DEPT.

NYU Dept. | We are a student-led collective for people of color in the NYU Steinhardt Art & Art Professions department. ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊

[nyudept-blog]

We will be streaming our student-led discussion on Facebook live. We will also add in a portion of our time for comments and questions from our stream. Be part of the collective eye WATCHING the department . . . . #decolonizenyu #nyudept #dept #decolonizethisplace (at Barney Bldg - 34 Stuyvesant - NYU Art Studio)

[nyudept-blog]

THIS FRIDAY MAY5Th, we will address concerns regarding the future of our department, specifically in reaction to the selection of a new BFA Program Director. Come support us, voice your concerns 🌟 Can't attend or don't feel comfortable, submit your concerns/suggestions through our anonymous survey - link in bio RSVP to our Facebook event page so we know your support 🔥 . . . . #nyudept #decolonizenyu #nyustudioart #dept #decolonize #nyu #barney #resist #mayday #wedemandAUTHORSHIP #wedemandSOLIDARITY #wedemandDECOLONIZATION #decolonizethisplace #thisisamarathonnotasprint #fightforwhatsright #dontgiveup #fightfightfight #fuckthecanon #decolonization #decolonize #authorship #solidarity #intersectional (at Barney Bldg - 34 Stuyvesant - NYU Art Studio)

[nyudept-blog]

THIS FRIDAY MAY5Th, we will address concerns regarding the future of our department, specifically in reaction to the selection of a new BFA Program Director. Come support us, voice your concerns 🌟 Can't attend or don't feel comfortable, submit your concerns/suggestions through our anonymous survey - link in bio RSVP to our Facebook event page so we know your support 🔥 . . . . #nyudept #decolonizenyu #nyustudioart #dept #decolonize #nyu #barney #resist #mayday #wedemandAUTHORSHIP #wedemandSOLIDARITY #wedemandDECOLONIZATION #decolonizethisplace #thisisamarathonnotasprint #fightforwhatsright #dontgiveup #fightfightfight #resistwhitesupremacy #fuckthecanon (at Barney Bldg - 34 Stuyvesant - NYU Art Studio)

[nyudept-blog]

A look back on our occupation of the "Commons" gallery the past 2 1/2 weeks (at Barney Bldg - 34 Stuyvesant - NYU Art Studio)

[nyudept-blog]

CLEAN UP CLEAN UP!!! Join us this Sunday to bid goodbye to our common space and enjoy some rest and relaxation before DEPT's next move 😉 there will be face masks!!!! . . . . . #nyudept #decolonize #decolonizenyu #WeDemandDECOLONIZATION #WeDemandSOLIDARITY #WeDemandAUTHORSHIP (at Barney Bldg - 34 Stuyvesant - NYU Art Studio)

[nyudept-blog]

A series of prompts handed out during our February 1st “Extended Family Meeting” session in the Rosenberg Gallery of the NYU Steinhardt Barney building (34 Stuyvesant St).  How do you imagine decolonizing your spaces?

[nyudept-blog]

Call to Action And Solidarity

President Andrew Hamilton addressed the NYU Community on December 1, 2016 in his monthly issue of Our NYU. In response to the US Presidential election results, he writes, “Affected by a sharp national sense of divisiveness, many in our community are worried and unsettled, both by national events and by the echoes here on our own campus.” He reassures, “We are guided by high principles—academic freedom, openness, inclusiveness, and diversity; and that it is our practice, now and at all times, to treat one another with respect, civility, and empathy.”

The students, faculty, and staff of color in the Department of Art & Art Professions protest the University and our department’s execution of these principles. Contrary to what President Hamilton infers, there is nothing novel about the systems of oppression prohibiting the implementation of these principles. There is nothing novel about White supremacy, capitalism, and the patriarchy. There is nothing novel about our university’s complacency and complicity in these systems, which inhibits students, faculty, and staff of color from reaching our full potential.

This letter is a call to action and solidarity from students, faculty, and staff of color. We wish to resist current systems of oppression and reimagine what true academic freedom looks, sounds, and feels like for people of color here in The Department of Art & Art Professions.

First Steps…

We acknowledge our department’s previous conversations on racial inequality, however, we protest the perpetuation of oppressive systems in each step towards “progress.” We assert that liberation is not achieved only by action, but also by resisting the oppressive structures and language of dialogue. We don’t need representation. We demand authorship. We don’t need cultural sensitivity. We demand cultural freedom. We don’t need safety. We demand decolonization.

What does authorship, cultural freedom, and decolonization look like? We will create a concrete plan to achieve these goals here in the Department of Art & Art Professions through a series of workshops, events, and organizing meetings. This non-hierarchical, people of color centered, movement space is open from January 25th to March 4th in The Commons and Rosenberg Gallery. All are welcome.

Let us be clear - This space will not fall into the institutionalized depths of social practice art and neoliberalism. Although our time in The Commons and Rosenberg Gallery is limited, our call to action and solidarity has no end. We tie our resistance to pre-existing, global movements towards liberation, and we recognize the fluidity of identity and relationships of power. We, too, recognize our own individual positionality within these systems of power and hold ourselves accountable in our fight for liberation.

In closing…

As people of color, we fight everyday to make NYU our home. According to NYU’s Diversity Statement, which promises to promote “an inclusive community in which diversity is valued and every member feels they have a rightful place, is welcome and respected, and is supported in their endeavors,” we hope our administration and peers will do the same.

In solidarity,

Sign the NYU Steinhardt Department of Art & Art Professions Call to Action & Solidarity Letter here

Students, faculty, & staff of color

New York University Steinhardt Department of Art & Art Professions