On Friday, January 29 at 3pm ET, Firelight Media presented a special edition of the Beyond Resilience Series at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, “Creating & Commissioning Art In Times of Crisis.”

Throughout the past year, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) artists have been commissioned by institutions to perform cultural work from their position at the epicenter of interlocking systems of oppression – racial and economic inequality, police violence, and a global pandemic that disproportionately impacts communities of color.

How can BIPOC-led organizations challenge this paradigm while continuing to provide opportunities for artists of color in times of crisis? How can BIPOC artists best be supported in making socially-relevant work, even as they and their communities experience precarity? This conversation looked to past and present BIPOC artists, filmmakers, and institution builders who make bold and visionary work within and without the establishment.

The panel discussion was moderated by Marcia Smith, president of Firelight Media, and included Maori Karmael Holmes, founder of BlackStar Film Festival; F. Javier Torres-Campos, director of the Thriving Cultures program at Surdna; Frank B. Wilderson III, writer and Chancellor’s Professor and Chair of African American Studies at UC Irvine; and Coco Fusco, interdisciplinary artist and professor at Cooper Union.

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Relevant Link

http://www.firelightmedia.tv/beyond-resilience-creating-commissioning-art-crisis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPTdNpkTYyQ