Episode 7: Kemi Ilesanmi
If you’re curious about the future of cultural institutions, there’s so much to learn from Kemi Ilesanmi. As the executive director of the Laundromat Project we’ll be hearing how she positions herself and the institution with striking clarity, towards making New York City a better place by bringing people together, and touching the lives of places through art and culture. We discuss the importance of how histories are written, the necessity of acknowledging other knowledges, and the essential economic dimension of gaining access to the cultural field, and why focusing on people of color matter, today!
“We build community and we create change. Artists come to us with an idea that connects to issues of social change, social justice, social relations, right? It's not art for art's sake, it really is about that kind of connectivity.”
We tend to sum up our guest’s biographies, but Kemi’s deserves a full read: She has been a DMV clerk, receptionist, business school dropout, Minnesota State Fair ribbon winner, museum curator, foundation officer, and now Executive Director of The Laundromat Project, a NYC arts nonprofit that advances artists and neighbors as change agents in their own communities. She cares about cultural and community care, #BlackLivesMatter, and all things Beyonce and Michelle Obama. Her work is also deeply informed by her Nigerian and Black American roots. Prior to joining The LP, she worked at Creative Capital Foundation and the Walker Art Center in curatorial and program roles. In 2015, she was appointed by the Mayor of New York City to the Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission and has served as Chair since 2020. She has been honored by the Metropolitan Museum and Project for Empty Space and serves on the boards of the Joan Mitchell Foundation and The Broad Room, as well as advisory boards for Brooklyn Public Library, Smith College Museum of Art, Black Arts Future Fund, Indigo Arts Alliance, and WNET All Arts. A graduate of Smith College, NYU, and Coro Leadership NY, she is also a Sterling Network Fellow.
Episode Notes & Links
Located in New York, the ‘Laundromat Project’ brings art, artists, and arts programming into laundromats and other everyday spaces, thus amplifying the creativity that already exists within communities. They empower their surroundings with the power of kindness and solidarity to build community networks, solve problems, and enhance our sense of ownership in the places where we live, work, and grow. https://www.laundromatproject.org
How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age was on display in Walker Art Center in 2003. The exhibition sought to examine the role and function of globalization or the internationalism in art on shaping visual culture. The flash site of the exhibition is still up and running. http://latitudes.walkerart.org/
Artists Jaclyn Reyes and Xenia Diente collaborate on an artistic project with a solid social impact titled Little Manila. Aiming to activate the Filipino community in New York, they seek to generate cooperation between artists and the Filipino community and businesses. http://littlemanilaqueens.org/
Partnered with the Black Alliance of Just Immigration, LP’s resident artist Lizania Cruz worked on a project that focuses on issues regarding public memory. Through a series of intimate meetings where Cruz documented individual immigrants' stories to create zines. The project sought to render the African Diaspora's presence more visible and their memory less ephemeral. Dedicated to propagate the immigrant experience, “We the News” zines were free to take away and later on displayed on newsstands placed on sidewalks. https://www.laundromatproject.org/project/we-the-news/
The LP is one of the few cultural organizations ran by people of color in the U.S. Referring themselves as a POC centered institution, they elaborate on the importance of this and how it is relevant to their mission. A comprehensive set of information regarding the vision, values, principles, and policies could be found on their web site.
https://www.laundromatproject.org/pocprinciples/
https://www.laundromatproject.org/strategic-vision/
ArtsBlack is a journal of art criticism from Black perspectives predicated on the belief that art criticism should be an accessible dialogue. It was founded by editors Taylor Renee and Jessica Lynne to support, uplift, and cultivate a new generation of Black art critics. https://arts.black/
Colored Criticism is a media platform for cultural heritage stories. Through a variety of media such as writing and youtube videos they especially target millennials, naming them as the most diverse and ethical generation ever. http://colorcritics.com/
Siddhartha Mitter’s article titled Monuments & Civic Imagination thoroughly unpacks how protests over the murder of George Floyd opened up a new chapter in the U.S to rethink places of memory. Monuments & Civic Imagination. https://theintercept.com/2020/07/19/confederate-statues-monuments-local/
Episode recorded on Zoom on July 29th 2020. Interview by Can Altay. Produced by Aslı Altay & Sarp Renk Özer. Music by Grup Ses.