Within the context of a global pandemic, rising political populism and calls for the end of inequities, how can arts institutions become responsive, open, hospitable and relevant for social transformation? What is the new cultural institution that the world needs?

The performing arts enable interaction and shared sensorial experiences among diverse citizens. They can play a key role in weaving an inclusive and dynamic social fabric. Public arts institutions can redefine citizenship and belonging as a process and a product of material and symbolic struggles.

This project team set out to analyze arts institutions’ hospitality and cultural citizenship strategies through case studies of individual performing arts institutions. Over time, these case studies informed a more ambitious goal to lay the foundations for a blueprint for a new cultural institution that would expand the social and cultural objectives of theaters, museums, opera houses, concert halls and community centers in the context of social democracies across the globe.

Performing Embodied Communities: New Paths for Cultural Institutions

Poster by Emma Chun, Julia Leeman, Axelle Miel, Eliza Heaton, Michael Klien, Christelle Gonthier, Gabriel Richard and Anne-Gaelle Saliot