The Power of the Arts to have Social and Policy Impact

A case study

Monday, October 22, 3:45pm – 4:45pm

Organized by Lukas Haynes, executive director, David Rockefeller Fund; Sara Reisman, executive and artistic director, The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation; and Katy Rubin, founder and executive director, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC.

Presented by Lukas Haynes, executive director, David Rockefeller Fund; Sara Reisman, executive and artistic director, The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation; Katy Rubin, founder and executive director, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC; and Letitia Bouie, actress and activist, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC.

This session explores the power of the arts to influence public policy. The session will open with a case study of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC’s Legislative Theatre program and the concrete policy and civic engagement impacts that were chronicled in a report commissioned by the David Rockefeller Fund. Legislative Theatre is an equitable and accessible artistic process designed to generate policy change around homelessness, the criminal justice system, immigration, and other systems affected by structural oppression. We will then turn to a funder discussion about the importance of supporting the documentation and dissemination of such efforts, and how doing so can influence both the funding and political landscape.