2023 ArtsLink Assembly: The Future is Not What It Used to Be

CEC ArtsLink presented The 2023 ArtsLink Assembly—a meeting of potent ideas and individual actions, of insights and practices, of artists and institutions, of engaging speakers and active listeners. The 2023 ArtsLink Assembly seeks to spark new ways to dismantle, remember, repair, and reinvent historic frameworks, ideas, and power structures.

How do we build an equitable cultural field activated through a lived process of unsettling and repair?

What would it look like to ground artistic culture in care, through a cultivation of local voices and needs? How might we nurture a transnational network of artists in their vital work on the front lines of social transformation?

What role do we each have to ensure the future is not what it used to be?

Day One

Day one featured a succession of MANYfestos, thought pieces, presentations, and discussions by leading artists rooted in their unique communities around the world and figures in cultural policy and practice, philanthropy, and social justice.

Welcome
Megha Ralapati and Simon Dove // CEC ArtsLink

The Frame
Cannupa Hanska Luger // artist, Santa Fe, NM

Context
Anuradha Vikram // writer, curator, educator, Los Angeles, CA

Experimental Station
Corey Chatman // Deputy Director, Chicago, IL

Local Chicago
Hilesh Patel // artist, community organizer, Chicago, IL
Niketa Brar // policy strategist and civic systems organizer, Chicago, IL

Sovereign Storytelling
Aymar Jean Christian // Open TV, Chicago, IL 
Tempestt Hazel // Sixty Inches from Center, Chicago, IL

Environmental Stewardship
Asia Bazdyrieva // ArtsLink International Fellow, Ukraine

Public Art, Civic Practice
Faheem Majeed // Floating Museum, Chicago, IL
Risa Puleo // Counterpublic, St. Louis, MO

Solidarity Threads
Rufina Bazlova // ArtsLink International Fellow, Belarus/Czech Republic
Irina Zadov // artist, Belarus/USA

Reparative Philanthropy
Barbara Lanciers // Trust for Mutual Understanding, New York, NY
Angelique Power // Skillman Foundation, Detroit, MI
Lori Lea Pourier // First Peoples Fund, Rapid City, SD

Nutrition / Tradition
Jessica Walks First // Chef, Ketapanen Kitchen, Chicago, IL

Plant to Plate
Erika Dudley // artist, Chicago, IL 
Gurdeep Loyal // food writer and broadcaster, London, UK

Breath
Patricia Nguyen // artist and educator, Chicago, IL

Letter From An Artist
Anonymous // artist, Global South

Unlearning Geopolitics
Aleksei Borisionok // ArtsLink International Fellow, Belarus/Austria
Leah Feldman // author, scholar, Chicago, IL

Cultivating Culture
Rusanda Curcă, video MANYfesto // artist-farmer, ArtsLink alum, Moldova

Responsive Placemaking
Patricia Nguyen // artist, academic, Chicago, IL
Leyli Gafarova // ArtsLink International Fellow, Azerbaijan
Augusta Morrison // Sidewalk Detroit
Asad Ali Jafri // artist, organizer, Chicago, IL

Collective Learning
Oyindamola Fakeye (online) // CCA Lagos, Nigeria
Antawan I. Byrd // art historian, Chicago, IL

Information Equity
Tracie D. Hall // public scholar, former Executive Director at the American Library Association, Chicago, IL

Community / Narratives
Andreea Lăcătuș // ArtsLink International Fellow, Romania
Amani Olu // artist, publicist, Detroit, MI
Lori Waxman // art writer, Chicago Tribune

Reimagining Futures
Cannupa Hanska Luger // artist, Santa Fe, NM
Frank Waln // artist, Chicago, IL 
Debra Yepa-Pappan // curator,  Center for Native Futures, Chicago, IL

Day Two

Day two focused on the cultural reconstruction of Ukraine and featured perspectives from key cultural voices. Emerging from the ideas and issues raised by Ukrainian artists and cultural leaders at last year’s ArtsLink Assembly in Warsaw, the Ukrainian Institute and independent Kyiv-based think tank CEDOS presented a strategy document that distilled many of the critical issues facing Ukraine’s cultural future caused by Russia’s war of aggression.

Welcome / Introductions
Volodymyr Sheiko // Ukrainian Institute, Kyiv
Simon Dove // CEC ArtsLink, New York

Context
Tetyana Filevska // Ukrainian Institute, Kyiv

“Beyond Greener Grass: Strategies Toward Ukrainian Transnational Cultural Reconstruction”
Introduction
Anastasiia Manuliak // Ukrainian Institute, Kyiv

Strategy: The Process
Olena Syrbu // Cedos, an independent think tank, Kyiv

Strategy: Perspectives
Volodymyr Yermolenko // writer, philosopher, Kyiv
Kateryna Alymova // Kyiv Contemporary Music Days
Alevtina Kakhidze // artist, ArtsLink alum, Kyiv
Anton Ovchinnikov // artist, organizer, ArtsLink alum, Kyiv
Hnat Zabrodskyy // MOCA NGO, ArtsLink International Fellow, Kyiv

For the full ArtsLink Assembly 2023 program and registration, visit CEC ArtsLink's website.

The ArtsLink Assembly 2023 is curated and produced by CEC ArtsLink and made possible by support from the Trust for Mutual Understanding and the Kirby Family Foundation. ArtsLink Assembly 2023 is hosted by Experimental Station. Food is catered by Ketapanen Kitchen. Beer is generously donated by Moor's Brewing Co.

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based, peer-produced, open-access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world’s performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and develop our knowledge commons collectively. Anyone can participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected] or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal. View the video archive of past events.