Staging Activism: New York City Performing Artists as Cultural Workers

Part of a special issue on the relationship between art, identity, and social justice. A study was conducted to explore the activism and cultural work of three New York City performing artists. Data were obtained from in-depth interviews with Imani Henry, who identifies as a queer, Caribbean, female...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Goddard, Amy (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2007
In: Social justice
Year: 2007, Volume: 34, Issue: 1, Pages: 97-116
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Entertainers in literature
Artists
Artists in literature
Artists & community
Social Change
Social movements in art
Entertainers
Art
Performance art
Art & society
Description
Summary:Part of a special issue on the relationship between art, identity, and social justice. A study was conducted to explore the activism and cultural work of three New York City performing artists. Data were obtained from in-depth interviews with Imani Henry, who identifies as a queer, Caribbean, female-to-male transsexual; Susana Cook, a self-styled butch lesbian from Argentina; and Diyaa MilDred Gerestant, a Haitian-American queer performing artist. Findings revealed that each artist regards creating connections across lines of difference as a critical aim, and their cultural work functions as activism on a number of levels; they make use of participatory processes of audience engagement. Findings also revealed that these artists have exposed their own personal selves through performance in order to communicate their messages: each examines themes of race and ethnicity from their own perspective. Findings are discussed in detail.