An Archive of Resistance: John Malpede & Christina Sanchez Juarez in Conversation

Green cover with an outline of a tree in yellow

Author: Malpede, John and Sanchez Juarez, Christina

Publication Year: 2017

Media Type: Report

Summary:

Part of the Americans for the Arts Artists & Communities conversation series that pairs veteran community arts leaders with emerging community arts leaders to share their visions for, experiences with, and challenges to making healthy, equitable, vibrant communities through arts and culture. As community-based work receives more recognition, and intersections and collaborations become stronger, these conversations illuminate just how artists and community arts leaders can work to sustain and maintain healthy communities through their practice.

Abstract:

As residents of Los Angeles, artists John Malpede and Christina Sanchez Juarez both work at the intersection of performance and community organizing, using arts and culture to empower and elevate Los Angeles’ working poor and homeless. Speaking to the fact that the basic rights of these vulnerable communities are continually at risk—including rights to affordable housing and a livable wage—John and Christina remind us that arts and culture can be used to amplify the voices, experiences, and needs of all people, helping the greater community prevail.

In the conversation the follows, John and Christina discuss:

The power of arts and culture to document social issues and drive social change
The dynamics of community-based work—making space for multiple leaders and multiple voices
The demands of balancing community-based work—how artists can both sustain their practice and know their limits
How to embrace instability as part of the art-making and change-making process

Arts & Intersections: Art, Civic Dialogue, Community Cohesion, Community Development, Housing, Infrastructure, Livability