Ignore the polls and get to work

“Art is part of democracy because it is the freedom to choose, to make, to create, and to live without fear.”

Featured this issue: Asuka Hisa. Photo by Hiroshi Clark.

In each issue of the Artists 4 Democracy newsletter, we share actions that you as an artist can take to help strengthen our democracy. We also profile an artist whose work reflects democratic values. If you find it useful, please share it with a friend.

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ACTION ITEM

Focus your energy on building democracy

Biden is winning! Trump is winning! Now Biden is winning again! Wait, hang on, there’s another poll… And that was just last week.

The only polls that matter are the ones where voters actually cast our ballots. Everything you hear until then is nothing more than a report on statistical probabilities. They reflect only the voices of the folks who answered their phones and what they said that day. How well do they represent the universe of people who actually turn out to vote? How should we interpret that pesky “margin of error” in the fine print? You could read more about polling here or here or here.

Or you could just ignore the polls like we do.

Until our votes are cast and counted, no one is winning or losing the 2024 Presidential Election. The campaigns release poll results in an effort to motivate their supporters and demoralize their opponents. Each side is pushing out their messages across every channel available, from email and social to mainstream media and yard signs. That urgent message you received to send money now because your candidate has fallen behind in the polls might be followed up in a week (or a day) by a message to send money now because your candidate is in the lead. 

It’s exhausting. It’s relentless. It triggers so many feelings, from anxiety and anger to frustration and fear. It might make you want to put your head in the sand until November.

Here at A4D, we’ve discovered that the best antidote to fear and anxiety around election news is taking action. We’ve identified five effective ways you can do that right now. Choose the one that fits your time and resources. Mix and match! For each, we’ve linked to specific organizations we recommend. They are reliably progressive, and each has systems in place so you can turn off the news and get to action quickly, participating at a level that’s right for you.

• Write letters or postcards: Organizations including Activate America, Vote Forward, Mobilize and Field Team 6 let you choose from among the key swing districts they’re focused on, where a few percentage points can make a huge difference. Join with thousands of people across the country writing to likely Democratic voters. 

• Give money: Walk the Walk makes grants to grassroots organizations rooted in communities of color that use relational organizing to engage with voters. Since 2020 they’ve raised and given out $8 million from more than 7,000 donors.

• Talk to your neighbors: We’re excited about Indivisible’s Neighbor2Neighbor campaign and encourage you to check it out. It’s built on the power of talking about shared values with people who live in your community. 

• Encourage like-minded friends and family to vote: Our biggest challenge this year is making sure that folks who believe in democracy turn out to vote. We’re not asking you to convince your crazy MAGA uncle to vote for Joe Biden. We do want you to talk to people who are close to you and share your values. Tell them why you care enough about democracy to vote. Global Citizen has some nice pointers for how to do this.

• Join a local group: We had to do a lot of this work alone in 2020, but now we can do it together in person with snacks and a glass of your favorite beverage. Authoritarians thrive when they alienate us from each other, so go find a group of people and take action with them. We recommend Indivisible and Swing Left, since they have systems and resources ready to go. Or organize a group of your own!

Sitting at home worrying about election polls is bad for your health and won’t help change the outcome. We recommend a better path: redirect your energy into taking action. Elections up and down the ballot from local to state to national will be close. Every contribution you make – whether it’s time or money or both – can and will make a difference.

Artists and art students took action and made a difference by canvassing for Katie Porter in 2018. Photo by Kysa Johnson.

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ANOTHER ARTIST FOR DEMOCRACY 

Asuka Hisa 

“People power is my jam.”

For Asuka Hisa, museum work is a form of social practice steeped in creativity and research. Her practice centers on building bridges between objects and experiences created by artists and the wider community. A museum should be like an artist, she says, continually responsive and collaborative. 

Hisa is Director of Learning and Engagement at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA), where she curates and produces programs for museum and community audiences, with a focus on artists and social action. She also teaches courses on learning and engagement in contemporary art museums at UCLA’s School of Art and Architecture and Otis College of Art and Design. Most recently she was selected to be a 2023-2024 Smithsonian Fellow in Museum Practice.

She connects democracy with the arts through etymology. “Demos” comes from the Greek word for people while “kratos” comes from the word for power. In other words, democracy is people power. “Art is people power too,” she says. “It’s the power to create things beyond what already exists in nature.” 

Concerned about low voter turnout, Hisa took action that led to ICA LA serving as an official vote center in the 2020 Presidential Election. She realized the museum could offer voters an inspiring cultural experience alongside casting their ballots. “I thought it could be a motivator for voting. We could expand the voting experience in a way that you could discover your city at the same time.”

Voters cast their ballots at the ICA LA vote center on Election Day 2020.

Even before ICA LA was selected to be a vote center, Hisa was engaging the museum in the electoral process. She incorporated voter registration and education into their programming. She organized workshops to help demystify our complicated ballots. She partnered with A4D to host a get-out-the-vote postcard writing party.

For the 2018 midterm election, she launched a partnership between ICA LA and the artist, DJ, and streetwear designer B (formerly known as Brendan Fowler). B designed a limited edition label called “Election Reform” that was sold in an eponymous pop-up shop at the museum. Each item of clothing had a label with information about a way to reform politics, almost like a small zine. Seeking to increase voter turnout among young people, B collaborated with several brands to create a limited edition I Voted t-shirt. ICA LA hosted an election night viewing party. If you showed up to the party with an I Voted sticker, you would get one of these limited edition t-shirts for free. 

The design was shared with museums across the country to host similar events. In total, more than 400 t-shirts were distributed to voters at ICA LA and other art spaces from Ballroom Marfa to the Atlanta Contemporary.

More than 90 percent of voters who showed up at ICA LA on election night had never been into the museum before. “We high-fived everyone as they walked in the door and showed us their stickers.” People had fun and Democrats took back the House of Representatives.

Voters pick up Election Reform t-shirts at ICA LA on election night at the 2018 midterm elections

Hisa offers this as a model for how artists and makers can contribute to building a more dynamic and connected movement for democracy, by tapping into people’s motivations to be part of something creative and cool.

In her museum practice, she’s been inspired by youth training organizations like Legacy LA in East LA and by her experiences as part of Southern California’s bike community. Groups like these train and organize members to show up to public meetings to advocate for better resources for their communities.

“Elected officials can’t know everything. The community has to speak up. If no one shows up at city council meetings, then they won’t know there’s opposition.”

Registering voters at ICA LA

“Art is part of democracy because it is the freedom to choose, to make, to create, and to live without fear,” she says. In a time when free expression is under attack, it’s critical that artists express ourselves both through our art and through the voting booth. 

Artists and arts institutions can share images, objects, and experiences that inspire people to take action. We can educate and organize our own community to advocate for free expression. We can exercise our people power as innovators and creators. “It’s not enough to exist, consume, and accept. Don’t just cruise and let other people make decisions for you.” 

Keep up with Asuka Hisa (if you can) on Instagram.

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Thanks for reading the Artists 4 Democracy Newsletter. Artists 4 Democracy promotes democratic and civic engagement by mobilizing artists to get involved in political action. Through voter registration drives, fundraisers, and events we seek to foster and protect our participatory democracy. 

A4D is run 100% by artist volunteers. If you’d like to contribute to our in-person work on college campuses this fall, please donate here.