Democratizing Racial Justice Announces Inaugural Artists-in-Residence
Democratizing Racial Justice (DRJ), a research and creative scholarship project in San Antonio, has announced ten artists who will be participating in the inaugural year of its artist residency program.
Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, DRJ builds on the legacy of social justice movements in San Antonio by partnering with local community-based organizations, some of which include the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, the Alamo Colleges District, and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). DRJ was founded by Dr. Jackie Cuevas, Associate Professor and Interim Director of the Center for Women’s & Gender Studies at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), who formerly was an assistant professor of Latina/o Literary and Cultural Studies at UTSA; Dr. Rhonda Gonzales, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Denver, who previously served as the Chair of the History Department and Professor of History at UTSA; and Dr. C. Alejandra Elenes, Department Chair for UTSA’s Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program.
In a press release, Dr. Elenes and Dr. Kirsten Gardner, DRJ’s Principal Investigators and Residency Coordinators, remarked, “The Democratizing Racial Justice project is centered on community collaborations that center social justice. The 2024 Artist in Residence program invited artists to propose projects that address issues of social justice through creative expression and theory. We are thrilled with the range of proposals and excited to fund these important projects.”
The selected artists are Marisela Barrera, Briana Blueitt, Veronica Castillo, Anel I. Flores, Andrei Rentería Menchaca, Amalia Ortiz, Cruz Ortiz, Tanesha S. Payne, Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, and David Zamora Casas in partnership with Barbara Renaud Gonzalez. Learn more about the artists and their projects below via descriptions provided by DRJ.
