Saturday, January 26, 2013

Some More Thoughts on Legacy and the WCA-STL Local Legacy Fund

Today, at the board meeting, I officially kicked off the Local Legacy Fund by presenting a check to the St. Louis Chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art and formally announcing the fund and some directions to consider pursuing to start.  I am grateful and honored to be able to do this with the proceeds from my LAST CHANCE! show as it helps me to bring closure to that experience by offering an answer to some of the questions that I raised.

Legacy is so important.  Living, local artists too often go unrecognized, not just here in St. Louis but wherever they reside.  It is so easy to take local artists for granted because, like spouses or family members, local artists are so close, so accessible, so involved, and known all-too-well within their own communities, both in regards to their triumphs and shortcomings.  It's so easy to want to import culture, to bring in new experiences, and living, local artists often simply don't have that exotic and immediate appeal that comes with residing elsewhere.  But we all deserve so much more and deserve to be recognized for our accomplishments within our communities because it is our efforts and dedication that foster those communities and provide so many opportunities and connections within them.

I am very excited about the Local Legacy Fund.  It will be good to see the momentum that has been developing nationally carried into the local St. Louis art community.  It is so important to preserve women artists' legacies and ensure that our voices are written into art & feminist history on all levels, and I am thrilled to see the St. Louis Chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art pursue doing so.

I have been thinking a lot about legacy and our impacts as artists after the LAST CHANCE! show and will be writing some more about different aspects of legacy in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out.

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