Artists everywhere are finding creative ways to respond to the needs, ideas, and opportunities within their communities—from zines and fashion shows to winter play and beyond.
Join Sarah Johnson (Winona) and Sophie Wang (Twin Cities) for a conversation about their community-based artistic practices. They’ll share how they balance their own creative vision with the needs and ideas of their neighbors, what they’ve learned through their projects, and how art can be a powerful tool for organizing, engagement, and addressing local challenges.
The discussion will be moderated by Julia Gay, Community Development Manager, Springboard for the Arts.
Panelist: Sarah Johnson (she/they) – The Joy Labs
Bio: Sarah Johnson (she/they) is a community-engaged multimedia artist and trained mental health professional (Licensed Professional Counselor) with many years experience in prevention, mental health, art, and community building. Sarah is leading change locally & in the national Y Movement, taking mental health out of the clinic and into the community to build health equity for all. Sarah founded The Joy Labs, LLC in 2021 and is working to build connected, healthy, resilient communities. thejoylabs.com
Panelist: Sophie Wang (she/her)
Bio: Sophie Wang is an artist, researcher, and educator based in the Twin Cities. She makes prints, zines, and comics that bring a critical power lens to science, technology, epistemology, and knowledge-making, as well as other themes like labor history, queerness, and immigration. Some topics include exclusion in science museums and how worker communities at the Port of LA have resisted displacement by AI and automation. Her artistic goal is to incite people to ask questions about processes or knowledge that they may have not known that they could (and should!) ask questions about. www.wangshuf.com
Moderator: Julia Gay (she/they)
Bio: Julia is a dancer, writer and community organizer committed to uplifting the intersections of justice, healing and the arts. She is a ballroom instructor at Dancers Studio in St. Paul and serves as a steering committee member for the Network of Politicized Adoptees. In 2019, Julia produced her one-woman show, Motherlanded, exploring her personal narrative as a Chinese adoptee. Learn more about her artistic work at www.juliagay.com.
Help Artists Thrive Donate