Plenary Sessions – Sunday, September 22 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Summit Plenary Sessions are small group discussions and workshops led by organizers, artists, collectives, and grassroots movement leaders. The sessions are intended to put theory into practice, seeding actionable next steps towards creating futures we can all inhabit. The Plenary Sessions represent a range of formats including walking tours, hands-on workshops, discussions, training sessions, interactive performances and more.
Gathered to discuss the current practices and concerns with regards to the manipulation and dissemination of public information, and increasing attacks on freedom of expression, speakers addressed the impetus to forge connections and solidarity structures using new media technologies and conceive challenges to conventional wisdom.
BRIC Arts Media
647 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Embodied Archives
Shanna Sabio in partnership with GrowHouse (walking session)
The past, present, and future are woven into each of us. As we approach 2025, marking 400 years since the occupation of Lenapehoking (New Amsterdam/New York), this history walk invites us to journey through time, reflecting on the hidden histories of Indigenous people, enslaved and free people of African descent, Europeans and plant species who lived in Brooklyn. Together, we’ll hear these stories, and create street altars around Downtown Brooklyn, using art and making as tools to collaboratively invoke a future where we coexist in harmony with our environment and one another.
GrowHouse is a community design and development cooperative that uses the intersections between art and technology, history and healing, global citizenship, and cooperative economics to create flourishing, equitable, and connected communities. We empower Black people and our allies to collectively design, acquire, steward, occupy, and preserve Black spaces.
IG: @growhousebk
Property Walk: Fort Greene
David L. Johnson (walking session)
David L. Johnson will lead an artist talk and walking tour through city-owned and privately-owned public spaces in Fort Greene. Participants will examine how design and regulations control public use, fostering a group discussion on broader implications for accessibility in New York City’s public spaces.
David L. Johnson is an artist working in New York City, utilizing photography, video, found and stolen objects, and public installation to address the spatial politics of cities. An alumnus of the Whitney Independent Study Program, his work has been displayed at various prestigious venues, including MoMA PS1 and Palais de Tokyo.
www.davidljohnson.nyc
IG: @david_johnso
Embodied Mapping and Urban Transformation
Nora Almeida, andrea haenggi, Jordan Packer and Estefania Mompean Botias, in partnership with Social Practice CUNY
This workshop uses somatic counter-mapping to transform urban spaces and perceptions. Participants will create an ephemeral map using their bodies, engaging with the surrounding environment. The workshop will culminate in discussions about documenting urban experiences and exploring methods for capturing shifting landscapes creatively and collectively.
Nora Almeida is an urban swimmer, interdisciplinary artist, and activist based in Lenapehoking. Her art and embodied research is centered on water and explores intersections of archiving, environmental investigation, and spatial disruption.
website: noralisaalmeida.com
IG: @norasays
andrea haenggi is a body-based interdisciplinary artist and co-founder of the Environmental Performance Agency. Her “ethnochoreobotanic” practice with more-than-human kin fosters multispecies communities focusing on decolonization, climate change, feminism, and liberation.
www.weedychoreography.com
www.environmentalperformanceagency.com
IG: @andrea_haenggi
Jordan Packer is an educator, urban geographer, and data analyst based in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently interested in land use activism and the politics of urban erasure– topics she has explored through counter-mapping, embodied research, and building collective memory.
www.jordan-packer.com
Estefania Mompean Botias is an architect and urban designer investigating the concept of Architectures of Emergency. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. at EPFL Switzerland, she studies New York’s socio-environmental challenges, particularly the impact of flooding on local communities and urban planning processes.
urbanspacelab.org/botias
X: @mompeanbotias
Social Practice CUNY is an educational network that amplifies the collective power of socially engaged artists, scholars, and advocates throughout the City University of New York’s rich tapestry of faculty, staff, and students working for social justice. Based at the CUNY Graduate Center and funded by the Mellon Foundation, SPCUNY’s theory of educational transformation fosters structures for diverse creative leaders who empower New York City as an inclusive, justice-driven cultural landscape.
www.socialpracticecuny.org
IG: @socialpracticecuny
Strengthening Democracy Through Community Media
Maritza Carmona and Leon Taylor, BRIC Arts Media
In this session, we will explore the democratic origins and nature of community media centers and we will co-imagine what the future of community media and broadcasting can look like in order to support our communities beyond the physical and into the digital world. BRIC is a cultural institution known for its performing and visual arts program. It is also home to Brooklyn’s Public Access Center. Community Media Centers, otherwise known as Public Access Centers empower individuals to produce homegrown cable television programs and to create content through various mediums such as film, photography, and podcasting. BRIC TV casts these locally produced programs on five cable channels that can be watched on Spectrum, Altice, and Verizon. BRIC also airs government meetings, public safety announcements, as well as special community and cultural events.
