An Arts Administrator Questions The Adoption Of Activist Language In The Arts

“These were folks doing really impressive work to address racism in the arts and outside of the arts. But a discomfort crept up for me in that discussion that has been a bit of gadfly in my life for some time now. In talking about my own work as an arts administrator, I was borrowing the language of activism. I also have noticed others in the field — artists, curators, administrators, philanthropic organizations — do the same thing. How might the use of activist rhetoric be a bit…complicated?”