MICA Partners with BMA and For Freedoms to Deliver Civic Engagement Programming

MICA is partnering with the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and For Freedoms to deliver a robust line-up of civic engagement programming on campus and around Baltimore City this fall. Founded by renowned conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman, a photographer, writer and educator, the For Freedoms Project is a national platform for greater participation in the arts and in civil society.

A Creative Citizenship Fellow at MICA, Hank Willis Thomas visited the College in October for a three-day engagement that consisted of an invitation-only Town Hall and public Artist Talk co-sponsored and co-organized with the BMA. He also visited several classrooms and began working with the Curatorial Practice graduate students to develop exhibitions related to the For Freedoms initiative that will take place from Janurary - March 2019

Inspired by American artist Norman Rockwell’s paintings of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms (1941)—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—the For Freedoms Project seeks to use art to deepen public discussions of civic issues and core values, and to clarify that citizenship in American society is defined by participation, not by ideology.

Scenes from Hank Willis Thomas's classroom visits at MICA this October

Hank Willis Thomas meets with students at MICA + Enlarge
Hank Willis Thomas attends critique with graduate students at MICA + Enlarge
Hank Willis Thomas with graduate students at MICA + Enlarge
Hank Willis Thomas meets with students at MICA + Enlarge
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Hank Willis Thomas meets with graduates students during critique + Enlarge
Hank Willis Thomas with students at MICA + Enlarge
Hank Willis Thomas meets with students at MICA + Enlarge
Hank Willis Thomas meets with faculty and students as part of the social engagement programming at MICA + Enlarge
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