The transformative impacts of the arts—including visual arts, design, architecture, music, and theater— for supporting equitable, inclusive community development has long been underrecognized in policymaking, underinvested in by public and private funders, and understudied in academic settings.
The 2024 PESIR program addressed these pervasive gaps and built connections among stakeholders working in diverse media and contexts with community-based artists, activists, and organizers. The events included panel discussions and workshops exploring the power of arts-based approaches to social change, learning from the contributions of arts activists working in Roxbury, which is the heart of Boston’s African American and Black communities but also includes a growing number of Latinx and Asian residents.
By
Center for the Arts
