a teaser: A PoC guide to thrive

If there were a “PoC SurvIval GuIde”

for artists, what topics would you want it to

cover?

Michelada Think Tank’s artist’s Survival Guide for People of Color

Michelada Think Tank’s ‘Artist’s Survival Guide for People of Color’ was conceived as a summer 2015 residency project for Los Angeles

Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). Some could say it was conceived years before, during art classes filled with white classmates and white professors,

during late nights poring over student loans and thinking, “Mom was right. First generation kids don’t become artists.”

To survive and thrive as an artist of color is a radical practice unto itself. But how? There isn’t one singular answer, as we learned during four open forums, or “think tanks”, held throughout greater Los Angeles at Human Resources, CIELO Galleries, Art Exchange Long Beach, and LACE. At these think tanks, artists of color expressed desires and advice for topics which ranged from

community to making money to dismantling the entire capitalist art market altogether.

Survival is a strategy exemplified by hustlers, guerrilla warriors, and the rasquache. It is a condition that requires embodying paradoxical positions

and the flexibility to shift from one strategy to another. Because of this, there is no defined method to survival as an artist of color. In this teaser, MTT offers a glimpse into the questions, tactics, and affirmations the survival guide sourced

from the community. It is up to you to piece it all together. And thrive.

How can we find solidarity across different

racial groups?

SaFe SPaCe vs

Brave SPaCe

aCTIoNvs

TalKING

Code SWITCHINGall day every day

THrIvING as an artist of color is my

radICal PraCTICe

What’s the next step?

This is a collaboration between the artists, educators, and activists of Michelada Think Tank and beyond, making possible a place where

people of color and allies with like-minded ideals were able to come together and ideate and dared to speak out, engage with and challenge

the white cube world. Admittedly, we don’t know it all, but we can strive for knowledge and defer to our communities to learn and grow.

Thank you to our allies who understood when to listen. To the racists, the unapologetically privileged, and the unaware world within the white cube, without you we would have no need for this tool to survive. But

because of you we are stronger. And in spite of you, we thrive.

POC SuRvIvAL GuIdE FOR ARTISTS OF COLORexpected 2016.

www.micheladathinktank.commicheladathinktank@gmail.com