Since 2017, Matthew Siegal, the first full-time executive director of LexArt, has been on a quest to revive and rejuvenate the role of arts and craft into community life in Lexington. After a 33-year career in museums, culminating in 19 years with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Siegal is using his experience to evolve LexArt from a local art/craft nonprofit with an 80-year history of relying on volunteers to survive, to a thriving resource for arts regionally. “Trying to make the case for the primacy of the arts, and in particular, the primacy of the act of making, and the vast possibilities of making art/craft in a shared environment is a tremendous challenge,” Siegal said. “Art holds such great promise for self-discovery, as therapy, as solace, to communicate and to glean insights, I just want to scream it in the streets.” Changes implemented during Siegal’s tenure include opening … [Read more...] about CRAFTING CHANGE: NEW LEXART PROGRAMS EXPAND ORGANIZATIONAL REACH

Author Ken Grossinger believes that art doesn’t just reflect the world but can help change it. In his inspiring and informative book, “Art Works, How Organizers and Artists are Creating a Better World Together,” The New Press, 2023, Grossinger suggests that in the service of social movements, organizers use artists, artists create art, museums and art institutions engage with and promote these coalitions, and that funders, foundations and philanthropists support them. The book isn’t meant to be a history of activist art, instead, it widely samples cooperative partnerships furthering justice for Black people, women, labor, immigrants, farm workers, the environment, the incarcerated and others. Music is a potent mover and shaker. Grossinger cites many examples from the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s to Black Lives Matter. Harry Belafonte’s songs and the money they made helped support … [Read more...] about LINKING ART AND ORGANIZING: GROSSINGER STILL BELIEVES ARTISTS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD