Who is arts writing for and what does it do? Situated between journalism, scholarship, and creative nonfiction, how does the practice intersect with artists’ processes? How can arts writing connect artists, the public, and the wider arts ecosystem? Join Mn Artists Arts Writing Fellows for a conversation on the practice and process of arts writing.
A publication of the Walker Art Center, Mn Artists spotlights the rigor and vitality of the local arts scene. The inaugural cohort of Arts Writing Fellows has contributed consistently to the publication over the past year, engaging directly with the work created in Minnesota as it unfolds and placing it in dialogue with wider conversations. As a culmination of the fellowship, Juleana Enright, Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, and Christina Schmid open their discussion on the practice of arts writing to the local community.
Copresented by the Walker Art Center and University of Minnesota Department of Art
Bios
Juleana Enright (they/them) is an Indigenous, queer, nonbinary writer, curator, and sound and theater artist. They are an enrolled member of the Lower Brule Lakota Tribe. Enright is the gallery and programs coordinator at All My Relations Arts. Their past roles have included culture editor for l’étoile magazine and Communications Specialist for Gamut Gallery. They have contributed to local platforms, Pride Magazine, mplsart, Primer, and City Pages. As an independent curator, Enright has curated four art exhibitions and was a recipient of the Emerging Curators Institute 2020–21 Fellowship program. Through their practice, Enright strives to examine the act of daily creation in the midst of great chaos and explore what it means to be a contemporary 2spirit artist with a focus on Indigenous Futurism through art and performance.
Nicole “Cole” Nfonoyim-Hara is a writer committed to liberation and healing through story and the power of the language and the written word. Her fiction writing has been recognized by the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Loft Literary Center, the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, and VONA/Voices of Our Nation. Her arts writing has been featured on Mn Artists and exhibition catalogues for the MCAD Jerome Foundation Fellowships for Early Career Artists and the Great Northern Festival blog. A former Fulbright scholar in cultural and applied anthropology, Nfonoyim-Hara holds a BA from Swarthmore College and earned her graduate degree from Oxford University.
Christina Schmid is a writer who thinks with art and experiments with prose. She is interested in the materiality of text, haptic criticism, and the ways art generates ideas. Her essays and reviews have been published online and in print, in anthologies, journals, zines, artist books, and exhibition catalogs. She works at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Art in Minneapolis, where she teaches contemporary art, critical practice, process, and theory. Schmid is a recipient of a MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant for Creative Prose.
Accessibility
Automated captioning will be provided at this event.