Adopt a Cultural Impact Study
The right to culture is meaningless unless the value of human culture is recognized and protected. Your neighborhood, city, county, state, nation—any public body authorized to make decisions about things like zoning and development—can support cultural rights by adopting a Cultural Impact Study (CIS) requirement for every project with potential negative cultural impact, designating each project as approved, in need of mitigation to avoid cultural harm, or disapproved.
Invest in Artists and Community Cultural Development
This July 2016 petition delivered to members of the Democratic Platform Committee in advance of the Convention in Philadelphia, calls on elected officials and policy-makers to invest in artists and community development. A healthy democracy embraces the right to culture, engaging us as whole people, not just workers or consumers, but as creators and communicators. This platform shared with the DNC demands equitable investment in cultural infrastructure and in artists who put their gifts at the service of community.
USDAC Pledge on Cultural Rights and the Muslim Ban
On 27 January 2017, a presidential executive order was issued blocking refugees and restricting immigration from Muslim countries. Protest has been immediate and massive.
History teaches us that authoritarian regimes start their mission of domination with the right to culture: limiting cultural communities’ freedom of movement and practice; condemning or restricting press freedom; condemning or restricting artistic expression; and denying the fullness of belonging to all but a privileged few. Artists and creative activists have key roles to play.
Join over 1,000 artists and allies who have already signed the pledge.
Imaginings
Following a 6-month training program, volunteer Cultural Agents hosted Imaginings—large-scale arts-infused civic dialogues in which a community envisions an ideal future and identifies creative tactics to get there.
