A new wave of artists plans to address global issues with public art

Members of this year’s class of Soros Arts Fellows, will receive $100,000 in unrestricted funding from Open Society Foundations to develop a public art project that confronts climate change with community-based solutions

Palestinian artist Nida Sinnokrot, one of 18 artists receiving the 2023 Soros Arts Fellowships from the Open Society Foundations on October 24, says that art provides hope and resilience, even in the midst of war.

“It’s our duty to find the strength to keep the despair at bay in the face of the unimaginable,” said Mr. Sinnokrot, who is the co-founder of Sakiya, a Palestinian academy of agrarian traditions and contemporary art, and a faculty member in Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Art, Culture, and Technology Program. “We have to, as artists, find the courage to disrupt convention, practice the spreading of hope and cultivate new stories and imaginaries that challenge divisive binaries.”

Members of this year’s class of Soros Arts Fellows, including Mr. Sinnokrot, will receive $100,000 in unrestricted funding from Open Society Foundations to develop a public art project that confronts climate change with community-based solutions in the next 18 months, said Tatiana Mouarbes, Open Society’s Team Manager for Culture, Art, and Expression.

“There’s a clear need for bold action, for justice and for equity-based solutions to ensure a more regenerative and life-sustaining world,” said Ms. Mouarbes, adding that “systems of global colonialism, white supremacy and capitalism have long stripped the environment of its natural resources.”

At a time when many in philanthropy are reevaluating priorities — including Open Society Foundations, as the nonprofit founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros changes under the new leadership of his son, Alex — Mouarbes said artists' work can be just as impactful as other more traditional investments. This year's class of Soros Arts Fellows is the largest since the program launched in 2018.

“We firmly believe that art is not only an essential driver for social change, but that robust, diverse and fortified arts and culture landscapes are prerequisites for open, just and inclusive societies everywhere,' she said. ”Art is transformative in so many ways, in expanding political and collective consciousness, in transforming and challenging and providing alternatives to oppressive power structures and ideologies, and for creating momentum for change."

New York-based artist Jordan Weber, another of the 2023 Soros Arts Fellows, said he was thrilled to be part of the group because the foundation works hard to support art that creates direct action, rather than simply “talking about the problems in our communities.”