The US Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC) is calling on artists, designers, cultural organizers, and other cultural workers to sign the following pledge: to stand with humanity against inhumanity at this vital political juncture. Commit your creative energy to the struggle, and stop by this blog in the coming weeks to find advice, resources, and opportunities for action. VISIT THE USDAC to sign the pledge today.
THE FIRST STEP IN A TOP-DOWN CAMPAIGN TO OBLITERATE CULTURAL RIGHTS IN THE U.S. HAS BEEN TAKEN. We are called to stand together in response.
On 27 January 2017, a presidential executive order was issued blocking refugees and restricting immigration from Muslim countries. Protest has been immediate and massive.
History teaches us that authoritarian regimes start their mission of domination with the right to culture: limiting cultural communities’ freedom of movement and practice; condemning or restricting press freedom; condemning or restricting artistic expression; and denying the fullness of belonging to all but a privileged few. Artists and creative activists have key roles to play.
THE USDAC CALLS ON ALL ARTISTS, CREATIVE ACTIVISTS, AND ALLIES TO TAKE THE USDAC PLEDGE ON CULTURAL RIGHTS AND THE MUSLIM BAN:
I stand with allies in the U.S. and around the globe to protect and extend cultural rights threatened by the 27 January 2017 presidential executive order blocking refugees and restricting immigration from Muslim countries.
The right to culture—to express customs, faiths, and creativity in freedom and dignity—is a fundamental human right. When it is transgressed, no matter which group is first targeted—every community and individual is in jeopardy. Culture is a right, not a privilege.
As artists, activists, and allies who cherish the right to culture, we pledge to oppose all actions to limit fundamental human rights; to use our gifts to expose and reverse such actions; and to exercise our freedom of expression to bring about full cultural democracy for all—Indigenous peoples, citizens and residents of all backgrounds, immigrants and refugees alike.
SIGNED, THE USDAC:
Valerie Amor, Cultural Agent
T. Lulani Arquette, Catalyst for Native
Creative Potential
Caron Atlas, Minister of Naturally Occurring Cultural
Districts
Judy Baca, Minister of Sites of Public Memory
Daniel Banks,
Catalytic Agent
Roberto Bedoya, Secretary of Belonging
Jack Becker,
Public Art Mobilizer
Ted Berger, Senior Policy Advisor
Ludovic Blain
III, Chief Political Wonk
Sarah Boddy, Cultural Agent
Larry Bogad,
Minister of Tactical Performance
Eric Booth, Secretary of Teaching
Artists
Amelia Brown, Minister of Emergency Arts
Katherin Canton,
Regional Envoy
Con Christeson, Cultural Agent
Monique Davis, Cultural
Agent
Chrislene DeJean, Cultural Agent
María López De León, Minister
of Inclusive Leadership Transformation
Jayeesha Dutta, Cultural
Agent
Dana Edell, Secretary of Creative Sparks
Arlene Goldbard, Chief
Policy Wonk
Beth Grossman, Cultural Agent
Lynden Harris, Cultural
Agent
Bob Holman, Minister of Poetry and Language Protection
Adam
Horowitz, Chief Instigator
Yvette A. Hyater-Adams, Regional
Envoy
Denise Johnson, Cultural Agent
James Kass, Secretary of Belief
in The Next Generation
Devon Kelley-Yurdin, Regional Envoy
Paul
Kuttner, Minister of Cultural Scholarship
Dave Loewenstein, Cultural
Agent
Mo Manklang, Chief of Making Things Happen
Charlene Martinez,
Cultural Agent
Liz Maxwell, Chief Dot Connector
E. Ethelbert Miller,
Minister of Sacred Words
Meena Natarajan, Radical Equity Catalyst,
Pangaea Division
Emmett Phillips, Cultural Agent
Nora Rahimian,
Cultural Agent
Nora Rasman, Cultural Agent
Martha Richards, Chief
Strategist for Women Artists
Favianna Rodriguez, Secretary of Cultural
Equity
Julianna Ross, Cultural Agent
Sebastian Ruth, Secretary of
Music and Society
Carissa Samaniego, Cultural Agent
Michael Schwartz,
Cultural Agent
Shirley Sneve, Tribal Liaison
Jessica Solomon, Cultural
Agent
Harold Steward, Regional Envoy
Julia Terry, Cultural
Agent
Makani Themba, Minister of Revolutionary Imagination
Carlton
Turner, Minister of Creative Southern Strategies
Angela Wasekuk, Cultural
Agent
Roseann Weiss, Cultural Agent
Yolanda Wisher, Cultural
Agent
McKenzie Wren, Cultural Agent
Lily Yeh, Urban Alchemist
Betty
Yu, Cultural Agent
*The USDAC is not a government agency.
