We the People: Protest and Patriotism
As part of the BIG IDEA project, We the People, the Sun Valley Center for the Arts is a 50 State Initiative partner of For Freedoms. Since 2016, For Freedoms has produced special exhibitions, town hall meetings, billboards, and lawn sign installations to spur greater participation in civic life. This year, For Freedoms launched its 50 State Initiative, a new phase of programming to encourage broad participation and inspire conversation around November’s midterm elections. Building off of the existing artistic infrastructure in the United States, For Freedoms has developed a network of more than 300 artists and 200 institutional partners who will produce nationwide public art installations, exhibitions and local community dialogues in order to inject nuanced, artistic thinking into public discourse. Centered around the vital work of artists, For Freedoms hopes that these exhibitions and related projects will model how arts institutions can become civic forums for action and discussion of values, place, and patriotism.
Center hours & location: Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm 191 Fifth Street East, Ketchum, Idaho Sun Valley Center for the Arts P.O. Box 656, Sun Valley, ID 83353 208.726.9491 • sunvalleycenter.org
110 N. Main Street, Hailey, Idaho 208.578.9122
September 28–December 14, 2018 A BIG IDEA Project of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts
Cover: Eugene Richards, Visitors behold the Liberty Bell in P hiladelphia, from The Lincoln Funeral Train, 2014, archival inkjet print, courtesy the artist Back Panel: Paul Fusco, USA. Harmans, MD. 1968. Robert KENNEDY funeral train, 1968, ©Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos Introduction Panel: Deborah Aschheim, San Francisco Peace March, April 1967 (after Michelle Vignes), 2016, ink and watercolor on Dura-Lar, courtesy the artist Inside, top to bottom, left to right: Paul Shambroom, Stockton, Utah (population 567) Town Council, June 11, 2001, 2001, pigmented inkjet print on canvas with varnish, stretched, maple frame, courtesy the artist Hugo Gellert, cover illustration for March for Peace, May 1st, 1952, 1952, New York, United Labor and People’s Committee for May Day, ink on paper, The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection Kate Haug, News Today: Matches, 2016, custom matchbox, courtesy the artist Mel Ziegler, Flag Exchange (detail), installed at the San Francisco Art Institute, 2011–present, collected flags, courtesy the artist and Galerie Perrotin
We the People: Protest and Patriotism September 28–December 14, 2018 A BIG IDEA Project of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts
As citizens in a representative democracy, Americans rely on elected officials to make legislation and policy—to act in the United States’ best interests domestically and internationally. But from the time of its founding, the U.S. has also been a nation that embraces the idea of participatory democracy. Our country functions because it allows (and depends upon) the participation of its citizens. Those seeking to participate in the democratic process can take a wide range of actions, from voting in elections to running for office, showing up for city council meetings, or organizing and joining public marches and rallies. In fact, public acts of protest have shaped America’s history since the moment in December 1773 when colonists gathered in Boston Harbor to reject a shipment of tea from the East India Company in protest of their lack of representation in British Parliament. Public protests have punctuated America’s history, bringing people together to speak out against slavery or the Vietnam War, and in favor of voting rights for women, expanded protections for workers, or civil rights for African-Americans, members of the
LGBTQ community and many others. Organizing publicly gives citizens with a shared set of beliefs the chance to speak with a unified voice about their vision for the country and the opportunity to effect social and political change. While marches and rallies may be among the most visible ways that Americans participate in their democracy, citizens also take quieter measures—exercising their right to vote, for example. Volunteering on a campaign. Or running for office in order to be part of the process of governing, which begins at the grassroots level. American democracy has never been neat and tidy; instead, it is complicated and sometimes messy. However, democracy is enriched and ensured by its citizens’ participation, whatever form that might take. And every act of participation, whether flying a flag or voting in elections, running for office or marching in the streets, is also an act of patriotism that affirms and celebrates our shared belief that as citizens, we have the right and the duty to help shape our nation’s government.