STATE OF THE ARTS NYC to Examine Our Country's Political Identity

WBAI's State of the Arts NYC host/producer Savona Bailey-McClain will ask artists, academicians and museum directors in the coming days, to talk freely about the direction our nation needs to travel before the incoming administration on January 20th. The show will address demographic shifts, views on contemporary and American folk art, architecture and performance art.

Artists Mel Chin, Sue Coe, and Dread Scott are well known for their dedication to the public sphere and for advocating progressive change. State of the Arts NYC talks with the artists before they engage in a panel discussion ART AND ACTIVISM TODAY - WHAT ARTISTS DO TO PROVOKE CHANGE at Galerie St. Etienne in NYC on January 18th.

Then the show will talk with Catherine Sweeney Singer, Executive Director of the Winter Antique Show at the Park Avenue Armory and Co-Chair Arie L. Kopelman. The Winter Antiques Show's 2017 loan exhibition commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum (AARFAM) in Williamsburg, Virginia, one of the art museums of Colonial Williamsburg.

The objects featured in Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum: Revolution & Evolution are artifacts of 18th, 19th and 20th century material culture; they were made and used by everyday people and they make strong aesthetic statements, a guiding principle in American folk art appreciation.

State of the Arts NYC has formed a partnership with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University where they will create audio essays discussing a number of pressing issues, but especially the impact of demographic change throughout the heartland. El Nuevo South is based on Siler City, North Carolina and how this small town experienced the loss of jobs and their way of life to now embracing new neighbors from Mexico bringing new hope in North Carolina.

State of the Arts NYC airs Friday night LIVE at 5 p.m. on WBAI FM 99.5 and live stream on wbai.org and tunein.com.