Especially during times of crisis, artists ask themselves and each other: “What is our role in society; what are we here to do?”

These videos are a timely and crucial conversation between YBCA fellows Josué Rojas and Pablo Cristi, facilitated by Cava Menzies, showing how artists come together to heal, decompress, and strategize. They serve as documentation of a process that is mostly happening behind-the-scenes and in intimate settings. The YBCA Public Participation Fellowship allowed space for us as creatives to consider what our relationship is to the public and how to uplift and help mobilize. Although the pandemic reshaped our original plans, we were still able to come together and inspire each other to continue our engagement with the public given our new reality. Compounded by the tragic killings of Black and Brown people and the political climate of our country, our actions as artists are even more important in the fight to better our world.