From the Community Up: Stories of Cultural Organizing

Social change, especially related to arts and culture, can only come about through community activism. And, stories are a key strategy for impacting cultural policy that advances social change.  Join us for a conversation with cultural activist, writer, and consultant Caron Atlas sharing her stories about building imagination in neighborhoods in order to enact change.  The webinar will be moderated by Robert Baron, retired director of the Folk Arts Program at the New York State Council on the Arts, and faculty member in the MACS program.  He is currently teaching Cultural Policy.   
 

Caron Atlas is director of Arts & Democracy, which cross-fertilizes arts and culture, civic participation, and community change. She also directors Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts NY (NOCD-NY), a citywide alliance revitalizing New York City from the neighborhood up. NOCD-NY was a primary partner on NYC’s first cultural plan, CreateNYC. Caron teaches at New York University and Pratt Institute and serves on the Civic Engagement Commission Participatory Budgeting Advisory Committee.
 

Previously Caron worked at Appalshop, the Appalachian cultural center and directed the American Festival Project, a national coalition of activist artists.  She has consulted with Animating Democracy, Pratt Center for Community Development, Network of Ensemble Theaters, Urban Institute, and several foundations. Caron is co-editor of Bridge Conversations and Critical Perspectives: Writings on Art And Civic Dialogue, and a contributor to Toward a 21st City for All. She was a Rockefeller Foundation Warren Weaver Fellow and is a Coro Leadership NY alumnus. She received her BA and MA from the University of Chicago.