Broadway Advocacy Coalition Announces Arts In Action Festival

The Broadway Advocacy Coalition will present the first annual Arts in Action Festival, set to take place on Sunday, July 24 in New York City, home to many leaders in arts, theater, policy and advocacy, at the Manhattan School of Music (130 Claremont Avenue). The Tony Award winning non-profit organization will bring these communities together to celebrate each other and shine a light on the vital tool that the arts - and especially the performing arts - can play in building a country based in justice and liberation.

The Arts in Action Festival will be the inaugural space for organizations and individuals working at these intersections to come together to showcase their work, explore opportunities for collaboration, celebrate the resilience of the justice-impacted community and focus the city's attention on the many ways that the "justice" system is failing to create real justice for so many inhabitants of New York City.

"We are lucky to be part of an incredible community of organizations that have been investing in arts advocacy across New York City for decades," said Executive Director Robb Nanus. "With so much important work happening, we felt it vital to invest in finding ways to work more deeply together and finding moments to celebrate each other and build the coalition necessary to create a more equitable city."

"Fundamentally artistry is an act of proclaiming one's voice and therefore inherently an expression of advocacy," said Broadway Advocacy Coalition board member Alejo Rodriguez. "It's not just simply about the entertainment. With the first ever Arts in Action Festival, I hope we can highlight all of the organizations elevating artistic voices that are advocating for justice across NYC."

The festival will include workshops, performances, panels, discussion groups, galleries and video exhibits that will allow participants and organizations to experience the power of art and storytelling as a tool for creating more humane policies and systems. This year's festival, themed "Reimagining Justice," will provide a space to demonstrate the impact of inequitable social policies on marginalized communities, while also highlighting the possibilities elicited by the calls for abolition and a society that does not rely on incarceration as a means to addressing social issues.

Organizations represented at the festival will include ARTE (Art & Resistance Through Education), College and Community Fellowships, Dances for Solidarity, Drama Club, Parole Prep Project, PEN America, RAPP (Release Aging People in Prison), Recess Arts, Theater of the Oppressed, Theater for Social Change Ensemble, Urban Justice, Urban Word, and the Vera Institute for Justice.

The day of events will culminate in a final performance open to the public featuring performances from BAC as well as other participating organizations. The evening performance will be hosted by Liza Jessie Peterson & Khalil Cumberbatch and include pieces by Lynn Nottage, Arianna Afsar, Kenyatta Hughes, and more.

To learn more, visit artsinactionfestival.com.