Open Spectrum: Post-White America: Can Art Deracialize The Nation?

The Election of Barack Obama is just the most startling manifestation of a larger trend: the gradual erosion of “whiteness” as the touchstone of what it means to be American. If the end of white America is a cultural and demographic inevitability, what will the new mainstream look like—and how will white Americans fit into it? What will it mean to be white when whiteness is no longer the norm? And will a post-white America be less racially divided—or more so?- Hua Hsu, The Atlantic

Can art practice heal wounds of systemic racial injustice and disinvestment? Beyond representation, do our current social systems change as a result of post-whiteness? Does it actually mean a more equitable distribution of power? How does the ideology of whiteness persist in our culture even as it demographics change?    

Open Spectrum Twitter chat—the digital component for this talk—will take place from 1-2pm on April 22. The public is invited to participate in the twitter chats by tweeting their questions and comments with the hashtag “#OpenSpectrumNYC.” 

Panel
Moderator: Piper Anderson – Consultant; Arts, Education & Community Engagement
Ren Weschler – Curator, Journalist, Author  
Margo Jefferson – Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist, Educator
Darnell L. Moore – Writer, Cultural Worker, Critic
Aimee Meredith Cox – Assistant Professor, Cultural Anthropologist, Author
Trisha Bauman – Leadership and Communications Strategist, Educator 

Open Spectrum Critical Dialogues is an intimate conversational platform that engages participants in active listening, constructive discourse, and action planning. Spanning over the course of three months (February to April, 2015), we encourage audiences and invited panelists to engage in critical discussions pertinent to the present moment. Open Spectrum is where our creative community comes together to responsibly voice opinions, raise questions, and share resources. We invite artists, educators, scholars, curators, and activists to join us for these timely and integral conversations.