Supporting Individual Artists: Keep Arts Working - Creating More Than a Message

Recorded On: 09/16/2020

imageAbout this Webinar

On March 14th, 2020, the Arts Council for Long Beach cancelled its monthly art walk because of COVID-19 health orders. We knew that this moment was already catastrophic because so many artists sell their art, perform their music, and promote their practice to the community during this event. So, on March 26th, we launched our first virtual live stream event and created the Keep Arts Working project. Since then we have partnered with 2 local media outlets, more than a dozen businesses, and over 25 artists of various genres. We are still finding new partners daily. Keep Arts Working has continued to grow after Long Beach residents protested George Floyd's murder and the city met social unrest on May 31st. The project was adopted by the city and other business improvement partners in order to address the damage left on June 1st. 

This project and marketing campaign is strongly grounded in valuing grassroots connections that can be uplifted with established communication organizations.

Leaning Objectives: 

  • Participants will gain an understanding of the advantages and obstacles an independent city arts non-profit faces when needing to pivot in a crisis.
  • Participants will learn from artists directly how their work was successful during this time and share what arts organizations can do to continue to pay artists and promote their work. 

This project is supported in part by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

image

Jose Cordon

Photographer

Jose Cordon by birth is a southern Cali raised street photographer based out of the LBC, a seaside city regularly referred to as Long Beach, CA. With an affinity for industrialism and the makeup of city life, Deadendbrigade is constantly in search of the montage that make up urban landscapes and the images they create.

Instagram: @deadendbrigade

Website: https://www.deadendbrigade.com

Jewels Long Beach

Comedian, Host, Drag Queen and Philanthropist

She is a staple at Hamburger Mary’s, where she is the entertainment director for its 19 locations nationwide. But outside of the weekly drag brunches she hosts, Jewels has also become a powerful fundraiser. Her efforts have helped raise money for entities like the LGBTQ Center, the International Imperial Court of Long Beach and the Arts Council for Long Beach. 

Instagram: @jewelslongbeach

Twitter: @jewelslongbeach

Facebook: @jewelslongbeach

Brandie Davison

Founder, Arts Realm Collective

She was born and raised in the wonderful city of Long Beach, California. and has a passion for art and creativity. Davison launched Art Realm in the summer of 2017, a tight-knit community of emerging artists, ranging from filmmakers to painters, sculptors to zine-makers, that make up one of the city’s most visible groups of visual artists.

Instagram: @lilbrandie@art.realm.collective

Griselda Suarez

Executive Director

Arts Council for Long Beach

Griselda Suarez was born in unincorporated East Los Angeles and grew up in a place where her thoughts did not easily find voice; instead, she found a pen and paper. She believes that the arts are essential in empowering others to express their thoughts. Throughout her career, she has created programming and training dedicated to facilitating transformation and creating agency for her communities. In 2016, she became the Executive Director of the Arts Council for Long Beach and currently serves as an advisor for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors’ Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative council, representing the fourth supervisorial district. She has taught at Cal State Long Beach for the Chicano and Latino Studies department since 2006. Griselda was awarded “40 under 40” by the LB Post for her leadership in the arts and her resiliency in battling cancer. She Suarez is dedicated to Long Beach and loves contributing to the city because she strongly believes in the impact arts has on residents’ lives. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in Aunt Lute Press, Seal Press, NCOC Press, Acentos Literary Review, Finishing Line Press and Sinister Wisdom Journal. Her artistic career has involved being an apprentice with world renowned muralist Paul Botello, producing an event for the National Queer Arts Festival featuring New York Times Bestseller Dorothy Allison, and being a Lambda Literary Fellow for two years. She graduated from Pitzer of Claremont Colleges with a BA in Studio Art and Latin American Literature. She also holds a Master of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She and her wife, Amy Eriksen of Angels Gate Cultural Center, run arts nonprofits. During the height of the pandemic, they had assistance from their three cats, AKA nap consultants.


Back to Package

Key:

Complete
Failed
Available
Locked
Supporting Individual Artists: Keep Arts Working - Creating More Than a Message
Live event: 09/16/2020 at 3:00 PM (EDT) You must register to access.
E-Learning Survey
Thank you for taking the time to complete our survey, your feedback will help us improve our programs! You must register to access.