When artists run for office
“As people who make art, we make democracy by making messages.”
Each month in the Artists for Democracy newsletter, we share actions that you as an artist can take to help strengthen our democracy as well as legislation in the works. We also profile an artist whose work reflects democratic values.
ACTION ITEM
Run for office
If you’ve ever seen an elected official in action and thought, I could do better than that, then you should run for office. If you’ve ever seen a law passed and wished for a different outcome, you should run for office. Imagine your local government filled with artists as elected officials!
Politicians don’t come from outer space. They are people just like you and me who want to influence the rules we live by in a democratic society. As artist and local elected official Kristina Wong says below, our democracy makes more sense when you see it from the inside.
If you want to make sure we have a democracy for years to come, you should run for office.
You don’t need special skills to do it. If you’ve ever organized a party or had a conversation with another person about things that matter to you, then you have a base to build on. If you’re thinking about running, these how-to articles from NPR and Kiplinger are a great place to start.
There are all sorts of local and statewide offices you can run for. Many of them go uncontested year after year, election after election. Organizations are out there to help you get your campaign off the ground, with training, campaign support, and/or endorsements. Some are free while others are paid. Each focuses on a different group of people:
National Democratic Training Committee works with Democrats and Progressives
New American Leaders works with immigrants
Many groups work with women, including
Victory Institute works with LGBTQ leaders
Run for Something works with Gen-X and Millennials
If the idea of a political campaign seems overwhelming, there are other routes to government influence. Local governments often have boards and commissions to advise them on everything from urban design to disability policies to public transit. Members are generally appointed by an elected body, from a pool of volunteer applicants. You can even influence cultural policy! Across the US there are more than 4,500 local arts agencies, most of which have some kind of volunteer advisory body. These kinds of boards and commissions can be a great way to influence public policy.
They might also be the gateway drug to running for office.
LEGISLATION YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
American Families Plan
Back in March, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law, pouring money into much-needed relief, child assistance, and vaccination programs. In May we told you about the American Jobs Plan (aka Infrastructure Bill) that’s still a work in progress.
The American Families Plan is the third in legislative series designed to kick-start the economy and support communities as we build our way out of the pandemic. The Families plan will guarantee free universal preschool and two years of free community college to all Americans, prepare new teachers and provide training to those already working, and offer support for child care and paid leave for parents. It will expand unemployment and tax credits for those still struggling to find jobs, and will close loopholes for the rich and make tax rates more fair.
It’s always a good time to contact your elected representatives and let them know what you think about pending legislation.
ANOTHER ARTIST FOR DEMOCRACY
Kristina Wong
“Democracy is a constantly active chia pet with an endless need for sun and water.”
Performance artist Kristina Wong is best known for solo theater shows and culture jamming, using humor to explore difficult subjects and amplify marginalized experiences. When she was elected to the Wilshire Center Koreatown Sub-District 5 Neighborhood Council in Los Angeles in 2019, it was performance, but it was also very real.
Stepping into her role as an elected official, she quickly learned that she had to choose her battles, focusing on what she cares about and making decisions about what is important. She’s learned that “politicians are powerful, and yet they’re not.”
Wong calls them hall monitors, working in a structure that is often complicated and frustrating. “They’re supposed to be leaders, to inspire and direct us. But they get mired in stuff when they get into office.”
Becoming an elected official has been an ongoing civics lesson for Wong. She’s learned that the system of checks and balances our government is built on prevents officials from running off and doing crazy things. But it also means interminable meetings, strange jargon, limits on what any single official can do, and paperwork. “It only makes sense when you participate in it.”
In early 2020, Wong launched the acclaimed Auntie Sewing Squad which grew into a national network of volunteers sewing masks for vulnerable communities. They sew masks as an active critique of a government that failed to respond to the pandemic. Primarily women, many of them women of color, these “aunties” have been intentional about making their labor and their politics visible.
“This is what an artist who can’t run an ensemble theatre does in a pandemic,” Wong says.
Her experiences with the Auntie Sewing Squad and as an elected official have led her to ask deeper questions about the role of nonprofits and government in addressing inequality and solving big problems. Why should volunteers have to take the shirts off their backs and cut off their bra straps to make masks when the government could have mailed a mask to every American? We could have had a comprehensive, national response to the pandemic, rather than a state-by-state patchwork.
“We are relying way too much on nonprofits to clean up the messes or holes that government has left behind.”
Wong recently amended her earlier artist statement, saying that, “artists might not want the responsibility of fixing the world… but cultural shifts propel social movements forward, ultimately being what will dismantle white supremacy.”
Wong believes artists have a critical role to play in shifting government policies by first shifting culture. She cites the long history of normalizing LGBTQ+ relationships in art, film, and television. This put pressure on courts and elected officials who began to change laws state by state. Ultimately the Supreme Court acted to legalize equal marriage.
“As people who make art, we make democracy by making messages. We live certain values. That ultimately shifts the culture of the country.”
The stage isn’t a neutral space, Wong says. In fact, the stage is everywhere. Politicians know this. They stage manage every public appearance, from eating pizza on the campaign trail to signing a bill into law. Artists can shift culture and pressure the hall monitors by taking their work out of the theater and into the community. Rather than keeping the artist separate from the audience, create a circle of relationships.
The work of building that circle, Wong says, is the work of building democracy.
Visit Kristina Wong’s website for more information about her and upcoming events. You can also watch her campaign videos or visit the Auntie Sewing Squad.
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. In 2021, we’re focused on building a better American democracy, one centered on racial, social, and environmental justice.