Artivism: Creating Art for Social Impact

Speakers:
Kaneza Schaal (Co-Creator) is a New York City based theater artist. Her recent work, JACK &, performed at BAM’s 2018 Next Wave Festival, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, REDCAT, On The Boards, the Center for Contemporary Art Cincinnati, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and with its co-commissioners, Walker Arts Center. Schaal has received a 2018 Ford Foundation Art For Justice Bearing Witness award, 2017 MAP Fund award, 2016 Creative Capital Award, 2008 Princess Grace George C. Wolfe Award, and was an Aetna New Voices Fellow at Hartford Stage. Her last project GO FORTH premiered at Performance Space 122’s COIL Festival and then showed at the Genocide Memorial Amphitheater in Kigali, Rwanda, LMCC’s River-to-River Festival, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, Cairo International Contemporary Theater Festival in Egypt, and at her alma mater Wesleyan University, CT. Schaal’s work with The Wooster Group, Elevator Repair Service, Richard Maxwell/New York City Players, Claude Wampler, Jim Findlay, and Dean Moss has brought her to venues including Centre Pompidou, Royal Lyceum Theater Edinburgh, The Whitney Museum, and MoMA. Schaal is an Arts-in-Education advocate and has collaborated nationally and internationally with recent teen immigrants and asylum seekers, on intergenerational exchange between elders and teens, and on workshops and talks at Princeton University, Yale University, Emerson College, and her alma mater Wesleyan University, CT.

Christopher Myers (Co-Creator) is an artist and writer who lives in New York. While he is widely acclaimed for his work with literature for young people, he is also an accomplished fine artist who has lectured and exhibited internationally. His practice can be divided into two categories, interventions in historical narratives and work crafted with artisans from around the globe. Christopher’s work has been exhibited at PS1/MoMA, and included as part of Greater New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Prospect Biennial in New Orleans, and Contrasts Gallery in Shanghai. Myers has curated shows in Vietnam, designed theater that has travelled from PS122 in New York City to the Genocide Memorial Theater in Kigali, Rwanda, and collaborated with Hank Willis Thomas on the short film Am I Going Too Fast, which premiered at Sundance. Myers participated in the Whitney Independent Studio Program and recently opened his solo exhibition Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me at Fort Gansevoort Gallery in Manhattan.