Leon Taylor has dedicated over 21 years to public access media, beginning at BCAT and later BRIC. As Director of Community Media, he champions local voices, enhancing support, and community engagement. His initiatives, like the “B Scene” series, celebrate diversity in media, empowering underrepresented creators in Brooklyn and beyond.
Maritza Carmona has 15 years of experience in New York City’s arts sector. As the Senior Director of Government and External Affairs, she manages partnerships and fundraising, generating about $12M annually. She also leads the advocacy strategy for public access media. A proud NYC native, Maritza serves on Queens Community Board 5, advocating for her local community needs.
Pratt Institute School of Design
The Design Center
200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205
No Other Way but Creative: A Participatory Conversation on Funding and More
Hanlu Zhang
In this session, participants will explore creative funding strategies essential for nonprofits. Sharing experiences from the Social Practice Lab in China, this discussion will cover labor division, sustainability, and public versus private funding, aiming to inspire new models of engagement that benefit the cultural ecosystem.
Hanlu Zhang is a curator and writer focused on social practice in art. In 2020, she founded Social Practice Lab, curating socially engaged art and collaborative projects around Pearl River Delta, or the “World’s Factory”, and exploring themes such as migration, labor, and urban-rurality.
IG: @socialpractice_lab
Learning from LAND: Art, Ecology, and Environmental Activism
Jen de los Reyes
This session focuses on LAND, a project merging history and environmental conservation. Jen de los Reyes will discuss the intersection of art, ecology, and contemporary education while outlining a forthcoming course that addresses environmental activism’s role in art education, urging participants to rethink their practices.
Jen de los Reyes is an artist, educator, and community arts organizer. With roots in the DIY music scene, her work blends pedagogical, ecological, and organizational methodologies. She founded Open Engagement and co-developed the Art and Social Practice MFA program at Portland State University.
www.jendelosreyes.com
“This looks legal.” Scaling the Decolonization Rider
Emily Johnson
This session combines discussion and activation of the Decolonization Rider, a tool for artists to encourage equitable practices in cultural institutions. Participants will learn how to implement this rider effectively within their own projects and practices, promoting justice-centered approaches across the arts.
Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work. Emily belongs to the Yup’ik Nation, is a land and water protector and an organizer for justice, sovereignty and well-being. A Bessie Award-winning choreographer, Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award, she is based in Lenapehoking/NYC and on Haudenosaunee lands.
www.catalystdance.com
IG: @emilyjohnsoncatalyst
Otherwise World Making: Queer Strategies
Aziz Sohail
This session explores queerness as a worldview and strategy for envisioning existence beyond catastrophe. Participants will co-create and discuss potential futures shaped by queer perspectives, examining successes and challenges within this framework and how they intersect with prior conversations from the weekend’s events.
Aziz Sohail is a Pakistani-passport holding curator and writer whose research and resultant projects honor and recognize the power of queer & feminist collectivity, sociability, joy and wayward encounter. Aziz is currently a PhD candidate in Curatorial Practice at Monash University, researching some of these questions in the context of South Asia and its diasporas.
Emergent Care for our Communities: Climate Justice, Food Security and Mutual Aid
Jen Chantrtanapichate and Davina Resto, Sixth Street Community Center
This session examines the efforts to support NYC communities since 2020, including advocacy against fracked gas and the promotion of food security through mutual aid. Participants will explore successful initiatives aimed at dismantling corporate monopolies in environmental justice to cultivate resilience and community well-being.
Sixth Street Community Center (SSCC) promotes social, environmental, and racial justice since 1978, ensuring collective needs are met with dignity. The organization empowers diverse communities in NYC through advocacy, resource access, and community-building initiatives.
www.sixthstreetcenter.org
IG: @sixthstreetcc
Jen Chantrtanapichate is a Thai-American artist and climate activist based in NYC. As Deputy Director of Sixth Street Community Community Center, she develops and implements programs and leads the center’s legislative work on climate justice campaigns.
Davina Resto serves as Food Justice Coordinator at Sixth Street Community Center. She helps frontline communities access vital resources, while leading initiatives focused on environmental justice, for Tribes and Indigenous peoples across the nation as a Senior Community Outreach Associate at the Environmental Protection Network.
Pratt Institute School of Architecture
Higgins Hall
61 St James Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11238
ISO Sumptuous Discovery
DonChristian
In this participatory session participants will be introduced to the services of Personality Cleaners™–Mother company of Public Assistants Inc., a community design lab and creative agency based in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn The session will be interactive and immersive in that participants will be received, asked to explore, socialize, and discover across time and space for the duration of the session.
DonChristian is an interdisciplinary multimedia artist and director. His work spans painting, music, and performance, greatly informed by his work with incarcerated youth. Don has exhibited and performed in spaces such as the Whitney Museum, New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, MoMA and The Shed. In 2020, Don founded Public Assistants Inc., a community design lab headquartered in Brooklyn.
Public Assistants is a community design lab and creative agency focused on impact through multi-hyphenate collaborative media making. Public Assistants strive to aid-mutually and undo-respectability. There are Public Assistants in the future.
Drafting an Access Statement
Finnegan Shannon, in partnership with A Blade of Grass
In this interactive session, participants will explore how to create access statements that communicate inclusivity in various settings. Led by artist Finnegan Shannon, we will discuss strategies and practical steps to write effective statements, promoting a more welcoming environment for all individuals at events and gatherings.
Finnegan Shannon is an artist addressing ableism through humor and earnestness. Their work includes the Anti-Stairs Club Lounge and collaborative projects exploring accessibility in art spaces. Dedicated to fostering connection and care, Finnegan invites participants to engage with access as an integral part of everyday life.
www.shannonfinnegan.com
www.alttextselfies.net
IG: @finneganshann0n
A Blade of Grass is an artist-led nonprofit dedicated to nurturing socially engaged art.
www.abladeofgrass.org
IG: @abladeofgrassorg
Curating as an Act of Political Resistance
Maya Juracán
This session examines community curating as a tool for dismantling power structures. We will explore the Biennial in Resistance, which supports social demands through art. Participants will learn to channel their rage into artistic spaces, facilitating art as a medium for social protest and activism.
Maya Juracán is a curator, activist, and Contemporary Art History professor. As chief curator of the street-based Bienal En Resistencia and co-creator of La Revuelta, a feminist curatorial collective, she challenges official narratives and writes on breaking traditional art spaces.
www.mayajuracan.com
To Eat Alone is to Die Alone
Vivien Sansour
This session invites participants to explore the interconnectedness of survival and community through a process of imagination inspired by nature. Engagements with living beings and writing activities will help us reflect on our relationships and develop collective narratives to navigate a world undergoing profound change.
Vivien Sansour is an artist and researcher who revitalizes cultural tales through installations and fieldwork. She founded the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, advocating for seed conservation and biocultural knowledge preservation. Her work connects Palestinian farmers globally, emphasizing the political significance of agrobiodiversity in contemporary contexts.
www.viviensansour.com
IG: @vivien.sansour
Disasters and Diasporas: An Exploration of Legacy, Climate Change, and Place through a Caribbean Lens in NYC
Daphne Lundi, Rona Taylor, and Dr. Vanessa L. Deane
This session examines how climate risks affect Caribbean communities in NYC. By weaving together lived experiences and community-driven artistic practices, participants will reflect on their roles in addressing climate challenges, exploring connections between local and global movements toward climate justice and resilience.
