'Sightlines Spoken' Examines Art Amid Gentrification

EAST AUSTIN, TEXAS — The first discussion of the newly launched "Sightlines Spoken" public discussion series will be a two-part look at the arts and their relationship to gentrification in East Austin and beyond, organizers said on Tuesday.

Co-presented by the online arts and culture magazine Sightlines, Big Medium, the Carver Museum and Austin Creative Alliance, the discussion is scheuled to take place on Nov. 13 and Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, 1165 Angelina St.

Both free to attend, the first part of the discussion is titled “The Gentrification of East Austin: Place, Culture & the Forces of History” while the second is titled "Artists Respond: Considering Place & Culture.” The panel discussion is an official event of the 2018 East Austin Studio Tour.

Related story: Iconic East Austin Mural Restored To Original Glory

"Lost in the common discussion of the massive shifts that have happened in East Austin, is the arts community’s position in the gentrification process," organizers described in a press advisory before posing a number of questions relating to the subject matter to be discussed.

Ahead of "The Gentrification of East Austin: Place, Culture & the Forces of History" talk, organizers posed the following questions:

• How are artists and arts organizations complicit in gentrification, even if unintentionally?"
• What does Austin’s majority-white arts community need to understand about the history of East Austin and the political/economic/social forces which shaped it?
• Finally how can artists be allies to communities displaced by gentrification? And how can artists incorporate community in their practice?
• What is the legacy of Austin’s 1928 master plan and its creation of the 'Negro District?' ”
• What are the social and cultural effects of gentrification and displacement?
• What is interconnectivity of art, politics, place, and public policy?

The moderator of this first discussion will be Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, editor-in-chief of Sightlines. Speakers include:

• Cary Cordova, Assoc. Professor, American Studies, University of Texas. Author, “The Heart of the Mission: Latino Art and Politics in San Francisco,” Research interests: Latinx cultural production, interconnectivity of art, politics, place, and public policy.
• Bamidele Demerson, director, George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural & Genealogy Center.
• Eric Tang, Associate. Professor, African & African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas . Author of the studies “Outlier: The Case of Austin’s Declining African American Population”;”Those Who Left: Austin’s Declining African American Population”; “Those Who Stayed: The Impact of Gentrification on Longstanding Residents of East Austin.”; and “Are There More Dogs Than Children in East Austin?”

In preparation for the Nov. 15 "Artists Respond: Considering Place & Culture," discussion, organizers posed these questions:

• How do artists and cultural organizations work with place and culture?
• How can artists understand their struggle with affordability vis-a-vis the displacement of East Austin’s communities of color?
• How can artists be advocates for awareness of Austin’s history of segregation?

The moderator will be Michael Anthony Garcia, artist and curator. Speakers are: Fidencio Duran, muralist; Cindy Elizabeth, artist; Nefertitti Jackmon, executive director, Six Square: Austin’s Black Cultural District.

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>>> Courtesy images of For La Raza mural by Philip Rogers via Economic Development Department, Cultural Arts Division, City of Austin