R3 series event: ARTivism: Using Arts-based Scholarship to Interrogate and Dismantle Racism

The Race, Racism, and Racial Equity (R3) Symposium, co-hosted by the University Office for Diversity and Inclusion, the Jordan Institute for Families, and the UNC School of Social Work‘s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, is a series of virtual events that bring together scholars and researchers from across campus to share their work with Carolina and the broader community.

The third event in the R3 series, “ARTivism: Using Arts-based Scholarship to Interrogate and Dismantle Racism,” will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 3–4:30 p.m.

The arts can help us better understand systems of oppression and their impacts, challenge white supremacy, foster dialogue around race and racism, and advance racial equity. This event will highlight work by UNC scholars and current and former graduate students to do just that through a variety of artistic genres, including performance, storytelling, music, painting, and photography. We are also honored to include a spoken word performance by Chapel Hill’s inaugural Poet Laureate, CJ Suitt.

Panelists will include:

• Charlie Dupee, Visual Artist, Graduate Student, Department of Art & Art History
• Michael A. Figueroa, PhD, Assistant Professor, Ethnomusicology, Department of Music
• Susan Harbage Page, MFA, Visual Artist, Photographer, Associate Professor, Department of Women’s & Gender Studies
• Sonny Kelly, PhD (UNC ’20), Performer, Storyteller
• Jacqueline E. Lawton, MFA, Assistant Professor of Playwriting, Play Analysis, Theatre for Social Change & Dramaturgy, Department of Dramatic Art

R3 “ARTivism: Using Arts-based Scholarship to Interrogate and Dismantle Racism” will be moderated by Dr. Travis Albritton, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the School of Social Work.

“We deeply appreciate how our community has responded to the R3 symposium. Our first two events gathered thousands of participants to engage in reckoning with UNC’s racist past and representation, language, and cultural appropriation,” said Allison De Marco, R3 co-convener, Advanced Research Scientist, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and Equity Lead, Jordan Institute for Families. “I am so looking forward to collaborating with my colleagues to present our third event focused on scholarship that uses artistic media to confront racism and white supremacy. Art can touch our hearts and open us up to challenging conversations.”

Register: go.unc.edu/R3