Daphne Lundi is an urban planner, climate policy maker, and artist. Currently a Public Scholar at CCNY, her research explores the intersections of sci-fi and planning. Lundi served as a Deputy Director for the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate Justice and has taught urban planning courses at multiple colleges
www.daphnelundi.com
Rona Taylor is Executive Director of CxSE BK, promoting community health and justice. She has a background in the arts and social work, and advocates for a more healthful, beautiful, and equitable world.
www.cxsebrooklyn.org
IG & X: @cxsebk
Dr. Vanessa L. Deane is an Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of NYU’s Urban Planning program, focusing on climate change’s political economy. An internationally recognized consultant, she integrates academic research with practical climate solutions in vulnerable communities.
www.wagner.nyu.edu/vanessadeane
Solidarity as Enduring Practices: Learning from Disaster Utopias
Gonzalo Casals and Mauricio Delfin, The Culture & Arts Policy Institute, Caron Atlas, Arts & Democracy and NOCD-NY, and Rachel Falcone and Michael Premo, Storyline
Inspired by Rebecca Solnit’s concept of Disaster Utopia, this session invites participants to share stories from crisis experiences. Engaging in small circles, we will discuss the potential for solidarity and cooperation during disasters to teach us about resilience and inform long-lasting policies and actions.
Gonzalo Casals is an educator, policymaker, and cultural advocate, co-directing the Culture & Arts Policy Institute. He teaches cultural policy at several universities and leads Saludos From Jackson Heights!, a consulting firm working with BIPOC-led organizations.
Mauricio Delfin is an expert in cultural governance and advocacy. His work centers on cultural democracy and justice, with a strong emphasis on open government principles. He is a member of UNESCO’s Expert Facility and co-director of the Culture and Arts Policy Institute in New York City.
Caron Atlas directs Arts & Democracy and Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts NY (NOCD-NY). A cultural organizer and educator she also teaches at New York University and participates in various civic engagement initiatives.
Michael Premo is a journalist, filmmaker, and artist and director of Homegrown, a documentary chronicling right-wing activists during the 2020 U.S. election cycle, which premiered in the Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival. He has directed, produced, and co-written original film, radio, and theater with numerous companies including The Foundry Theater, The Civilians, and the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps on NPR.
Rachel Falcone is a documentary filmmaker and multimedia artist. She produced award winning short films and exhibitions and co-directed the participatory web documentary and exhibition Sandy Storyline, the site-specific performance Sanctuary and the multi-platform project Housing is a Human Right.
www.artsanddemocracy.org
IG & X: @artsanddemocracy
www.culturepolicy.org
IG & X: @cultureapolicy
www.nocdny.org
IG & X: @nocdny
Live Art in Death Politics
Tania El Khoury
Tania El Khoury will share her work on the political potential of live art, with a focus on site-specific projects that engage a re-imagination of the politics of space. This session will involve sharing of works, a group discussion, and an instructions-based exercise created by the participants in the area surrounding the meeting space.
Tania El Khoury creates interactive installations and performances focused on collective memory and solidarity. Engaging with themes like displacement and privatization, her work transforms through audience interaction. She is Distinguished Artist in Residence at Bard College and has received numerous awards, including the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts.
www.taniaelkhoury.com
IG & X: @taniaelk
“We will not pay your debts but feed everyone at our table”: On Abundance, Rupture, and (Re)balance Forge Projects
Sarah Biscarra Dilley and Natalie Ball, Forge Project
Drawing on original protocols of abundance, this discussion considers its transformation from living commitment to inanimate material through the violence of settlement and imperialism. The session will engage possibilities of repair through understanding abundance as animate and crucially entwined with responsibilities to collective care. Participants are invited to honestly situate themselves and their relationships to wealth, both material and immaterial, towards tangible strategies of redistribution and rebalance. We encourage individuals with resources and cultural workers in philanthropy to attend.
Sarah Biscarra Dilley (yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini) is a multidisciplinary artist and writer serving as Director of Indigenous Programs and Relationality at Forge Project. Their practice emphasizes movement, relational landscapes, and presence as a corrective to interruption, extraction and enclosure.
Natalie Ball was born in Portland, Oregon, holds a Bachelor’s in Indigenous, Race & Ethnic Studies and Art from the University of Oregon, and an M.F.A. from Yale. A recipient of numerous art fellowships, she is an elected official on the Klamath Tribes Tribal Council and raises three children in her ancestral homeland.
IG: @sarahbiscarradilley
IG: @natalie_m_ball
