Imaginative Spaces

Artist reflections on their engagement with the built environment

Monday, October 22, 2:00pm – 3:15pm

Organized and moderated by Marianna Schaffer, director of Artist Initiatives, Creative Capital; and Bryan Lee Jr., director of Design, Colloqate.

Presented by Matthew Moore, farmer, artist, Digital Farm Collective, Phoenix, AZ; Ellen Sebastian Chang, lead collaborator, House/Full of BackWomen; and Amara Tabor-Smith, collaborator, House/Full of BlackWomen.

Physical space is an increasingly rare resource for artists and their ability to build a thriving practice hinges upon having a place to work. All too often they are caught up in a frustrating search for affordable, adequate work space, sometimes leaving their homes in order to find it. Creative Capital has witnessed this through its own community of Bay Area awardees who continue to leave due to the rising cost of living and the dwindling availability of affordable space. We invite you to a conversation between Creative Capital artists who are activating spaces in unconventional ways while remaining mindful of their roles within the larger ecosystems where they live and work. These artists will discuss how they have remained in imaginative relationships to places that have pushed them to the margins and ask whether or not creatives can exist in communities without igniting displacement themselves.