What Makes a Leeway Artist or Cultural Producer?

The artists takes ownership of their practice and knows what, how, and whom they wish to engage; the work is expressed as clear and confident.

Artists and cultural producers who:

• May not be originally of the community they are working in but share an authentic and reciprocal connection to the culture and the work, and/or

• Serve as ambassadors to other communities as a way to build alliances within larger movements

These artists are always accountable to the communities/audiences they work with.

These practitioners are part of a self-defined community and connected to something outside of the studio and themselves. Through their practice they demonstrate connections and relationships within that community, often making connections to other aligned communities that are based in geography (neighborhood, national, or global) or identity.

The social change impact of the artist’s work translates across discipline and audience. The audience does not need to have special knowledge or experience in the artist’s discipline to understand the work or have a sense of its potential or impact. 

The work is innovative and inquisitive, challenging norms that include existing methods and ways of working. The artist experiments and takes risks in their exploration of art for social change by:

• Expanding and interrogating technique
• Exploring and working with innovative materials or in an unorthodox, unrecognized new or emerging discipline/practice
• Creating hybrid forms

Whether the artist is emerging or experienced, there is a sense of digging deeply into their practice as an open-ended exploration of the possibilities of what is present.

There is clear intention and analysis grounding the artist’s practice and purpose that they translate through the work.

The work can challenge audiences or create a sense of tension; its impact is often rooted in challenging perceptions and the status quo related to issues of race, class, gender self-determination, or ability, among others.

The work is grounded in a social change analysis and is an articulation of that analysis that can take many forms — spoken/written, visual, musical, movement-based, etc.

The practitioners have not traditionally received support for their work and may fall at the intersection of identities, such as people of color, immigrants, queer people, people facing poverty, and/or trans* folks.

This may also include practitioners who:

• Are making a significant contribution to the field and have not received recognition in line with their contribution
• Do not easily fit within traditional definitions of “artist” but work in creative ways and use “art forms” to create significant impact
• Are identified or perceived as “outsiders,” artists and cultural producers not usually engaged in formal or mainstream societal structures

Through the practice they connect us to their imagination, creative vision, and intention, helping us see art and culture in radical new ways — unexpected and previously undefined.