Museums and Cultural Centers, Austin Parks and Recreation Department, unveiled its Arts Responders program, on view throughout the month of March in outdoor spaces. The program is in response to City Resolution 20200507-061 establishing the Austin Civilian Conservation Corps which puts ordinary citizens to work to fight COVID-19.

Cultural Centers including The Dougherty Arts Center, the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, the George Washington Museum Genealogy and Cultural Center, and the Asian American Resource Center as well as museums, like the Elisabet Ney and Oakwood Cemetery Chapel, commissioned artists to train in Social Practice, and to organize and engage community in an artistic response to cope with and overcome COVID-19.

Socially engaged practice, according to the Tate Museum, “describes art that is collaborative, often participatory and involves people as the medium or material of the work.” Arts Responders will address the issues related to COVID-19 that every Austinite has faced for the past year.

Artists selected for Arts Responders include: Guateque Son, Caroline Walker Studio, Gathering Ground Theater, Lizzie Chen Photography, Sarah Wilson Photography, Doug Laustsen, Rehab Mohammed Elsadek-Ibrahim, Kengo Hioki also known as Peelander Yellow, Jonathan Muzacz, and Criancas de Capoeira Angola.

For more information on Arts Responders program, visit AustinTexas.gov/Page/Museums-and-Cultural-Programs.