Restoration Village Arts is a creative action network of artists and ministers who are creating resources within today’s movements of liberation.
Blog
Why Carnival Is Exactly What This Moment Needs
Restoration Village Arts is proud to partner with the prophetic witness of the Carnival de Resistance. Tevyn East, Carnival’s director, shares her thoughts on why Carnival is what this moment in our country and world calls for. I have felt …
Poetry as a Political Act
“Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth…If you’re in the difficult process of living as a poet, you’re constantly trying to make an attunement to yourself which no outside manipulation or propaganda can disturb. That makes …
Oceti Sakowin, a poem for Standing Rock
Oceti Sakowin We woke up to the drone of planes circling above and soft horse whinnies— animal breath making heat. Over the loud speaker, a man told us that the black snake oozes closer, feeding on: our stone hopes thrown …
Restoration Village Arts Supports the Water Protectors
Mni Wiconi, Water is Life! I am honored to be going to the Standing Rock Sacred Stone Camp as part of a coalition of religious leaders from around the country who will be part of a protective witness action on …
Art as a Forum for Justice
Our friend, Belle Alvarez, is a professional dance instructor and performer in Philadelphia, as well as a member of the Carnival de Resistance 2016 crew. Below she shares her thoughts on embodiment, art, and justice. If justice is about making …
More Art, Less Violence with Cienaños
As people are rising up in resistance to government corruption and totalitarianism across Honduras, the band Cienaños is writing music for the fight– music to lift the spirits and engender hope in the hearts of Honduran people. But Cienaños is much …
Art is the Movement with Carnival de Resistance
Often, art is treated as incidental to gatherings, conferences, institutions, movements. Artists are invited to participate for their additions of texture and creative flair— but what happens when art is centered in the struggle for collective liberation? Last month, Restoration …
Freedom Fighting in the Studio
Bree Newsome arrived last night for a 10 day artist residency leading up to her presentation as part of Human/Ties and the session on Mourning and Memory, Legacies of Slavery and Freedom. (The event will be livestreamed this Saturday, Sept …
La Frontera
Grace Aheron, RVA Program Director, was featured in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia’s quarterly magazine, The Virginia Episcopalian, with her piece on her recent pilgrimage to the US/Mexico border, a place where hope and beauty grow in spite of the dark …