1215 U STREET NW, WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Creative Time Summit-the world's largest international conference on art and social change-found its way to Washington, D.C.! Creative Time Summit DC: Occupy the Future was held at D.C.'s historic Lincoln Theatre on October 14 – 16, 2016.
Occurring in the nation's capital just weeks before the 2016 Presidential Election, the Creative Time Summit DC took this important moment to collectively consider what it might mean to radically transform the current state of democracy. Around the world both the left and the right are making their dissatisfaction with the center known, setting the stage for a virulent electoral season. Shaking up the political landscape, worldwide social movements — from Arab Spring to #BlackLivesMatter — are now ingrained in popular discourse. The 2016 Summit offered a platform for citizen-led strategies and grassroots movements working within, as well as disrupting, electoral politics. As we work to push forward the ideals of human rights in practice, what does it mean to actually occupy power in a future as yet unwritten?
Andy Fernandez, Ben Ashworth, Bruce McKaig, Carmen Montoya, Carol Dyson, Critical Exposure, Culture Runners, Deji Bryce Olukotun, Dupont Underground, Erik Moe, Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop, Garth Ross, Giovanna Chesler, Gretchen Coombs, Hamiltonian Gallery, Kymone Freeman, Kayleigh Bryant Greenwell with Adriel Luis & Sheldon Scott, Maen Hammad, Matthew Slaats, Niama Safia Sandy, Oak Hill, Omolara Williams & Tanya Bernard, Pam Korza & Jessica Solomon, Robby Herbst, Natalie Campbell & Saisha Grayson, Sanjit Sethi & Richard Saxton, Words, Beats, and Life & Murals DC, and more.
The Lincoln Theatre, built in 1922 and located on "Washington's Black Broadway", was a cultural center of D.C., predating and influencing Harlem's renaissance. The Lincoln served Washington D.C.'s African American community when segregation kept them out of other venues. The theater included a movie house and a ballroom, and hosted Washington natives Duke Ellington and Pearl Bailey, who were joined by nationally acclaimed artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and Sarah Vaughn, performing regularly on the storied stage. President Franklin D. Roosevelt celebrated his birthday parties at the Lincoln Colonnade, a party hall once located at the theater. The theater closed after the 1968 race-related riots and reopened in 1994. In June 2013, I.M.P. was selected by the District of Columbia to operate the theater. I.M.P. also operates the award-winning 9:30 Club in the District and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD.
The Creative Time Summit DC is made possible by the Trust for Mutual Understanding, Blum Media International and the Blum Family Foundation, The O'Grady Foundation, Heather and Marshall Farrer, Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy, and the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. In-kind is generously provided in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.