Art + Activism: Nadege Green and VantaBlack on Social Justice
Join us for a conversation as part of the series Art + Activism, moderated by Bakehouse Executive Director, Cathy Leff and featuring Nadege Green, Director of Community Research and Storytelling at the Community Justice Project (CJP) and Chire Regans (VantaBlack), visual artist, activist, and current Artist-in-Residence at CJP.
The conversation will center around the intersection between art and social justice and how art can be used in the function of community building, amplifying diverse voices, and addressing social issues. Nadege will discuss the role that Community Justice Project plays in educating audiences about the structural inequalities faced by marginalized communities throughout Miami and how artists, like VantaBlack, can be an effective tool in advocating for and amplifying the voices of these communities.
This conversation marks the beginning of a partnership between Bakehouse and CJP, in which Bakehouse will provide ongoing studio space for CJP’s artist residency program and continue working with and learning from CJP, as we aim to deepen our connections to the issues and needs of our neighborhood
About the speakers:
Nadege Green is Director of Community Research and Storytelling at the Community Justice Project. She worked as a journalist in Miami for over ten years investigating how local government policies and actions impact everyday people. Her work centers around using analysis, data and narratives from the directly impacted to address housing inequities, climate justice, and other pressing issues in Miami-Dade County that disproportionately impact black and brown communities. Green believes in the power of teaching community storytelling as a means to educate, problem-solve and heal. She is a frequent lecturer and speaker in academic and community settings around disparities in Miami-Dade, local history and race. Green is a recipient of the Ruth Shack Leadership Award and the Florida ACLU Gene Miller Voice of Freedom Award.
Chire Regans, aka VantaBlack, a proud mother, visual artist, truth-teller, and community advocate, was born in Saint Louis, Missouri and relocated to Miami in the late 1980s. After graduating from Florida A&M University, Chire’s artistic practice focused primarily on portraiture. As societal issues began to weigh heavily on her conscience, the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement pushed Chire's art in the direction of social awareness and change. Chire serves on the Community Relations Board's Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Committee, works as a Teaching Artist at the Perez Art Museum Miami, and is the Fall 2020 Artist-in-Residence with the Community Justice Project.
