-2018” as an intervention for immigrant youth without identification. Via the artist: “ID Shop operated as an artist liaison between queer homeless immigrant youths and art institutions to help them apply for IDs issued by the state government.” Being without papers is precarious in a world where documentation means access to services, education, and financial resources. Sue worked both conceptually and practically with this mobile citizenship pathway. Artists are often intervening between their people and the state.

Coming Soon!

Our #ArtOffPause artists, activists, and curators have been busy! Here are some things to look forward to:

  • Kevin Seaman is offering queer arts community and workshops through Diamond Wave. More on their Summer series here!
  • Tammy Johnson launched Creatives in Place, a listening project on 22 artists rooted in the Bay Area. There’s plenty of great art, work. and insights online.
  • Smith Museum College of Art (SCMA) unveils “Amanda Williams: An Imposing Number of Times” across campus through 2022.

Revisioning Research: Looking at Identity and Visual Culture

Part of the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA) Social Justice Lecture Series 2020-2021 season, Stories and Silences: Research on Race in the Middle East.

February 18th, 2021

Critic Tiffany Bradley will examine art, literature, and photography as tools to explore Middle Eastern communities. She will discuss cultivating a multicultural, multiracial approach to research in the Middle East and North Africa. Her discussion will be informed by critical race theory and her anthropological fieldwork in Nubian communities in Cairo and Palestinians of African descent in Jerusalem. She will also talk about online networks looking at shared histories from a fresh perspective. This interactive session will consider approaches to diversifying studies for academics, researchers, and students.

Recording available upon request.