Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue: About the Institute

The Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue grew out of a perceived need for imaginative ways to convene conversations on social issues. By the mid-1990's the public square was nearly barren of healthy discourse: TV punditry and news programs had become caricatures of themselves, politics had become bitterly partisan, and rare was the school or university that served as a laboratory for risk taking. Though the student bodies were sometimes more diverse than they had been a decade or two before–that diversity did not guarantee healthy and vibrant debate that academic freedom is meant to protect. In a series of discussions with artists, scholars and activists I came up with an idea to create a "think and do tank" where artists would make work about social change. Scholars, activists and audiences would urge them out of the safety of their studios to deal with the world in a more provocative way. So the Institute was born in 1997 and several new works of art were started in the following three summers at Harvard University. We talked and worked ourselves into a sweat and created new relationships with our audiences. In the four years since our final session in 2000, the hunger for art that responds to political and social conditions has only increased. In an effort to feed that hunger, we are now redesigning the Institute with the intention to ignite a new generation of artists who will be able to combine skill, artistic virtuosity and the intellectual passion to pose powerful questions about the state of our world and the ever evolving human condition.

Anna Deavere Smith
Founding Director
Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue