ART CHANGES MINDS Wake up call: artist Hank Willis Thomas wants to spur voter turnout with the Wide Awakes group. Based on the 1860 Wide Awake movement that mobilised against slavery and helped elect Lincoln, the new network of artists and creatives has launched Kickstarter's largest collaboration to date. "A group known as the Wide Awakes, originally launched in January by Hank Willis Thomas, is now working to organize a large network of artists, cultural workers and activists in hopes of fighting injustice and getting out the vote in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. Comprised of artists like Thomas, Kehinde Wiley, Arthur Jafa and rafa esparza, along with organizations such as Creative Time, For Freedoms and the Guild of Future Architects, the Wide Awake network takes their name from an outspoken group of 19th-century abolitionists who helped to elect Abraham Lincoln. Thomas's Wide Awake group defines itself as “a network of like minds who create in the name of liberation, artist sovereignty, and the evolution of society" that aims "to radically reimagine the future and enable self-emancipation", according to its mission statement." By Wallace Ludel & Margaret Carrigan. Read on: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/wide-awakes Image 1: Artist Wildcat Ebony Brown is part of the Wide Awakes, a group that is encouraging people to get out and vote. Image 2: Wide Awake members attend a Juneteenth celebration in Harlem. @forfreedoms @wideawakes2020 #WideAwakes #The2020Awakening #artchangesminds #arteducates #artistsareheretodisturbthepeace #whatsupwithart https://www.instagram.com/p/CFPr3BhFRFe/?igshid=zvt7fbupu3dr
