Workshop: Listening to Communities towards Activist Art

This workshop will explore how to use listening as an art practice to create work that furthers conversations within communities.

“Activist art is about empowering individuals and communities and is generally situated in the public arena with artists working closely with a community to generate the art.” – Tate Modern

Listening has been part of Maritza Mosquera’s creative practice since 1999 when she ran a 12-week listening session for five white and five black men toward an installation work titled, “Men’s Lives,” looking closely at the bigotry and sexism that separated them. Each brought stories never shared; this acted as an eraser of cipher towards real images.

Maritza has since used the listening practice as an instigator of story and living, toward artwork that speaks to both the equities and inequities of the subject matter she pursues.

About Maritza Mosquera

Martiza Mosquera is an artist, educator, and community-transformation partner who has developed, organized, and presented new practices in arts education and artist-led community collaborations with several organizations including Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, Alabama Dance Council, Chicago Arts Partners in Education, Facing History in Ourselves, The Black and White Reunion, and The Andy Warhol Museum. She has taught in various schools and universities across the country including the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Perspectives and Noble academies. Mosquera is based in Pittsburgh, PA, where she is currently developing community engagement programs for Department of Veteran Affairs, Alternative Education in Prison program, The Jewish Association on Aging, and the Human Liberation Project. Arts Midwest, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, The National Endowments for the Arts, The Ford Foundation, and The Multi-Cultural Arts Initiative have supported her artwork, which focuses on ideas of justice, health and community.