Arts & Humanities

Sociologist and author Jennifer Lena drops some inspiration and insight in regards to the Works Progress Administration and #ArtsNewDeal. In this interview she did with Canadian stars of stage and screen Torquil Campbell and Ali Momen of SOFT REVOLUTION, they discuss her recently published book Entitled in the context of their appeal to the Canadian government for a new “WPA” for Canadian artists.

"In the context of New York and its racial segregation, Mildred Johnson Edwards wanted to create an institution for Black children that modeled the pedegogical beliefs that she held. And yet, her need to create that school was itself a result of segregation."

Barbara Bashaw articulates her vision for building “an international community with a shared interest in dance teaching and learning” – a goal, she says, that will require “developing researchers and championing research that will push public policy.”

"Before deeply investigating the disparities in their suspension data, school districts must first acknowledge and affirm the humanity of black girls. They must understand how their practice of disproportionately suspending them is an infringement on their humanity. Black girls deserve to be seen for their complexity and should not have certain aspects of their behavior stereotyped as defiant and deviant. Stereotypes flatten their experiences."

Dr Lena writes about how candidates try — and sometimes fail — to effectively use music to bolster their campaigns. According to Dr. Lena, candidate playlists “seem to be about… communicating the candidate’s platform…and in other cases candidates are trying to communicate their tastes.”

In Entitled: Discriminating Tastes and the Expansion of the Arts, Dr Jennifer C. Lena, charts the history of American arts and cultural policy, interrogating the institutions, practices, and technologies underpinning the development of American Art. The book celebrates and critiques key moments, organisations, and actors, as well as giving new insights into our own, contemporary, elites, their taste practices, and social inequalities.