The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is proud to announce a new partnership with the Las Vegas Womxn of Color Arts Festival (WoCAF). Conceived in 2019, WoCAF is the first arts organization of its kind in Southern Nevada. Founded by a collective of Las Vegas artists from diverse mediums and specialties, WoCAF is a powerful platform committed to generating more art events that highlight the work of local womxn artists who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
“While working as a performer for Spiegelworld, I often found I was the only woman of color in the room,” recalls WoCAF visionary Elizabeth Colón Nelson. “This realization of lack of representation in Vegas’s hit shows on the Strip led to a centralizing question, “What would an arts production look like if its goal was to support a womxn of color?” This question opened up the desire to make the answer a reality: an arts production built around the founding intention to support womxn of color artists with visibility and representation.”
WoCAF held its first event at Las Vegas’ Arts Factory in March 2020, exhibiting work in ceramics, drawing, neon sculpture, and a variety of other traditional and contemporary media. Undaunted by COVID-19, and believing that art has the power to uplift and heal, WoCAF continues to create opportunities for BIPOC Womxn artists to achieve recognition and representation. This partnership advances this commitment for both organizations. In committing to this collaboration, the Barrick acknowledges that BIPOC womxn experience the intersectionalities of race-based discrimination as well as gender discrimination, and dedicates itself to the ongoing task of supporting womxn of color artists in Las Vegas.
To do this, the Barrick will center BIPOC voices in its exhibitions and its programming and will make a permanent land acknowledgment to the Southern Paiute Tribe on whose unceded land the Museum sits. Working alongside WoCAF, the Barrick commits to further amplifying oppressed and melananted voices through its art spaces and by pursuing community partnerships on the UNLV campus and across Las Vegas. The two organizations will work together to undo the biased structures that have shaped the Museum’s history.
The partnership’s first year of exhibitions and collaborative projects will run from August 2020 to August 2021. The details of each exhibition will be posted on the Womxn of Color Arts Festival’s social media and on the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art’s website and social media.
Resources
WOMXN OF COLOR ARTS GROUP NEVADA COMMUNITY DIRECTORY
The purpose of this directory is to feature BIPOC Women, Femmes, and LGBTQIA individuals. With regular updates, this growing list is a resource to foster community and strength. If you wish to be added to this list, please submit your information in this Google Form. If you have any further questions, email: wocaflv@gmail.com
Schedule of Events and Exhibitions
Kept to Myself / Ashley Hairston Doughty
August 17 - October 9, 2020, Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10 am - 4 pm by appointment
Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Center Gallery
Read about Kept to Myself in the Las Vegas Weekly
Listen to Ashley Hairston Doughty and Justin Favela on The Art People Podcast
Read more about Kept to Myself in the Las Vegas-Review Journal
Read Ashley Hairston Doughty Stops Keeping it to Herself by DK Sole for UNLV News
In the Interest of Action / Lance L. Smith
November 9, 2020 - January 15, 2021, Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10 am - 4 pm by appointment
Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Center Gallery
