Meet Me Where You Are (Or, How Not to Starve an Artist,) Amplify’s current Generation Series project, asks how artists and arts workers in three different cities are making space, making a living, and enacting more just modes of co-existence.
To expand on the exhibition’s themes, Amplify is hosting a virtual panel discussion with artists and organizers Amanada Huckins, Alex Jochim, Joseph Orzal, Bilgesu Sisman, Marcey Yates, and Rachel Ziegler on Wednesday, December 11th starting at 7pm. Register to join the conversation on Zoom and hear more about how artists are experimenting with alternative models of economic organization and building resilience in the face of precarity and the uncertain future of arts funding.
Free and open to all. Please register to attend and come with your thoughts and questions. You’ll receive an email with a link to join the discussion on Zoom after registering.
Read more on the topic before the discussion on the Alternate Currents blog. Alternate Currents programming is presented with support from the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.
About the Panelists:
Amanada Huckins is a Nebraskan poet whose work has been published in booklet form as "Trying to End the War" (merrily merrily merrily merrily, 2017) and featured in A Dozen Nothing (adozennothing.com), among other places on paper and online. In her weekday hours, Amanda is an Early Head Start educator and participates in building the brain architecture for social emotional and cognitive development in infants and toddlers. In addition to her paid work, Amanda is a grassroots organizer who works alongside fellow community members to build self-determination, forge non-transactional relationships, and create radical free spaces (such as past DIY spaces The Commons in Lincoln, NE and Media Corp. in Omaha). She is also a letterpress printer who produces posters and other ephemera in her garage print studio, where she teaches typesetting to anyone who wants to learn.
Alex Jochim is an Omaha, NE based photographer, community organizer, and gallery operator. He is the co-founder and director of BFF Omaha, a local arts nonprofit building community through arts engagement. He is founder, curator, & co-director of Petshop, a community art space housing artist studios, galleries, co-working & public event space. Through these endeavors, he has also played a role in numerous community events, projects, and programs, including the MaMO Gallery, BFF Gallery, Trudy’s (artist studios and education space), the New American Arts Festival, Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards, Benson Out Back (alleyway improvement initiative), and the Benson Creative District (2022). He is the recipient of the Cultural Stewardship Award (OEAAs) and Nonprofit Changemaker Award (Greater Omaha Chamber).
Joseph Orzal, a first-generation Washingtonian and graduate of the Corcoran College of Art (2010) with a Master's in Curatorial Practice from MICA, founded NoMuNoMu in 2014 as a space for artists to challenge systemic oppression through creative expression. Over time, NoMuNoMu has grown into a dynamic arts platform, driven by strategic partnerships with prominent institutions such as Long Live Go-Go (Mochella), the Washington Project for the Arts, Transformer, the Phillips Collection, The Hirshhorn, The Martin Luther King Jr. Library, and The Marion Barry Foundation. These collaborations have expanded NoMuNoMu’s influence, positioning it as an emerging arts ecosystem in Baltimore. Focused on inclusivity, radical pedagogy, and wellness, the gallery offers diverse programming that empowers both artists and the community, fostering a space where art and activism thrive together.
Bilgesu Sisman is a writer, film programmer, and educator, who has worked in arts nonprofits and academia and has been part of multiple grassroots organizations around anti-capitalism, cooperative economies, and participatory democracies. She currently works as the Director of Cinematheque at Cleveland Institute of Art.
Marcey Yates is a hip hop artist and music producer based in Omaha, NE. With a sound that can be described as expressive vinyl hip hop, Yates partially attributes his soulful vibe and sample based production to his influences,Yates is 5x Omaha Arts and Entertainment award winner and a NAACP Freedom Fighter Award and Cultural Stewardship Award. As Marcey has progressed in music over the years he has become more expressive with not only music but art and activism. He has become more adept at expressing his feelings through lyrics and visual art.
Rachel Ziegler is a multimedia artist who works across performance, painting, collage, and mosaic to create works that are layered, colorful, and complex. Using collage techniques of cutting and pasting, she embellishes personal stories while contemplating the role of technology and the mixing of time and symbols. Ziegler graduated from Concordia University in Seward, NE with a BFA in Commercial Art. She is also the founder and director of The Church/Art House, a 501c3 not for profit organization, located in a decommissioned church in South Omaha, whose mission is to inspire creativity and connection.