Dr. Natalie Hopkinson is Associate Professor of Communication, Culture and Media Studies at Howard University. She is the author of Go-Go Live (Duke University Press, 2012) and A Mouth is Always Muzzled (The New Press, 2018). These book-length essays exploring the arts, history, place, and social change were recognized by jurors at PEN America, the Hurston-Wright Foundation, Caribbean Studies Association, and the Independent Publishers Association, among others.
Hopkinson’s remarks will center around the topic, “100% Disruptive: Don’t Mute DC, ‘Pushy Women,” and the campaign to end anti-Blackness in the arts and public life.” She addresses the issue of “Philanthropic Redlining” using DC’ city council’s arts funding as a case study on how emerging arts organizations struggle to attain public funding because of the way that funds are earmarked for legacy arts organizations. Hopkinson will discuss the work that she and Cora Barry did in forcing the district’s arts commission to rethink its funding strategy in 2021.