The Vera List Center for Art and Politics is a research center and a public forum for art, culture, and politics. A pioneer in the field, the center is a nonprofit that serves a critical mission: to foster a vibrant and diverse community of artists, scholars, and policymakers who take creative, intellectual, and political risks to bring about positive change. Through public programs and classes, prizes and fellowships, publications and exhibitions that probe some of the pressing issues of our time, Vera List Center curates and supports new roles for the arts and artists in advancing social justice.
The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School
During the Art.Work.Place Emergency Session III, which had over 800 attendees, artist, educator and co-founder of The Black School, Shani Peters discussed the vital role radical Black history plays when incorporated into workshops, design services, exhibitions and art education.
Seminar 1: Protocols as Language and Communication was the first in a two-year series exploring the VLC theme, As for Protocols. In the first gathering, Chancey Fleet, disability advocate and Assistive Technology Coordinator for the New York Public Library, illuminated how the shift to online programming prompted by COVID-19 has been beneficial for many people with disabilities.
A galley view of some of the 292 attendees from Seminar 1: Protocols as Language and Communication.
Sharing from her book about Black Twitter, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia Meredith Clark revealed how many of the tropes and signals in the Black Twitter community have their origins in physical communities.
Co-founder of the School for Poetic Computation, Taeyoon Choi reflected on the power of images to bridge communication that goes beyond words both personally and in the current moment--particularly with respect to the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests.
One of the more than 420 attendees to artist Jesus Benavente’s “I’m Not Dancing, I’m Struggling to Survive: Shelter in Place” performance-dance party watching the video that was part of the piece. People from across the U.S. and Australia, Spain, Mexico, and Canada came together to share space.
Benavente, who was finishing a residency at Bemis, created an installation to accompany the video and invited fellow artists to join him.
For 2020-2022, the VLC expanded its fellowship program from 2 to five, with the additional Boris Lurie and Borderlands Fellows. They are (L to R) Boris Lurie Fellow Etcétera, Adelita Husni Bey, Rasheedah Phillips, Borderlands Fellow Carolina Caycedo and Borderlands Fellow Maria Hupfield.
“Our granting program recognizes the equal importance of small, community-oriented spaces, major museums, and everything in between. Together, and with the foundation’s support, they work to collectively amplify the voices and visions of artists, which deepens and diversifies the national cultural discourse.”
Joel Wachs, President