A few of the Aorta Collective folk took part in the Allied Media Conference in Detroit (as recently as 4 days ago) and we were blown away by the presence of various independent publications and the spirit of the conference. The people who participated in this event strongly believe that art is a vehicle for change and a part of social justice movement. We feel invigorated by this experience and want to bring this spirit back to our project. Here are some awesome organizations and collectives from the AMC 2010…
BEEHIVE COLLECTIVE
http://www.beehivecollective.org/
Beehive is a collective of artists some living and working together, some on volunteer basis, who make art which directly deals with social justice issues. They draw their large scale posters by hand and apply a very laborious step by step process. Their art tells the story of land colonization and resistance and some pieces are intensely researched for several years. Here is an excerpt from their website:
The Beehive’s mission:
To cross-pollinate the grassroots, by creating collaborative, anti-copyright images that can be used as educational and organizing tools.
In the process of this effort we seek to take the “who made that!?” and “how much does it cost!?” out of our creative endeavors, by anonymously functioning as word-to-image translators of the information we convey. We build, and disseminate these visual tools with the hope that they will self-replicate, and take on life of their own.
JUSTSEEDS
Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative is a decentralized community of artists who have banded together to both sell their work online in a central location and to collaborate with and support each other and social movements. Our website is not just a place to shop, but also a destination to find out about current events in radical art and culture. Our blog covers political printmaking, socially engaged street art, and culture related to social movements. We believe in the power of personal expression in concert with collective action to transform society.
INCITE!
http://www.incite-national.org/
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence is a national activist organization of radical feminists of color advancing a movement to end violence against women of color and our communities through direct action, critical dialogue and grassroots organizing.
Chapters and affiliates engage in strategies and projects that address both personal and state violence, acknowledging the ways that oppressions intersect in the lives of women of color. Some of those projects include producing a women of color radio show, challenging the non-profitization of antiviolence and other social justice movements, organizing rallies on street harassment, training women of color on self-defense, organizing mothers on welfare, building and running a grassroots clinic, supporting communities to engage in community accountability strategies, and much more.
POOR MAGAZINE
www.poormagazine.org
PNN is a not for profit multi-media access project of POOR Magazine, dedicated to reframing the news, issues and solutions from low and no income communities, as well as providing society with a perspective usually not heard or seen within the mainstream media.
ESPERANZA PEACE AND JUSTICE CENTER
http://www.esperanzacenter.org/
Since the very beginning of Esperanza, art of all kinds has been integral to our work. Over the years we have been proud to host numerous visual art exhibitions— providing encouragement to local artists, while exposing San Antonio to important and otherwise-invisible national and international artists.
The gallery in our first building may have been modest, but it was an exciting place for San Antonio in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly became known as a place where emerging artists could get their first chance. Especially for women, people-of-color, and queer artists, Esperanza became the home, the refuge where people felt free to express themselves honestly about issues close to their hearts, without being attacked, without being asked to “tone things down” or to self-censor their work.
GUERILLA GRIOTS
http://www.guerrilla-griots.org/
GUERRILLA GRIOTS are a grassroots collective of youth, used-to-be youth, activists, advocates, animators, filmmakers, former prisoners, hip hoppahs, historians, graphic designers, grease car drivers, journalists, life-long learners, media makers, off-grid survivors, photographers, poets, prison abolitionists, punx rockahs, students, videographers, visual artists, and writers interested in collaborating and working with others like us who connect the dots between pollution, prisons, sustainability, and social change.
NATIONAL RADIO PROJECT
National Radio Project, producer of Making Contact is the core focus of International Media Project. National Radio Project heightens public consciousness, broadens debate on critical social issues and encourages civic participation, by giving voice to diverse perspectives and opinions underrepresented in the mass media.
