Artistic Citizenship is a collection of essays by prominent artists and scholars that explores how an artistic community undertakes its engagement with the social world. While art may have expanded the place it occupies in our public lives and civic imaginations, the messages that artists have put before their national audience have often sparked controversy and challenge. This collection of essays, proposes the term artistic citizenship to organize this cluster of concepts and issues that pertain to how artists prepare for and participate in civic life. This collection focuses on the ways in which professional artists employ their special training and knowledge not only to make room for art in people’s lives but also to use their creativity to address topical issues such as identity, politics, and community.

Contributors: Mary Schmidt Campbell, Jan Cohen-Cruz, E. L. Doctorow, Karen Finley, Richard Schechner, Gail Segal, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Randy Martin, Toby Miller, Ella Shohat, Robert Stam, Arvind Rajagopal, Deborah Willis, George Yúdice.