Blog

“…my responsibility as an artist is to work, to sing for my supper, to make art, beautiful and powerful, that
adds and reveals; to beautify the mess of a messy world, to heal the sick and feed the helpless; to shout bravely from the roof-tops and storm barricaded doors and voice the specifics of our historic moment.”

– Carrie Mae Weems

We live at a time when the saying “we live in interesting times” sounds like a gross understatement. Even outside of the uniquely extraordinary period we are currently in, this is a time of societal change at a global level. And as in all historic periods of great transformation, the arts embody and often predict the directions of such change. So what do we see happening in the art world now? What is the role of the artist in this world in flux?
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BOOM Charlotte in partnership with BLKMRKTCLT, Charlotte is Creative and The Roll Up CLT invites you to respond to the current state of affairs with your art.

The environment for Black people in the United States has been at a state of tension throughout the nation’s history. In more recent times, video documentation of Black people losing their lives after encounters with those assigned to protect and serve have brought those tensions to a boiling point. The tension has overflowed into the streets all across the nation, and even far away overseas. The Black community and their allies are now coming together to make their voices heard against the status quo.
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