Truth To Power ; DNC16 – Art & politics – Little Giant, Philly Mag ; Defeat Trump by any means

If you’re in Philadelphia for the DNC, make sure to check out #TruthToPower, Rock The Vote and #Cut50’s engaging pop-up art show, discussion salon and performance space, free and open to the public July 25-27! Along with 35+ national non-profits, we’ve given them our support and so should you! www.truthtopower.us

Truth to Power is a large-scale pop-up art exhibition and cultural convening which will take place at 990 Spring Garden Street from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday, July 25th through Wednesday, July 27. Art installations, discussion panels, DJs, workshops and stage performances are all planned for the pop-up space. (See schedule of events here.)

“We’re co-producing Truth to Power — sponsored by Cut50 and Rock The Vote  — which features artwork from Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Shepard Fairey, Ron English, plus 100 more,” said Tayyib Smith, founder of Little Giant Creative. “[There will be] panels, performances, and poetry. Some featured guests will be Van Jones, Rep. Keith Ellison, Ben Jealous and Rep. Barbara Lee.”

On the evening of Monday, July 25th, the opening party to kick off Truth to Power is rumored to be bringing big names — possibly Rosario Dawson and Aloe Blacc for example — to the site.

Both Truth to Power and another event Little Giant is producing  — “Make America RAW Again: Rawstory.com‘s Pre-Convention Party,” which takes place at 30th Street Station on Sunday, July 24th — were shaped collaboratively.

“There’s a tight network of creatives from around the country who collaborate,” Smith said, “and share information for social justice and civic engagement projects.” Roxanne Cooper (formerly associate publisher at City Paper, now at Raw Story in San Francisco), Yosi Sergent from Task Force PR, and artist Shepard Fairey‘s manager, Lorrie Boula, are all folks with whom Smith has worked on numerous other projects over the years.

Smith isn’t an activist, just an engaged citizen who hopes that the effect of Truth to Power will be to “raise awareness about issues that need to be at the top of mind for our political representatives: Climate change, education, affordable housing, reforming our justice system, racial equality, ending private prisons, a fair and sensible living wage in order to stimulate the economy …  Stopping Trump! I could go on and on.”

“This is the most important election of our lifetime,” he said. “We are at the brink of progress in the American tradition, or we can take a step back … the equation is that simple.”