“And I think the reason that I feel that way today is that, you know, like, everything that's intended to circulate in the public sphere, I think, has a social responsibility. Especially art. And I think, yeah, I think that's because of what I see is like, the power and the potential of art, not, it doesn't mean that like art in and of itself is overly like political or designed to provoke or be provocative. But I do think that, like, art has this superpower, you know, to really, like, initiate, but then also advanced conversations.” - Nico Wheadon, Antiracist Artist Podcast, Season 1 Episode 7
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Episode 7: Nico Wheadon
Welcome to the Antiracist Artist Podcast, a podcast for activists, advocates, and allies working to make our communities equitable through artistry. Each episode we are joined in conversation by an artist or arts facilitator who has been paving the way, in hopes of learning from their expertise and experience. Through action and unity, we can create a better tomorrow today. Let’s go!
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Hello and welcome to the Antiracist Artist Podcast. I’m your host, Taylor Ybarra, and I’m so glad to have you a part of the conversation.
In our seventh episode, Nico Wheadon (she/her/hers)! She is an accomplished independent art advisor, curator, educator, and writer. As the founder and principal of bldg fund LLC, she created an innovation platform for BIPOC artists, entrepreneurs, and neighbors. Nico currently serves on the Board of Governors at the National Academy of Design, and the Advisory Board for the Lubin School of Business. She is also keeping busy as an adjunct assistant professor at Brown University, Barnard College, and Hartford Art School, she has also guest lectured internationally on topics including: the future of museums; art and entrepreneurship; navigating risk in the nonprofit industrial complex, and building artist-led institutions. In 2020, she was appointed as a Guide at The Institute of Possibility.
Nico’s first manuscript—On Museum Citizenship: A Toolkit for Radical Art Pedagogy, Practice & Participation—is slated for publication in Spring 2021. The book brings together over forty pioneering voices from the field to reflect on canon-shifting practice currently taking place within, beyond, and through the museum space.
To find out more about Nico and to contact her, please send Nico a reach out to her via her website here.
During this episode, Nico and I talk about:
- How she personally defines antiracist and how it is incorporated into her own work.
- Navigating both within and without organizations in the social justice space.
- Everything that is circulating in a public sphere has a social responsibility, especially art.
- The social contract of facilitating the community connection.
- Using her platform and seat to redirect resources to artists of color.
- Working with artists in order to build a platform that ends up building a platform for social justice because of the artists’ work is about social injustice.
- Defining advocate vs activist.
- Building a community engagement department within the Studio Museum in Harlem, NY.
- Working with the community in order to make work not colonizing and a one-sided transaction but an honest conversation and listening to the community that you are in.
- How she learns by pushing against things.
- What the bldg fund LLC is.
- What her book is about (On Museum Citizenship: A Toolkit for Radical Art Pedagogy, Practice & Participation) and where to find it.
- And so much more!
Resources & Organizations Mentioned:
Episode Transcript
In each episode, we invite our guests to choose an organization to uplift, one that is creating a meaningful impact toward a more equitable, inclusive, accessible, and antiracist future. In honor of Nico, she has chosen 1Hood Media. 1Hood Media is a collective of socially conscious artist and activists who are utilizing art in order to raise awareness and seeking to build liberated communities through arts, education, and social justice.
This podcast is made with, by, and for those of us in this fight together, and I invite you to be a part of this podcast community with us. You can stay connected with us at AntiracistArtist.com, on Instagram @antiracistartist, or by emailing antiracistartist@gmail.com. Let us know why antiracist artistry is important to you, what questions you would like to dig into, and who you’d like to hear from in future episodes.
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The Antiracist Artist Podcast is hosted by Taylor Ybarra, produced by Subito Politico Productions, LLC, edited by Andrew Alcaraz, and Project + Community Managed by Maricela Juarez.
To stay connected with the Antiracist Artist Podcast, please visit us at AntiracistArtist.com, on Instagram @antiracistartist, or via email at antiracistartist@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you!
Our podcast is made possible with the support of folx like you. You can get exclusive content and access to the show by becoming a patron at patreon.com/antiracistartist.
This episode’s donation was made possible in part by the generosity of Jenny Hoofnagle.
Theme music features vocals by Esteban Suero, Forest VanDyke, Kennedy Kanagawa, Jamison, & MinJi Kim.
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This episode features the following artists/arts facilitators:
Esteban Suero | IG @estesuero / @theofficialeros
Forest VanDyke | IG - @forestvandyke
Kennedy Kanagawa | kennedykanagawa.com | IG @thisiskennedy
Jamison | www.courtneyjamison.com | IG @iamcourtneyjamison | TW @thecjamison
MinJi Kim | IG @minjilikesdogsandmusic
Maricela Juarez | www.maricelajuarez.com | IG @remarkablymari
