Detail from Mikalojus Povilas Vilutis’ Aggression II (1979), silkscreen on paper, from the collection of MO Museum, Vilnius, Lithuania. View on Google Arts & Culture.

A Three-Part Series

We often imagine arts activism as coming from anger. Sometimes it does. Anger can be a powerful spark, the jolt that says enough is enough.

But anger is not the whole story.

Activism through the arts also takes the shape of joy, the celebration of life, culture and resilience. It thrives in hope, with the vision and strategy to build a future that doesn’t yet exist.

In my upcoming series in three parts, I’ll explore how artists across disciplines (music, dance, theatre, literature, visual art, craft and beyond) harness these emotions as tools for change.

The Tony Award–winning San Francisco Mime Troupe presented DISRUPTION – A Musical Farce this summer, skewering tech-driven “progress” and bureaucratic absurdity. Photo by David Allen Studio.

PART 1: MON, AUG 25, 2025

Anger as a Spark

When rage ignites creativity and transforms protest into lasting works.

Originally published in The Baltimore Sun (November 2020), Kevin “KAL” Kallaugher‘s cartoon uses visual abundance to symbolize joy and unity as unstoppable political momentum.

PART 2: WED, AUG 27, 2025

Joy as Resistance

When celebration and care become radical defiance.

Crowds gather for a community event at The Gathering Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Designed as a free public park, the space blends landscape architecture, design and civic imagination to create opportunities for connection, equity and shared hope.

PART 3: FRI, AUG 29, 2025

Hope as Strategy

When art imagines and builds new futures.

Where Do You See Yourself?

Each part of this series will ask: Where do you see this in your own creative practice, or in the works that move you most?

Arts activism holds many faces, many voices, many futures. Step into this conversation. I invite you to read, reflect and share your experiences.

Randall White
Abbetuck