SOTA

Hello, SOTAns! Did you know that both of your hosts are from very rural places? This week, we're tapping into our rural roots to discuss how art can make an economic impact on the USA's small, rural towns. We lay out some common facets of rural culture then, bring in some exciting examples of rural towns that have successfully made art a pinnacle of their economy. Although this podcast centers around the Twin Cities, let's not discount the dynamic possibilities of our rural neighbors!

References:
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/five_ways_the_arts_impact_rural_economies

https://www.ozy.com/the-new-and-the-next/can-the-arts-save-rural-america-from-the-recession/277323/

https://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-growing-economic-importance-arts-rural-america.html

Greetings, SOTAns! So many of the arts organizations we love are nonprofits, many of which we have talked about on the podcast before. We even work for them! Although there are so many fantastic NPOs in existence, there is a another lens to look at how their system came to be. Criticisms of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex speak to how this system helps the rich to maintain wealth control, suppress dissemination of radical ideas, upholds a top-down hierarchy within an organization, and is a way for the government to keep track of people's causes. Join us as we talk about what this complex is and how affects the organizations we interact with.

Hello, SOTAns! Orientalism. We know–we're cringing with you. Many of us haven't heard this term since our Art History 101 class (which has also ALSO historically been problematic, as so we have discussed before). But, let us not pretend that it didn't exist or what colonial BS lead to its subject matter and its name. In this episode, Sarah guides us through its definition and traits while also calling out it's totally Western-Centric, exoticized existence. Join us while we break it down, and going forward we can help break the colonialism in art history all the way down.

Greetings, SOTAns! This week, we're going over some basics of accessibility in curating. Jasa recently took a class on this subject from the Node Center of Curatorial Studies and wants to pass this golden info along to all her SOTA friends. Join us for some entry-level concepts, ideas on how to make the arts more accessible, and of course some anecdotes and mispronunciations. Do you have some tips on how to make art spaces more accessible? We would love to hear from you!

Hello SOTA-ns! In this episode, Jasa indulges Sarah's (not so inner) academic, allowing her to wax poetic about Conceptual Art, and theorize why this type of Art is the most hated among her family members. No, this isn't a bad thing - sometimes art pisses us off. Jasa makes sure to bring it back to structural racism and colonialism, and we entertain how old 19th century white guys set up the definition of what art is supposed to be.