Over the course of three months during the spring of 2015, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) interviewed 25 working artists of color in the Twin Cities region. The project began by identifying artists inside of our own networks, the networks of the McKnight Foundation and through recommendations from other artists.
In the end, we spent time listening and learning from 25 local artists of color. They are an amazing group of talented, fierce, persistent, courageous, creative, tenacious, motivated, one size does not fit all group of people. The arc of our conversation with each artist was fairly simple. It came down to five questions that served as the guide for our learning:
- What does it mean for you to thrive as a working artist of color?
- Are you thriving now?
- What do you need to thrive (more)?
- What have been supportive resources for you thus far in your life/work as an artist?
- What challenges and barriers limit your ability to thrive as an artist?
