Artists on the Frontline
Artists on the Frontline
Art's Role in Community Healing
This pandemic is making us question everything from our economic systems to the role of the state, and the purpose of art is no exception. What are artists doing to help and what is their responsibility? The pandemic has affected everyone everywhere from all walks of life, but hardest hit are those communities living at the edges of society, suffering social, economic or conflict-driven hardship. They have the weakest health-care systems and the most acute
mental health problems. This panel will discuss how artists are working on the frontlines of the current crisis and how the pandemic might change the art-world systems and values of the past decades. The panel will also mark the launch of several projects being supported by the Artists Response Fund including in Iraq, in partnership with Community Jameel, documenting and sustaining traditional cultural practices to address mental health needs among the Yazidi and Marsh Arab communities, and on the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
Panel discussion chaired by Anna Somers Cocks, founder editor, The Art Newspaper; Dr Cara Courage, Head of Tate Exchange, Tate Museums; Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, co-founder, UK Black Pride; and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, director, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin.

Founding Editor, The Art Newspaper

Head of Tate Exchange, Tate Modern

Director, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin

Executive Director of Kaleidoscope Trust, Co-Founder UK Black Pride